Settled in our Tree House

We have gotten ourselves settled in Arequipa. We have found a great little apartment for only $250 a month. We call it our tree house as it is a refinished attic on top of an old colonial house all in wood and we have a birds’ eye view of the city. Out of our windows we can see the two volcanoes El Misti and Chachani and two other mountain ranges. It’s beautiful and in a great neighborhood, easy to walk to the market and the club.

Yes, we are members of the Club International. It has 20,000 members so don't worry we haven't become elite snobs. It’s cheap and has two swimming pools, a great playground, tennis, racket ball, volley bowl, soccer, bowling and a bunch of classes folks can take. Abe and I take Tai Chi and Noah is taking dance and Karate classes. Last weekend for fathers’ day they had a huge party and Noah was in one of the dance performances after only two classes.

Noah is also having a great time at school. He is attending Colegio Gustuve Eiffel. On Friday evening he was also in a performance where he played the flute, danced and recited a poem. The kids were so cute all dressed in native costumes.

I am also having fun at school. I have four hours a day of private classes. Two hours with one teacher and two hours with another so there is a little variety, they both work on grammar and conversation. Slowly but surely I am learning the language - at 44 it is not easy. I have always been a beginner in Spanish and am really looking forward to finally moving past that.

The other important thing of course is the food. The emphasis is chicken or pork and potatoes and corn with the national spice being salt (people don’t move to Peru for the food). This is surprising because vegetables and fruit are so cheap but it is just not a focus. Needless to say we are enjoying lots of salads and we did get a blender because everyone does make fresh juice and with all of the fruit it is cheap and easy. Noah and Abe came up with a song to highlight some of the more original things we have seen in the market. As you may have guessed we have not had any of them yet. And yes there were live frogs in a tank next to a blender with sign jugo de rana on the tank.

Jugo de rana, Frog juice
Queso de chanco, Pig cheese
Cui de asado, Roasted guinea pig
Lechce de asno, Donkey milk
Corazon de baca Cow hearts

Then of course there are the people. You know you are in Peru when you see your landlord and she gives you a kiss on the check. They just do one check not two like in Spain. Peruvians are very friendly wonderful people. It has been especially nice to have a contact. For fathers’ day Adelma and Gerardo had us over with other friends in town visiting from Cuzco. I’m not sure how long it would take to really get to know a local family if we did not already have a contact.

Wednesday was interesting as there was a city wide strike by the taxi’s and buses. They were opposing the high price of gas about $4 a gallon. The bus companies were also opposing the proposal to regulate tailpipe emissions, definitely the current biggest source of air pollution. It was wild to have it be so quiet as the bulk of vehicles are taxis and buses. And the streets were filled with people calmly walking to there destinations since there was no transportation. Some folks had to walk over an hour to get to work. You didn’t get the sense that folks were either supporting or opposing the strike they were just dealing with the reality. Now everything is back to the usual hussle and bustle.

Political responses to things are also a little different. Abe was talking with a Peruvian man the other day and they were talking about Bush. Abe explained that he only has an approval rating of 30%, the man gave him an odd expression and asked given 70% of the public oppose him why haven’t we had a revolution yet and kicked him out. A little insight into politics in South America.

We are having a great time. We are thinking of you. Love to everyone. Abe, Jeanne and Noah

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