An Answer to the Trivia Question & Much More...

Well, I've been scouring the streets of Arequipa for the answer to the trivia question from, oh! almost a month ago and this morning I finally got lucky. This one is a tad bit different than I originally described because this one doesn't have pedals...it has a motor. (We're sophistacted now boys and girls!) At first I thought I had hit a goldmine. I thought what I saw was a traveling restaurant but alas! It's a door-to-door pot & pan salesperson. Not as interesting as I first thought but fun all the same.

Since I've been here I haven't gotten too terribly sick. At first I had a sore throat, then a sinus infection, and then, well, you don't really want to know about that one. But now I'm happy to report that I'm doing fine and back to my usual self.

Here, anytime you look the least bit puny everyone says..."es gripe", which to me sounds a little comical but in actuality is just the flu. But people say it ALL the time around here. And their cure for "me duele la garganta" - Spanish for "my throat hurts"? Pisco...which is basically a type of whiskey. It's probably best if you think during the days of prohibition when moonshine was cool. I've never actually tasted moonshine but if it's anything like Pisco I don't care to try it. That stuff makes tequila taste like it's for babies. And where does the best, the smoothest Pisco come from you might ask? Not the store! No! Someone's house...I told you it reminded me of moonshine.

I have now tried Pisco, along with a few other things I don't know if I should mention. Oh, what the heck! My Grandma Hetty always used to say "While in Rome, do as the Romans do." Well, I'm not exactly in Rome but I think the saying holds true for here as well although it's a little different. "A donde fueras, haz lo que vieras." Which means, wherever you are, do whatever you see.

In keeping with that theory, I've tried some of the local cuisine which includes the following: anticucho, cuy, and queso helado. Now, on the surface, none of these things sound really creepy but that's because they're in Spanish. Once you translate them, things change and you now have: a cow's heart, a cute little guinea pig fried and on a platter, and cheese ice cream. I can say I am now a huge fan of one of these three things and I'm sure you can probably guess which one it is...the ice cream. It's to die for. And no, it isn't really made with cheese. It's just the name. It's pretty close to our homemade vanilla ice cream but much richer. Probably a cross between that and gelato and anyone who's been to Italy knows about gelato. Wowzers! The other two items that made it onto my plate (or kabob, I should say), I can probably do without eating again.

I am very happy to report that the very frightened guinea pig that was in the kitchen of one of the oldest restaurants in Arequipa was
still alive after my meal. Although his prospects for a long and happy life seemed rather bleak. There were also some baby ducks in the kitchen in a box that I'm sure will be on a platter some day soon. Ugh! It's not right to see your food before hand, that is unless it's a lobster and I suppose they're just not cute enough for me to feel bad about eating.

In addition to trying some of the local cuisine, I've also gotten about town and gone to several historical sites. One of which was The Santa Catalina Convent, which is apparently a part of the Opus Dei sect. I have proof on my camera and it's a good thing because no one here believed me when I was talking about it. Maybe it was because a couple of weeks ago my Spanish was so bad no one could understand what I was saying but I know what I saw and there is no way I'm joining that church. It was absolutely beautiful though with brightly painted walls and streets that look like they belong in Venice. The convent is over 400 years old and is still a working convent. I decided that the nuns there all had to be very short and very fat because all the doorways were very small and there had to be at least 20 different kitchens in the place. Pretty impressive for a nunnery.

I've also been to Sabandía and Yumina which are some small towns outside of Arequipa where there's a lot of agricuture. After taking a 30 minute bus ride which costed about $0.15, we walked to Molina which is a historic location where they grind corn. We then hiked to Yumina, about a 45 minute walk up and around a rather large hill where we ran across a very friendly little goat, some natural pools, which were very frigid, and a chalk tunnel which we walked through with no flashlights. It was all great fun though, including the bus ride home when I almost bowled over about a dozen people because I wasn't hanging on when the bus took off.

I have also taken a trip to Mundo Alpaca where we got a tour of the facility. I got to make friends with some really cute little alpacas. I was surprised to learn that there are about five different species. One reminded me of an ewok on Star Wars and another got really friendly when he tried to first eat my scarf, then my leg. He was really cute though with long, brown, dreadlock type hair, so I didn't mind so much.

In my spare time I've also taken multiple dance classes and two cooking classes since I've been here. I'm still a terrible dancer but I really have fun with my new moves. So far, I'm not an expert in Salsa, Merengue, or Reggaeton but I sure do like the dances! I've also been doing my far share to tear it up in the kitchen. The first week we learned how to make ceviche, a potato dish, and a purple desert, and this week we made tamales, a dish with a lot of chile peppers, and my favorite, queso helado. That's right! Now I can make my own...so watch out Emeril! I might just start up my own version of a Latin cooking show, Peruvian style of course. I've been trying to figure out what to do next with my life...I think I'm going to need to practice some more. :o)

So, what's next for me? For now, I'm working on making friends with a little puppy who lives on the street. He was hit by a car several weeks ago and slowly but surely we're making friends. I named him Rodrequiz because that's the name of the street where I met him but I call him Guizi for short. He's really sweet. If I could get the upload to work I'd upload a picture of him but apparently I've maxed out for the day, something like that. Anyway, I have Guizi, four more weeks of Spanish class and a trip to Machu Pichu and Lake Titicaca planned for the coming month. Oh! I almost forgot Halloween is tomorrow and here, it's a huge deal so we're all dressing up and hitting the town. I hope all of you have a spooky Halloween as well!