Vacation to Arequipa

I recently returned to Huallanca after an amazing 12 day long vacation to Arequipa and Bolivia. It was an incredible trip and I have many wonderful photos and adventures to share. In this blog post, I will share photos of Arequipa and in a few days I will post another post with photos and stories from Bolivia :)

Arequipa is an amazing department in Southern Peru. There are currently a few Peace Corps Volunteers down there who we met up with to have a big Thanksgiving dinner. About 30 volunteers from all over Peru met up in Arequipa for our Thanksgiving vacation. Arequipa is a beautiful area and the capital city (also called Arequipa) is incredible! We of course had a Thanksgiving dinner but instead of cooking American food we decided to go to a Peruvian restaurant to eat traditional Arequipeña food. 

El volcan Misti 

The view from our hostel at sunset. 

Watching the sunset on top of our hostel. 

The main plaza at night. 

The main plaza during the day. 

American spirit :)

My Thanksgiving meal: A traditional Arequipeña dish called  "Rocotto Relleno" (stuffed peppers)

The funnest part of the trip was being reunited with my fellow volunteers and just getting to hang out and laugh together :)

After spending a few days in the city, we headed out to the Colca Valley where there are many cute little towns and also the famous Colca Canyon. I got to see two of my Peace Corps friend´s sites where they live and work and they were just adorable towns.

Here are some photos of adorable Chivay in the Colca Valley:

It´s a very touristy little town so they have a whole street full of fun statues that pertain to the Chivay culture and traditions :)

The sun setting on the mountains

Beautiful sunset!

One of my closest Peace Corps friends lives in a town called Cabanaconde which is where the start of the Colca Canyon hike is. The Colca Canyon is the deepest Canyon in the world and is a big attraction for international tourist. The hike is generally done in two days and one night. The first day is mostly down hill and you end in the bottom of the canyon at a beautiful oasis. We stayed at a cute little hostel in the oasis that had a refreshing pool that felt amazing to jump into after a hot and very sweaty day full of hiking. Hiking out the next day was definitely a good workout and a lot of fun :) We made it to the top exhausted but feeling great!

My dear friend Emily lives in the town where the start of the Colca Canyon is so she was a great tour guide for us :) Here she is with a local woman from her town. I LOVE the traditional Arequipan dress. 

Our lovely group of 8 ladies at the start of the hike. 

The view from the start of the hike 

Stopping for a snack break in the shade on the first day of the hike 

The end of the hike-we all had very dusty boots!

The oasis

Our cute little hostel at the oasis 

Enjoying a refreshing swim 

Made it to the top!!

Feelin´great :)

The same day we finished hiking the Colca Canyon, we headed to the border to start our Bolivia trip...but more on that in the next blog post :)