| THE CATHEDRAL OF AREQUIPA AND MOUNT CHACHANI | AN OLD DOORWAY IN AREQUIPA |
to human beings. However, like San Francisco, Valparaiso, and many another city of the west coast of America, Arequipa does have a serious shake once or twice in a century and people do not build two-story houses unless they can afford to use very strong construction.
We were most agreeably surprised and delighted with our accommodations at the Hotel Marone. None of us had expected to find anything nearly so comfortable outside of a South American capital. With this excellent hotel and with the promised improvement of steamship service on the West Coast, Arequipa is bound to become a Mecca for travellers. Charmingly situated, with a delightful climate, picturesque streets, and remarkable churches and monasteries, it offers the additional inducement of being a base from which many pleasant excursions can be made. Mountain climbers and those fond of mountain scenery will be attracted by the active volcano El Misti, 19,000 feet high, and the snow-capped peaks of Chachani that look down upon the city from their lofty altitude of over 20,000 feet above the sea. Arequipa is the distributing centre for southern Peru and contains a number of banks and the warehouses of several large importing houses. To the explorer intending to penetrate the continent, it is an excellent place in which to purchase part of his outfit. It was the base of the DeMilhau-Peabody Museum Expedition to the Upper Amazon. I was astonished to find at the time of my visit, that in one of the English warehouses it was not only possible to get a complete supply of excellent canned goods, but even such luxuries as folding-cots and Caracas chocolate. Professor Bandelier, that most distinguished student of Spanish-American lands and peoples, says in his recently published “Islands of Titicaca and Koati” that Mt. Koropuna, lying about one hundred miles northwest of Arequipa, is probably the highest mountain in America. Aconcagua is 6940 metres, while, according to Raimondi’s map of the Department of Arequipa, Koropuna is 6949 metres. Here is a chance for a well-equipped exploring expedition.
For the less ambitious tourist there are shops where one may buy all manner of foreign and domestic supplies, and excellent photographs, the best of which I regret to say were stolen from a scientific expedition many years ago by a native photographer. The lover of curious costumes and quaint shops will be abundantly repaid by long strolls through the Indian quarters.
As soon as the Prefect of Arequipa, Sr. Don Lino Velarde, heard of our arrival, he made haste to call and place himself “entirely at our disposal.” Sometimes this gracious Spanish extension of hospitality means very little, but in this case it was genuine, and the Prefect did everything in his power to make our stay both pleasant and profitable. Horses and a military escort were provided for an excursion to the Harvard Observatory, and the Prefect’s secretary was detailed to act as our cicerone and see to it that we were shown the treasures of the local monasteries.