The White City

Arequipa is the second largest city in Peru, located in the mountains in the south and is surrounded by five volcanoes. It is named the ‘White City’ as most major buildings are constructed with a distinctive white volcanic stone. The central plaza is a squared green park, surrounded by a massive white cathedral on one side and white buildings with arches on the other sides. Behind the cathedral rises a perfect cone-shaped volcano, called ‘El Misti’, to just over 5800 metres. Although placed a little bit in the shadow of the more touristic places in the south, for example Cusco and Lake Titikaka, Arequipa is definitely one of my favourite places in Peru.

The central square by night

 

A volcano rising above the city

 

Outside the city. Everywhere volcanoes.

 

At Sabandia, a little rural village a few minutes from the centre.

Ceviche

Now I have eaten Ceviche. Ceviche is something that is supposedly to be a typical Peruvian dish, made of fish and sometimes seafood, which comes in a spicy cocktail-style serving. I normally quite like this food but when Peruvians claim that “no-one can make Ceviche like us and that all Ceviche made elsewhere is simply bad and disgusting”, it is simply just not true. I still would claim that the Ceviche I have had in Ecuador is the best, with El Salvador on the second place. But still, I decided to give the Ceviche in Lima another go; maybe they could prove me wrong.

The Ceviche this time made me feel seriously bad. It was not the fanciest restaurant I went to but I would consider it a relatively clean midrange lunch-place, with many customers. It may only be due to the fact  that there is a bacteria-culture in the food here that I am unused to from Europe (but completely normal for Peru), and in that case it is just a matter of getting used to it the hard way. An inevitable sickness.

After only a day of stomach ache, some vomiting and general sickness I recovered and can now eat everything again.

But thank you so much for that, Peruvian Ceviche. You are still not ranked very high.

Ceviche

Lima

Lima has kept me busy for a while. The huge city has a population close to the whole country of Sweden, and distances are large. The amazing thing about Lima is that is has no serious transportation system at all and wholly relies on taxis and a myriad of bus lines. Many of these bus lines are run with buses no larger than an old classic VW bus and to get anywhere quick in the morning or afternoon is just about impossible.

Lima has nothing obvious that attracts loads of tourists and would be considered boring by many but if you can get past the transportation issue, there are some very nice jewels worth a visit here and there.  I have been staying in the area Miraflores, which is an upscale area where most tourists stay, a little bit more expensive but for the security it can be worth it. Here is much of Lima’s nightlife concentrated and a hefty police presence makes it the probably safest place in the city and streets are walkable at practically any time. This is rare in Peru, and in particular in Lima.

I have visited many parks and commercial centres these days. The animal park Parque de las Leyendas had some lions and zebras but also many peruvian animal species and birds, for example Llamas and vacuñas. Parque de Las Aguas has an amazing display of fountains and features a sound and light show at night displayed on columns of water.

And for the one who is not happy about the sights, there is always the food. Lima has an impressive range of typical peruvian food mixed with world cuisine at good prices. Especially if going out of the slightly more expensive Miraflores.

They also currently have the Cow-Parade in Lima, which is always entertaining. Cows everywhere.