Puente Fierro, Arequipa

Blogging in the garden

Today was our final day of resting before setting out of the city. Apart from visiting Alpaca World or seeing the "Ice Maiden" - a mummified Inca girl slaughtered on the top of Volcan Ampato - we'd seen much of what there is to see. And those two options didn't seem that appealing,

So we decided to go and look a bridge designed by Gustav Eiffel. To get to it we walked through relatively affluent suburbs, with green clipped lawns and gated gardens.

Crossing roads in Arequipa always poses a challenge as cars seem to come from random directions, but there are controlled crossing points and they tell you how many seconds it will be before you can safely cross.

Another distinctive feature of the city is the old buses and minibuses that drive round the street. Unlike in Santiago de Chile, where they have recently been regulated, these buses are usually ramshackle affairs, with painted signs and conductors hanging out the side doors, calling out where it is going. Usually inside them there is a world record breaking number of passengers crammed in at all angles. The guide book suggested that you could catch one to see some of the sites outside the city, but we passed on that.



Walking down the banks of the River Chili we came across this newly constructed bridge that went nowhere. There was no sign of a road to link up with it. There again, I think there is a flyover that ends in mid-air on the Mancunian Way. Or at least there was in 1985.



Gustav Eiffel's bridge was built in 1882, and at the time was the longest metal bridge in the world at 488 m long. Originally it was a railway bridge but now is used for one way traffic. Joan's dad always describes the top of the Eiffel Tower as being incredibly flimsy. As you can see below, the handrails on this were delicate, to say the least.

Panorama of the bridge

Walking along the bridge was nervewracking as it shook under the weight of traffic.

On the other side there was a truck with a huge loud hailer which we heard a good ten minutes before the vehicle came in sight: "Naranja, manzana, mango, papaya!" It disappeard before we could get a good photo.

After seeing the bridge we walked back to the hotel and ate lunch in the garden with the tortoise. We drank sweetened pineapple juice because you can't get it without sugar and ate teeth-shattering deep fried sweetcorn. In the same shop they were selling biscuits made with coca - that were advertised as a cure all for tiredness, rheumatism and altitude sickness. As we don't fancy getting arrested in Miami for drug smuggling, we left them on the shelf.

Briefly we went into town to fetch provisions, and walked around the Plaza de Armas where everyone congregates. The focal point was a fountain colonised by drinking pigeons.

An ultra restful day was whiled away reading in the garden - a luxury that we never seem to have at home - and a pre-prandial nap. This was nearly a mistake as it was nine thirty when we awoke. Luckily restaurants stay open till late, and we headed back into town. Looking for a Hindu inspired veggie restaurant we ended up in an Italian - Camerones - which was a lot more like a restaurant at home, i.e. not rustic with rickety chairs and dodgy table cloths.

We ate Tocones, which is cheese in a spring roll type pastry, with guacamole, followed by canneloni stuffed with spinach, tomatoes and Jerusalem artichokes. Definitely the best meal by far. Wine in Peru is quite expensive, both in the supermarket and in restaurants. It is higher than prices at home, so we're sticking to bottled lager.

On the way back, loads of bars in windows seemed to have suddenly appeared. They were invisible by day. One had a dummy of Che Guevara in the window, smoking a cigar. But we weren't tempted and went back to bed at midnight.