An Adventure in La Campina

This morning, our whole group went on an excursion to la campina (that is, the countryside). Oh man -- it is really cool!! And I learned so much!!!

First, we went to a place where we could get a good view of the Valle de Arequipa. It the is a very green area on either side of the Chili River. There is a lot of farming there. In fact, they have three harvests a year in this area!! They grow a lot of alfalfa. Since the terrain is so hilly, the fields are all different levels, and our guide said that some of the walls and irrigation that we saw is from PRE-Incan times!!!

Other things that I learned at Valle de Arequipa:

1. Chili is a word in Quechua, an indiginous langauge spoken in Peru, and it means 'cold'. The waters of the Chili River are cold because they come from the mountains.

2. The area around the river is known as Chilena, another Quechua word that means that it's around the Chili River.

3. Arequipa is surrounded by mountains and three volcanoes that tower above the moutains. There are 82 volcanoes in the region of Arequipa, but only three can be seen from the city.

4. The tallest of the three volcanos is Chachani. In Quechua, Chachani means 'white dress'. It is called Chachani because there is a lot of snow on its peak.

5. El Misti is the city's favorite volcano.

6. Pichu Pichu is the third volcano. It is actually made of up 14 peaks, and that's why it is called Pichu Pichu--in Quechua, Pichu means 'peak', so Pichu Pichu means 'many peaks'.

Valle de Arequipa with El Misti in the background.

Valle de Arequipa with Chachani in the background -- and you can see the Chili River here, too!!

After seeing the Valle de Arequipa, we drove through home-sweet-home Yanahuara. Yanahurar is also a Quechua word, I learned, that means 'black pants'. Our guide told us that when Yanahuara was founded, the people who lived there had to wade across the river to get to the center of Areqipa, so their pants got wet and looked dark. Yanahuara is one of the oldest parts of the city and looks a lot like the cities in the Andaluz region of Spain. I also learned more about sillar (remember, that's the white volcanic rock that is used in many of the buildings in the city). Sillar is only found in this part of the world, and it is especially useful here because it is a very strong rock, so it can withstand earthquakes.

Next, we went to the Mansion del Fundador, that is, the historic home of the founder of Arequipa. It is a huge house with beautiful gardens. Finally, we went to el Molino, which is a historic mill not far outside of the city.

Here I am with Emily and Fuller in front of a bright blue wall at the Mansion. Many buildings are painted very bright colors here.

And see the lovely gardens!!! The flowers are doing well, probably because no one tries to transplant them. :-)