
After an amazing stay at Nasca, I had an overnight journey of 10 hrs to Arequipa city. This town was mainly in my itinerary as this was the city from where all the tours to the Colca Canyon started. Hence I had decided to spend two days exploring the city and exploring the various tour agencies to decided what would be the best option to go with.
I arrived at Arequipa early morning around 7.30 am and took a cab till my hostel. By now I knew that it was best to take a taxi from outside the bus terminal, as the fare was way cheaper that way.The hostel I had booked(based on my reliable sources online) was Bothy Hostel.I arrived at around 8 am and in a while was checked into my dorm. The hostel was on the quieter side and not many guests were currently staying, thus I got the whole dorm to myself. This was a boon which I realized once I returned from my Colca Canyon trek, as peace and quiet and rest was all that I needed at that point.

There is an option of taking a guided tour by paying 20 soles or you can explore the place yourself as well,since the map they provide with the entrance ticket is quite exhaustive and detailed.Plus each room has a placard in different language, explaining the significance of the room. I spent close to 2 hours in this amazing place and thoroughly enjoyed it.


There are different theories of why and how she was sacrificed but this one is the most famous.When the body was found thousands of years later, it was in almost perfect shape with even the skin intact. This body was in a foetal position and was carefully transported all the way to Cusco where numerous tests were run on the body. It was a mystery to the archaeologists as this was the best preserved body found till date in the whole world.Juanita travels to different cities but for most part of the year is in this museum of Arequipa.






I then decided to have an early dinner and go to bed early as I still was tired after the previous nights bus journey.


After having bought the ticket, I rushed to find Plaza San Francisco as that’s where the Free Walking Tour(the same company with which I had done a city tour of Lima) was to start at 12 pm.I spotted the green T shirt as soon as I walked to the park of the plaza and waited for 10 minutes before the group got together.There were 5 of us and the guide Carlos.One was a British couple(who were die hard cricket fans and happened to have watched a lot of matches in India) and the other couple were doctors from North America.
Carlos was a great orator and took us around the small, hidden lanes of Arequipa and explained to us in great detail, the culture of Arequipa.We visited popular streets, churches, went to the point from where all three volcanoes could be seen at the same time, tasted yummy potato dishes at a popular restaurant called Hatunpa etc.
One of the best part of the walking tour as our visit to the Mundo Alpaca.We got to see so many cute, big eyed Alpaca’s and Llama and took like a zillion pictures of them.
Our last stop for the evening was at the Chocolate a factory called Chaqchao. As they say, keep the best for the last.Carlos explained how the chocolate was manufactured from ‘Cacao’ and made us taste few pieces as well as we had the Choco tea.
The tour ended with Carlos asking us a question about naming two of the three volcanoes in Arequipa.As usual, your truly answered correctly and won a free cup of hot chocolate.Oh my god, it was unbelievably good.In the cold,having a hot chocolate with whipped cream and Choco chips is like heaven.Could not have asked for more.
With that came the end of my time in Arequipa. The tour agency was going to come pick me up from my hostel early morning at 3.30 am and hence I slept early to get few hours of sleep.
Arequipa is the perfect little town with a great mix of history, culture and ethnicity. Loved every moment I spent in this town and will always connect Arequipa with great memories.
That’s all for now. Keep reading for my exciting and my very adventurous trip to the Colca Canyon.
Till then,
Chao!
Adios!
Hasta Luego!
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