First days in Arequipa

I have a week before needing to report to the GVI project in Peru, and at first I thought I would go to Machu Pichu during the week. But then when I started having difficulties making airline reservations, and when I continued to feel crappy from the cold/sinus infection, I decided I would just go straight to Arequipa, find a hotel with some nice amenities, and just take it easy. I didn’t hear back from my first hotel selection, but I found another with a rooftop terrace, breakfast included, and willing to let me use the kitchen for a few things, and wireless in my room, all for $30. (This is not a cheap hotel/hostal here, but I decided it was worth it to have my own room, bathroom and wireless.)  There's an unexpected benefit: there is a music school nearby and every evening I've heard beautiful choral music!  The church bells of the city also ring every morning and at noon and can be heard all over.

I spent my first two days basically in my room. I slept; drank a lot of water; took antibiotics and vitamins; caught up on skype phone calls; worked on my blog and photos; and read books. I made it out for a walk each day, and saw some of the city. From the hotel terrace, I can see three volcanoes close by when they don’t have a cloud cover. Although this is the rainy season, and other parts of Peru are suffering from rain and flood damage, there has been no rain here since I arrived. The weather has been sunny and in the low 70’s according to the internet, but I think it must be hotter. Arequipa is at a lower elevation by a few hundred feet than Otavalo, and thankfully, I am not going up and down in elevation each day while I try to beat this crude. I am feeling much better, although I still have some congestion.

On Sunday I went to the main plaza, Plaza de Armas, and it was like a party! It was crowded with people, sitting and standing in little groups talking. There is a lot of greenery and gardens in the plaza and the buildings surrounding it have long arched covered walkways. I then had lunch at a place behind the cathedral and had a traditional dish: stuffed pepper with potatoes with a creamy cheese sauce.  I only ate the peper because I had a wonderful salad first.

Yesterday I got out and played tourist. I went to the Plaza de Armas again and visited two churches nearby. The main cathedral has had extensive damage in a number of earthquakes, but it is fully restored. After viewing the churches, I went off to a travel book-recommended restaurant for lunch. They have set menus here, which are usually a 3 course meal for a very low price. They had three different ones listed and I didn’t have a menu translator with me, but I saw a couple of local business men with huge bowls of soup, so I told the waitress that I wanted the same one that they were having. After about the second or third spoonful of the lightly spiced soup, I became suspicious of the contents and started eating mainly just the broth, and the few things I could identify: potato, cabbage, carrot. When I got the broth down low, I started inspecting the contents a bit closer and started seeing some white tubular shaped things. Remember the soup I didn’t want to try in Huayrapungo because it had chicken innards? Well, this one was similar: it had beef tripe! I ate the rest of the soup broth and left the bits and pieces. The second course was a squash and potato chunky sauce over rice which was quite good until I discovered a hair in it! The final course was a small dish of tropical fruit and it was quite good and had no surprises for me. The meal cost 8 Peruvian Soles – or around $3 US. I actually left quite full and am willing to try the restaurant again, despite the hair.

After lunch I went to the St Catalina convent which was established in the 1600’s and still has cloistered nuns living in a section of it. This convent takes up a whole city block and is a city within a city. For most of the time, the nuns lived in their own, very simple and basic houses within the convent, and then later, lived dormitory style with shared cooking facilities. As with the main cathedral, the convent has been damaged by numerous earthquakes, and most of it has been restored using the original paint colors and designs. The salvaged furniture and art are nicely displayed throughout. I had a guide take me through which I found out a long time ago that having a guide can really provide so much more information than what you can get from travel books and brochures.

I wandered around some more and then went to a café operated by an organization that helps needy children. All the profits go toward the education and programs of the organization, and apparently some of the older kids help out in the café and hostel that they operate as well.

The historical center of Arequipa is really quite beautiful and the architecture is Spanish colonial. I’m back in a land of beautiful wood doors and love it!

Today I spent countless hours organizing and uploading photos before I ventured out. I took a nice walk again, looked for mani pasta (peanut butter) at a grocery store, had a fantastic salad and part of a small pizza for lunch (the rest will be for dinner), and got my hair cut! I had it cut really, really short before I left Juneau, so this is the first cut I’ve had since I’ve been gone! He basically just trimmed it and cleaned it up…hope it will work for me tomorrow!