Vargas Llosa was born in Arequipa, but only lived there until the age of four. Still, he is considered the city’s pride and joy even though the city didn’t always show it. His childhood home still stands, but was recently sold to a company that was going to turn it into a center to help poor women. And, in a move right out of the best Hollywood movie, the announcement that Vargas Llosa won a Nobel put a stop to the remodel just in the nick of time. The government intervened, and the house was recently declared a Cultural Landmark by the Ministry of Culture of Peru, and will be turned into a museum.

Arequipa is also home to the third Red TV station to be trained as part of this fellowship. TV Mundo 53 is the largest of the affiliate stations and has the most resources. It also presents its own unique set of challenges in the kinds of issues the reporters cover. Their stories are in sharp contrast to the ones produced by TV Villa El Salvador in Lima.

Arequipa is Peru’s 2nd largest city, and the running joke is that you need a visa to enter as they consider themselves to be separate from the rest of Peru! In recent years the city has shown unprecedented growth with the addition of three new shopping malls. Mall Aventura Plaza is the largest, built on the old horse track. The mall is just two blocks away from TV Mundo, so a lot of the stories they are covering deal with the good, the bad and the ugly of this much growth. For example, traffic is a nightmare as the colonial, narrow streets can’t handle the influx of so many cars. Home owners around the mall are either happy because their property values have increased, or upset because their quiet neighborhood is no more. As TV Mundo’s owner told me, he sees a shift in economic and political power toward southern Peru. He says there no longer will be a need to go to Lima as everything they want and need is here. He also sees this as the first step in the decentralization of the country, which goes parallel to what the Enlace Nacional newscast is trying to do.

Arequipa is also filled with culture, history and art. I was surprised to learn TV Mundo has one reporter dedicated to covering the arts scene. There are enough gallery openings and exhibits to keep him busy. One of the stories we covered was the meticulous restoration process of the paintings inside the Convent of Santa Catalina, built in 1580. Twenty-five cloistered nuns still live there, isolated from the rest of the world, but they open the monastery to tourists… making it the number one attraction in town.

And of course, there’s Vargas Llosa. We toured his childhood home, doing a story exploring the controversy of how it was forgotten until the Nobel was announced. And everything culminated with the award ceremony which was shown live from Sweden on a big screen TV in the main square. Vargas Llosa may have only been a baby when he left, but for those here, he will forever be Arequipa’s favorite son.