Arequipa Scenes, 1

LANTAM got us from Bean City to Arequipa in good order. It was the first flight we've done in South America that was on-time and without (numerous) gate changes, and so a little scary. What could be wrong? I wondered. Anyway, a driver was waiting for us in Arequipa. For the next several days we would be in the care of Giardino Tours, for guides, transportation, and hotels. BTW, Arequipa is known as the "white city" since much of the historic building is of the white tufa (lava stone) spewed from the volcanoes long ago. Really is white

Arequipa is a city approaching 1 million in size, Peru's second
largest; it was raining when we arrived

Our room at La Casa de mi Abuela, 4-5 blocks from the Plaza
de Armas

Walking to breakfast our first morning we were stunned to see
how close the volcanoes are...this is Chacani, extinct

To the right, the Pichu Pichu group, also extinct; not pictured,
Misti, not extinct, even closer, but obscured by clouds and urban
clutter; we'd see it as we left town for Colca Canyon

The extensive terracing is pre-Columbian

We did a half-day tour of Arequipa that started
in the suburb of Yanahuara; here, a calvary in
the parish church there; in Peruvian calvaries,
all the symbols/attributes of the Crucifiction
are displayed

Virtually the only thing of interest to me about
Latin American Catholic churches is where the
indigenous religion occasionally pokes through,
whether overlooked or merely tolerated by the
priests and bishops, etc; three Incan/Quchuan
symbols to look for are the condor, the puma,
and the serpent; we spotted two of the three
here

Facade

Is this what a saint looks like? Really?

Arequipa is at only 7,600 feet, but I was
already feeling a bit sluggish; a relief to see
the van came equipped with oxygen; we'd see
more of these on tourist buses and in hotels;
for the next week we'd function at altitudes
between 11,000 and 15,000 feet; time to start
taking the Diamox!

Now we are in the centro historico; another interesting saint in
the Jesuit monastery

Flora

Cloister; it's now all a collection of nicer shoppes

In the monastery chapel

Done in "Brazilian" style since this monastery primarily trained
missionaries to head into the Amazon

"And here's what you'll be eating, Brothers;
the blue berries are particularly good for snake
bite"

Altar of main monastery church; not all the
gold went to Spain

Religious mannequins must be a thriving business in Latin
America

Life-sized too

Knave view

Outside, facade, yes! There's a serpent!

Head and mouth

Full facade

Lima, 2

More not quite random pix of Lima...

National drink of Peru: remember, if you're old
enough, Juicy Fruit chewing gum; imagine, if
you can, making it into a carbonated beverage;
add a couple tablespoons of sugar per 330ml;
Coca Cola was so threatened by Inca Cola,
which dates from 1935, it upped the sugar
content of its beverage; and finally bought 20%
of Inca Cola; comes in sugar-free version; not
recommended

Urban sprawl creeping up the mountain

Very important building in historic district

French embassy? We never did find out

Estadio Nacional; it actually loomed over our hotel; there was a
game on our first night there; the thunderous roars of the crowd,
palpable even, continuing on into the wee hours...

Our hosteria, despite its other defects, was
overly decorated in folk stuff

I particularly liked the three wise guys

Looming

Juggling for tips at an intersection; we saw this in Santiago, too

Inca Cola delivery trike

More tuk-tuks here than in India; and throughout Peru, too

Major thoroughfare out in the burbs

Rio Rimac, Lima's major water source

Down-river from Lima, thankfully

The Queen of Heaven looks on

At the airport, varieties of coca candy

Another huge, decentralized ciity

The Estadio Nacional; our hosteria was just the other side of
it

Swinging out over the Pacific before turning
to higher, much cooler Arequipa, in the Andes

Museo Larco: Dinner And A Sex Museum

The restaurant at Museo Larco is as inviting as any we've seen. Irresistible, actually. It was right next to the collection of sexual artifacts which is kept separate from the main collection.

Part atrium, part opening onto the garden

Having sworn off pisco sours, I am here having a coca sour; a pisco sour with two
coca leaves; coca leaves, which I have since been chewing, and coca tea taste
nothing at all like Coca Cola

My Inca salad...substituting steak for alpaca (I'd be ordering alpaca a few days
later, obviously under the effect of the altitude)

Vicki's steak paillarrd with spaghettini of spinach, cheese, and basil

Lucuma mousse, utterly new and delicious 

Being a family museum, the sex collection is off to the side; but very crowded

Sort of liked this

"I fart in your general direction!"

Everybody's doin' it... (apologies to Irving Berlin)

Add caption: best suggestion gets to be guest blogger; Tawana
wins..."somebody needs viagra!"

Not Khajuharo, but still interesting