January 15, 2025
AREQUIPA, PERU - The White City
The route back from Machu Picchu to the ship had us flying from CUSCO to AREQUIPA, PERU as the closest airport to the Port of MATARANI. While sitting on the runway at the airport we found out that CUSCO airport is in the top 4 toughest airports in the World to land and takeoff, due to the extreme altitude and narrow mountain pass. Yikes! All went smoothly and we landed in under an hour. We asked the tour company we hired to drive 13 of us back to the port to first spend some time in the city of AREQUIPA, since it is known as the white city. Can't say it was as dazzling as the Blue City in Morocco, but the brief time we spent in the central square was nice.
Group from left to right - Sue & Ed, Hiedi & Gordon, Bob, Sheri,Ellie, Cris & her daughter Alexa, Wade, Starr, Me and Calvin.
After we left the square, we had roughly a 3-hour drive to the Port through the desert. Almost every major city in South America has a version of the Christ the Redeemer Statue - all supposedly facing the original in Rio. The Desert is covered in salt, the salt in the soil is from Volcanic deposits and what gives them the unique building product called sillar to build the White City. It swirls like snow, but clings to the lower levels versus the peaks. Arequipa is surrounded by 3 volcanoes, but it was too hazy to get clear pictures of them in the skyline.
