Exploring Arequipa/Arrival in Colca

September 14, 2017

We all woke up bright and early so we could eat breakfast before heading out. We walked out and headed to some sort of petting zoo close to the hotel. We learned about the animals and of course took photos. We also learned about the farming and had time to walk around the facility to take photos.

ALPACAS!

So cuteee!

The location of all the animals was super beautiful!

Courtney (American) and I decided we want to try and take a selfie with one of the animals, so we headed to one we thought would approach us. We were warned by Nadja to not take it with this particular animal, as we had been told it was aggressive (meaning it would spit) but Courtney shrugged it off and said it would make a great memory. She ended up eating those words because as soon as she turned around to make sure the animal was behind her, it spit all over her (and the spit was green and yellow). I was super close as well but I didn’t recieve a bath in spit, thank goodness. I also couldn’t do anything but laugh for a solid 5 minutes until I pulled it together. After I got it together, we left for our next destination, the Plaza De Armas Arequipa. 

No question between John Deere and Case in Arequipa.

Arches are super common in Arequipa because they withstand the constant earthquakes!

Little nook of the petting zoo!

Upon our arrival, we went to a beautiful church and a different secluded place with tourists. 

Outside the church!

Inside the church

One of the many paintings inside the church.

Fountain in our secluded tourist place.

One of the many beautiful arcs

Afterwards, Sabrina, Macie, Jessica (Brazil), and Anna all went and got ice cream from across the street. We then accidentally got separated from our groups, so we just joined a different colored group. After taking some more pictures, we headed back to the buses to go get lunch. 

After lunch, we all headed back to the Plaza de Armas Arequipa and were able to roam around wherever we wanted for around 2 hours. We took tons of photos, bought more Queso Helado, and bought tourist stuff. I didn’t buy too much (there are cheaper places to buy things on our tour) but I did buy some bracelets for myself. I decided I would buy a bracelet wherever we go, so by the end, I will have an armful of Perú.  After buying stuff, Tiia and I separated from the rest of the group to go explore Arequipa and walked around taking pictures…

Inside the Plaza

More queso helado :)

This lady really wanted a photo with me (her face says it all)

More arches to resist the Earthquakes!

Some of my favorite people, Tiia (Finland) and Sabrina (Florida)! 

Happily jumping around :)

Giant fire that was going on during our exploration.

Exploring Arequipa with Tiia 1/5

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Back to the Plaza 5/5

My first bracelets for my collection!

Afterwards, we returned back the group, took some more group photos, and then headed to our final destination for the day, one of the colleges in Arequipa. This particular college has an attraction that draws many tourists to Arequipa “La nina de hecho” or The girl of ice. We watched a short informational video about her first, before we got to tour the museum. Eventually we got to see the mummy, although we couldn’t take any pictures (our phones and cameras had been taken and locked up). After seeing the famous mummy we left the museum, and headed back to the hotel. Here we had pizza and celebrated the second birthday of the trip by singing happy birthday in every language and eating cake. 

September 15, 2017

We woke up early in Arequipa, grabbed our suitcases, and made our way to the lobby to meet the other students. My roommates and I handed over our four key cards, and thought we were in the clear, until the man at the front desk ended up telling us we had to wait. It ended up that he was told by housekeeping that someone in our room had taken 2 bottles of water out of the fridge. We ended up waiting for a long time, trying to explain that we hadn’t even opened the refrigerator until this morning to check and make sure we hadn’t left anything. The desk ended up telling us to go and sit while they handled other exchange students. During this time I went and talked to Charo to explain the situation. Henry then went to talk to the front desk and got the situation resolved. Afterwards, we hopped on the bus and headed to our next destination, Colca.

Views from the bus!

We took a little pit stop!

Colca leaves wrapped in a rock, simply put it in your mouth and suck to help combat the altitude.

The most stunning ride of my life!

The drive to Colca was around 4 hours, and the views were incredible. As we drove, the altitude was significantly increasing, and many students began to feel sick. We stopped at a rest stop where I bought a hat made out of Alpaca fur and got some tea with Colca leaves in it just to be safe. Many students didn’t care for the taste, but I personally found the taste of the leaves enjoyable (kinda like green tea). 

Eventually we arrived at our amazing resort. Once we dragged our luggage down the steps, we all took in the view and filled out forms with information. The hotel staff came out and served us all some kind of fruit tea, which was not only delicious, it had ice! To most people this might not sound like a big deal, but in Perú, the drinks are either served room temperature, warm, or hot. While in my host family I put my drinks in the fridge (which they find a little strange), I don’t have ice to put in my drinks. So, needless to say, the tea was the best I had tasted in a while.  

Hotel View!

After we were served our drinks and had heard all the rules, we headed to our rooms with our roommates. I ended up rooming with Nina (Germany). The hotel room was super nice with a really nice bathroom and hard wooden floors that creaked. We had two beds and a cute little balcony overlooking the amazing views. 

After we settled in our rooms, we all got changed and headed to the hot springs that the hotel offered. Three were hot and one was cold. We all spent our time swimming around and talking. After being on the bus for several hours, the hot springs were just what the exchange students needed. After a while Leonora (Switzerland) and I decided we were going to be a little crazy and jump into the river next to the hot springs. After asking a hotel employee if it was okay, we both made walked on the rocks into the river. It was far from warm, but it was bearable. We clung on to rocks and felt the current pass us by. Eventually we got out after Henry told us to get out (we didn’t have shoes).

After we were done with the hot springs, most of the students took showers and ate dinner fairly quickly so that we could all get some sleep for the next day. 

First Rotary Trip/Arrival in Arequipa!

September 11, 2017

I woke up later than intended (we aren’t surprised) and immediately started getting around. My clothes were still slightly wet from the night before, so I gave them some more time and took a shower/ate breakfast. I talked to my host mom about what time I needed to go buy last minute things from  the stores. After breakfast, I attempted to finish packing and got around for the day. Afterwards, I headed to Jesus Maria with Mama so we could buy my last minute items. While we were out and about, I ran into another exchange student who was also shopping for items in the cheaper part of town. While Lince (my district of Lima) is not upscale or overpriced, if you travel to another district for a few soles, you can save some cash. For example, I had went to the grocery stores and had tried to buy some sunscreen for my face. The sunscreen was 50 soles in LInce, but in a different district of the city (Jesus Maria) the sunscreen only cost 24 soles. And while if you do the math, there is only a 26 sole difference (less than $10). While that doesn’t seem like a enough money to take a taxi to shop, here, 26 soles is a decent chunk of money. 26 soles could buy me 5+ ice cream bars, take me home from school 26 times, etc. 

After the shopping was finished and we returned home, I was greeted by my cousins that live in Ica. I still don’t really know why they were in Lima, but it was nice to see them again. I finished packing, ate lunch, and then sat around waiting. Eventually mama got home and I said goodbye to Mamita (she started tearing up a bit). I told her I would be back, and she told me to be careful about 10 times and warned me about something with the stomach even more. Mama and I took a taxi to the bus stop for the trip, and after getting out I got my ticket, gave them my luggage, etc., etc.. I got to see all of my friends and I began catching up with them. Mama and Tia Carmen took tons of pictures of Tiia, Jeanne, and I (typical Peruvian mom). Eventually we were all able to load the bus and we got on. We ended up leaving a lot later than planed because Dominik (German boy in my Rotary club) had forgotten his passport. The passport is very important to have, as we needed it to get into Machu Picchu and other places on the trip, so it was a bit of a problem. Eventually the problem was resolved and we were all able to board the bus. I sat with Tiia (my Finnish soul sister) and we managed to make the bus ride interesting. We listened to music, danced, watched movies, and talked with the other students. The most memorable part of the evening was when all the other students joined us and we started doing different accents. This has become a thing with Tiia and I as we talk in fake British accents together all the time. This started when Tiia randomly said something at school in English and sounded so British. So now we talk in fake British accents when we are together (in English and Spanish). Nonetheless, British accents turned into Australian accents that somehow morphed into German accents (This was was with lots of exchange students). Our fun was short lived however, as we all got yelled at and told we had to sit in our own seats. After being told off, we all just talked a bit more and slowly grew tired. After a while, Tiia and I fell asleep on each other, a difficult task as the bus ride wasn’t the smoothest ride.

September 12, 2017

The next morning, I woke up at 5:36 because I was cold. This is something I rarely experience in Peru, as “cold” is never actually cold by Indiana standards. The bus wasn’t actually freezing, just a bit chilly, and before I knew it, Tiia had woken up from the cold too. After discovering I was cold, we decieded body heat was the best option to warm ourselves up. Eventually the sun started to rise, and the bus began to warm up. This was my first Peruvian sunset (at least I think) and it was pretty beautiful. After the sun began to rise, Tiia and I decided we were going to brush our teeth in the bathroom. I had brought bottled water, but after opening it, I realized it was carbonated. In Peru, it is super common to find plain carbonated water in the supermarket, and it looks like regular water. I had solely selected the water based on the size and hadn’t bothered to make sure it said “sin gas”. So Tiia and I brushed our teeth with carbonated water (tasted disgusting), before returning to our seats. After another three hours, we arrived in Arequipa. To put it simply, Arequipa is stunning

Excited for Arequipa, but excited!

After arriving at the hotel, we all waited in the lobby for the Areqipeños. We lounged around and talked about our exhaustion. After some time, we received the rules and our roommates. I was assigned to be in charge of the key for my roomates Nadja (Switzerland) and Kaitlynn (USA). Most people only had one roommate, but since Kaitlynn had decided to come last minute, she got to join our group. After settling in our rooms, we had a bit of time before we headed out to explore Arequipa.

The first thing we did was traveled to a lookout point and take pictures o the mountains. I bought some colca leaves while we were here. Colca leaves are the same plant they make cocaine from (but they are good in their natural state). 

Casual view from walking around the city

View from our lookout point!

Sabrina (Florida) and I with our country's flag!

Macie (Wisconsin) and I!

Courtney (Michigan) and I (After she accidentally hit me in the face) 

Courtney and I after we got it together :)

After, we traveled to Plaza de Yanahuara. Here I tried Queso Heldo. It is similar to ice cream, but it tastes nothing like cheese ice cream. The closest thing I can compare it to is vanilla chai tea. It was needless to say, very delicious. 

Mi Amor (My Love) QUESO HELADO :P

Statues in the park center!

Church by the city center. 

Beautiful arches with a casual view. 

Me and my Americans (casual mountain background)

Tiia (my Finnish love) and I :)

We also took pictures around the Plaza before heading to Monasterio de Santa Catalina. This was a nunnery. We took a tour and of course a few photos…

After the nunnery, we had dinner where we celebrated Axelle’s 18th birthday with cake and singing happy birthday in every language present. Afterwards, we headed to the hotel and called it a night.