Life's been busy on all fronts the past 6 weeks, hence the lack of posts. But I'm back in the saddle now and have a few Peru posts to finish up.
After a
disappointing and delayed arrival into Arequipa I was eager to get out and about the next morning. I had a walking tour set up later in the morning, so more coming on that in a subsequent post. But ahead of that I wanted to get my bearings in the center and stretch my legs.
Started with a light breakfast at the
Casa Andina Select. The hotel is solid. Great location on the main plaza. My sense from a brief stay is that the clientele is a blend of tourists and business travelers.
Breakfast area was what you would expect. Decent set up. Can't recall exactly what I got but it's a pretty good bet I took some eggs, bread, and coffee.
Morning was cool, but not too cool to sit outside on the terraza and take in the view.
Fueled up I took to the streets around the center. Felt very familiar and comfortable, with vibes of Puebla and Morelia. Of course there is the similar legacy of Spanish colonialism, so the architecture and city layout shares that DNA. But there is more than that. The altitude is similar, as Arequipa is something like 2300m above sea level and Puebla is around 2100m. And you have the mountains / volcanoes as the dominant feature on the horizon. So taken all together walking around felt comfortably new right off the bat.
I ambled over toward Puente Grau to scope out the location of
La Posada del Puente. More lovely scenes of a city getting the day started in a beautiful setting.
And I completed the loop back to
Plaza de Armas, where I chatted up the local tourist office a bit before meeting my guide for the walking / food tour.
Good start to the day in Arequipa.
