Arequipa Part 1

My apologies for the delay in posting pictures from my trip to Arequipa last week. Since we returned really early last Sunday morning, it has been a whirlwind trying to catch up with my classes. It was a rough week transitioning back into my daily routine, which tends to revolve around school, but I have definitely been able to find humor and laughter in the midst of it all. 

Tuesday night in particular provided my friendly reminder that although I may feel pretty settled here, I am still in a foreign country where it is blatantly obvious that I am the outsider. As a first year teacher, everything I do tends to be last minute, so I was heading out Tuesday night to Sodimac (which is what I would consider to be a Peruvian version of Home Depot) because I needed to buy plywood, cut in various shapes, for  a lab I was conducting in Wednesday's class (next day of course). Thankfully, Amanda came with me so I at least had someone to laugh with during this little adventure. Now, I must confess that I would hardly know the procedure in the States for buying plywood and having it cut in specific geometric shapes, let alone in Peru in another language. I thought I was prepared with my little pictures and measurements of what I needed, along with what I thought was the word for plywood in Spanish. But, after 2 hours of wandering around a big warehouse, I was quickly reminded that I am still a foreigner here in Peru. I must confess that if it were not for Amanda and I being young and American we probably would have walked out empty handed. However, a nice young gentleman was more than happy to help us find alternate material, buy a knife, and actually cut it for us in the warehouse, as he continued to tell us that this was not normal procedure. Ha, it was a humbling moment to say the least, and I wouldn't mind if I didn't experience that helpless feeling again for a while. But I must say that the ability to laugh at yourself is essential to surviving overseas. At least these experiences give me a good story to tell if nothing else!

Now, for my trip to Arequipa, which unfortunately already feels like it was 3 weeks ago instead of just 1!

It was honestly wonderful. It was a time to relax, get away from the humidity and haze in Lima, actually see some mountains and stars, and have lots of time with my roommates and Lindsay and Kathy (also teachers at ICSL) without worrying about school. We were there for about 4 days, 2 of which were spent in Arequipa and the other 2 on a guided trip to Colca Canyon. It was really beautiful there and I took hundreds of pictures, so it was hard to choose just a few here, but I did my best. These are just pictures of what we did around Arequipa.. pictures of Colca Canyon will come in my next post. There are just too many to post all at once because it was so beautiful!

This was the view when we stepped off the plane at 6 am

The center square of Arequipa, Plaza de Armas, which we fell in love with. We hung out here during the day...

... and again at night.

Me, Eden, Kathy, & Lindsay, who is acting crazy as usual :)

Our first lunch, where we tried alpaca.. eh, I have to say it was not the greatest.

Mmm, palta rellena (stuff avocado). This was really good, especially since avocado has become one of my favorite foods in Peru. 

Check out bird boy! Haha this kid was pretty content believe it or not

Ah yes, and who greeted us on our first day in Arequipa? Spiderman!

Here are just some pictures around Arequipa. We did a lot of shopping, eating, sitting in the park, then some more eating, then some shopping, then some more eating... you get the point :)

These were some guys in the park showing off for us.. I thought I would at least give them some fame on my blog since Amanda and I laughed at their attempts to impress us!

Beer Ice Cream! (Cerveza = Beer) Sounds gross, but I had to at least taste-test it and it was good! I can think of a few family members who might be jealous of this :) Moroccan restaurant, Res el Hanout, which was amazing to say the least. This is just a really pretty view of part of the city...

This is in the garden at our little hostal (from left, me, Eden, Lindsay, Kathy, Amanda)

That's just to show a little bit of my time in Arequipa, but I'll post lots of pictures in the next few days of Colca Canyon, which is where we spent the other 2 days of our trip and was just gorgeous!