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Pirwa Hostels Arequipa
Pirwa Park Hostel Arequipa
Welcome to our hostels in Arequipa
Pirwa Park Hostel Arequipa is housed in a renovated colonial home in the charming historical center of Arequipa, a central location just 3 blocks from the Plaza de Armas providing unbeatable convenience.
Its sunny rooftop terrace is the perfect spot to begin your day, enjoying breakfast in the view of El Misti, the iconic symbol of Arequipa.
As in all Pirwa Hostels, you'll meet travelers from around the world and a friendly staff eager to assist you throughout your travels in the city and its surroundings. For an oasis in the city with a warm familial atmosphere, a variety of entertainment options including a movie and game lounge where you can relax while trading stories with other travelers from around the world, and all of the free extras and quality service you've come to expect from Pirwa, you can't do any better than Pirwa Park Hostel Arequipa.
Hostel Promotions in Arequipa
As a gift to our loyal guests & friends, if you stay with us at each stop: Arequipa, Nazca, Puno, Cusco, Machu Picchu, and Lima you´ll get a free night´s stay in whichever city you choose!
About Arequipa
The city of Arequipa in southwestern Peru is the country´s 2nd most populous city. Wedged between coastal desert and western Andean foothills, Arequipa´s daytime climate is sunny and warm throughout the year. The city abounds in natural and manmade beauty. It´s surrounded by fertile river valleys and snowy peaks, its skyline dominated by the volcano trio of Chachani (Skirt), Picchu Picchu (Top Top), and El Misti (The Gentlemen). Along the Plaza de Armas and main streets of Arequipa´s historic center, a UNESCO World Heritage site since 2000, you´ll see the famous pearly white buildings constructed of sillar volcanic rock with their ornate mestizo-baroque façades. The surrounding area presents various trekking and downhill biking opportunities among the volcanoes and mountains as well as excellent rivers for rafting. Horseback ride along the bucolic pastures surrounding the centuries-old Sabandia Mill, explore the Toro Muerto Petroglyphs, watch the grazing vicuña of the Cañahuas Plains, take a walk through the vibrantly colored but serene Santa Catalina Convent complex, or visit the Ice Maiden mummy at the Museum of Andean Sanctuaries.
No visit to Arequipa would be complete without a visit to one of the world´s two deepest canyons, Colca Canyon with its circling Andean Condors (the largest birds of flight in the world) or the deeper Cotahuasi Canyon both of which have original Inca trails still in use, terraces from the pre-Inca period, waterfalls and hot springs, and a diversity of flora and fauna pertaining to different ecosystems.
Colca Canyon
With a 4,160m descent, Colca Canyon is the world´s 2nd deepest canyon (after nearby Cotahuasi Canyon). Along the cliff walls visitors can see pre-Incan and Incan terraces still in use, as well as warehouse structures known as colcas. Colca Canyon is one of the most popular Arequipa attractions due to the natural beauty of the immense canyon and the river which carved it out over the millennia and the diverse plant and animal life which calls its different ecosystems home. Above all, it is known for Condor Cross, the most celebrated of its natural lookouts, where from the viewing platform travelers can watch the world´s largest bird of flight, the endangered Andean Condor, gracefully circle without flapping their wings, supported by rising thermals of war air from the canyon below.
See also Tour Colca canyon
Mummies of Arequipa
In recent years archeologists have uncovered thousands of mummies in Peru, mostly Inca. The mummies of Arequipa have been the oldest and best-preserved. Frozen adolescent mummies found along Arequipa´s snowy volcano peaks have given researchers priceless information about the rare practice of Inca human sacrifice. In the 1990s teams uncovered 500 year old Urpicha (Palomita) on Pichu Pichu, Sarita on Sarasara, and five others on El Misti. The Ice Maiden Juanita, the best preserved mummy in the Americas at the time, was released from her glacier on Ampato in 1995 by a nearby eruption with her perfectly intact flesh, hair, teeth and still vibrantly colored clothes. These mummies were killed while kneeling and buried with valuable seashell, precious metal figurines, and textile offerings.
Architecture of Arequipa
Arequipa earned the nickname The White City thanks to the distinctive pearl-colored sillar volcanic rock used to construct many of its central buildings, which, in addition to the prevalent ornamental "mestizo-baroque" façades combining European and Indigenous elements, have earned it the title of UNESCO World Heritage Site. Shallow but intricate stone carving creates façades reminiscent of a stone tapestry which comes to life in the changing light of the day. Don´t miss the neoclassical Cathedral occupying a whole side of the main plaza and the baroque Goyeneche Palace on La Merced. It´s hard to believe that the stunning architecture of Arequipa of today has gone through many cycles of destruction and reconstruction due to earthquakes, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and fires!.See also Campiñas tour
