The Newest Doings from Arequipa

Since our latest blog we have been very busy exploring many of the churches and areas of Arequipa as well as venturing out-of-town for a day trip to Sumbay.  Since I work in the very early mornings (starting a class at 7:30) David tends to meet me around 11:00 and we have time for lunch and visiting places in Arequipa.  We really enjoy going to the picanterias, which are the little hole-in-the-wall restaurants which serve great, cheap local food.  And Arequipa has a wonderful tradition of soup-of-the-day. Each day a certin soup is served in every picanteria in town.  Sunday is our favorite.  That's adobo which is a very rich stock made from boiled purple corn and other  things including giant, thick pork chops.  It is the only soup served with bread and it is only served from 6:00 am to noon on Sundays.  We have gone to several and hope to find the best one in Arequipa eventually.       The picanteria is in a lovely square surrounding this church.

We spend time visiting local churches because they are so, so beautiful and many of them  have museums with great riches of gold and silver, archeological displays and, of course, religious objects.  Iglesia Ricoleto,which is a beautiful orange and white masterpiece had a wonderful archeological museum.           and St. Theresa, which is for cloistered nuns was just downright beautiful!                  

This weird, hairless dog was the resident mascot.  He stayed in this position the whole time we were there.  Note the coat at 70 degrees and sunny! 

November 1 is the Day of the dead when many folks go to the cemeteries where their dead are buried to clean the graves, lay flowers and remember.  It is a BIG DEAL and the cemetery we visited had thousands of people all shopping in the streets around the cemetery which were closed off for the day and contained stalls selling flowers and things to put on the graves.  Some people even hire bands to play the favorite songs of the dead person.  What a vivid and colorful tradition. And the graves went from simple niches to full crypts.   This looks like a nice place for folks to visit, doesn't it?           And here is what was going on outside the cemetery.    

We are not contained to daytime activities.  We went to the Russian National Ballet one night and a show of Peter and the Wolf (in Spanish) and selected short dances another night.

However, our favorite thing to do is to go to the markets, of which there are many.  At first, we went to the main one downtown, but since then we have found many, many wonderful markets, stretching for blocks and blocks.     When you want a piece of squash, you show the vendor the size of the piece you want and he attacks it with a saw!          Here are the "fruits" of our shopping.   Then there are always the ubiquitous Jello Ladies peddling their wares.  I love them!    Speaking of food, take a look at this.   This is a very common offering, as are the cakes.   And then there was Santa!  There are many things in Arequipa that I don't quite understand!  

We took a long, private tour to Sumbay to see the petroglyphs on a cave there  What a hoot.  After a 3 hour ride, we went off the main road into the mostly abandoned town of Sumbay where the driver tooted his horn and found the very old lady who had they key to the gate that went across the cave.  Then we walked and walked at 4200 meters altitude and got to the caves.  The petroglyphs were not the best we have seen, but the whole experience was just WONDERFUL.         The ride back was through a National Wildlife refuge and we saw lots of alpaca.    

One day we started out on a Sunday to have breakfast and instead heard music right near our apartment and spent the rest of the day watching the dance festival at the nearby private school.  This was not your run-of-the-mill dance festival.  Aside from lasting all day each group put on a stunning and elaborate production!              This is a catholic school, as are most private schools and this was one of the teachers.  We found out about a museum of contemporary art here that is housed in an old mansion which features local Peruvian artists.  It was quite lovely.

 

This is a colorful view looking down from our back balcony.

 

 

 

Update Arequipa

 

Our first trip outside of Arequipa was Mollendo, a beach resort on the Pacific Ocean which, is very lively in the summer, but was pretty well deserted when we went there.  The ride, by bus for a few hours from 7500 meters to sea level was very interesting.  We went through an absolute desert and as we got closer to the sea, we hit a wall of fog. We stayed in a funny place that seemed to be an old hotel, but was actually a relatively new one behind a boarded up old hotel. The beach was a bit surprising because it is fronted by a major street and a railway and it was a bit cold.  Apparently, the water is very cold and rough and not many people swim even in the summer.  However, it is a pretty town   and the next day we went to a National Preserve in Mejia, a town nearby, where we walked on the beach for a few hours, which was quite enjoyable.Lots of buzzards and jelly fish.       Then we walked from the Preserve back to the main street, through fields of rice and cows walking down the dirt road.

 

Unfortunately during this time David was spending every week, from Monday to Friday in Lima and only coming home on weekends.  Luckily I am taking Spanish classes from9:00 am to 1:00 pm every day, so, at least I was keeping busy.

 

The next time David came home, we went to Corire, a wonderful town near a huge field filled with volcanic rocks covered with petroglyphs.  We took a taxi to the remote area, which waited for us for a few hours and then took us back to the town.                      We found out that Corire is the camerone (fresh water shrimp)  capitol of Peru, so we headed off  for chupa de Cameron in a dirt floored restaurant practically in the river. 

This was the freshest shrimp we have ever eaten.

David had an adventure through work when he went to a mine called Pucamarca  about 4 hours from Tacna.    Please note the lethal fire plugs that are all over Peru, just waiting to trip you up. The mine was at 4300 meters, and, not surprisingly, David got quite sick. It is quite a production to go to one of these mines because each time David goes, he will have to have a series of tests to make sure he can survive at such a high altitude.  During the ride to the mine, David saw wild llamas.     

 

At this point in the month David was able to arrange to create a home office and his trips to Lima have ceased!!!!!  We are both enormously happy.  However, David’s Ariquipa office won’t be ready until at least January which is a bit difficult.

 

The whole month of October is known as the purple month in acknowledgment of the Fiesta del Senor de los Milagros.  Observant women wear purple dresses with white rope sashes and each Saturday a different church has a procession down a major street.  We went to one from the Church of St. Augustine.        It  featured flour paintings on the street    and women carrying crosses       a band seemingly made up of church members and a huge statue of Christ carried on the shoulders of many men      surrounded by a rope which the crowd latches on to in order to share the impact of the procession.  Both David and I felt the emotional impact of this wonderful tradition. 

 

The day after the processions we went to the last day of a 4 day food festival which is an annual occurrence here.  Many local and regional restaurants set up elaborate kitchens and serve dishes typical of their offerings and all through the day there are dancers, bands and performances.  We, naturally, ate ourselves silly and had a great time.  The only thing we missed eating was the barbecue because each plate held enough food for about 6 people and we knew we would waste too much. (notice the fingernails!)

guinea pig stage 1                                                                                                     (stage 2)        (stage 3)             Tasty lizard!    Local entertainment

   and food! like this fried dough served with a tasty syrup.         and great entertainment.             and amazing glasses of chicha        and more food like chilis rellana  and camerones, and cheese 




 

Today, October 27 we found a great new market, which is about a half hour walk from our house.  The main attraction was the fish area, where we bought our own camerones from which I made my own chupa de camerone for dinner tonight.  I also bought a beautiful canary!!!!

 

We really love everything about living here from the garbage system (big baskets on poles on the sidewalk, to the crowded streets, to the ice cream to the wonderful sunsets.