Arequipa, the white city.

Arequipa is called the white city because the cathedral, the colonial buildings with colonnades around the central square, the Plaz de Armas, and most of the houses are build with white (very light grey) volcanic stones. In the Peruvian sunlight this looks very bright.

 Entrance of the Cathedral.

We arrived in the morning after a trip on a night bus. So first we had breakfast at the Plaza de Armas in a restaurant on the first floor with a good view of the Cathedral (1612) and overlooking the Plaza.

Every time the towers were damaged by one of the many earthquakes they were rebuilt.

I did my best to get a decent picture of this very, very long front of the Cathedral.

Sitting on the fist floor it is nice to watch the activities in the square.

There are lots of people who cannot read or write in Peru. Here in Arequipa they go to the square, where there are some men with typewriters who will write a letter for you.

It is also a good place to read the morning newspaper.

Or to prepare the goods to sell today.

We could stay in Arequipa all day. So we went to see Juanita, the mummy that was found in 1995 on the slopes (near the top) of the volcano Ampato. The girl climbed the mountain 500 years ago as a gift to the gods by the Inkas. It was worth going there, but no pictures (anyway it was far to dark inside to take pictures). Amazing how well the clothes and her body are preserved. Take care to wear a fleece when you go to the museum (Musea Santuario Andinos) it was freezing cold in the museum.

We also went to the market San Camilo and to the convent of Saint Catalina. More about this in the next blogs.

In the evening the Plaza de Armas is even more busy then in the daytime. 

Finally we sat down for some dinner in the small street behind the Cathedral. This day we really noticed that we were more than 2300 meters high up in the mountains. And this was only the beginning.

My companion told me the local beer was just fine.