city centre

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Our first day in Arequipa, after a NINE hour overnight bus ride! Marlon of Marlon´s Travel good as his word was waiting for us at the bus terminal. We checked in upacked, showered and slept for several hours before venturing to the Plaza de Armas. We stopped in on the Campania church and paid the 2 sole entry fee (less than a dollar) very worth the view.

Then we went to the main catherdal which was a bit of a let down after seeing the spectacular dome in Campania. We went to the terrace on the plaza for a meal - the view was great even if we had to go up six flights of stairs to get to it.

Arequipa was founded in 1540 and seem much more European in a way maybe because of all the old buildings and the plaza and parks? Not sure really, but this is my favorite place so far. Sean compares it to the Peruvian version of Oxford. It's hot during the day then once the sun goes it's cool but not cold.

People are very friendly, the place we are staying at was recommended by the nice people at San Isidro Hostal in Pisco, soo glad we booked with them! The place is nice with private bath, a roof top terrace and laundry service. It's only 35 soles a night which is roughly 10 dollars a night.

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Photos

campania dome
very colourful - melding of native, Arabic and Spanish motifs

altar
on each side you see two faces on a leg with foot... do you see?

Mt. Misti
in the background - Sean´s been attempting to persuade me to go downhill Mt. Biking from the Misti - I´m not sold, yet?

Comments

[ETEJC]

Go for it!
Thanks for the blog now I think I will check out that church when I come to Arequipa. I think you should do the Misti downhill bike trip that is my plan with my wife and kids when we get to Aqequipa and I would love to hear about it. I was going to go with Saul at Peru Biking Tours at 410-A Jerusalem Street. Happy travels!

[Barbara Pitt]

Hello (at last) from Nemi
Really enjoying your trip, been back in the UK for 5 weeks becoming a grannie again so way behind on correspondence, more news later. In the meantime, get on that bike Esther (if you haven't already!).