Arequipa travel guide

The city of Arequipa stands in a beautiful valley at the foot of El Misti volcano, a snow-capped, perfect cone, 5822 m high, guarded on either side by the mountains Chachani (6057 m) and Pichu-Pichu (5669 m). The city was re-founded on 15 August 1540 by an emissary of Pizarro, but it had previously been occupied by the Aymara and the Incas. It has since grown into a magnificent city – fine Spanish buildings and many old and interesting churches built of sillar (a pearly white volcanic material almost exclusively used in the construction of Arequipa) exude an air of intellectual rigour and political passion. Among its famous sons and daughters are former President Fernando Belaúnde Terry and the novelist and failed presidential candidate, Mario Vargas Llosa . Now, Arequipa is the main commercial centre for the south and its fiercely proud people resent the general tendency to believe that everything is run from Lima.