Arequipa – or how I bought my first knife
So i’m going to split the last few days into two posts for two different cities, Arequipa and Cuzco.
Arequipa was breautiful, a really lovely city with very friendly people. Got there very early one day after an overnight bus. I actually got really lucky on the bus and got upgraded to Royal Class or Somethiing or other. Instead of being stuffed into a seat upstairs with only enough leg room for a Peruvian (not much), i was downstairs in a great bed like recliner. So I did manage to get some sleep which was good. Unfortunatly, there was also a guy behind me who was snoring pretty impressivly, I thought he was going to stop breathing.
WhenI got to Arequipa I sat in the Plaza de Armas for a little while until it was a respectable time to check into a cheap hotel. Ended up at a place that i think was called La Florentina or something like that, pretty good and cheap, cozy, really friendly owner. I met some Austrians there who complained of always being mistaken for Australians. They were a really nice couple who have been travelling for over a year and are just going to keep on going; very cool. Had some lunch with them and checked out the market which is worth a visit. It was there that I bought my one sol (thirty Aus cents) knife in order to prepare more of my own food, so far it´s basically been good for oranges. It´s kinda cool, just little with a wooden handle.
Also ran into Leigh the vet and the Germans from Nazca which was cool, also had dinner with them. We went to a nice place and I had a stir fry with ostrich which was pretty strange, but good, there was also some brocolli (which I´ve been craving like mad). That afternoon I was sitting in the San Francisco Plaza, which was beautiful, and a peruvian woman came and sat next to me and we chatted for a while in Spanish, eventually getting onto Chavez and Fidel Castro when she found out I was going to Cuba and Venezuala. It was really interesting, she was a socialist and was talking about how thay needed someone like that in Peru. Just by chance, Fujimori, an ex president of Peru who has fled the country because of Curruption alligations (i think) is perhaps going to run for office in Japan. That, and the fact that Cameron Diaz is in Cuzco (where i´m heading next).
Next day had a pretty chilled morning, went to the bus station got a ticket, went to the market again to get some lunch (fresh bread and oranges) then I headed to Santa Catalina Monastary (look it up) which was beautiful, I´l be posting photos in the next few days. Definitly worth going. A city within an city, amazing colours. Just wandered around there for a couple of hors and sat and ate my lunch (with my trusty knife for the oranges)
Bus in the evening, simple as that, wish I´d had a few more days maybe to do the Colca Canyon, but onto Cuzco.
I´m not going to bother spell cheaking this, so just pretend it´s all correct eh?
By the by, do you know what I love? I love comments.
Tags: Arequipa, Travel
eb
i love to comment. how nice. Austrians are alien Australians. It has stopped raining here so i’ve begun releasing the animal i’d collected back into the wild, start with the itty bitty little spiders and spider monkeys. Many of them didn’t want to go because we were having such a swell time here all together. Sounds like your having a swell time too. Miss you.
Hi Em,
Sounds great. I took a printout of your Nazca post out to Nana and Pa’s and got out the atlas and took them through the various places. They’re going to write comments out and I’ll post them for them. Wendy is off the Singapore for a week in a few hours, so iit wil be just Luke and me around the hoearth for a week. It’s stopped raining here (the dams are up over 50%) but is cold – 4 degrees Celsius on the upstairs verandah this morning. The courtyard tree is its normal brilliant gold and burgundy, and the sky now a bright blue backdrop, so it’s pretty spectacular, as usual at this time of year. Did you get my UTS email?
Dad
Hi Em
We are addicted to blog. Pip says she feels like she is travelling too.
I’m off to Singapore for five days tonight but because I booked so late I have to go via Kuala lumpar but at least I will get a tiny look at a place I have never been.
Look forward to Cuzco episode.
There has been huge news here about abuse and neglect in Aboriginal communties. Hardly new but there is a new report which led Howard to announce total intervention package – withdraw basic income if children don’t go to school. Crikey and even some ABC journalists are suggesting it is this year;s Tampa – ie Wedge politics.
We miss you but the trip sounds amazing,
Look forward to more pictures,
Love
Mum
i love how your mum integrates a little australian political commentary into her travel blog comment. hi wendy! also, tell luke if he collected a unicorn, i want it please, and don’t let it go. on the other hand, i could wander up the street and turn left then turn right and turn right again and tell him myself, but without you there it hardly seems worth the effort, even for a unicorn. (hi luke?)
NEwayz, travel sounds M-azing and i’m about one million jealous. what else. you can hear a little about the life of siobhan…EXAMS.
that is all, literally.
are you gonna settle anywhere for a little while, or keep jumping around like a crazy thing? have you patted a llama? are the oranges good (have you turned orange) have you bought me a present yet? question?
memorising an essays calls, its like the hsc all over
(*siobhan! *siohan)
catch ya. write the blog again soon because it’s the most fulfulling procrastination mechanism i’ve found yet, aside for the impossible quiz
ovvvverrr and out! aye!
hey em!!!!
i am so very annoyed right now, i just wrote a whole cool comment AND then i went to send it and it erased! grrrr! oh well
so im sorry i havent commented you sooner, work has been crazy busy a little bit, but im gald tat your having fun and very jelous about t all! it seems really fun n crazy. have you noticed how in lima rather than using toilets… the people just pop a squat where ever they feel like it hahah it’s really cool being able to hear all your stories and being able to live vicariously through them until i take off on my onw african adevnture thing. but australia is boring nothing happens here hahah
on a more spooy side, i miss you heaps n heaps, im gald your having fun, but i will email you soon
love you
lucyxxxxxxxx
p.s. my first comment was way beter than this lol
Emma! Tis Hannah. As in soners partner in crime (just incase you knew another). Luke told me about your blog and i just read through them all. Everything sounds so interesting and its giving me the urge to jump on a plane right now. Anyway i hope you are having ze time of your life and keeping safe. Keep up the blogs they are a great read indeed. 🙂
You certainly have some strange friends…
That’s how I like it
Luke – I am glad to hear that you are being kind to your animals. Today I may or may not have seen a Llama sacrificed. I am having a swell time, and I have new and exciting music to bring back to Australia already. Woot. Miss you too.
Dad – the UTS thing worked splendidly, can’t wait for Nana and Pa’s comments, it is also cold here. Especially at night. The house will be very empty, fill it with music.
Mum – Have fun in Singapor and KL. I actually went into an Australian bar-cafe the other day (it would fit in well on king st) and they have a news in Australia wall so I have heard about the situation, reminds me of the stolen generation. Rather than put money into education, health and other services, the government instead puts on a leash.
More photos soon, I have a few good ones.
Slob – I am sad to hear that you have exams, but happy to think about how much fun we will have in the US, how does Montreal for New Years sound? I think I will settle somewhere in Bolivia for a week or two, but I have been in cuzco for almost a week and it feels like longer. I will write my blog again tomorrow after I have gotten rid of the hangover I plan to have. The impossible quiz makes me angry, but it is very addictive, like coca but less leaves. I did pat a Llama, but I think I gave it bad luck.
Lucy – great to hear from you, can’t wait to read of your adventures. I am saddened at the loss of comment, but the one I got was great anyway. I didn’t come accross anything like that in Lima or anywhere else. Miss you too, look forward to the e-mail.
Hannah – Hi! cool to hear from you, I do know other hannahs so it was good that you identified yourself.
Thanks for the props, look forward to seeing you at my place or around newtown apon my return.
hey em do you know when those theatre tix were meant to come in 🙂
Dear Emma,
Your blog is fantastic, I am enjoying reading it very much, Dont eat too many oranges, I am into foods and their effects at the moment, right now I have forgotten what it said about heaps of oranges, but I will get back to you on that!!!!!!!!
Stay safe and well, and keep having fun!
Love you,
Maryxxxxxxxxx
as soon as i read the word ostrich i imagined this huge, still fully-feathered bird lying across a table with all this peruvians just digging in from all sides and you sitting rigth next to the head kind of ogling the ostriches eyes… Lucky it was in a stirfry! was it tasty?
i’ve been finished exams for a week, so i’m ever so relaxed and uni-free.
all your travelogues have made me really excited about heading overseas!
also, i’ll definately be in the land of maple syrup in JANUARY next year. so if you are too, it’ll be high time to party…
love you lots
Don´t worry Mary, not too many Oranges, just enough to keep Scurvy away, and get a few Vitamins into me.
Liisa, the stirfry was good, it had Quinoa (?) in it, which is a grain that is very very good for you. I WILL in fact be in the giant ice cube of the north in January. Send me un e mail and we can figure out how to meet up, Siob may also be with me.
hey em,
great that you bought a knife there always handy. your trip sounds excellent but i too would like more photos. you are almost convincing me that i need to end my trip in south america – howe is your spanish going??
luke there is no place for animals in rock and roll unless you are eating them on stage…..
wendy, dont spit in singapore remember the poor american student who got cained on the bottom whilst on holidays there after being caught spitting in public by the police. also does that mean if he has another tampa he will win again….. is rudd still in front on the polls??
chris i havent forgotten to send a game, not all the computers here are quick enough or have the required downloads – but as i arrived in naples today will set one up as it should improve in the bigger cities.
righto just briefly – in naples arrived today. have just come from sciliy and ischia (island of naples) the island life has been very rewarding (i.e. lazy and beach filled) but there where also some very pretty towns and some outstanding food. especially in cantania, sciliy and in general just the tomtoaes. i can not comment about some of the other stuff in sciliy after finally joining my “other family”. plan is to see pompei, sorrento, capri and naples and then head to meet some friends from melbourne who are back visiting family in slovenia – more homemade blueberry snapps and horse no doubt cant wait. after that not sure but maybe a job to break even for a few months and avoid the tourist plagues months of july and august.
righto glad that all is well with you all and the trip is going gangbusters em. i am off to shower and go into naples and buy a knife….i think i to need one for food of course, oh remember not to leave it in your hand luggage when boarding planes.
ciao for now
mark