Following our time with family in Lima, Ted and I made our way to Arequipa, Peru. Arequipa is known as the “white city” as the main plaza and many of the buildings in the city center are built with a spectacular white brick made of volcanic rock (the city is surrounded by amazing volcanoes). The city is quite beautiful and walkable and we enjoyed our time there immensely just wandering around, eating at delicious restaurants and watching the sunset from the rooftop deck of our hostel. Upon arriving, we couldn’t help but feel like Arequipa, Peru was the equivalent of Cuenca, Ecuador. Both cities have beautiful architecture, proud local residents and are clean and beautiful.

When we were in Arequipa, it was several days before a nationwide election. Though the President was not up for re-election, the mayorial equivalent in all the regions was and as it is MANDATORY to vote in Peru, the political parties go all out to get votes. We were told that Arequipa is a particularly politically-active city and we couldn’t help but agree.

While there we were treated to quite an elaborate parade that stopped traffic for blocks and blocks. There were fancy dancers in both traditional and far from traditional dress; there were local school bands playing and marching; there were cars decorated and thumping music; there were people dressed up in animal costumes; there were old and young, dancing and walking, smiling and laughing. All of this was randomly interspersed with fireworks (beginning at 6 am outside of our hostel window!!!) and announcements from a megaphone. It was entertaining and overwhelming and impossible to ignore. All the staff from the shops and restaurants along the streets came out to the curb to watch both because they were interested (I assume) and because it was impossible to continue to working with the amount of the noise this parade produced. Ted and I were staying in a hostel on the street and these photos were taken from our window.

Another thing we found interesting about the election is that alcohol sales are banned for roughly 36 hours before the voting. In this case, the election was on a Sunday and as of Friday evening, the grocery stores and restaurants were required to stop selling booze. Though we were unable to buy wine from the grocery store, we were sold a beer at a restaurant as it was obvious to the owners that we were not Peruvian nor would we be voting on Sunday!

After all the build up and fanfare, we happened to be in the middle of the wilderness on the actual voting day so we can only assume that the election went off without a hitch. When we returned back to Arequipa after our trip, it appeared the election was a thing of the past and everything was back to normal.