A Walk Around Arequipa

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I left the Llama Education Spanish School this morning about 9:30 am and started walking. Semi-random walk. I had a rough route in mind. I'd been to the center plaza and wanted to see the neighborhoods around them. I knew the river divided the city and it was pretty steep on either side. I took the first downhill street and just kept going, avoiding big roads and turning onto streets that looked like neighborhoods. I rarely used the map, occasionally checking progress to make sure I wasn't headed in circles. Arequipa has excellent street name signage. At most intersections there are street signs, even the small neighborhoods and most houses have the street name just below the house number.

OK... I wrote the above paragraph, which then morphed into a separate blog, "How to Explore a City ". Here are the photos that I've taken as I've walked around Arequipa for the last week or so. I think they show the great diversity of the architecture and the neighborhoods. It is good city for walking, most areas are clean and although the traffic is heavy it isn't 'strained' - the cars drive at a reasonable speed and there's not a lot of stress - except on the big streets during rush hour at the end of the day, then the horns are tooting a bit. Overall the sidewalks are quite good but in a few areas you have to watch out for occasional missing blocks. There's lots of little places to eat, nice little city parks and great market places to explore.

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