Arrival in Arequipa

I arrived in Arequipa last night at about 5pm and met the AFS lady and my new host family.
My Host Father is a Doctor, my Host Mother is a Nurse and my Host Sister is studying Architecture. They're all really cool. Also, there is a pet rabbit. It's massive!

Last night there was a small fiesta as another AFS person, Fanny, arrived on Saturday and it was her birthday on the Sunday. It was nice because I got to meet the two other people on AFS.
We went for a small walk and I got to see the neighbour hood.

I prefer the temperature here in Arequipa to that of Iquitos because it's only a little bit colder and there is no humidity! I also like the view of the three volcanoes surrounding the city. They're all tipped with snow, and oh so beautiful.

Today? Yes, today. My host sister took me on a tour of the city. I saw the Plaza de Aramas, which is most definately the most amazing Plaza de Armas in Peru, and possibly in the world. Because the city is situated near the volcanoes, it's architects utilized the natural products, such as the sillar stone, to build everything. The whole centre of the city is made of white stone, and it's said to be a spitting image of Southern Spain, of course, as Peru was conquered by the Spaniards once upon a time.

Also today, I went to one of my sister's architecture classes. It was cool to see what university is like in a different country and different language. There are different ideas, rules and so on. Like, you can pretty much just walk out of the classroom when you want to, and people talk a lot! But you can see a lot of effort is put into the work.

The food in Arequipa is delicious! Since I arrived here, I think I have only had rice once, as apposed to it being a daily thing in La Selva (Iquitos). Sometime this week I'm going to cook Eggplant for my family, just because they never have it. I hope to find some more recipes here, buit don't worry, none include your pet guinea pigs ;)

Until Next Time...

Hasta Luego,



Liam Clowes.