Arequipa, a city that is the second most populous, is very much different from Lima. It immediately reminded me of those small cities out in the country-side. The roads are narrow, and dusty. Tallest buildings are of 3 or 4 stories. One cannot see the appeal of Arequipa until one reaches the central location, Plaza De Amas.
My friends told me that tPeruvian cities are set up in a way that, there is always a central plaza, which is the main plaza. Then, a church and the resident/office of the mayor of the town will be situated right across from the plaza. Peru, being a very religious Christian country, has several churches. 
It was a little bit before 9 A.M when the taxi driver dropped me of at the town center. I am staying at Los Andes Bed and Breakfast, an establishment that is obscured from the street had one not notice the hostel's sign or pay attention to the address. For $28 a night, the room is spacious and definitely better than the ones in Miraflores. Not to waste any time, I freshened up and left to get some food. El Turko I was within 15 minutes walking distance from the hostel. They served chicken kebab. I didn't think food was superb, but it was relatively cheap. After that, the first top is Monastery of Santa Catalina, as it was recommended as a must-see.
Everything in Arequipa is within walking distance. And the volcano, El
Misti, will sure to follow you whichever direction you are headed. Santa
Catalina Monastery is famous for its vividly painted walls. The
monastery was highly popular in the 17th centuries It was a very
prestigious thing to become a nun at the monastery. Originally, the
nuns were asked for a certain amount of endowment in order to live
there, however, this practice was forced to abolished by the Pope later
on. Currently, there are still about 30 nuns living the monastery,
however, the rest of the monastery are open to the public. During the
tour(for 20 soles), the tour guide led us around the monastery, through
different rooms and quarters, which displayed a variety of artifacts. 
The next stop in Arequipa is Catholic University's Museum of Andean Sanctuaries (Museo Santuarios Andinos), which houses Mummy Juanita, a well-preserved frozen body of an Incan girl who was believed to be killed as a sacrifice to the mountain gods. The museum also displays the belongings of Juanita, named after her discoverer, as well as the belongings of two other mummified bodies, a young girl and a young boy. The museum is situated right across from the hostel and it was a small museum. Like everywhere else in Peru, the tour guides led us through the big room with a projector where a documentary about Juanita was shown.
The documentary shown how Juanita traveled to Mount Ampato, where she was killed by a blunt trauma to the head. It was sad to see how a young girl was offered as a sacrifice in such a disgusting manner. And I can't stop wondering how or what she must have felt while embarking on such a journey. Did she not have a choice? Did she believe that she would be helping her people by offering herself as a sacrifice? Seeing her frozen body, in an enclosed case under a dim light, I wonder what kind of curse she is under, to be still under public display and be widely discussed and researched even after her death. I left the museum with a heavy heart, wondering IF the universe has really been created by this unknown supernatural entity and that everything is believed to happen for a reason, what does it really want the humanity to learn from all of this? One cannot help, but wonder...right?
I have been wanting to try the famous Peruvian dishes, Cuy and Alpaca. People told me that Lima has the best seafood and that I should wait to try other traditional dishes in the mountain side. So, the first day in Arequipa, I decided to go to a restaurant that serves traditional Peru food. The first choice was Zig Zag, but after reading the review where a tourist couple, coming out of Zig Zag, took a cab and got kidnapped and robbed of everything. Even though it is true that this does not happen very often, it got me spooked and I decided to try on a different restaurant. This restaurant has a menu with typical Peruvian food and I decided to try Alpaca. It was a bad choice as the meat has a certain smell and has a texture that is not suited to my taste.
The next day, we decided to travel to Yanahuara province, which is about 30 minutes from where we were at. Supposedly, there is a look out where the whole Arequipa can be seen. It was a nice place to sit down and enjoy Arequipa and of course, a few more pictures..
Arequipa was a nice and quiet town. Even though it has not so many things to do for tourists like I am(I'm not interested in seeing 5 churches), I still think that it is a nice town to visit. It is definitely different from Lima, yet not as touristy and commercialized as our next stop, Cuzco.
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