Random Arequipa

We've been blown away by Sandy, her reach and devastation.  We've been glued to CNN (we get it here!), and our pcs, and the emails we've received from Gen, Elizabeth (who happened to be in Manhattan) and from friends in Sandy's path.  Mostly good news of people and stuff being generally safe; New Jersey friends still unreported.  We're thinking of you all, and can barely imagine the recovery . . . omg.
 
Here are a few photos of Arequipa, first, a small toilet section, then random stuff.   

Toilets:

This, from the Arequipa founder's home in the country.  One sits over the little drawer sticking out in the lower left side of this piece of furniture.  There's a lid for it, too, so close the drawer til the servants take care of it.

This, an old school porcelain bedpan, called the NEW Slipper Bedpan. 

This was found in a nun's "cell", from the early 1800s, parts missing. 

From a convent, with a nice lid.

 Miscellaneous photos:

A horsehide rug, with tail attached, in an old home. 

The streets are narrow here, but few scratches and lots of maneuvering.

An armored vehicle.  Rhinoceros by Mercedes. 

Quails eggs in the grocery, fifty cents for a dozen.

The only efficient crossing guard in Arequipa (very officious).  Interesting old-school guy. 

Tired Steve, leaning against the sillar stone wall outside of a church.

$4 worth of picso sours -- happy hours are a regular part of our lives here.

The Plaza de Armas, from the cathedral roof. 

A driveable wheel chair from the early 1800s (seen in the infirmary section of a convent) -- required a pusher in back. 

 

Water filter from the 1700s, a porous stone.  It filtered a liter in about 8 hours. 

A cat Steve saw eyeing a bird in the tree.  It's hard to find cats here, although dogs roam, sleep on the sidewalks. 

Shoelaces!

 I liked this portrait.  Nice lines, nice face.

Music section of town. 

Arequipa

Arequipa is Peru's second largest city (pop just under a million), and is known as"the white city".  Guidebooks often say it's called that because of the prevalence and beauty of white sillar stone in the colonial architecture, but we've since learned it is because there was such a high concentration of Spaniards here when it was settled in the late 1500s, and they were comparatively quite pale, white.  That part of the population is not so apparent now, but the Spanish influence, colonial architecture mostly in white sillar stone, marks the city.

Plaza de Armas, the main square, with its fountain, palm trees, eucalyptus trees, in the morning before the crowds arrive.

Typical sillar stone, which is pretty soft, and can be carved intricately.

A lovely cactus garden in the square of a section of town..

The town is ecologically conscious, and lots and lots of houses have solar water heaters.  We're told showers in Jan-March rainy period are pretty chilly. 

On the outskirts of town, lots of terraced agriculture, with Chachani mountains in the background.

Red onions and garlic are grown massively in the Arequipa region.  These, just planted in time for the summer rainy and growing season. 

 

The city is growing fast.  These homes have gone up, without electricity or water, which will follow.

Agricultural terraces in use in the city.

Growing maize, and cabbages (paler green) in the city.  A decision was made by the city to keep the terraces and use them, instead of clearing them out for more urban growth. 

 

Tractors are rare around here -- don't easily work in the terraces because they can't get there and the job is so little.  So oxen and hand plows are still the most common tilling methods, and hand weeding is required.  No corporate farming here. 

The entrance to our hostel.  Yellow and orange are typically the colors of public spaces. 

A view of the garden from above. Well used, by guests, and students in the Spanish school - lovely.  Flowers and papyrus line the walls. 

Paca, the garden's resident tortoise, with a strawberry.

Lots of flowers in the garden, great smells and hummingbirds.  Happy Steve.

We went to a soccer game, Arquipa vs. Cusco, bitter rivals.  Our seats were the second cheapest ones (PEN 10, or $4), which we didn't realize but were in the Cusco section.  Arequipa won 1-0.  Good game.  No alcoholic beverages were served, but their great local ice cream, and gelatin, and slushies, and sandwiches and chips were.  

 

Loved the natural bell-curve distribution of fans in this section.

Arequipa fans with drums and noisemakers, dancing and excitement at the far end.

Police stationed at each end, watching the game.  Bitter rivalry has been problematic at times.

? dude at the entrance to a bank. 

Not easy to do, but we found this library.  Mostly computer terminals, few books, lots of studious students.

Typical transportation for families here. 

Peruvian countryside

We stayed in a small country town overnight before our condor/Colca Canyon morning, and we hiked and walked about a bit. The dry season is about to end here, and soon it'll be green and productive - a bit hard to imagine. Here are a few photos of the small town action, and the nearby countryside.

Pigs in the backyard, afternoon siesta. 

So comfortable in the sun.

This mama pig and her 8 babies were out walking around town after sunset.

Gazania, so lovely.  We sat for awhile at sunset and watched these cows, which were right next to our place.  The one near us had chosen to hop the stone fence gate and go for a walk outside of the pasture, and then came back wanting back in, but couldn't figure it out, so stood by us talking with her friends below - lots of conversation.

Baby burro in an enclosure.  So cute, covered with burrs.

On a hike to a viewpoint, these nearby terraces were being worked.  The big rock outcropping had been used for a home with a great view hundreds of years ago.

Weeding a terrace (above) they'd likely planted a couple of weeks ago.

Taking a break. 

Steve took this great photo of one of the cactus topped rock fences, with the light pouring through.  Equally effective as its city counterpart of a broken glass topped fence but less in-your-face confrontational as the glass shards.  You probably have to enlarge it to see the light effect on the cactus, worth it.

Me, showing the easy effectiveness of the fence above.  Tiny little buggers. 

Tiny, tiny flowers growing out of the rocks.

I walked into the town center in the waning light , not much going on, and walked into the empty, dark church.  Interesting feeling. 

The next morning we went through the town of Yanque to pick up canyon-goers and saw a dance in town performed by the local youth in native costume.  The boys are in ladies' clothing, as it's the "dance of laughs", telling the story of a local boy in love with a girl whose father disapproved and only let other girls visit her, resulting in his subterfuge visits dressed as a girl - hence the dress up and the low hats (with nose straps) worn by the boys.  The local embroidery is over the top -- all over the hats, the vests, the hems of the skirts. 

   

Dancing camouflaged boy.

First paid tourist pose.  Note the embroidery on her, and her relative size.  The ladies here tuck their light weight overskirts into their belts.

Typical clothing in this area -- a flowing flowered cotton skirt, with embroidery added around the bottom.

Weird landform on the way through the desert.

They just cut through these giant hills to build the road.