The Trash Song

We have been in Arequipa Peru for the last couple of weeks and we will be heading to Chile in a few days. We chose an extended stay in order to spend a couple of weeks in a Spanish school. I've learned a lot, but can't say I am as far by now as I thought I would be.  Just being in the country is not sufficient,  there is plenty of practice and memorization necessary too. Having a travel partner I can conveniently switch back to English with doesn't help either.

One nice thing about being in city a little longer is that you start to recognize its unique quirks. Homes here don't have outdoor trash cans(common), because of fear of theft and rummaging. The trash truck that drives around daily to pick up your trash recently switched from a notification bell to playing Fur Elise (famous classical tune, you know it). Everyday around the same time, you here this song over and over as the truck makes its rounds.

 This city is also known for its "queso helado" (cheese ice cream).  There are little stands on the street selling this stuff. I think it tastes like French vanilla with a hint of cheesecake. In fact I've never seen a Latin American city that loves its desserts so much. Lots of ice cream, pastry and chocolate shops. And its all very good to, not like the pastry shops in China that have the most delicious looking items that invariably taste like aged photocopies.

The most interesting thing here must be Santa Catalina Monastery. It's this huge complex that dates back to the 1500s which is almost like a small city with courtyards, a market, cemetery, etc.  It's fun to wander around for an afternoon. Around100 nuns or so still live in one wing.

The area around here is really beautiful. This is one of those times when I feel that photography as a medium is pretty lame. You stand there at the top of this enormous canyon and think "Wow, this is really amazing", and then you look at your photos and feel none of that. Anyway, here ya go.