Tour Day

Saturday, January 14, 12

Today we went out and about a couple of times. Levi got a new stroller that is small enough to fit in a taxi so he got to try out his new ride. Although believe it or not Eric and Rachael came home with a washing machine in a taxi! We all walked to Starbucks for some Internet relief and some goodies. E & R will be getting Internet sometime this next week. If it is anything like getting new cell phones there will be lots of hoops to jump through and even more “uno momento’s”. Eric ended up with a free Claron hat and shirt, but would rather have saved a few hours of his life. The walk to the Starbucks and small mall is becoming normal….which are the best streets…..what cross walk is best….what sidewalks have the least pitfalls, etc. The streets are pretty crazy. Pedestrians are at the bottom of the food chain. You just stand and wait and wait, then you all agree and then “Go!”, grab kids hands and scurry. You have to have a bit of an owl neck, as cars come around the corner with no concern for cars or human life. At least the weather has been beautiful lately and the ‘water’ has stopped flowing through the streets. (gross to think of what is in it as the locals all avoid it too!)

After our time at Starbucks we split up and Patti and I took a taxi home. We were advised not to walk home from there after using a computer. Best to step outside and hail a taxi. Even on the tables they warn you “We care for you, please watch your valuables.”

Rachael made us an appointment for a 4-hour tour of the city/country side. We took another taxi - let me stop here and say - you just have to imagine that at least every other car here is a taxi. They are everywhere. Most people don’t have cars and taxis are cheap. You just wave a safe one down – there are two safe ones that we have been using (“Taxitel” and “Touristo Arequipa”)– lean in the window, show them the address where you want to go, ask how much and then get in. They cost less than $2 for about a 10-minute ride. So we got to the tour and hopped on. We were excited that we got the top front of the double decker bus, until we got up there and it was the hottest place you could find.

The tour was good but it took about 5 hours. The director said “We will stop here for 15 minutes” then about 45 minutes to an hour later we would get rolling. It was a good overview of the city of Arequipa. The only complaint was our tour leaders English. We decided that a combination of a Japanese person and the Swedish Chef taught her how to speak. It was hard to understand her but it was entertaining! “If you would like to rrread the hearse please let me know.” (ride the horse) “In the year 18-fearteen such and such was built”

When we got home, Patti plugged in the teakettle to wash dishes and blew the circuit and the house went black. I bent over to pick up little Levi in the pitch dark and my fingernail went into the roof of his mouth – he started screaming - the girls started panicking in the dark and poor Eric couldn’t find the source. About 20 minutes later finally was the hero of the evening by finding a breaker outside the gate ?! All calmed down and we are settled in for the night.