Most cities in the world have a personality, a character
Arequipa is like a lost city, created by the Spanish for the Spanish, it was described as a Spanish oasis surrounding by angry natives
Stories from the local inhabitants help reconfirm that personality. In the early 1700’s it was said that a single priest had 27 children with 27 different women and all the boys were born with light skin and the girls were born brown skinned. Furthermore living under the watchful eye of three volcanoes results in a fatalistic perception,
“we have one minutes notice of the next eruption, just time enough to pray”,
This pragmatic approach is further enhanced with everyone having a story in the recent memory of a tremor/ripple/bump.. resulting in breaking glass, collapsing walls to road pavers flying 2 meters in the sky
If the physical threat is not enough the relationship with Lima has always been tense, resulting in wars/battles/insurrections which Arequipa has always lost – at one stage there were 2 Presidents. The legacy of the Spanish Arequipa has always resulted in support by other nations to support Lima in any conservative royalism counter revolution conducted by Arequipa
As you move out of the city center, the subtle smell of sulphur permeates the nostrils… pooh scary. But this city is smart 75 higher end institutes – unfortunately the majority of the graduates are driving taxis
Arequipa the headlines
- First settled by the Spanish in 1540 and it became the Spanish Royal capital of South America.
- It is called the “White City” because much of it is built out of seller, a rock of white volcanic
ash [how appropriate]. - Arequipa is now the second largest city in Peru with one million inhabitants located at an altitude of 2325 meters
- Arequipa is also known to its residents as the city of eternal Spring, with average monthly temperature of 75 degrees.
- The city is a city of notable contrasts where significant wealth and division are displayed, 8 families own the city and that influence goes back the original Spanish inhabitants, this includes one family who own 80% of all the shops in the city center [tourism zone]
- It is also home to the Santa Catalina convent, where these wealthy families used to allay their sinful guilt by sending their second daughters into the nunnery, this is the most amazing property and the personal guide provided an amazing picture of the life in the cloistered nunnery – servants and all
The city center is undergoing a major refurbishment and the tourist zone, with all its churches, art galleries is undergoing a significant face lift and this also presents 2 Arequipas – the historic center is beautiful and almost a step back in history [not quite disneylandesque..but] , but as you move out into communities, these are poor, not a little poor but very deprived with absolutely no infrastructure
Township are being created on the side of El Misto by the population flow or rural emigrants coming to the city, there is also the ongoing legacy of Shining Path agrarian revolution, but these ghetto townships have no water, no electricity
The contrast is in the city centre where the wealthy live in luxury mansions in gated communities, I accidentally walked through a gate on my wanderings and was quickly approached by a suited gentleman, after initial pleasantries he asked if I had taken any photos inside the gate I indicated no and he assisted me in getting back on my path – he spoke with a US accent and was miked up – interesting
In the CBD they have also adopted the cluster shopping approach ,a bit like Vietnam, when you want shoes you go to shoe street, this is similar in Arequipa with an interesting slant, if you want laser eye surgery to correct your vision you of course go to laser eye surgery street with 30-40 professional shops selling 40 minutes surgery for $50 per eye, jewellery – 40 shops in multiple arcades selling jewellery…
As a side note there did seem to be an abnormal number of blind beggar musician disporting their skills near all the tourist attractions
The hotel is centrally located and spending 5 nights in the town provided me with data to a very interesting research program, the thesis being
“What is the key relationship between an individuals nationalistic tendencies and the breakfast buffet”
My own observations were that the Dutch owned the buffet and no matter how much restoring undertaken by diligent staff there was never enough
One early morning I ventured into the restaurant and the buffet had had a bit of a hammering, I spoke to the waiter and said you have had a busy morning, he smiled and shrugged his shoulders and nodded to the group of 3 Dutch tourist sitting at the corner table [best view of the buffet] with a huge stack of empty plates
But no, the arrival of the Russians made this group look like L platers, as a side note my view is that Russian woman fall into 2 categories.
- Beautiful woman who would successfully win Miss
World at the age of 55 without makeup, tall willowing and absolutely stunning. - The second group could throw their cows over their shoulders and carry them through 2 meters of snow to the paddock without a sweat.
The Russian menfolk could all easily get a walk on roll as a Orc in any of the Tolkien epics
On my first night out and about, there was an peaceful environmental protest, about 100 folks with candles chanting and singing, 100 meters away the heavy hand of riot police fully kitted out, don’t think there will be a problem
I was enticed upstairs to the tourist restaurant for the view of the square, could not bring myself to eat Guinea Pig so just went for the trout again, very nice as always
Almost finished and I was surround by a 6 piece Mariachi band, why me – go pick on the other tourist, after 6 endless ballads that sounded the same, the hat came out, I tossed a couple of soles and the hat stayed, a stand off took place, I asked the waiter for the bill quickly, but forgot that Google translate was still being helpful with my other blog….. English to Latin, no wonder he was confused when I asked for my “ratio’ instead of the “cuenta”
As I was heading back I noticed a small Q so I wandered over and there was a middle aged man “rat tat tatting” on a Remington typewriter completing what appeared a range of tasks for his customers
The day had been very hot and I was amused with the young Japanese tourist obsession in not getting burnt she was wearing full face mask with the graphic of a skull, all a bit macabre
Spoke to the waiter on my return and he lamented that 15 more Russian had just arrived, he was very worried and had moved 2 more serving tables into the restaurant, I missed the circus as I was adios to Arequipa with a 4.30am start