Peru day 10 - Arequipa Day 1

 Arequipa day 1

After waking and thankful that we don't have a 6am tour, we took our time getting breakfast. This hotel is famous for a roof top bar and that's where we have our breakfast every am. 

Hotel buffet at Arequepay Hotel on 4th floor

Arequipa has 1 million people but it's one of the wealthiest town in Peru. (My analogy is Catalunia in Spain).  They have less population and a lot of agriculture and mining but not quite big enough to be autonomous. The outcome is a very pretty city around the Plaza Mayor area and the high areas with a lot of wealthy families. 

The city has a slower pace than Lima. And it's also around 2000 meters in altitude so not enough to have high altitude issues but has great weather. 

It's also a UNESCO heritage site with the entire city made of white sillar stone (hence called the White city) 

The city sights of Arequipa

We wandered around the city before a food tour. 

First is we went to a cloister area that's been repurpose as a shopping area, next to a Jesuit church.

Jesuit church and cloister area 

Cloister influenced by Spanish architecture

Victor has suggested El Dorado for more alpaca shopping.  

We got a good view of Misti at the top of the cloister

View of Misti Volcano on top of cloister

After that we make our way to the market to meet our guide Diana. She's fiercely supportive and proud of Arequipa culture. She also explains that Arequipa has so much wealth from the mining and agriculture that they want to have more say. But Lima doesn't allow them to grow the tourism as much by not allowing an International airport

First stop is we went through the local market. She showed us the hats that men get when they turned 18. And the remedy stores that people go to before seeing a doctor. 

Hat stores and remedy stores

She also showed us the cookies that look like macaroons and the crackers with honey drizzled on it. We bought some and they are yummy! 

She pointed out all the different grade of anise alcohol as they settle the stomach (as part of the issues from high altitude) 

The yogurt drinks are interesting as she said they sell out within a day so they don't bother to refrigerate it. And that gave us a clue to try at the hotel breakfast and they are indeed very good. Rich and thick but tasty. 

Anise alcohol, cookies and food stores in the market

She also showed us a Arequipa drink that's in response to Inca kola! There's a rivalry between Arequipa and Lima so they tend to have competitive things. Then we went to the chicha stores where we can see the chicas moradas being sold. In there we were told the chicas have 1-3% alcohol content due to the fermentation process. 

Energic drink that's competitive to Inca Cola and fresh Chicha store

After that we tried some fruits at a fruits store including the chimorra that's super sour, chimorra that's similar to passion fruit and finally a fruit that I don't know the name but didn't quite enjoy. 

The colorful fruit stores where we tried Maracuya (passion fruit), Tumbo (not our favourite) and Chiramoya

Next stop we walked to restaurant and had tea with dried pineapple slices for sweetener. We are also given a shot of anise alcohol to go with the black tea. But I am not a fan of anise so we just sipped the alcohol instead of mixing it in. After that they gave us a deep fried guinea pig which is a very fresh and well executed. So it's not gamey at all. It also came with 3 slices of alpaca with chimichurri sauce. 

Rogoto restaurant with good Guinea pig and Alpaca

After that we walked through the square and she gave us some info on the cathedral. The left side was totally destroyed during one of the earthquakes. So they had to rebuild using the right side as a model. But they discovered Catacombs under the church during the restoration! 

It is one of the biggest cathedrals in South America that has a facade that extends in a plane. 

Arequipa Cathedral

Our next stop is the rocotta pepper with scalloped potatoes. It's stuffed with 2 kinds of meat and baked in the oven with scrambled egg and milk on the base to protect the peppers from burning. It's one of the tastiest thing I tried during this trip. 

She told us that the peppers been boiled to remove the spiciness which is why it's not spicy when we have it. We tried the real peppers the next day in the same restaurant and it's definitely spicier than a jalapeño! 

Recova restaurant with the stuffed Ricotta peppers 

Next stop we went to the mirador in the Yanhuri region where we can see Misti! 

Yanhuri Mirador

There we walked to a resturant where they showed us how to make a "ocupa" with a stone batun. After that we were served that as a dip to go with eggs or veg. It's not the most appetizing looking dish but very tasty. They mash it with the batan so that you can still taste the individual ingredients. 

Making an ocupa

They also showed how the locals has anise and pisco in a shot glass and chase it with chicha morada or pineapple juice. I think the anise with chica and the pisco with pineapple..

Having shots of anise and pisco with juices and Chicha

 

Last stop is queso helado which is cheese ice cream. It turns out it used to be sold in slices at the high land that looks like cheese. But it's really regular ice cream with honey as sweetener. They lower the temp of the ice with salt in the traditional containers. 

Queso helado

After the food tour, we are too full to eat dinner. So we had an early quiet night reading on the patio