City of Arequipa

Arequipa better known as the "White City", with much justice deserves the name. Vastness of the city was built of chairs, a white volcanic rock. Three volcanoes in fact flank the city Chachani, Misti, and Pichu Pichu.

Founded on August 15th 1540 by Manuel Garcia de Carbajal, Arequipa is the second important city of Peru. It is located at 2.325 meters (8792 feet) above sea level. It is also the capital of the department of the same name

The city commemorates the foundation with a show that lasts an entire week. The fireworks that take effect in the Plaza de Armas are spectacular. The city is full of churches and houses dating back to colonial times. Santa Catalina, a convent built in 1579, was restored and opened in 1970. It is surrounded by impressive high walls, and is like a city within another city. The nuns who lived there led a life completely isolated from the secular world outside. Now they live in a smaller screen and the rest of the monastery is open to the public.

El Misti volcano is dormant, but Arequipa wakes every morning in constant boiling. And although the summit are regularly small clouds of smoke, not so the Arequipa-proud as few of its earth-stop inviting tourists to tour its streets and its traditional white squares. The majestic city of Arequipa to the characteristic color of their homes and other buildings to the ashlar stone of volcanic origin, with which they are made.

The magnificent Cathedral in the Square was rebuilt in 1844, the Company (Jesuit Church) in the south-east of the Plaza de Armas one of the oldest churches in Arequipa who survived frequent earthquakes affecting the region, San Francisco, Mercy and some of the restored houses (Casa del Moral and the Casa de Tristan del Pozo) effort worth a visit.

To take a look at the impressive Misti, I recommend going to Yanahuara which is very close to the city center all you have to do is cross the river via the bridge Chili Grau, take Avenida del Ejercito, and then the street Lima leads to a small square.

The church located in the square is also worth a visit. If you want to taste the dishes rather, contact the picanterías Sol de Mayo, a traditional restaurant serving typical dishes from Arequipa. It recommended that "Rocoto stuffing." Also at this location may prove Chicche, which is presented in vessels called giant babies.
Not far from Yanahuara Cayma is another suburb with a historic church and a beautiful view.

While in Arequipa not forget to visit the Colca Canyon, which they say is the world$#39s deepest. To see the deepest parts must stay in place and then a walk. At the same route as there are several interesting towns of Chivay, which is just 160 km from the city of Arequipa. At the same route can be seen Ampato which rises 6288 meters. The endpoint is the Cruz del Condor lookout, passing and Chivay before Cabanaconde. From the viewpoint of the river is observed to a depth of 1200 meters.

LOCAL TOURIST

Plaza de Armas in the city of Arequipa
Surrounded by the Cathedral Church and various websites, the Plaza de Armas has a beautiful bronze fountain of three dishes topped with the figure of a soldier of the sixteenth century. A character that is called the "Tuturutu", which the story was to warn of anything new. Around the square you can see three portals made of granite and brick vaults and lime: the Portal del Cabildo (Portal of the Municipality), the Portal de las Delicias (Portal de San Agustin) and Joy Portal (Portal Flores).

Cathedral of the city of Arequipa
It is considered one of the early seventeenth-century religious monuments in the city. It was built in ashlar (volcanic stone), with brick arches, was destroyed by fire in 1844 and rebuilt in 1868 by architect Lucas Poblete Arequipa. It is neoclassical and income to the temple is located in the aisles. Was severely hit by the earthquake of 2001 which seriously affected its towers.
Visits: Plaza de Armas. Tel: (054) 23-2635 / 40-5393. Views: 7:00-11:30 and 17:00-19:30 LS D 7:00 to 13:00 and 17:00-19:00.

Church Complex Company
Intersection of the streets General Alvarez and Thomas Moran, Plaza de Armas in the city of Arequipa. This set is composed of several buildings erected by the Jesuits for religious purposes such as housing and form a representative monuments of religious architecture typical of the seventeenth century (1660). In the midst of all the temple stands. The Church of the Company was designed in 1573 by Gaspar Baez and was destroyed by an earthquake in 1584. The current structure dates from 1650. It has about 66 paintings of the Cuzco School, artists such as Bernardo Bitti and Diego de la Puente.
Visits: Monday to Sunday from 09:00 to 11:00 and 15:00 to 18:00

Complex and Church of San Francisco
The complex includes the Franciscan church, a convent and a smaller temple known as the Third Order in the church are the baroque pulpit decorated with relief and shortened the front of the silver altar. Furthermore, it has been integrated into one package called the short passage sleevelets San Francisco, which separated the church from what was the first college students and later the women$#39s prison, has now been converted into a commercial center of crafts and is known as "Fundo El Fierro".
Visits: Calle Zela block. 1 s / n. Tel: (054) 22-3048. Church: Visit: Monday through Saturday 7:00-9:00 and 17:00-20:00, Sundays 7:00-12:00 and 17:00-20:00. Convent: Visits Monday to Saturday 9:00-12:30 and 15:00-17:00.

Monasterio de Santa Catalina
Built to house the daughters of the most distinguished families of the city with a religious vocation, the monastery was inaugurated on October 2, 1580, under the advocation of St. Catherine of Siena as a center of absolute closure, and continued until on August 15, 1970.
It occupies an area of approximately 20 thousand square meters and its distribution is similar to that of the first neighborhoods of Arequipa. Presents rooms architecturally very different. One of the rooms has been conditioned as a gallery to exhibit paintings of schools Cusco, Arequipa and influence of Quito. It also has other rooms or areas to visit the Cloister of the Porter, the Pre-Columbian Museum, the Cloister of San Francisco, etc.
Visits: Calle Santa Catalina 301. Visits: L-D 9:00-16:00.

Convento de La Recoleta
Franciscan convent founded in 1648, newly opened to the public in 1978. Presents different styles ranging from Romanesque to Gothic, because of its various reconstructions (latest data 1940). It has four faculties and eleven rooms and two rooms of pre-Columbian art, two rooms dedicated to the Amazon and a room of religious art. It has also an art gallery with paintings of the Cusco and Arequipa school and a valuable library which houses more than 20 thousand volumes and incunabula.
Visits: Jr. Recoleta 117. Tel: (054) 27-0966.Lunes to Saturday 9:00-12:00 and 15:00-17:00.

Church and Convent of Santo Domingo.
Architecturally, this church marked the bell tower, with its atrium and impeccable corner pedestal bow below the chorus. On the inside you can see pieces of canvas with imagery and sacred grounds. Similarly, the home side is known for being the oldest of Arequipa. The cloister of the monastery was built more around 1734.
Address: Intersection of streets and Santo Domingo Rivero. Phone (054) 21-3511.
Visits: Monday to Saturday 7:00-12:00 and 15:00-19:30, Sundays 5:45-13:00 and 18:30-19:45

Casa del Moral
Eighteenth-century mansion, is one of the oldest architectural monuments and important Baroque Arequipa. The house takes its name from an ancient tree that grows blueberries in your yard major. It has furniture from the colonial and republican. Sillar on the cover is a work of art in which carefully carved figures are appreciated. For example, a crown on a shield is held by two angels, in turn, the shield consists of a castle, a bird, a puma and two crossed keys. It also highlights a room with maps "old" America in the sixteenth century.
Address: Calle Moral 318, Cercado. Visits: Monday to Saturday 9:00-17:00 and 9:00-13:00 holidays.

Barrio de San Lázaro
5 blocks from the Plaza de Armas in the city of Arequipa.
This neighborhood of narrow streets, narrow passages, small squares and large houses is the most representative of the former Arequipa. In that place were Dominican priests in 1538, building a chapel for the evangelization of the natives of that place and prepare the ground for founding a new Spanish city. Highlights a small bridge that connects the St. Lazarus Church today and its square with the rest of the neighborhood.

Casa Goyeneche.
Casona de sillar mid-sixteenth century, fully respecting its colonial style décor. Preserved paintings of the Cuzco school and sculptures from the Granada school of the seventeenth century. It owes its name to Don Juan de Goyeneche and Aguerreverre who acquired in 1782. He is currently the headquarters of the Central Bank in Arequipa.
Address: Calle La Merced 201. Tel: (054) 21-2251. Visits: Monday to Friday 9:15-15:00

San Agustin Church
Built in 1575, has a facade dating from the first half of the eighteenth century and is considered one of the best of his era. Belongs to the architecturally baroque sillar dominant in its construction. Inside the temple include the dome, and especially neoclassical altars altar, carved by his careful and its applications in gold leaf.
Address: Intersection of San Agustin and Bolivar streets. Tel: (054) 22-0066. Visits: Monday to Saturday 8:00-12:00 and 17:00-19:00, Sundays 8:00-13:00 and 17:00-19:00.
 
La Merced Church
Its construction began in 1551 and was completed in 1607. Has an attractive home side which emphasizes the image of the Virgen de las Mercedes and two saints Mercedarian. It houses important works of art as the "Apparition of the Virgin to San Pedro Nolasco" in the sacristy, and a series of tables relating to the Virgen de la Merced, in the chapter house. Both the church and the convent, built in the second city, were built using sillar Arequipa. The faculty maintains a library dating from the colonial era.
Address: Intersection of the streets of La Merced, and Tristan. Tel: (054) 21-3233.
Visits: Monday to Friday 8:00-13:00 and 16:00-19:00 and Saturdays 8:00 to 12:00.

Casa Tristán del Pozo
Traditional colonial house whose facade exhibits carved baroque style, and has broad and distinctive interior courtyards. It was built in 1738 for the general Sunday Tristán del Pozo. It is currently owned by Banco Continental.
Address: Calle San Francisco 108. Tel: (054) 21-2209.
Visits: Monday to Friday 9:15-12:45 and 16:00-18:00 and Saturday 9:30-12:30.

Archaeological Museum at the University of San Agustin
It displays a varied collection that includes lithic objects, skeletal remains of human sacrifices, ceramics cultures of Nasca, Tiahuanaco, Huari and Inca, and objects of gold and silver from the Inca and colonial times.
Address: Intersection of streets and Álvarez Thomas Palazzo Vecchio. Tel: (054) 28-8881.
Visits: Monday to Friday 8:15-16:15.

Museum of Archeology at the Catholic University of Santa Maria de Arequipa
The museum displays about 1000 objects (ceramics, textiles, funerary bundles, stone objects, wood and metal) of the different cultural groups developed in the department since 12,000 BC until the colony: Nasca, Tiahuanaco, Wari, Churajón, Acari, Aruni and Inca, as well as colonial and transitional material.
Address: Calle Cruz Verde 303. Tel: (054) 95-9636. Visits: Monday to Friday 9:00-12:00 and 14:00-17:00

Andean Sanctuaries Museum of the Catholic University of Santa Maria
Shown at the Lady of Ampato, Inca mummy of a girl of 12 or 14 years, found at the top of the volcano climber Ampato by Miguel Zárate, José Chávez archaeologist and anthropologist Johan Reinhard, 8 September 1995. According to experts, it is very likely that the child whose remains were found frozen dead from a blow to the head with a club of five granite peaks. Apparently he was an offering to the Apu Ampato and seniority dates back some 500 years.
Address: Calle La Merced 110, Cercado. Tel: (054) 21-5013. Visits: Monday to Saturday 9:00-18:00, Sunday 9:00-15:00.

Urbanizacion Selva Alegre
Considered the "garden city" for its extensive parks and huge trees that blend with modern houses in the area. In Selva Alegre has erected a monument in honor of Juan Pablo Guzman and Vizcardo, precursor of independence. Also, the Molino de Santa Catalina, fully renovated, located on the boardwalk of that development.

Lookout Yanahuara
A 2 km from the city of Arequipa (8 minutes by car).
It was built in the nineteenth century and comprises a series of arches sillar where they have recorded the words of famous Arequipa. The place has a privileged view of the city and the Misti volcano.

Village Sabandía
8 km south of the city of Arequipa (20 minutes by car).
Extensive andenerías and three volcanoes, the Misti, the Chachani and Pichu Pichu, give context to the landscape that surrounds this traditional village. Some of the houses still retain features of the pattern of colonial or nineteenth-century Republican. It has built a recreational complex with two pools that use the cold water from springs that surround the area.

Mill Sabandía
Located in the town of Sabandía.
Built in 1785, represents the typical architecture of the region where the predominant use of the chair. Are their characteristic rustic solid buttresses and balconies. Also, you can see the techniques used to process wheat, using stone mills.

Mansion of the Founder
9 km from the city of Arequipa (15 minutes by car).
Sillar built on the edge of a cliff, is one of the stately mansions or most important and traditional in the region. According to Garcia Manuel de Carbajal, the founder of Arequipa, built for the son. Later, in 1785, gift of John Chrysostom and Goyeneche Aguerreverre was remodeled and the owner giving the noble characteristics that are appreciated today. The main entrance consists of a hall at the vaulted ceiling, followed by a large patio on the principal that open doors and windows of the rooms.

District Cayma
A 3 km south of the city of Arequipa (8 minutes by car).
Cayma town is known as the "Balcony of Arequipa" for its privileged location that allows a glimpse of the whole city. Its central plaza is home to the church of St. Michael the Archangel, built in 1730 and considered an architectural gem by its facade mestiza. Cural annexed into the house retains the "Comedor de Bolívar, where, as is, the Liberator had lunch during their stay in the village.

Misti Volcano
A 20 km northeast of the city of Arequipa, you reach the slopes of the volcano (1 hour 4x4 truck).
El Misti, with its 5825 meters, is the tutelary image of the city. From the top of its summit you can see the city of Arequipa, the Chili River valley and the volcanoes Chachani and Pichu Pichu.

Yura Thermal Baths
A 27 km north of the city of Arequipa (45 minutes by bus).
Spa pools located on the flanks of the volcano Chachani to 2575 masl. Are known for the therapeutic properties of its waters, whose temperature fluctuates between 23 ° and 28 ° C. Between the years 1810 and 1831, Jose and Walnut Noguerol built pools that remain until today.

Caves Sumbay - Rock Art
A 97 km north of the city of Arequipa by road Caylloma (1 hours 45 minutes by bus).
Located within the National Reserve of Salinas and Aguada Blanca, home to more than 500 rock art figures. Such representations, made possible by the first settlers of the area, have a length of approximately 6000 to 8000 years.

Nevado Chachani
A 55 km north of the city of Arequipa (2 hours on 4 x 4 truck). You reach the base camp and from that point you start walking about 6 hours. lacumbre up.
Considered one of the hardest mountain climb in Peru, the snowy reaches over 6075 meters. It is also a dormant volcano, but the lava is still visible and presents small gullies and moraines.Are needed to climb two days and a night.

District Yarabamba
A 21 km south of the city of Arequipa (35 minutes by car).
The name of the district comes from two Quechua voices: "yaro" or "Yara", a shrub typical of the area, and "bamba", meaning "pampa". In town you can visit the mansion and the Arenas Pinto and the house of the colonial and Rivera Echevarría.

District Quequeña
A 25 km southeast of the city of Arequipa (40 minutes by car).
This area has been inhabited by lupacas, Aymara, Quechua, Collaguas, puquinas and, in the mid-fifteenth century by the Incas. The name of this village comes from the voice puquina "quequeña" which means "strong and rocky place."
The main sites of interest are the Alameda de los Sauces, the Alameda de los Muertos and Guanaqueros Creek, boasts a newly restored church.

Chiguata  District
30km east of the city of Arequipa (45 minutes by car), on the slopes of the volcano Pichu-Pichu.
Chiguata was founded on January 22 1540 by encomendero Diego Hernandez. The name of this village comes from the voices Quechuan "Chiricahua," which means cold and "tripe", which means year (cold all year). Among the main attractions to visit are the temple of the Holy Spirit and the archaeological sites of Tambo de Leon and Infiernillo.

District Tiabaya
A 10 km from the city of Arequipa (15 minutes by car).
Valle purely agricultural, is believed to have lived in it as ethnic kuntis of Cabana, and the Yanahuara Chumbivilcas. On November 8, 1870 he was awarded the title of "city" and is famous for its picanterías.

District Characato
A 10 km from the city of Arequipa (15 minutes by car).
Location with lots of vegetation and abundant water, ideal for farming. Very close to the village lies an eye of water called "Eye of the Miracle." It has a beautiful colonial church. Previously, residents of that area were working at the nitrate in the south, now in the territory of Chile, where local people were asked where they met "in Characato, sir", hence the nickname that All Arequipa is called "Characato.

National Reserve of Salinas and Aguada Blanca
A 35 km. northwest of the city of Arequipa (1 hours 30 minutes by bus).
Its area is nearly 367 hectares, covering territory in the provinces of Arequipa and Caylloma (Arequipa Region) and General Sanchez Cerro (Moquegua Region) was created to preserve important associations of flora and fauna, protected natural environments that were in the process of destruction and deterioration, and protect the vicuña through a program of resettlement. The reserve is located between 2800 and 6050 m, and within it are the volcanoes Misti (5825 masl), Chachani (6075 m) and Pichu Pichu (5664 m).

Among the most representative species of the reserve include vizcacha, fox, condor and the Andean flamingo or parihuana. Scientists have determined the existence of 169 species, of which 24 are mammals (including two forms of domestic South American camelids), 138 species of birds (among which divers ducks, eagles and kestrels), 3 reptiles, 4 3 amphibians and fish. Salinas Lagoon is considered a privileged place to observe the parihuanas at the time of migration.

Distances from the city of Arequipa:
- Camana (Camana province) 173 km / 2 hours and 30 minutes.
- Caravelí (Province Caravelí) 382 km / 7 hours.
- Aplao (Provincia de Castilla) 178 km / 3 hours.
- Chivay (Caylloma province) 162 km / 3 hours and 45 minutes.
- Chuquibamba (Province Condesuyos) 234 km / 5 hours.
- Mollendo (Province of Islay) 113 km / 2 hours and 15 minutes.
- Cotahuasi (Province of La Union) 379 km / 12 hours.

GETTING THERE

Airway: Aero Continente flight from Lima to Arequipa live, every day.
Road: The road trip from Lima to Arequipa is about 17 to 21 hours depending on whether or not it stops. The lines that travel this route are: Ormeno, Southern Peru and Southern Cross. Most make stops in the cities of Ica, Nazca and Chala Camana before reaching the city of Arequipa.