Goodbye Arequipa!

Today is our last day in Arequipa.

I´m really going to miss it here, we´ve been here for 2 weeks.

I think everyone is starting to feel at home here, I suppose that´s a good reason to move on to... CUSCO!

Last night was fun.. well more funny.

Blake found us a `cool, hip place to go dancing´.

Hemm well I guess cool and hip people can be over 35....

Granted, we only stayed till 11:30, but it was still mostly old people when we left.

After we all went out to get juice(pineapple, banana), and ended up staying out pretty late.
All in all good night.





The next morning was a coffee must day, so Benji, Jonah, and I met up with Julie at the coffee shop and went over to the big market again.
I had my first fresh fig! (thanks Julie)

I also got to see cute puppies! Sadly they live mostly in a bag with other pups till they are adopted by someone :(



Jalen and I finished packing (about an hour ago), and left Martha our homestay mama.
I´m pretty sure I´m bag has gained about 8 pounds over the last 6 weeks.

Today I also found some mixed greens, it felt SO great to eat fresh veggies! Now my only hope is that I don´t need any of the imodium I´ve been passing out, a few people have `rumbles in the jungle´or ´super sonic diarrhea´, as we´ve been calling it.

I´m pretty dummed I still can´t post pictures! The internet cafe I´m at right now is awful.... they removed all of the usb ports, and the first computer I was on crashed twice.

Maybe Cusco will be better! (we get on our 10 hour night bus at 8:30 tonight)

Wow it´s March....

I´m still in Arequipa. Exept this week Jalen and I are staying with Martha!
She´s our homestay Mama, and she makes us wonderful (mostly)vegan food!
She also rents rooms in her house out... So if you ever want to go to Arequipa, Peru... You should call her!

Really cool things about Arequipa, Peru:
Everything is really cheap!
The people are easier to understand than Chileans.
The weater is wonderful.
It´s surrounded by mountains.
And they have chocolate.

Some not so cool things about Arequipa:
THEY DON´T HAVE WARM SHOWERS!
And that´s pretty much it.

Today Josie, Quinn, Wyatt, Kina, and I went to a neat and authentic market place with our Spanish teacher, they had some awesome stuff there!
The main reason we went was so that everyone who wanted could get jugo de rana (or frog juice). Yup it´s just what it sounds like.
A woman takes 2 frogs, knocks them out, peals them, boils them, puts them in a blender with milk, honey, quinoa, maca powder, and a few other grains, then she pours the juice through a strainer to get the bones and chunks out, andddd Bon Appetite!
The Market also had LOTS of meat, I think the worst was the bucket of cow heads....
But all in all I{m glad they don{t let anything go to waste... Or turn it in to a hotdog...
(Now for my homework I have to write all that in Spanish... Yikes)

Side note: If you have an Ipod touch, 3 dollars, and time to kill
you should get FIELD RUNNERS! (app)
Moving on....
I{ll have pictures soon... I hope, Friday at the latest!

Mas Arequipa

What happened to the entwives?

Quinn pointed out this picture in the all Spanish history museum today.
This week in Arequipa is our student run week, or "felx-week".

So here is Hanna and Jonah flex-ing.
This is a picture in the courtyard of the museum and church.

There are lots of (literally)street vendors here.

Arequipa day 3

Instant coffee.... Why?
Yesterday we had lunch in the courtyard of a church, and solved some riddles...

"There is a man in the desert, dead, wearing tights, and laying next to a rock. He has no bodily injuries, and the rock is related to how he died.

Who is he? and how did he die? "
FALAFEL!!!!!!!!!!
This is my rad 12 dollar sweater.

Ariquipa!

Starfruit! First time I´ve had it, not a fan... But I did get about 6 of them for 1 sole (aprox $0.40)

Quinn really liked em´so nothing went to waste.

This is a view of our awesome hostel!

2 small issues with it 1. no hot water. 2. even though they have a great view of the city at night, most of the hostel doesn´t hav a roof... and it´s rained everyday...
But they do have this great little puppy!

I think his name is Carlitos, and he likes to bite shoes.
The downtown area here is really great!

I got a cool 100% Alpaca sweater for 35 soles (or aprox $12.98), and walked around with Hanna, Jonah, and Jalen... On our way home we walked through the park/square and it was so gross.... 1000´s of pidgins...

They do remind me of home though, as a lot of them are about as fat as Chicago pidgins.

Atacama

In San Pedro De Atacama! One of the driest places in the world!

The next day we got up at 6am (ahh!) and got to see Flamingos!

Nobody ate breakfast because it was included on our tour, but we didn´t eat till about 10am.

Most people had a hard time not imagining grilled flamingo...

Listen to this and look at the next picture....
Mmmmm fruit!
Our bus buddy! he almost threw Jonah´s I phone out the window

pictures from last week....

Here is Terricita, Val, and me at Lake Cauhil.

Behind us are a bounch of stalls selling quinoa, salt, and honey mostly.

The lake!
These 2 photos are of Puntos de Lobos, it´s a popular surfing location, but not for me (maybe in 5 years?...) like most of the scenery makes me think of Lord of The Rings....