*** Updated June 28, 2009 ***

Accommodations

Colonial House Inn
114 Puente Grau
colonialhouseinn@hotmail.com

• Standard breakfast (rolls, butter, jam, tea, coffee). Although you can ask for anything on their menu for a few soles extra.
• Great view from rooftop terrace.
• Wi-Fi internet.
• Super nice staff, including a sometimes sweet, sometimes vicious kitty.

Tour Agency

Your Peru
412 Avenida Jerusalén

• We used them to book our Machu Picchu trail hike.
• Location includes a nice cafe (with Wi-Fi internet) and a hotel.
• Family run, very friendly. Cash only.

Arequipa BusTour
Leaves from the Plaza de Armas

• Definitely the thing to do if you’re short on time. A 4hr tour of the basic sights for $10. Great value.
• You can’t miss the big yellow buses and ticket vendor in Plaza de Armas.
• Bring sunscreen and water!
• And yell “hi” to our landlords when you visit the Mirador de Yanahuara. We lived about a block from there.

Spanish Lessons

Sumaq Marka
Ericka Loayza Ojeda (General Manager)
Urbanización Agricultura B-14, JLB y Rivero
Arequipa, Peru
(51)(54)958806959
eloayza@sumaqmarka.com

• We loved our classes with Ericka at Sumaq Marka. Here is a longer review I wrote up after our last class.

Restaurants – Near the Plaza de Armas

El Turko
San Francisco 315

• Middle Eastern food. Try the kabab platter or sandwich.
• Also serves up the best pisco sour I’ve had in Peru.

Tacos y Tequila
On Ugarte, near corner with San Francisco

• Great Mexican food for lunch or dinner. Also a relaxed place for drinks when San Francisco gets too crazy.

Salchichería Alemana
San Francisco 137, just a few blocks up from the Plaza de Armas

• Try the “salchipapa completa”, fries with a sliced hot dog and fried egg on top. Yum. Also serves good hamburgers.

Cusco Coffee
La Merced 135

• Feels just like Starbucks. Comfortable setting with couches and small tables for seating. Wi-fi internet.
• Coffee is great. Sandwiches are average.

Various tourist restaurants on Pasaje Catedral
The alley is right behind the Catedral off the Plaza

• There are a variety of tourist restaurants in the alley behind the Catedral, including an Irish pub.
• Seating is shaded, outdoor in the alley or on rooftops.

Restaurants – Yanahuara/Cayma Area

Hong Kong Chifa
Avenida Ejército 502

• There is a sit-down restaurants up top, or take out/fast food on the bottom. Your pick.
• Their combo dinner for two is way too much food, but a good deal for 50 soles. Be prepared to have chifa food for lunch and dinner the next day.

Super Adobo Picantería
One block down Calle Quesada from the Yanahuara Mirador.

• Really, super yummy adobo and other traditional Arequipean foods. Try the stuffed rocoto peppers and fried cheese.

Paquita Siu Gourmet
Calle Granada 102, Cayma

• Fusion Asian food. We went here for the sushi and were disappointed, but what can you expect in land-locked Arequipa? Other options looked like they would be good.

Sites to See

Arequipa Bus Tour

• All the major sites in 4hrs, leaves from the Plaza de Armas

Santa Catalina Convent

• Tour takes about 2 hours and has an entrance fee. (I can’t remember how much… $10?)
• Leave room in your stomach for a snack or meal at their cafe, located about 3/4 of the way through.

Other Iglesias y Conventos

• You can just wander in and out of the many, many colonial houses and churches around the Plaza de Armas. If the gate is open, feel free to walk in and look around.

Museo Santuarious Andinos Universidad

• This museum has a required tour. First you watch a National Geographic movie about the “Ice Maiden”. Then you are ushered through three rooms of artefacts by an English or Spanish speaking guide.
• A tip for the guide is appreciated… We tipped 5 soles. (I have no idea what would be appropriate.)
• Sadly, no cameras allowed!

Mirador de Yanahuara

• A beautiful plaza, church and an arched lookout point over the city.
• If you are there in the evening, there is a family that sells bañuelos (fried bread with honey) on the corner of Avenida Lima and Avenida Bolognesi.

Mirador de Carmen Alto

• An included in the Arequipa BusTour, although you could also take a taxi there for about 5 soles from the Plaza de Armas.
• Amazing views of Inca terracing and surrounding mountains.

Plaza de Armas

• Arequipa’s Plaza de Armas is always buzzing with tourists and locals alike. (Unlike the incredibly stale central plaza in Lima.)
• Plan to spend lunch or breakfast people watching, either in the plaza itself (if you can find a seat) or from the many surrounding restaurant balconies.

Laundry

Lavandería Don Marcelo
Calle Misti 103, Yanahuara
(51)(54)271797

• S./5 per kilo.
• Will pick up/drop off to your home for S./5.