Arequipa Things to Do

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One of the more interesting tourist attractions (especially if you like architecture) is a visit to the Santa Catalina Monastery. The monastery was built in 1580 to shelter the daughters of a wealthy family. The monastery was totally cloistered and housed up to 450 nuns and servants until 1970 when it opened its doors to the public. The site is huge, covering about 20,000 m2 and completely surrounded by high walls. The nuns now live in the northern part of the monastery.

Entry costs 25 Soles. The Monastery has an Information Office, Souvenir Shop and Cafe. It is possible to get a guided tour (recommended) which is a cost not included in the ticket price. You will just need to pay a tip to your guide at the end of your tour.

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The Arequipa Cathedral is located on the Plaza de Armas in central Arequipa. The building is considered one of the first 17th Century religious monuments of Arequipa. Like many of the buildings in Arequipa it is made of the distinctive white volcanic stone called sillar.
Arequipa is prone to earthquakes so much of the original cathdral has been re-built. The last major earthquake in 2001 caused serious damage to the cathdral's towers.

The cathedral can be visited during Monday to Saturday 7:30 - 11:30 am or 4:30 - 7:30 pm or Sundays 7:00 am - 1:30pm or 5:00 - 7:00 pm

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Okay so usually I don't promote such a tourist thing to do, but a bus tour around Arequipa was time well spent. The two tiered bus was comfortable and allowed for great pictures. They take you to a beautiful viewing point, a alpaca factory, and orient you to many other points of the city in a 3 hour tour for 30 soles, or about 10 dollars. Great way to familiarize yourself with the area, find out some possible places you want to spend more time in and most of all go because they give you an awesome yellow hat!

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This convent was founded in 1580 by the rich widow Maria de Guzman. She was very particular about who she would admit into the nunnery. Only second daughters coming from rich families were admitted bringing with them a substantial dowry. The woman joined the nunnery to live in chaste poverty. However this convent was a little more privledged. Each women had between 1 and 4 servant or slaves, usually black. They were constantly inviting muscians and having parties and living it up in the style they were acustomed to. In 1871 the pope sent Sister Josefa Cadena to straighten them out. She dismissed the slaves and whipped them all into shape.

This convent occupies an entire city block and is a winding maze of small streets, alleys and piazza's. They best way to see the convent is to wander at your own pace.

Admission $7

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AFor years it was under debate whether this was the deepest canyon in the world. However, at 3191 m deep it is a clode second to the neighboring Canon Cotahuasi which is 163m deeper. It is still an impressive site to stand on the ledge and to look down into the abyss that is th canyon.

The ledges are a popular stop early in the morning when it is common to see the Condor flying overhead.

There are a number of small tour companies around the main square of Arequipa that sell trips to Colca Canyon. Most trips are 2-5 day trips. We arranged a day trip to the Canyon but we had to leave our hotel at 4am in order to be in time to see the Condors fly. It was a long day but well worth it. The day trip was about $50 per person for a guide and driver.

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Every Wednesday the locals have some traditional bull fights. No need to worry as the animal is not killed. Two male bulls are simply put in the ring and a female bull (?) is paraded past them. The two males then fight for a bit until one runs off with it's tail between it's legs. The locals get really into it, standing up on the bleachers and cheering for their favorite bull. They really do rival American football fans. Kids even climb the surrounding trees to look over the stadiums walls.

We had out hostel arrange for a taxi to take us there and then pick us up at a pre-arranged time as the bull stadium is on the outskirts of town. It was about a 20-30 minute taxi ride from city center. Admission to the event was about $2 USD.

The Museo "Santuarios Andinos" exhibits Peru's most famous mummy - Juanita.

In 1992 Miguel Zarate climbed Mt. Ampato, the regions highest peak at 6288m. At the summit he discovered remnants of a possible burial site. He returned in 1995 to find that recent seizmic eruptions had distirbed the site. The climbed back down the mountain and discovered a mummy of a 12-14 year old girl.

Juanita, as the mummy was to become known as was wrapped in finely woven blankets and was perfectly preserved due to the icy, sub-zero temperatures. It became clear from the care and cermony surrounding her death that this girl had been sacrificed to the Gods.

Her preservation was so great that it was determined that her death was caused by a blow to the head, but not before they fed her Coca leaves to drug her and serve as a partially anastesia. He stomach contents were still preserved.

She was given her own museum in 1998.
Mon - Sat: 9 am - 6 pm. Sun: 9 am - 3 pm
Admission: $4.20

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Colca Canyon and beyond
The area known as the Colca Canyon is amazing. If you come to Arequipa then it is worth the visit. There are many tour operating companies that offer inexpensive trips to the Colca Canyon. My advise to you, if you can spare a few days, is to take the trip that includes a hike down the oasis and through Cabanaconde. This is certainly the most unique experience, but it does involve some moderate hiking, so if this is not your cup of tea then the traditional tour will have to do.

The traditional tour involves being picked up early in the morning by the tour operator and morning travel to the town of Chivay, the first town in the area, where most likely you will spend one night. Along the way you will see many amazing sites and animals. You will also see how vast and empty some parts of the earth are. Have you reached the moon? you may wonder along the way. When you reach the highest part in the journey (they will let you know you are at the highest altitude), make sure you put one rock on top of another and then another and make wishes as the locals do.

Then you will start descending onto the town of Chivay which is where you will most likely spend the night. First you will be taken to your hotel and then somewhere for lunch in Chivay, then you will hit the hot springs in that town, which I highly, highly recommend, then will probably have the afternoon free to wonder around and be taken to a place for dinner where a band will play traditional music.

The following morning you will be taken to see the Condors in El Mirador del Condo, stopping along the way traditional towns. You will probably spend an hour or so at El mirador and turn around and get back to the city of Arequipa. This tour can run around $35-60 dollars.

If you can spare a few more days, take them and spend a an extra night in the area. You will never see anything else like it.

If you decide to go on your own, either via public transport or renting a pick up truck, I strongly suggest you make reservations in Chivay or any of the other towns. Chivay is the town with the most infrastructure (shops, entertainment, many more hotels, etc.).

Last year in August (2007) I made a reservation at what appeared to be a really nice hotel in Cabanaconde (Hotel Kuntur Wassi) and was very disappointed in what they gave me. For US $50 a room I expected a nice view as they had advertised on the internet but instead gave me a room in what appeared to be the basement with a view of a dirt wall. Cabanaconde is the very last town in the Colca Canyon area, so if you are going down to the Oasis this is the way you will most likely come up. If you decide to stay at Kuntur Wassi make sure they give you a room with a view and make sure you say you do not want any of the two rooms near the front desk, but rather the ones outside. They had given us these two rooms and were very ugly and unpleasant. We ended up leaving and not even staying the night. They had also misled us by saying the rate included breakfast and when we went it didn't. They seem to have fixed the misinformation they provide on their website and now make a distinction between the rooms. The place was pretty, we were just very disappointed with what they had give to us even though we had made reservations way in advance. We were lucky to be on our own so we ended up going back to Chivay that same day.