I left the hostel which was a couple of blocks back from the Pan American and within 2 minutes I came up behind a dozen vehicles stopped on the road. I rode around the outside of them and when I got to the front there was a cop there who was holding back the traffic, but he waved for me to come through. I could see people standing around taking photos of something on the road. I stopped momentarily but he called for me to keep coming through and so I did.

It was then I saw the body of an older man laying next to a bicycle in the middle of the road. He was on his back and there was a wide trail of blood coming from his head. The cop kept signalling me to keep moving and so I manoeuvred around the man. It wasn’t the first dead body I have seen but having to ride so close to him was very surreal. I then had to manoeuvre around the mini bus that had obviously struck him and the passengers who were standing around hugging each other and crying. The cop signalled for me to keep going.

And I did. I don’t have a photograph of the accident but I have a vivid image in my mind that will stick with me for a long time. I continued on along the road without any following traffic and riding a very safe pace. It’s the first accident I have seen in my 10,000 kilometres in South America. I couldn’t stop thinking about how many people would be affected by an event that would have happened in an instant. It also reminded me how quickly things can change and how we need to enjoy life and the people around us because we don’t know when that can be taken away.  

It was a quiet ride from there to Arequipa. Even the voices in my head were silent. It was a 3.5 hour ride into Peru’s second largest city. I had left the coast and was heading east and upwards. It was peaceful and spectacular with a great road and more amazing views. I stopped for an ice cream and a coke and an in-depth discussion with google maps before heading off in the complete wrong direction for 10 minutes. It did mean I got to take a photo of a tractor sign and some oddly marked cactuses that I had passed and said to myself that I should have taken a photo of that. Why is there cardboard stapled to the leaves?

Arequipa is at 2300m. Unless you have travelled to higher altitudes before you don’t appreciate the importance of knowing the altitude. Coming from sea level to that altitude quickly can knock you around. Altitude doesn’t care about age or fitness levels. You can take medication to help alleviate the symptoms but I don’t. I had deliberately stuck to the coast and now that I am heading inland I will stay at higher elevations for the next few weeks.

I had booked into the El Puente Hotel for 3 nights which was $50AUD a night including breakfast. I knew the first day I would be pretty slow so it was nice to have a bit of comfort. It was a nice enough place but not in a great location for finding food. It also didn’t have any parking and my poor bike had to sleep across from my window. It was securely locked and the hotel was actually in a gated community with only one entrance and a guard and occasional patrols. But it was a great location to get the 9,000km service on my bike, even though it had done a bit over 10,000. I also found a nice place to get it washed before the service. It cost about $4AUD for the wash and about $160AUD for the major service.

There was an old rail bridge in front of the hotel which is now only for people and bikes. I wandered across for a nice view but it didn’t seem to go anywhere interesting. There is a nice river and some interesting aqueducts running through parts of the city and high above the river. I do a lot of walking, especially while I am trying to acclimatise to the higher altitudes. On my third day I went looking for a better hotel in a better location. That was unsuccessful so I booked in another night where I was. The next day google directed me to the wrong hotel which worked out in my favour as the Hotel Santa Marta was lovely, nice staff and in a nice spot and a good buffet breakfast. And under 50 bucks a night. Only problem was that it didn’t have parking.  

In reality that is not a huge problem in most cities as they always have parquederos, or cocheras, or playas or several other names for parking places. Some look dodgier than others and some are expensive. I managed to find a nice lady who said I could park it up the back of her parking lot near her bedroom window for $3 a night. It was securely locked and I had the cover on it. We had a great chat when I dropped it off and picked it up again.

The nice thing about my flash hotel was that it had a bath. Not for me but for my motorbike gear. I’m not sure what the rules are but after 3 months I thought it needed a wash. After a lot of searching after the last few months, I’d found a basin plug but it didn’t fit the bath. A quick google search found that putting the plug in a ziplock bag with a little bit of air works. Surprisingly. The bath water obviously didn’t lie. My gear needed washing. I also did a general wash as well and did the roll the stuff up in the towel trick to make it dry quicker. Flasher hotels also have bigger fluffier towels. Drying stuff is always a pain, but I discreetly sat my bike gear in the hotel courtyard in the bright sun and it dried quickly. I dried my underwear more modestly inside.

I also managed to get some stickers made while I was in town. One of my daughters had knocked up a nice logo after a couple of back and forth discussions we had a printable version. I got 120 for $25 and it took a couple of days. They are a bit bluer than I expected but I will learn to live with that. They have my blog address on them and are handy to give out as business cards. Not that I want any business. I just meet nice people who are interested in my trip. The blog comes up in Spanish if you google it over here. Pretty funny.

I’m getting to the end of the blog and haven’t even mentioned what the city is like. It’s beautiful. Lots and lots of beautiful old stone buildings. Great weather. It doesn’t rain much. Lots of sun but not hot. It’s known as the white city because the buildings are made from blocks of white volcanic stone called sillar. The architecture is a mainly colonial but with a bit of local trim and lots of local colour from the indigenous inhabitants. Lots of narrow streets and plazas. There are just over a million people live in Arequipa.  There are also three big snow capped volcanos surrounding the city which adds to its beauty. And by the way it’s pronounced ‘r-e-KEE-pa’ in Australian. It now ranks in the Top 10 of my favourite cities in the world. I also did a city tour which was a bit poor to be honest. Tasted more chocolate, some cheese ice cream and had a nice roof top bar view. The guide spoke heavily accented english and really fast. I met a couple of people. One was a guy who was 83 years old.

It also has nice food. I passed on the guinea pig which was on most menus but I did give the Alpaca a try. I ended up at the Zig Zag restaurant because of three unrelated things that all lead me there. It was fancy and expensive (probably just current Australian prices). I had the 3 meats on the sizzling volcanic rock option. It was great. I also found a little café that had these amazing Arabic empanadas but I could find it again in the maze of streets with lovely white buildings. I’m generally only eating twice a day if I stay somewhere with a big buffet breakfast.

After seven days I was getting too comfortable in Arequipa and so I booked a room in a place in another town 4 hours away so that I was forced to leave. I didn’t realise how famous this place was or that I was going to have to ride so high to get there.