Once again Arequipa never ceases to amaze us, the Sabandia Mill is one of the best architectural presentations of the region, being all a natural beauty, surrounded by nature itself, flowers and local plants.
As you may already know that Arequipa has all its constructions made of ashlar and this is one of those that was made with this resistant material, because despite the time and the earthquakes that happened it still kept its shape.
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The Sabandía Mill dates back to 1621 and is 402 years old and continues to enchant us with its beauty and the amazing thing about it all is that it is still in operation, yes, it is hard to believe, but this traditional machine is still in place.
As we know that Arequipa has almost 90% of its constructions in ashlar, this also made use of this material being now a historical monument of ancient times, once again the past shows us the ingenuity and how the Arequipa people work, compared to this era in which we live.
Who had the joy of building it was the master mason Don Francisco Flores, years later the mill was deteriorated and in bad condition, so the Central Mortgage Bank of Peru was responsible for restoring it with the support of the architect Luis Felipe Calle.
From there this mill does not cease to be admired by everyone who visits it, being considered as a Monument of Mestizo Arequipa Rural Architecture.
The Sabandía Mill stands out for its elevated floors that serve to take advantage of the driving force of the water and give the possibility of milling, for this they use the two water channels: these move two flywheels of a hydraulic mill of the XVIII century that according to what we are told served in the beginning to make flour of wheat, corn and other cereals.
However, we all wonder how is the quality of the grain crushed by this mill, let me explain; we must understand that this will depend on how the stones are regulated to have a good crushing of the grains, that is why every so often they will have to clean it with a chisel so that they can grind it well.
As I mentioned at the beginning, the construction of the Mill continues to enchant everyone who visits it, because it is made of ashlar that gives it a unique and fixed aspect within this greenish place, surrounded by flowers, plants, once again taking us back in time and how the inhabitants used these instruments.
The Molino de Sabandia is located 10 km from the city, exactly in the district of Sabandia, to reach this place you can do it in two ways; on foot the approximate time to get there is 30 minutes, you can do it if you like to walk and get to know better the streets of Arequipa.
However, I recommend that you take a cab from the city to the Molino with a cost of up to 8 soles, this to make your visit more productive and also gain time to go to other sites, but I leave it up to you.
To enter the Molino you must first pay an admission fee for adults, children and students.
Here you have a lot to see, the place not only shows you the milling process. As knowledge of how much it makes I will tell you that this mill produces about 800 kg of ground grain daily, for about 8 hours worked.
When you enter you will notice that the place is well decorated with local plants, you can see the chombas or jars where water or wine was kept in the past, it is said that when it was kept for months in the chombas it was very tasty.
Once you go further into the house, you will find a room where you will find the stone mill that works with hydraulic energy. It is said that many settlers used to go to this place to grind their grains for themselves and their animals.
Here you will notice a small tunnel you could say that it is the engine of the mill and it works with water (hydraulic energy), the water falls with great force and pushes the wooden coves that are connected to the trunk, this trunk that you will observe there is directly connected to the stone mill.
In the place you will find endemic animals of Peru such as the vicuña, bull and other animals, the place is very nice to visit with the family with the little ones, with your friends or as a couple; do not hesitate to write to Terandes to get the best tours nationwide.
