We delayed departure from Arequipa by a day to spend a little more time exploring what is a rather wonderful town. There are a ton of riding photos and stories from the road to come tomorrow, I have my feet up in Chivay today, but this set I think are best kept separate from those… so without further ado….. oh no, wait… before that – a couple of recommendations in particular if you’re heading this way…
In Arequipa I stayed at the ‘Friendly AQP’ hostal It completely lives up to its name and solved a problem for me… namely that of shipping my bike bag and a few bits of clobber back to Lima in a couple of months time. I had planned to store stuff with a hostal in Lima but they simply said “nope”. It was perhaps better for the bus journey but I was faced with dumping the bag and scavenging for packing materials in Lima at the end of the journey. The long distance bus companies here operate a reliable cargo service but will only hold stuff for 3 weeks, so the guys at the hostel are keeping my bag for me and will ship it to Lima with Cruz del Sur, one of the major bus operators, on request some time in July. Absolutely superb, and in a perfect location just a few mins walk from the plaza. Website is http://www.friendlyaqp.com.
The other recommendation.. a cafe that deserves your patronage, particularly if a cyclist, is La Cleteria Bike Cafe & Tea House. Located a block from the plaza it does super teas and coffees, has a lovely atmosphere, and sells bits and bobs for your bike. I enjoyed a pot of ‘Paris Roubaix’ blend tea that happily did not taste of the mud, sweat, and blood more normally associated with that event. Their facebook page is here: https://www.facebook.com/lacleteria/
Right.. now I can do pictures!
Absolutely great pics!
aww, too kind!
I was in Arequipa in june 2001 when it was hit by a earthquake which registered 7.9 on the Richter scale, there was a lot of damage and we were on our way to see the cathedral but when we arrived the damage was quite bad one tower was destroyed and the other was teetering to fall so it was closed as was most of the buildings in Arequipa, now seeing your photos they are all repaired which is good and I see that there was another quake in August 2016, so a very unstable area.
hey, thanks for writing. yeah the whole area is very active. there is no obvious sign of any earthquake damage now, it’s all been beautifully restored.