This is roughly the halfway point of the trip if we're counting the four working days in Cuenca where I was only a part time tourist while managing being a (75%) full-time worker. We should count those days, as they were great and cool as hell. Anyway, for the halfway point, the main goal was to see as much as there is in Arequipa before we had to head to our flight back to Lima (leading to a flight to Rio, which is the real start of the second half). There isn't a whole load to see in Arequipa, meaning that this task wasn't all that crazy and eminently realistic. At the end of it, I think we checked all of it off our list.
**quick aside, saying there is but one day of tourism to do isn't a knock. Many places have one day of things, plus Arequipa's primary value from a tourist concern is the access to the Colca Canyon, which isn't something you can just brush aside**
After having to take my second to last call of the year at 9:00am, we left to walk down to the old town, which is really nice, essentially flat 15-min walk. I call out the flat part because the city is definitely not flat. I don't know what contortions of the land allow for this area to be so, but bless it. Walking into the main square, we were greeted with more or less as much life and merriment as we saw the night before, if less glitzy. That all these smaller Latin American cities have a main square like this (some, like Oaxaca have multiple) is one of the better lasting leave-behinds from Colonialism.
Our first step on the tourist circuit was the Cathedral that lines the north end of the square - interestingly oriented with the entrance on one corner of the square and the alter roughly on the other end, but the two columns being essentially going north/south within the church (I realize I butchered this explanation... let's move on...). The church is open 7-10am for prayer (and morning mass) but then closes 10-5 other than guided tours every thirty minutes. This all seemed a bit annoying but in the end, the tour was well worth it. The basilica was lovely by itself in its simplicity at times (no fancy frescoes and paintings in the main area) but brilliance at others, from the giant organ, to one of the more ornate, wood carved pulpits. There was also a fascinating little back room or two with old sconces, chalices, crowns, etc., made of real gold, silver and tons of jewels. One wonders both what the true value of those pieces were, and how profligate Catholicims is if this basilica in Arequipa is so loaded.
The final part of the tour was checking out the roof, ringing the bells, and seeing from probably the best vantage point in Arequipa proper the double peaks of Chachani and Misti. I've been to cities with prominent peaks in the backgrund, be it Salt Lake City, Calgary, otehrs, but for some reason I don't know if any have worked as well as Arequipa did.
Anyway, after that fun start we headed over a few blocks for some shopping and walking and pictures, to our lunch spot of ceviche and chaufa at Puente 92, a fairly reputable middle-scale spot in Arequipa that serves super fresh seafood at super affordable (for foreigners) prices. This was maybe our single most rustic joint meal during our trip so far (e.g. not stuff I rodered on uver eats) and it was still quite good. Both dishes weren't as good as their version at Lobo De Mar two days back in Lima, but Arequipa is not Lima. This was still really nice, including some chewy old seafood thing that didn't fit nicely into any traditional seafood slots, but was still quite excellent.
From lunch we walked another ten minutes or so to the Santa Catalina Monastery, which is a weird place - it for sure is a great tourist site, but also one that is easy to underlook in case you have either a map or an ability to get lost there for a few hours. The monastery held cloistered nuns for hundreds of years before being essentially shut down, before being opened as this museum in the 1970s. The first few couryards were painted with bright pastels, tons of beautiful flowers and some standard-fare depressing as hell cloister rooms. That all seemed like an ok site, but one that I had a hard time believe anyone would spend hours. Well, then down one alley off the third some courtyard, you get lost into a sea of cobblestone lanes, more interesting living quarters, more vibrant colors and great gardens. The monastery becomes effectively an old city at some points, with named streets, tunnels and more. They offer guided tours, which we passed up, but to be honest not sure how a guided tour could take the one hour they claimed, when our unguided "let's just roam around, take photos and read every other plaque" took an hour itself. Whatever the answer is, this was a great site.
Nearly as good was our last bit of tourism, at Mundo de Alpaca (Alpaca world). Run by the Michell group, and old pioneer in the Alpaca game, Alpaca world is a deft way to eventually sell you some quite pricey alpaca stuff by disarming you with facts and cuteness. First, you walk down a laneway with a few expositional posters on say the difference between Alpacas, Llamas, Vicunas and Guanacos (super helpful) or the migration of these types of animals, starting with their common ancestors (also the common ancestor of camels). Then you reach a courtyard with an area with basically one of each of the types we jst saw there to feed, pet and take pictures of. They were all cute, but especially so two of the eight, one being a truly brilliantly fluffy alpaca (though a bit moody, the only one that didn't come over to get food) and then a baby alpaca or llama that was just the cutest thing. Given admission is free, and feeding teh animals is free, it almost compels you to buy something, to which I did.
That was our last stop, getting back to the AirBNB in time for me to take my final call, us finish packing, saying goodbye to our brilliant view of Chachani and Misti and head to the busier than I expected airport (though I shouldn't be - again, this is the second biggest city in Peru, with a population of 1.2mm). The flight sadly took off after it was too dark to really see the mountains, but also was able to give us incredible views of sunset and the last rays of purple as it descended into darkness.
The layover in Lima was quicker than a four hour would make you think, what with LATAMs one-hour early boarding process and having to do immigration. There are surprisingly few restaurants in the large new Lima airport, but the food was actually quite decent at one called copper, which served a fairly good pork belly sanguche (for an airport), but anyway, that and one last craft beer from Lima (not sure which one) got me full and tipsy enough to get as good a sleep on the redeye as possible. Brazil, and the second half of this trip awaits, but what I expected to be a fairly low key day in Arequipa ended up exceeding expectations and closing out the first half quite well.
