Our original plan was to only spend 4 or 5 days in Arequipa. However a gentleman from Canada who was staying at our hostel in San Jose, Costa Rica talked us into extending our stay. He was so convincing that I immediately extended our reservation. We were glad we did.

Arequipa is the second largest city in Peru but the central area is very walkable. If you need to go further, getting a taxi is not a problem. I think there are more taxis per capita in Arequipa than anywhere I’ve ever been. The city can be loud with all of the honking from taxis trying to pick up fares, but luckily our apartment was down a pedestrian alley so we had a quiet little oasis in the center of the city.

We spent a week in a great little apartment in the historic center. There were three other people staying there. Everyone had their own bedroom and shared the kitchen, bathroom and terrace. There was Roberto, the brother of the owner, who was the most cheerful Peruvian we met in our time there. Dwight, a Canadian in his fifties who had retired early after his kids went off to college. He was in Arequipa teaching English. He was also tutoring Roberto in English as well as working with a tutor on his Spanish. Finally there was Lacey from Colorado. She had worked several jobs after college to support her ski bum habit in Colorado. After a few years she decided to put her degree in Spanish to use by first going to Costa Rica to teach English and was now teaching in Peru.

Dwight commented how he thought Arequipa was a great place to learn and practice Spanish as everyone spoke very clearly. We’d have to agree with him because it was the easiest place for us to communicate on the trip so far. Dwight suggested we do a refresher session with his tutor so we scheduled an appointment. She went through the most useful verbs and phrases for traveling and then we asked for clarifications on certain situations where we knew he had been saying the wrong thing.

We didn’t do much in Arequipa. No tours. No museums. I spent a lot of time working on the new website. (It’s coming soon, I swear.) Julie spent a lot of time reading and writing. We walked around town looking for places to eat. We’d go to the city market to shop for food to prepare at home. The Mercado San Camilo is a massive building with vendors sectioned off by their goods offered: Fruits, vegetables, beef, poultry, alpaca, pork, fish, cheese, honey, ají, and more. There are also plenty of food stalls offering roasted pork, ceviche, helado de queso (a local specialty), and various other Peruvian dishes at very affordable prices. Arequipa helped even out our budget in Peru because it was so affordable to eat and cook. Not doing any tours helped, too.

Arequipa was our favorite city in Peru. It was a lively city without being quite as chaotic or massive as Lima. There are a lot of good, affordable restaurants as well as a lot of street food. Mercado San Camilo has almost anything you could want. If we return in the future we will definitely explore the canyons and surrounding area of Arequipa as there is a lot of great hiking available.
More pictures below:









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Great amount of photos. Looks awesome. As for the title of “A Relaxing Week”, you guys are mostly job free and traveling the world, every week should be relaxing. I think the saying goes: “A hectic day in Arequipa beats a slow/good day in the office”, or something like that. Be safe, keep posting.
Thanks Jay. It is true that we don’t have jobs, so you would think we would have a lot of down time. However, most of my downtime is spent researching the next place we are going, booking future buses and hostels/apartments. We also have regular chores like cooking, cleaning and doing laundry.
Julie recently posted…A Relaxing Week in Arequipa, Peru
Jay says that likes he’s actually ever worked a day.
James recently posted…The Agony of Defeat
Ahh…That pile of pork looks delicious!!! Thanks for all the great photos.
Of late I dream of Arequipa…
Seriously sounds awesome. And Sharon can rest easy that Julie’s CG education would never permit her to get a job teaching English to Peruvians. Or anyone else for that matter.
I am a bit disappointed you didn’t climb or at least hike up to Misti.
James recently posted…The Agony of Defeat
Ah, your experience confirms my South American colleague’s advice re: Peru. He said that Lima was okay for a big city, but that the smaller cities were more fun and relaxing (and had great food!).
By the way, what is helado de queso? Ice cheese???
James recently posted…The Agony of Defeat
Very rich ice cream.
Loved the roof top terrace, kickin back with a view. lol
Jerry & Ronda recently posted…A Relaxing Week in Arequipa, Peru
Since you both are such great cooks, have you had any impromptu dinner parties with your flat mates? I would think that there would be a sense of community around living and getting to know the folks who share your kitchen?
Beautiful pics too! Keep posting them!
Everyone is on different schedules so it is a bit difficult. We would find ourselves around the table at similar times though which was nice.
Cheese on the bottom? Explain, por favor.
Can’t have cheese and tomatoes on the same side of the burger….causes slippage.
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Bueno decision de viajar por el mundo, espero que lo pasen bien, me encanta arequipa, suerte