I had a cool morning today. I woke up at the butt crack of dawn (4:30) to catch a taxi to the Mirador del Yanahuara here in Arequipa, Peru. Yanahuara is just southeast of Cayma, where I’m staying. And Mirador basically means “lookout point”. So the “lookout point of Yanahuara”.
I asked a couple people, and I chose this mirador because it was supposed to be the best one in the area for a good sunrise. It has these arches with words written on them, looking over mountains and volcanoes.
So I woke up at 4:30. Made sure I took everything I needed and waited for my taxi. I get in the car, I give directions to the taxi driver (it wasn’t hard, this mirador is very well known) and we’re off. We chat a bit and then arrive at the big destination within a few minutes.
Uh oh. There is a big fence all around the mirador. It’s got a white canvass/plastic material all over the fence. In short: The Mirador de Yanahuara is “under construction”. Darn it.
Luckily, I had gotten the name of a second lookout point–Mirador Carmen Alto. It’s just to the northwest of Cayma. So off we went. 6 soles later (US$2), we arrived at the destination. Here is what I saw:
But soon, I started to see evidence of the existence of the SUN from behind the mountain!
Here it comes…
Ok, it’s about to pop!
…And BAM!!!
I like this one:
And really…what’s a mirador without some cows???
Are those goats? (comment below if you know what this animal is)
It was a good time. If you’re in Arequipa–especially if you’re staying in Cayma–and you want an alternative fun activity to typical plaza-church-monastery tour–then check out the Mirador de Carmen Alto.
It’s in a really cool area. Very farming centric. As the morning went on, more and more people were in the streets. ZERO tourists. Cows, goats?, grass, and locals. I got there at 5:15 and it was pitch black. I’d say the sun broke the horizon around 6. It was nice.
It cost me 6 soles on the way there cause the taxi driver had to take me to both lookout points. It was only 4 soles on the way home. 10 soles for the whole trip is only US$3.33. My hostel made me a reservation for the morning and then I caught a taxi on the way home–there were millions–it was easy.
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