... mimic chaos: Peru day 1: Arequipa

Aug 17, 2009

Day 1 of 11 in Peru. After a series of flights through Miami and Lima and total travel time of 13 hours, we arrived at our destination of Arequipa this morning. In Lima, a few airport workers called me "chinita" and I'm pretty sure the guy who checks your passport before you can enter the terminal area said "ching chang" before reading my last name. But they say it in such a pleasant way and then look at me as if they just paid me a compliment, so I just laugh it off and I'm more bemused rather than insulted.

Anyway I love plane rides where you can see the terrain below, and the Lima-Arequipa leg was one of such rides. Really beatiful views of clouds seeping into the crevices of the mountains, and terraced fields wedged into steep valleys. We arrived at the tiny airport and stepped out into beautiful 70 degrees weather and a gorgeous vista of the three surrounding volcanoes: Misti, Chachani, and Pichu Pichu

I didn't know what to expect in Arequipa so it was quite breathtaking. It's not a modern urban city by any means but it has a pretty center square and a lot of character. And of course the surrounding volcanoes provide a picturesque backdrop. Misti is the only active one, but even then the last eruption was a long time ago. The white volcanic rock is widely used for construction in the town, giving Arequipa the nickname the white city.

It's a medium-sized town in the southern part of Peru and sits about 2200m above sea level. My mom had been on my case all week about my not working out and thus supposedly not being able to handle the high altitudes. Well turns out I was the only one amongst my family that didn't feel anything from the altitude--hah! Go non-working outers! Everyone else had some cocoa tea to help with the effects:

The little bag the leaves came in was so cute! Our hotel, la Casa de Margott, provided it. I don't know whether to call this place a hotel or hostel. It's housed in one of the regular courtyard buildings near the city center, is very basic, but is also super cute and has individual rooms and is thus not what I normally consider a hostel.

This is a little sitting area in my room. The arched brick ceiling is so unique for a hotel. I really like it. I also like the comical little tv in the alcove :). I don't watch tv in my hotels anyway.

Anyway we started our day here with some crepes and deep-purple chicha maize drinks at Allianz Francais. I thought it was random that my mom wanted to go there but it was actually very good and right across from the convent, which is the main destination in Arequipa. The Santa Catalina Covenant was built in 1579 and remained a mystery to the public until it opened to visitors in 1970. Pretty crazy. Our guide said it is the only convent in the world that is a 'city within a city.' At its height, the 3-block complex housed 180 nuns and hundreds of workers. These nuns were daughters from very wealthy families, and they were sent here at age 13 and could not leave the covenant for the rest of their lives (which is why it is a town in and of itself). It was considered a privilege and honor for the family and the daughters had no say in the situation. Ah religion and power.

The convent is pretty big and we spent a couple hours in it. You can see the buildings made from the white volcanic rock. The courtyards, bright colors, and alleyways are beautiful to see. The rooms were fairly large (the more wealthy, the more room a nun had at the covenant...). But it's still a bit shocking to me to think the nuns just came here and never left. Before the reformation the nuns were hardly even allowed to talk to each other :X

After the covenant we walked around the city center for a little bit. The views of Misti and Chachani behind the main Cathedral were beautiful. Unfortunately jet lag set in for all of us soon after and we didn't reemerge until dinnertime. We ate in the center square at a place called Cafe Boveda. While I'm pretty wary of restaurants in the middle of a tourist attraction, this turned out to be very good. We ordered various traditional Arequipan foods and this delicious 'papaya juice' unlike any papaya I have tasted before. This was more like some pear-mango-golden kiwi-pineapple papaya :) My favorite dish was a 'shrimp soup'-- chupa camarones?-- that looked kind of like a seafood paella in a curried soup, but also had a poached egg, slabs of white cheese, Peruvian corn on a cob, and various other surprises all thrown in to make a big bowl of awesome. Will try to remember to stick in a picture from my when I get back (these blog pics are all ones I took on my phone).