What To See In Arequipa

We took our 9th flight of our South America trip yesterday and landed in Arequipa, the second largest city of Peru.

We were told it was a very beautiful and safe city. For the first part, I absolutely agree, to a degree that I somewhat fell in love with it more than Cusco and Machu Picchu.

Our private guide took us to some beautiful spots, where I believe would be great vantage points to photograph during sunrise or sunset.

We also had a great walking tour in the nooks and crannies of the historic center.

Arequipa 2019-10-09-005.jpg

Compared to our tour in Chinchero, our visit to Alpaca Museum took our alpaca lessons to a new high level.

Before we even hit the museum hall, our two little guys were completely carried away by feeding the alpacas. That turned out to be how we spent most of our time in the museum.

Santa Catalina Monastery is a must visit. It’s probably the most important religious buildings in Peru. Occupying more than a dozen blocks, it is virtually a city within a city. The walking tour usually takes one hour.

As we rushed to our lunch appointment at Zigzag, a popular restaurant with foreign tourists, we cut our tour short and possibly missed a good part of explanation of our tour guide in the convent.

I let off my guard completely after lunch, and had our global WiFi device stolen from my pocket. 

Oh well, that means in the next few places we will have to figure out how to drive or wander around possibly without GPS. How did people do it decades ago?

I decided to skip dinner and take a quick trip myself to photograph sunset - an exercise that can heal me from anything unpleasant. How can you not feel blessed at such amazing scene?! 

Arequipa sunset 2019-10-09-001.jpg

The above photo was a panoramic stitch of 5 vertical images, shot from my Sony A7III and Canon 24-70mm F2.8L lens. Perhaps it was the only time I used this lens during the trip. (See my full list of equipment, and my most often used equipment for the past year).

See more posts about our family trip in Peru.

 

you may also love…