Nice weekend, New Week.

Hello everyone! Well, we had a nice weekend here in Arequipa. We kind of took it easy and went on one little outing and did a lot of sleeping. Some cool things:

One of our teachers Giovanna and her friend Rosa took us out to lunch in an outlying district of Arequipa. We went to a so called ¨typical¨ Arequpenian resturaunt that turned out to be an absolutely massive eatery that probably could have seated about 800 people. The principal dish on offer was deep fried hunks of pork (chicarones) Matt and I had ours with a beer, fried sweet potatoes and stuffed hot hot chillis. Here is Matt P, Giovanna and Rosa after the meal:

Our two friends also took us to the top of a local Mirador (lookout) in that neighborhood. It was a nice view despite the clouds covering the mountains. You could really see the full spectrum of this city from the top. And there is quite a spectrum : from the wealthy neighborhoods, like the one in which we are living to the poor districts that stretch as far as the eye can see towards the edges of the city:

Las week, Matt and I visited a museum in the center of Arequipa that is home to some of the famous mummies discovered buried and amazingly preserved atop the local mountains. Several were in fact discovered near the top of El Misti, the volcano visible from our bedroom window. The most famous of the young mummies (they were mostly young girls, sacrificed to placate the mountain gods) is named Juanita (see photo below.) However she was not home when we called, so we saw another, similar mummy by the name of Sarita. Both are many hundreds of years old, but their skin, hair and clothes have been amazingly preserved by the cold. To make sure this continues, they spend their days in ice-cold tanks. The museum was very interesting, full of amazing incan artifacts and artwork.

Otherwise, we spent the weekend relaxing, watching the biggest football (soccer) game of the year on TV (River v. Boca, Argentina´s two largest teams.) We also had the privilege of cooking dinner on Sunday for our host family. Very fun.

And then this morning, a new week and back to school. Here is my new best friend:

I found out that there is another word for ¨dictionary¨in Spanish: mataburro. (I hope I spelled this right, it´s slang and therefore not in the ... um ... dictionary) It translates roughly as ¨kill the donkey¨, a reference to one´s desire to dispatch with one´s own brain because one is forced to consult the book. In my case, I´d have mata´d my burro on the very first day. My sentences (such as they are) are tortured by long pauses so that I can look up words. But school this morning was pleasant. We always have a long-ish coffee break and discussion on the patio half way through the morning. Here´s Matt L with la profesora Giovanna, nuestra directora Sra. Lula Diaz de Seelhofer, Favricio (another teacher) and Carolina, a woman from Scotland. Notice how (including me) there are as many teachers as students.


-MP