La Maison Del Solar Arequipa

... also joined us and we had a fun time talking and hearing jokes from Paoulo. As a tradition for the month of Oct/Nov, families buy large sweet bread adorned with painted plaster faces. This is to honor the babies born 9 mos after Carnival (I wouldn´t like to be on call for that month!). We named her Natalia and she was baptized by my family before she was eaten! <br><br><br>

... of the higher sections of the canyon to see the andean condors. We didn´t really have enough time and weren´t up for another high altitude trek so we took the second option which was far more popular. Unfortunately so... there must have been about 35+ minivans and tourists buses all doing the second option and we all stopped at the exact same places on the way for photo opportunities, or to see the Llamas and Vicunas (wild relation of the Llama ...

... is apparently what Jim and Gloria had in mind. So, after brief introductory remarks, I was handed the floor &#8211; YIKES! Everyone except the father, who was at work, was gathered around the living room. I explained that my parents had decided they wanted to sponsor a child in Alto Cayma, that I told them about the candidates that we had interviewed, and that we had decided that we wanted to sponsor Gisell. I was not any more prepared for ...

... vorbereitete Abendessen wurde mit einem Aperitif, einem frisch zubereiteten Pisco Sour begonnen. Nach dem tollen Abendessen: sehr lecker Krabbensalat und Hühnerfrikassee, sind wir wie todmüde ins Bett gefallen. <br><br>In der Schweiz<br>Unser Aufenthalt bei Familie Seelhöfer war für uns eine sehr positive Überraschung. Erstens ein Abendessen mit drei Gängen und Aperitif vorher, zweitens die Schweizer Genauigkeit, mit der alles vorbereitet wurde: Alle wichtigen Touristeninfos ...

... my jacket from my backpack without hitting the guy next to me and it helped some, but it was seriously cold. We arrived at our first stop Mirador Cruz del Condor. A Condor is a very large bird that is pretty much just like a big Vulture, it eats dead animals. But their wingspan gets up to 4 meters, that is very large. I got a couple good photos and a short video. They fly so fast it is pretty tough to get them. We were given 40 minutes to look at the ...

... watching me. An artist in a wheelchair offered to draw my portrait for 20 soles (7 dollars) and having no good reason to say no, I gave in. After about 20 minutes of drawing, a crowd of 4, then 8, then 12 gathered watching him and me. He did a good job sketching but it doesn´t look like me. Well, mom and dad will like it. We fulfilled our elusive cuy dream at dinner. Cuy means guinea pig and it is a delicacy here. I got a fried one ...

... Tapay. This traditional Andean town has a population of 200, has no crime, and work together growing crops and trading with other towns. We stayed the night with a local family Rofina and Morismo and were cooked sweet potato pancakes with rice and avocado in lime. This was all done over an open fire and we sat wrapped up warm in the chilly mountain air, our mouths watering with anticipation. We had a lovely hut all to ourselves with a nice bed made up with colouful bed ...

... used an indecent amount of hot water and was truly - as Anna puts it - ¨in my ´yen´ place.¨ In other news; we marked our first month anniversary here by eating llama (for the carnivorous among you; it was delicious). But then spent the night (ALL night) vomiting. And this was at 4,000m.. which means you can´t move fast either! Awesome. I don´t blame the llama, as others ate it and were fine. I´m now ...

... is a really dangerous blind corner and there are always accidents there. <br><br>I had a relaxing breakfast in the hostal and then checked out. I had gone to the ATM last night and it spit out all 100 sol bills at me, which is very inconvenient! No one ever has small change and I end up making a career out of trying to break large bills. The dueña was kind enough to give me 10-10 sol bills for one of the 100 bills. Then I went to the supermarket to buy some snacks for my bus ride ...

... one sole is hardly anything, I still felt i had been ripped off!<br><br>It was 7 in the morning on a Monday when the bus eventually arrived at the noisy, busy Arequipa bus station. The sun was already shining very brightly, it was hot and people were rushing to get to work. Voices were shouting out destinations for buses in all directions. &#8220;Puno!&#8221; &#8220;Cuzco!&#8221; There were shops and places to eat at the station; everyone was looking at us and I immediately ...