AREQUIPA: the white city

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After two weeks in Lima Gina left on Saturday and arrived home in Erding in the meantime. For me it was time to start moving south.

Sunday 2, early in the morning a taxi took me to the modern and well organized Cruz del Sur bus terminal in Av. Javier Prado. From there it took 7 hours to reach Nazca for a short stop on my way to Arequipa. My plan was to do 30min overflight of the Nazca lines, to have dinner, and to continue to Arequipa.

The bus reached the desert zone where the lines are around 2 pm. It was hot and we could see a small sport plane flying over the desert at low altitude. Great!

However, as I boarded the taxi that was waiting for me at the bus terminal I could see it was not only hot (above 30C I would say) but also very windy. On the way to the small Nazca aiport I asked the driver about the weather; he replied that it was usual for this time of the year and pointing to the horizon he showed a large cloud of dust and sand being carried over the desert. I started to get concerned. 5min later we arrived to the airport and then it became a fact: the authorities had just closed the airport for the rest of the day due  to low visibility at low altitude. C'est la vie. No overflight for me today.

I declined some offers for a drive to the viewing points available because I know them from earlier days, and the dust+sand cloud will lower visibility anyway. I preferred to walk around Nazca and to try the local ceviche. At 10pm I took the Cruz del Sur bus to Arequipa and fall to sleep for the next 8 hours. Around 7:45 am, the bus arrived to Arequipa.

With a population of around 1 million habitants, Arequipa is Peru's second largest city. It was founded in 1540 under the name "Villa Hermoza de nuestra Señora de a Asunción and renamed in 1541 as "City of Arequipa". It is located at 2340m. This moderate altitude was the main reason for me coming to Arequipa for aclimatization to the altitude.

I spent the next day walking around the city, visiting the Cathedral as well as a few other churches. This time I did not visit the Santa Catalina's monastery.

Arequipa's nick name is "Ciudad blanca" (white city) which comes from the many local houses built using local volcanic stone in white color.