This morning we arrived very early in Arequipa, the "white city" in the south of Peru. We picked a hostel from the Lonely Planet recommendations (Tumi de Oro) and it turned out to be a good choice - close to the Plaza de Armas and full of character. The decorations in my room definately give room for thought - peruvian artefacts and a tennis racket on the bathroom wall!? I am still trying to make a connection - after the Nazca lines this should be an easy one ;-) It is run by an elderly couple - actually they are so old that I suggested to Alberto that we might ask them about the Nazca lines. And without kidding, when the lady asked me if I had already visited the mummy "Juanita" it sounded like she was talking about a friend. Her husband, a very lovely elderly gentleman, immediately took a liking to Alberto when he heard that he is from Italian. He told us about his love for Italy and Italian music, especially Paganini! So Alberto got his first hug of the day and we took off to explore Arequipa!
Our first destination was the "Cafe Casa Verde", part of a social project helping street kids and orphans. Alberto is planning a film project about those kind of projects and therefore was very interested in this place. And it was definately a good starting point for exploring Arequipa - very comfy and quiet and with the best chocolate cake in South America or maybe even the whole southern hemisphere ;-)
Anyhow, I have to confess that on the way to the Cafe Casa Verde we got side trapped in one of the numerous craft shops and I ended up buying a scarf and two embroiedered belts and Alberto bought a little bag for his camera and a hat. Well, and I reserved a handwoven blanket which would look very good on my couch... guess I´ll get it tomorrow, even though my backpack is already looking very pregnant! ;-) Another menace to the wellbeing of my backpack are the numerous and very well assorted book stores...
After hanging out at the internet for some time we spend the better part of the afternoon in a little restaurant called "Fez". Its in a typical colonial building and has a very lovely backyard and even better food! We enjoyed yummy hummus and warm arab bread, falafel and an incredible delicious crepe with apples and para nuts for "postre"! And real coffee - the one which is made of real coffee beans and smells and tastes like coffee ;-) Not the Nescafe instant thing that only shares the colour with real coffee. And it should not be the last coffee of the day - we soon stumbled over "Cusco Coffee", a peruvian version of Starbucks, laid back and high quality coffee! We are muy feliz and contento :-)
Actually we both like Arequipa that we think of staying for longer. Alberto would love to find out more about the Casa Verde project and I´d love to improve my Spanish in one of the many Spanish schools. I´d like to improve my grammar but hope not to lose my Portuguese accent which makes everybody think I am from Brazil ;-) Somehow the prejudices one encounters are much nicer that way ;-) Taxi drivers usually will ask you if you dance samba and waer g-strings on the beach. If they think you are from good old Germany they usually assume you are loaded and / or a cheap skate. Some know about Bayern Munich and many think Germany is full of racists who enjoy beating up latino students on the weekend. So you will understand that I am not planning on giving up my Brazilian accent and prefer the g-string version to being a rich racist ;-)
So "Adeus" for now, I will go back to the hostel now and practise some samba moves ;-)
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