amazing Arequipa and Lake Titicaca

I miss Arequipa already. It seems to be the Texas or Manhattan of Peru. Arequipenos think their city is the best in the whole world, which causes people in other Peruvian cities to resent them, just like Texas and New Yorkers. Everything about the place is special -- when we were in Colca Valley, our guide was telling us that the cows there only produce 5 liters of milk a day, but they have special cows in Arequipa because they produce 35 liters a day. No recognition of the difference in resources; the difference was in the specialness of Arequipenian cows. I like them for that brash pride. It feels familiar to me, and I understand why they feel that way.

Peru is not what we thought it would be, in almost every way. Although it's a Catholic country, they're not at all prudish. (I don't mean that Catholics are prudes, but it is a very religious country.) Everywhere we've been, we see couples kissing, holding hands and holding each other. Nancy said it's most common now for people to live together before they marry, and most families have 1 or 2 children, so they must be using birth control.

I miss it. It's got such a wonderful feeling to it, and the people were so incredibly kind to us. Today we had lunch on a balcony overlooking the plaza before we left for the airport. Sandra, the woman who picked us up at the airport, accompanied us back to the airport and hugged us goodbye.

The flight was only 30 minutes long to Juliaca, over mountains. Juliaca was also much more charming than the guidebooks suggested, and the plains between Juliaca and Puno reminded me of the Tibetan plateau, or Mongolia. (Of course I've never been to either place, but it had that feeling because of the strangeness of the light. You really do feel like you're on top of the world.) As you drive through the altoplano you see mountaintops on the horizon, and it's easy to shift your head a little to imagine that they're just tips of huge mountains instead of the whole mountain in the distance. In the plains are these very low adobe houses, all dark brown with low pitched brown roofs. People drive small herds of cattle. It was a thoroughly remarkable landscape. When we pulled into Puno, we were surprised that it's much bigger than we expected.

the altiplano

altiplano adobe homes

Juliacan women

And OK, here is the final amazing piece for the day. Our hotel is absolutely amazing. It's right on Lake Titicaca, and our room overlooks the lake. It's sumptuous, so comfortable. The lobby has a beautiful fireplace, with lots of comfortable chairs in small groups, and people are actually sitting there, reading and talking. There is a deck overlooking the lake, but it's too cold to eat out there now. And the restaurant is so charming, with a great menu AND it's not expensive.

view from our bedroom

dining room

sunset over Titicaca

the hotel boat dock

So far, this vacation has been absolutely perfect. I thought our Vietnam vacation was the pinnacle, and thought maybe it was so perfect largely because we were in the early stages of our relationship and that made things extra special (which it did, of course). But this vacation is even more amazing than that one. It's true that if anything, we are much closer now than we were even then, but this place is just amazing. I know I keep using that word, but it really is. Marc and I travel well together, and he put together a perfect trip.

Arequipa the lovely

Arequipa is the 2nd largest city in Peru, and the place you go if you want to go whitewater rafting, mountain climbing, hiking, stuff like that, that Marc and I don't do. It's also the most geologically interesting, with a ring of volcanoes around the city, and a huge canyon a couple of hours away. The canyon is more than twice as deep as the Grand Canyon. The Arequipa landscape, from the air:

The city has such a nice feel to it, and the place we're staying is really amazing. Casa Arequipa may be my favorite place we've stayed, ever. The people are so sweet (see the previous post), the place is very comfortable, and the people who work here are just right, in terms of being helpful but not intrusive. Plus, it's pink:

The honeymoon suite, our room one night

with a really sweet terrace

The garden room, our room another night

After my birthday cake, we walked into town, to the Plaza de Armes. I think every town in Peru has a Plaza de Armes. Arequipa is called the white city because most of the buildings are built with volcanic rock, which is white. This is the big Cathedral on the square; it's the only Cathedral in Peru that takes up one whole side of the city square.

On the square after dinner:

Oh -- the vegetation in Arequipa and Lima is a mix of palm trees and deciduous trees. Really odd combo.

Here -- this video has footage of the square and our hotel:

This guy had an old typewriter on his lap. I never saw him type, but he was ready at any moment.

One of the major things to see in Arequipa is the Monestario de Santa Catalina. It was started by a rich old Spanish widow in the 1500s, and she picked only the upper-crust rich Spanish girls to be nuns. It was a monastery, but the nuns had several slaves each, and they had parties and live music. Finally, a big nun came over from Spain a couple hundred years later and whipped the place into shape. No more slaves, no more parties. Just nun stuff, 24/7.

But the place is absolutely gorgeous:

Lots of this kind of thing. Estoy llorando.

the kitchen

Apparently the colors are accurate -- they were this vivid when the place was new. Really amazing.

We walked around town for awhile, came back to our hotel for a snooze -- oh yeah, the altitude is getting to us a bit. Hard to breathe now and then, tired really easily, woozy here and there. Hence, the nap. The area around our hotel is particularly beautiful:

Misti Volcano in the background, and the Chili River in the foreground

Nothing boring about the houses!

or the flowers

Zig Zag Restaurant was our dinner spot, to celebrate my birthday. We ate ostrich carpaccio (Marc's dish, which I tried -- mine was Andean trout carpaccio), grilled alpaca (again, Marc's, which I tried -- I got grilled fish), and a bowl of corn quinoa cheese soup. The ostrich was interesting, the alpaca was just fine-grained meat, and dinner was great, mainly because of the company.

This was a perfectly wonderful day.

on the best birthday, EVER

fly Lima to Arequipa: 10:35 – 12:00
hotel: Casa Arequipa

prowl around Arequipa all day





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So today is birthday #49, and it's been the very best one by far. First of all, spending my birthday going from Lima to Arequipa, with Marc. That is amazing enough. The people who picked us up from the airport from our Arequipa hotel were just wonderful, and when I told her (in Spanish! hoy es mi cumpleanos, more or less), she set up this whole thing. We got to the hotel (more on that later) and after we finished checking in, she brought out a birthday cake with Feliz Cumpleanos Lori written on it. And everyone who works here (5 people, I think -- it's a wonderful B&B) came out and they sang happy birthday to me, in English and then in Spanish. And on top of that, the cake was just wonderful.

I cried. If you know me, I'm sure you saw that coming. Can you believe....sitting in a living room-type lobby, being serenaded in English and Spanish by people smiling so kindly at me? IN PERU? After that, each one of them hugged me and wished me happy birthday again.

Now we're off to dinner. I have so much to say, but reservations await. Since this fantastic place also has wireless internet, I'll do more after dinner tonight.