Tuesday, July 18, 2017

PERU 2017-Post 15. To Arequipa and Beyond

Wednesday July 12

Cruz Del Sur night bus departed Cusco at 8:00pm and arrived in Arequipa at 7:30am the next morning. 

Arequipa, the second biggest city of Peru has a populationof one million inhabitants, and is located at an altitude of 2300 m in the desert mountains of the Andes

Our first sighting of El Misty, the famous active volcano near Arequipa. 

Having done a long distance overnight bus trip in the Philippines we were not expecting much but we were greatly surprised by the smooth and comfortable trip. 


Our hosts home. 

And our hosts in Arequipa were waiting at the bus terminal to take us to their home. Wha a great feeling. From left to right, Paul (from the USA) and Ruth (from Arequipa), Hector (from the USA) and his bride of two months, Ayako from Japan.  They had prepared a great Arequipean breakfast to get the day off to a good start. 

View of El Misty from the roof. 


Metropolitan caritas with Socrates and Elizabeth from New York now pioneering in Arequipa. 

The Chile Rio running through Arequipa. 

We wandered the quiet downtown Spanish colonial streets of Arequipa. 




Arequipa is commonly known as the White City. This is because many buildings have walls of sillar, a kind of white volcanic stone.  But there is another theory that the name relates to the high proportion of white Spanish population than other cities.  


The Basilica Cathedral of Arequipa located in the "Plaza de Armas". 


This architecture that tells people who's boss. 


It stretches the entire width of the Plaza de Armas. 




The Plaza de Armas, the main square, it seems that every city in Peru has one. This one is considered by some to be the most beautiful of the country. 


Spanish colonial collinade shops around the plaza. 




And if the Basilica Cathedral of Arequipa is not to your catholic taste, you can go to the San Francisco Plaza, Church and Monastery on the other corner in the plaza. 




And for those who prefer their churches a little less ornate, here's another a block or two away. 



Almost forgot to mention our visit to the Museo Santuarious just off the Plaza to see the Inca Ice Maden.  Of course you are not allowed to take photographs so this is from the net. 

"Momia Juanita (Spanish for "Mummy Juanita"), also known as the "Inca" Ice Maiden and Lady of Ampato, is the well-preserved frozen body of an Inca girl who was killed as an offering to the Inca gods sometime between 1450 and 1480 when she was approximately 12–15 years old. She was discovered on Mount Ampato (part of the Andes cordillera) in southern Peru in 1995 by anthropologist Johan Reinhard and his Peruvian climbing partner, Miguel Zárate. "Juanita" has been on display in Catholic University of Santa María's Museum of Andean Sanctuaries (Museo Santuarios Andinos) in Arequipa, Peru, almost continuously since 1996, and was displayed on a tour of Japan in 1999." Wikipedia 

Well, that was our first experience of "the white city" Arequipa. 

Lloydnalex 













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