One day in mid-February, I was musing with another volunteer and friend, Roxy, about what I wanted to do for Semana Santa—Holy Week. For Semana Santa, volunteers receive 4 free days of holiday vacation, so for the avid explorer who wants to see all of Peru, it’s a no brainer to take advantage of the four-day weekend and go somewhere. Spontaneously we agreed to go to Arequipa and not but two days later we had purchased our plane tickets.
Arequipa. La ciudad blanca. The white city.
Arequipa was another place I had put on my bucket list. It was heavily colonized by the Spanish and the food was supposed to be to die for.
In the spirit of keeping our trip spontaneous, we didn’t plan a thing… well, except for what hostel we’d be staying at. We had a running list of ideas of things to do, but we kept our plans for the 5 days flexible. And, it was SO worth it.
Since we didn’t have a schedule, and we had ample time, we were able to soak in the culture, the sights, and most importantly the food. We also didn’t stress ourselves out by trying to be in too many places at once, meaning we could actually RELAX.
As someone who loves colonial Spanish architecture, I immediately was in awe.
We spent a lot of time soaking up a roof-top view of the plaza, valley, and nearby volcanoes.
We toured museums, old houses, and a still-working monastery.
And, we stuffed our faces full of delicious foods.
Arequipa, I’ll be back!
Interested in Arequipa? Below are places we went that I highly recommend:
Food- Chicha por Gaston Acurio, Crepísimo Crêperie, oCacao, La Trattoria del Monasterio
Sites- St. Catherine’s Monastery (Monasterio de Santa Catalina), Casa del Moral, Museo Santuarios Andinos
Brittany McGee 
Hello, very nice pictures, those picarones look huge… glad you had a good time. Did you go to the “Canon del Colca” ?
We did not make it to the canyon, after sleeping through a 3AM wake up call. I’ve heard mixed reviews, but next time I’m down there I think I want to do a 2 day excursion. Have you been? What was your experience like?
Hello, I have not been to the Canyon either, I have only been to Arequipa for work, in fact straight from the bus station to Yura, then back to the station and to Lima…