Arequipa is promoted as a white city, reason being is that there are a number of buildings in the city which is made of the white volcanic stones. However I personally felt that the whiteness was not the kind of whiteness I experienced in Sucre, Bolivia. The whiteness was more off cream with greyish specks.
It was also a huge city just like Cusco, but I felt Cusco was much prettier as compared to Arequipa. Just the main square alone, it was more pleasant in Cusco than in Arequipa.
So in the even that an eruption does occur, the whole city will be wiped out and buried under. Very dangerous!
However what made my trip to Arequipa significant was that I learnt a lot about Peru from Percy – from the financial and judicial governance, economic and trade developments, business aspects etc. I was surprised to find out that Peru is an extremely rich country, not just in resources, but also monetarily.
Apparently a number of the towns have gotten huge budget from the government, but it is not being channelled down to developing the country better, not because of corruption (though it probably does exist to a certain extent), but rather the people who were tasked to manage the distribution of funds aren’t as capable or not adequately skilled to manage it.
The salary scales for the lower skilled and entry level staff may be rather low, but for those in mid-management and senior management level, their salary is of international standards and honestly very comparable to Singapore.
My perception of Peru prior to coming to this trip was that it is an extremely poor country, backwards and with possible high corruption, but after seeing the country on my own, it is definitely a lot more modernised in some parts than I expected and after my conversations with Percy, Peru is definitely poised for good growth and rather quickly.
It is no wonder why Singapore government has recently signed a free trade agreement with Peru.
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