I have to admit, I was afraid to leave comfortable and well-developed Chile behind to venture into the unknown and supposedly much poorer Peru. But during my first day here I found that Arequipa at least is enchanting.
Arequipa is a clean, bright city with beautiful colonial buildings all over the center. Especially the area around the Plaza de Armas, and the plaza itself, are fantastic:
The other side of the plaza is dominated by the cathedral, which takes up the entire length of the plaza:
When I wanted to go inside first thing in the morning, I was told that an important ceremony was in progress, and would I please not interrupt but come back in 40 minutes or so. Well, 40 minutes later, the ceremony was still ongoing. And an hour later, the church was suddenly closed. In the evening, as I crossed the plaza again to return to my hostel, I finally found the church open and ceremony-free.
Inside, the cathedral is as huge and spacy as it looks from the outside:
They also have a nicely decorated organ in the back, not hidden upstairs as in so many other churches, but right on the ground floor.
Just before my evening cathedral visit, I went to procure a Peruvian cell phone number. The first carrier I went to said, yeah no problem, just go two blocks further to this other shop of ours. After waiting there for fifteen minutes, they tried to send me back to the original shop with some lame excuse. Well, that's how you DON'T get new customers ;-)
The second carrier was a lot nicer and quicker, and within five minutes I had my new SIM card without even showing my passport. Only as I tried to add credit to my account did the problems start. My phone number didn't seem to be activated although I had already received automated text messages. Two shops later, they found out what the problem was: they had written down a wrong number for me - with the correct one, everything worked perfectly :-)
Arequipa is a clean, bright city with beautiful colonial buildings all over the center. Especially the area around the Plaza de Armas, and the plaza itself, are fantastic:
The other side of the plaza is dominated by the cathedral, which takes up the entire length of the plaza:
When I wanted to go inside first thing in the morning, I was told that an important ceremony was in progress, and would I please not interrupt but come back in 40 minutes or so. Well, 40 minutes later, the ceremony was still ongoing. And an hour later, the church was suddenly closed. In the evening, as I crossed the plaza again to return to my hostel, I finally found the church open and ceremony-free.
Inside, the cathedral is as huge and spacy as it looks from the outside:
They also have a nicely decorated organ in the back, not hidden upstairs as in so many other churches, but right on the ground floor.
Just before my evening cathedral visit, I went to procure a Peruvian cell phone number. The first carrier I went to said, yeah no problem, just go two blocks further to this other shop of ours. After waiting there for fifteen minutes, they tried to send me back to the original shop with some lame excuse. Well, that's how you DON'T get new customers ;-)
The second carrier was a lot nicer and quicker, and within five minutes I had my new SIM card without even showing my passport. Only as I tried to add credit to my account did the problems start. My phone number didn't seem to be activated although I had already received automated text messages. Two shops later, they found out what the problem was: they had written down a wrong number for me - with the correct one, everything worked perfectly :-)
