Arequipa – Please pass the donkey!

Our first time to South America and Uli and were very excited as we headed out of Moreno Valley on a shuttle bus at 4:00 in the morning. Our flight went via Mexico City to Lima and as we cleared customs for Mexico and gave up our baggage for Lima the airport employee warned us that we should lock our suitcases and promptly put cable ties around the zippers so that the bags could not be opened.

This was our first warning of many from local Peruvians about robberies! Don’t wear jewelry, do not take a cab off the street and keep your purse wrapped securely around you. So far, knock wood we have had absolutely no problems and I must admit that I have been pickpocketed 3 times in Europe: twice in Italy and once in Vienna.

Our first stop in Peru is Arequipa where we had a nice little apartment with a big patio, where you could see the 6000 meter high volcanos surrounding the city. It was close to the wonderful Plaza de Yanahuara.

Learning Spanish!

As Uli and I do not speak a word of Spanish beyond the cuss words I learned as a teenager in southern California we decided to stay a week in a city which has little tourists and is at a moderate altitude (2400 meters or 8000 feet) to both acclimatize and learn to communicate. We had private Spanish lessons for 2 hours a day in a private home. Our first day we looked desperately for the language school thinking there would be a sign on the door or some indication that this was a language school. That was not the case! We could not even ask for directions because no one could understand us. This proved to be the needed motivation and we worked very hard to learn Spanish.  Our teacher was very nice and patient.  During our practice session Uli asked her to “pass the donkey” when he meant butter and I claimed to have 4 garlic cloves as children. It is funny the mistakes you make with a new language. I laughed so hard I almost peed my pants and had to go use the restroom and think of horrible things like the holocaust to make myself stop laughing. Every time Uli and I looked at each we laughed. It was like 5th grade!

Regina also taught us how to ride the bus in Peru. You stand on any corner and wave the bus down. There is a guy who hangs half out of the bus in the door that is never shut and he jumps out and lets you in the bus… the bus barely stops moving. After that, when you get to where you want to get out you tell the bloke in the door “bajar aqui” and the bus slows down so you can jump off.  The cost was about 25 cents!

The crowning end of the class was when we cooked the Arequipian specialty “Rocoto Relleno” with our Spanish teacher at the house.  This looks like stuffed bell peppers as we know them but it is not. The Rocoto pepper is as hot as a Jalapeño and must be prepared in a special way so that you do not bite into a fiery hot pepper when eating it. You have to scrape the seeds and veins out diligently with a spoon and then boil it in vinegar. While it is boiling the steam in the room seems to be toxic and causes you to cough and eyes to water. Muy caliente. The Rocoto was delicious with the lovely Peruvian potatoes.

(BTW: Did you know Peru has 3800 varieties of potatoes and they call them papas).

So after a week, I can go into a store and buy something or order in a restaurant so I deem it a great success.

White City

Arequipa is built in Spanish colonial style of white sillar stones and is very beautiful. Most cities in Peru have a Plaza de Armas. The plaza in Arequipa is throned over by the beautiful basilica. There is a very well maintained Monastery where we obtained a 2 hour tour from an English speaking guide for roughly 5 dollars.

The wonderful downtown area had good restaurants serving the Peruvian specialties like Adobo, Rocoto Relleno and Cuy. We tried everything but the Cuy, Cuy is guinea pig and is wildly popular eating in Peru. It is supposed to taste like chicken. Isn’t that what everyone says about something disgusting you should try: rattle snack, alligator etc. It always tastes like chicken. No, thanks. I will stick with the chicken. To add injury to insult they serve it to you with it’s little head and feet intact and covered with fur. No Gracias. (Unless one of our blog readers would give it as a task to us).

Off the beaten track

Uli and I usually wander around cities and are not only interested in landmarks and must-sees which is how we ended up in the local market where the Arequipians  buy their fruit, vegetables, meats (without refrigeration) lama heads and lama fetuses. They have everything you could think of. I ask myself how in god’s name you can leave meat out all day and not get sick

Speaking of getting sick: We learned from our Servas hosts and Spanish teacher that the vegetables should be washed in chlorine or iodine before eating. We were simply pouring boiling water over them and Basta. They said that they also cannot drink the water because it has bacteria in it. It must be boiled before drinking and brushing your teeth. Uli got pretty ill off of some radishes he ate and we are now much more careful about what we eat.

Servas

Those of you that have read our blog entry from Coromandel know that we are traveling as Servas guests which mean that we have lists of hosts in different countries which we can visit. In Arequipa I sent out a few emails and found a family directly by our lovely apartment on the Plaza Yuanhuara. In our host list it stated that the family spoke English but that turned out to be quite wrong. At our first meeting the conversation sort of petered out after we got through our 5 sentences from Spanish class.

How are you? My name is… I live in Munich… you get the picture.

Thank god they had a little 8 year old girl who played hide and seek with us and other games! Kids are great. They do not care if you understand them. After our evening together we were invited to come to their house the next day and make an excursion. Unfortunately, we did not understand that we were invited to lunch and ate a big lunch before going over. So… to make a long story short. We sat down and ate a second lunch. The food was very good.

Afterwards they took us to Open Air hardware store/market, because they are just building their new home. Then we went to the country side and an old mill where they have many animals and where they raise the fighting bulls for the every year event of two bulls fighting against each other.

It was a great experience. Many thanks to Liliams and Pedro. They were very nice to us and we wished we could have spoken better Spanish.

Uli told our Servas hosts that he had stomach issues and they pulled out the coca leaves and he chewed them obediently after they showed them how it is done. You do not swallow it. You just put it in your cheek like chewing tobacco. Uli is a bad boy. This stuff is illegal in Germany!

Sand Boarding

On Sunday we had a day off from class and took the chance to tour the desert surrounding Arequipa. We had a former Peruvian bicycle race champion as a driver and Wilmar, our tour guide, who taught us how to do Sand Boarding. We drove one hour thru the mines of Arequipa to a place called Paradise, where they had white sand dunes.

Is sand boarding like snowboarding? Yes and no. The sand was white, we put wax on the boards, but it was impossible to make a turn.

There was also no lift up. Walking thru the soft sand uphill with a board is extremely strenuous and the sand gets very hot. We asked Wilmar to build a lift and a little Almhütte on top, where you can get Kaiserschmarrn and beer. Let us see, when we next time come to Peru sand boarding.

We tried different positions. Standing, sitting or lying on the board. The last position they call belly style and you have to be careful not to each too much sand. We had a lot of fun. Wilmar is a great tour guide. Whenever you are in Peru, book a tour with Wilmar.

(This is not the advertisment we finance our trip with :-). His company is Peru Breathtaking Tours)

This was real vacation day, because these two people were some of the only people who could speak English. Over all it was a great week in Arequipa. We learned a lot of Peruvian life and also a little Spanish. It is great experience to live in a less touristic city, where nobody understands you.

We felt like Martians, when they first arrive on earth.