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.

 

Our first week in Peru

After stuffing all of our belongings into our car we were off to Philadelphia airport where Layla dropped us off and then went on to visit Meadow and give her the car that we have bequeathed to her.  7 boxes take a lot of time to check in, but all was well and we were off.  However, once we were in Lima we waited and waited and waited for the boxes to come off the conveyor until we were the last ones standing and still no boxes.  When I went to an official looking person and showed her the claim checks, she said basically, "Oh yeah.  They are over there"  Over there proved to be 2 carousels away where they all were, stacked up neatly.  However, we missed our flight to Arequipa and had to wait about 3 hours for the next one  Meanwhile two worker type guys came over and asked me what was in the case and when I explained as best I could since they did not speak English, that it was a banjo, they looked confused.  So I took it out and they insisted on taking pictures with me holding the banjo for their Facebook page.

Meanwhile, we had now way to contact Roberto, who was going to pick us up, so David and I each got into separate taxis with half the luggage each and hoped we would meet up at the hotel.  All was well and we were reunited.  However, we had booked our favorite room which was on the roof and had to bring up 3 of the 7 boxes which had things we needed.  At 7200 feet, that was a chore.

Our real estate agent turned out to be less than helpful and we were stuck!  We certainly were in no mood to sight see, so after waiting two days for her to arrange a viewing, only to be told that nothing was available, we bought the Sunday paper in the hope that we could help ourselves.  Well, that was useless..even though we could sort of decipher the real estate ads, we had no idea where they were and no ability to make calls to find out about the apartments and make appointments to go see them.  So there we were, sitting in the little lobby, utterly helpless, when Erika, a young woman who worked in the hotel and another young woman took us in hand.  Erika took the whole day off, made all the necessary calls, hauled us from one cab to another and found us a great apartment!  Then the owner of the hotel took the following morning off to go with us and the landlord to the notary to sign the lease and then to the apartment where he went over it room by room to make sure everything was just fine!

What a wonderful introduction to Arequipa.  We are in the Omocollo section of Yanuaharra, right in front of a railroad track on which runs infrequent little freight trains.  The unusual thing about our little train is that it crosses a major street without any crossing guard, flashing lights or any other safety precautions but a hoot of the horn!  There is also a flock of sheep that graze next to the train tracks!

We went from a dry cabin in Fairbanks, with no running water and an outhouse to a 7th floor apartment with 4 bathrooms, 2 TV's a doorman and a cleaning lady.  What a hoot!  However, El Misti looms out our kitchen window and the lights of the city twinkle all around us!  Here is a view from the living room And this is a view from the kitchen.  Because the weather is so great, we have an outdoor laundry room with a washing machine and drying rack.and a very fancy bedroom with a blue light over the bed.     Our living room has white furniture which makes me nervous, but also a massage chair which helps me relax!.  Our kitchen is quite functional with a breakfast bar and stools and lovely appliances. And here is our lovely building from the street. 

I take a bus every day to my Spanish lessons and this is high entertainment.  I stand any place along the route and flap my hand when I see my bus.  It slows down, the guy who collects the fare and yells the destination swings down, I swing up and squash myself into the crowd, barely fitting in the door and off we go.  Luckily, I can usually get off fairly soon after I get on and walk the rest of the way to school. because the drivers are maniacs.  There are not lanes, no turn signals, few lights and no rules!

Weather is sublime...sunny, warm, breezy...but very dry since we are in an absolutely high desert.  It gets cool at night.  The folks here have a different sense of warm and cold than do the folks in AK, plus everyone is afraid of the sun.  The result is that everyone wears long sleeves, and light jackets, in the morning and warmer jackets and scarves in evening.  I try to blend in and as a result I sweat! Here is a photo of sunset from our kitchen window

Unfortunately David's office in Arequipa was supposed to be ready around the first week in September, but now won't be ready until October 30 which means that he is in Lima during the week and home on the weekend.  Not fun!