AREQUIPA, THE WHITE CITY

...Thank God we followed our gut instinct. We almost had decided to skip over Arequipa after hearing some mediocre to bad reviews from others we had met.
We arrived at 5am and it was starting to get bright. Within an hour we were on the roof of our hostel, chatting with Philip who we had met at the station in Cuzco, with the morning sun beaming down on us in a perfectly blue sky and a backdrop of El Misti, a majestic snowcapped volcano that overlooks the city.

In a nut shell; Arequipa has culture, sun, blue skies, beautiful colonial buildings and churches, friendly people - not in a "welcome to Arequipa" kind of way but in a down to earth personable way - none like I had seen on any holiday before, fantastic food & nightlife, value, crazy traffic (8000 taxis in this city alone!), and an everydayness about it which was a first for us since coming to Peru.

The city was setting us up for a great first impression since as we strolled for 2 blocks, passing the Santa Catalina church on our way, and into the main square there was a massive tourism parade starting to get underway! The police lined up with their instruments as other police on duty closed off the streets.

2 separate journalists attempted to interview us (between excitement and tiredness we had forgotten all but about 5 words of Spanish!), as the lively and colourful parade began - demonstrating old Andean traditions and modern aspects of the city, along with food and dance and most of all the light hearted fun that this place is about.

We strolled around the city, took a tour of the cathedral in the square before manicly searching for tour guides for the rest of the afternoon. Eventually, after enquiring and pricing we found a tour we liked to the Colca Valley.


The tour bus collected us at 7.30am, where we joined 2 other American couples and our tour guide Tad (or Tadhg as we nicknamed him!). At every turn up the windy but good road up to the mountains there was spectaculour scenery - the volcanoes, vicunias, desert land, snow & ice, random Andean locals in the middle of nowhere selling their goods, and not to forget - the highest (altitude of 4910 metres) toilet I have ever used!

...I was desperate!

 We arrived to our destination for the night, a beautiful ski-like lodge, Mamayattchi, in the village of Coparaque. It was like a haven in the middle of what you could compare to a rural Irish village 50 years ago.



The lodge had panoramic views from the lounge/ dining area of the Andes and a taste of the Colca Valley; and at night, despite the lights from the nearby towns of Yanque and Chivay you could see more stars than if viewed from an observatory!


Inside the cabin we were treated to a buffet lunch as we arrived, and by night we all relaxed by an open fire with the local equivalent of a "hot one" before sitting into another tasty meal of local traditional dishes.

After our lunch we decided to take a stroll around this sleepy, pretty village. We wandered up a side road (just like any boithrin at home!), and found a young boy teasing ponies, a horse randomly standing on the road tied to a pole, and a local on his roof repairing the thatch! 

We explored the oldest church in the Colca Valley, chatted a little with some locals we met along the way and soon headed back to the lodge after bumping into our new San Fran friends, Joe & Gail.

After a beer and stroll around the nearby town of Chivay, we agreed we were staying in the quieter, unspoiled village of Coparaque and retired to bed early after a drink, some story telling and most of all a bit of craic! 

What a breathtaking scene - as dawn broke over the Andes in the distance at 5am. We soon headed off after breakfast to see the famous condors in flight 2 hours away to the Colca Canyon. I have to say I wasn't expecting to be blown away by this - after all it is just a few larger than usual birds right? Wrong! 

With a backdrop of an amazing canyon with some scrub, some greenery, rugged mountains, small trails around the mountains that you could barely see in the distance, and a clear blue morning sky overlooking the canyon - we couldn't help but be mesmerized by these amazing Condors as they use the rising warm morning air to fly high above the canyon so they can prey on their food that lies below.

So, back to Arequipa and we plan on an early night since we were up since 5am. We head down for a quick bite in the evening and on the way back to the hostel we pop in to a bar for one last Pisco Sour in The White City!

It wasn't to be - we found ourselves playing (what we thought was) darts with a couple of local lads as their girlfriends watched. We soon found the aim of the game was to get the dart in the small lime above the board which was alot more difficult than it sounds! After about half an hour or more, with the barman now also playing, still no one had succeeded. Until - yes you guessed - Niall successfully gets the darts in! We¨re all cheering and laughing and then the barman serves out Tequilas for the flukey Irish winners. Half an hour later and 2 rounds of drink that the local lads would not let us pay for, and I manage to somehow get the dart in! The place erupts and the barman insists on more tequila and a colourful looking drink that he calls "Machu Picchu"! They all teach us some local dance moves - not sure if it was Tango or Salsa (tequilas were confusing us at this stage!), before we eventually go home after what was a cracking last night with the locals in Arequipa