July 6th 2015
Arequipa, the White city that’s not quite white and the normal set off point for trips to the Colca Canyon. I was here a little over 4 months before with my amazing friends Olivia and Elin, but my time in Peru was all together too rushed so now I’m back to explore this country famous for Machu Picchu among other things. And after a long day of Buses from San Pedro de Atacama and a few days of recharging, chilling out and getting a blood test at Suisa labs (a godsend for anyone who needs blood tests on the road) I’m excited to be joined by some people you already know, Rob and Bethan from Wales who I met in Pucon and then again when I did my Salt flats tour with them. Together we embarked on tons of adventures In Peru’s second city, some more Gringo than others.
We’ll start where all stories should start, Indian food in the form of India Indian restaurant, a place that quickly became our second home in Arequipa. The friendly indian chef and his Peruvian wife serve up surprisingly authentic and always delicious curry’s for lunch and dinner and forget about picking just one. Either way, somehow hungry the next morning we decided to do the most gringo-ey thing of the day, a chocolate making tour (65 Soles) at Chaq Chao Organic Chocolates, a place that we already know has great Hot Chocolate and Carrot Cake. For those who love Carrot Cake, Peru can be a haven, an oasis in the desert of South America.
We head to the place for it’s 11 am opening and wait for our Chocolatier guide to welcome us up and start explaining the history, cultivation, and advantages of Peruvian chocolate, over our popular brands like Nestle, Hershey’s and Cadbury’s which he claimed to be unable to eat without vomiting. Overlooking the blatant snobbery, he was an excellent guide on our voyage through the land of chocolate (mmmmm land of chocolate)
I’m sorry we we’re talking about chocolate?
Voice of Readers: That was 20 minutes ago!
Sorry, so our guide explains to us how chocolate is made from bean to bar, showing us visual aids for each step and even using us for cheap labour as we sort through and shell a giant tub of beans ready to make an all natural chocolate drink which is much too bitter for my taste but still interesting to try. Then we head down to the real chocolate factory, sadly it does not live up to my Willy Wonka factories but we do get to make 12 chocolate bonbons with various fillings from goji berries, to coffee bean to orange peel. We sign our names in chocolate and enjoy a piece of carrot cake as we wait for our deliciousness to be ready before heading off with a bag full of chocolate, next stop, more indian food.
Rob and Bethan, amazing human beings that they are decide we need to celebrate my birthday almost a month late and surprise me with birthday hats, Winnie the pooh stickers, and of course jesus stickers. We feast on an incredible spread of tasty food before returning to Arequipay backpackers to play ping pong, thereby earning the indian food, or at least half of it. We also get some excellent photos of the resident pooch Kyla who is in the festive mood.
From there we decide to do something decidedly un gringo, and head to a carnival whose lights we observed at night with two other friends from the hostel with us. Note it’s a carnival, not Carneval!!! Basically think a small town fair ground with lower safety standards. But also way higher fun standards.
Walking in to the colourful fair grounds past cotton candy and churro stands, it immediately becomes apparent we are the only gringos here, as a family from one of the stands chases after us to nab a picture with me. The mother and two children seem satisfied and are ready to move on until I offer to show them the picture which brings them great joy. This is the first of several experiences that confirm Peruvian carnies are awesome people.
The next comes on our first ride where a young boy stands in the middle jumping and dancing on the spinning bucking ride (I’ll post a video when I find better internet). I quickly remember what fear feels like and think back to my time at Canada’s wonderland this past summer, Rob however seems to have no fear braving the craziest rides of them all. We enjoy some churros, a haunted house, bumper cars and several other rides, some young Peruvian children loving my every scream of terror.
Eventually our ride tickets exhausted we head back to the hostel for some much needed R and R. Next up is a return to the Colca Canyon and another moment of meeting old friends as we go to find Ben and Ceci in Cabana Conde Peru. You’ll have to wait to read about that though, as tomorrow morning I’m headed deep into the amazon rainforest for at least 5 days which should be an amazing experience.
