Arequipa is downright gorgeous! The city is quite clean with colonial streets and buildings, yet a very modern feel. The plaza de armas offers an incredible green space in the middle of the city and is bustling with tourists and locals alike 24/7. The city is surrounded by 3 snow capped volcanoes (Chichani, Misti, and Pichu Pichu) and it's easy to get glimpes of these ominous majesties from anywhere in the city.
Home to many great museums, restaurants, and cultural festivities - it was really hard to figure out how to fill our 3 days in Arequipa. To make the decision even harder- Arequipa is the home base for many outdoor adventures into the surrounding wilderness, including the infamous Colca Canyon. You can book anything from a half day horseback riding trip to a 14 day rafting trip through the canyon. Gah! The possibilities are endless!
Our first day in Arequipa was spent exploring the town, getting our bearings, and figuring out what excursion we wanted to do the next day. Drumroll!!!!! We picked rafting! To refresh you memory, the last time I went rafting was in the jungle in Ecuador that resulted in a huge stitchable gash to the face and the contraction of a life-threatening water-borne bacterial infection. So, logically, I was a bit nervous about rafting again - but mind over matter had me squeezing into a wetsuit and splash jacket the next day. I chose to tell my parents about this adventure after I made it down the Rio Chilli without a scratch, so as not to make them instantly sprout dozens of grey hairs out of their head.
Rio Chilli is a very appropriate name for the river we rafted; the water was 7C (~45F) and the snow melt from the nearby Chichani volcano. The day was mostly class 2 and 3 rapids, with a few 4s in the mix. Our guide, Pedro, was very talented - getting us down the river without flipping nor any scary encounters with hydraulics like last time. This isn't to say we didn't go swimming. We pulled over to the bank and climbed up a rather tall rock to jump off of. It was quite shocking to be submerged in the frigid water! Brrrrrr! The rafting trip was over so fast, as it always goes. I'm so in my element when rafting and I was beaming ear to ear for every km of that river. What a blast.
That night, we went out to the bar with the folks from the rafting company, who by default are awesome people. Let's be honest - how can you be a whitewater kayaker for a living and not be cool? Even the boss was there to party up saturday night with us - a husky guy with beautiful dreads and dancing on top of the bar by the end of the night. I had such a great time with all of them - proof being I earned myself an invitation to come out on the river with them the next day for free. D'aaaw :)
Pedro asked me to go Salsa dancing, and for the first time during my travels I said yes. We walked Marcia back to our hostel and then headed out to the dance club. I gave him ample warning that his safety was in jeopardy being my dancing partner and all. Despite the help of Jager bombs, I was still horrific dancer to the entertainment of Pedro. If that wasn't enough to draw attention to myself, I also was the only white person, the only blonde haired person, the only one wearing a knee-length dress, the only one with open toed shoes, and I was taller than literally every person there. Regardless, I had so much fun! Pedro was quite patient with me and a really great teacher. Pedro made sure I got back to my hostel safely, and I finally rolled into bed a 3:30am. Mere hours later, I was back on the river with the same awesome crew, taking advantage of my Salsa Dancing Discount (newly coined term). Marcia spent the day exploring museums and went on an epic shopping adventure while I was on the river again.
One of the more interesting parts of our time in Arequipa was when Marcia and I decided to check out a sunday mass at one of the many elaborate churches in Arequipa. I didn't understand anything the priest was saying, but I don't know how much of that was me being in a Catholic church or the fact that the sermon was in Spanish. Visually the church was fascinating - with elaborate pulpits, offerings, and several graphic lifesize Jesus crucifixes. The service didn't last very long, thank god (haha), because the wooden pews were horribly uncomfortable. For Jesus supposedly being a carpenter, they really could have invested in a good planer tool. You could tell that this church, and community, were part of dozens of people's weekly routines. How beautiful to witness such a snapshot in the Arequipa Catholic tradition. Not a typical tourist adventure, but I'm so glad we went.
We spent many hours in Arequipa in the Plaza de Armas - one of the more remarkable town centers of the places I've been. Marcia and I sat on a bench in the middle of the park and taking in some sunshine one afternoon. While Marcia napped, I talked with a guy from New Jersey for awhile who had a very interesting story. He was studying to be a landscape artist, recently finished his service with the Marines, and had won a trip to the Galapagos during the showcase showdown of the Price is Right 3 years back. Also in the Plaza, I met the parents of one of my fellow classmates from Lewis and Clark - this world is getting smaller by the minute! Throughout the entire time we were there, a passive protest was happening in front of the church in the plaza. Similar to the Occupy movement, it seemed quite unorganized, without any goals (I mustered up enough spanish to ask some of the protesters what was up-they all had different answers), and resulted in just a bunch a people sleeping in tents in a public space. Power to 'em, though! It's nice to see that people haven't given up on fighting for what they think is right, especially since the US has taken a few steps back in Civil Rights this week.
As our time in Arequipa drew to a close, we where overcome with that adrenaline kick associated with the final stretch of our trip. Only 3 more days left! We hopped on a night bus from Arequipa to Nazca - a great time to catch up on this blog and some zzzzzzs. Stay classy, folks.
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