It took me awhile to decide how long I wanted to spend in Arequipa. Originally I was only going to spend a couple of days and then go visit Nazca to see the lines. I ended up skipping Nazca and spending more time in Arequipa. This was in part due to the amount of time to get to Nazca and part due to the cost to fly over the lines for the limited time. It is at least $150 for only 30 minutes. I decided to relax in Arequipa instead.
My first day I did a Peruvian cooking class where we went to the market, then cooked, then made Pisco sours. For the meal we made ceviche and a fish dish. Both turned out quite excellent! After the class I checked out the area and planned what I would do the rest of my time there.
Day two had me up at 215 am for a tour. I was off to see the Colca Canyon. As with most tours this was focused on much of the history throughout the area. We got to see many sights before seeing a part of the canyon where a number of condors live. We saw at least 10 different condors flying around. From what I am told this is rare. Everyone on the tour was pretty beat after getting up so early. My third and fourth days consisted of doing tours of the city. One day was a walking tour of the downtown area where we saw a number of historic buildings as well as some different eateries that had free trade coffee and coca. The other day was a city and country side bus tour. This was great because it gave me a chance to see other parts of the city I hadn’t seen yet. As Arequipa is the second largest city in Peru, I would not have been able to walk and see everything. I wrapped up my time in Arequipa by heading to the bus station for a 16 hour overnight ride to Lima.