We left the Intag Watershed with a pretty simple itenerary: Head back to Quito, check into Community Hostel, hit the laundromat, eat ludicrous amounts of brownies, and fall asleep watching movies on the wall projector.
Community is an exceptionally comfortable hostel with delicious meals, friendly (English-speaking) staff, and a welcoming vibe. It was the first place we stayed after arriving in Ecuador back in September, and most of the group considers it a kind of home-away-from-home. We were happy to pay it one last visit to close out our time in Ecuador, and we stayed pretty faithful to our schedule.
Before dawn on the third morning we called some of Ecuador’s most spirited cab drivers and burnt rubber all the way to Quito International. Our day consisted of one flight to Lima and another to Arequipa, with a visit to McDonald’s (God bless America) in between. We arrived in Arequipa well-rested but unsure of what to expect; though Peru is Ecuador’s neighbor, it’s an altogether different place. Supposedly it’s also more dangerous. One of our leaders, Lindsay, has lived there for six years and has no shortage of stories to tell. We were excited, but we’d mentally prepared ourselves for a distinct change of pace.
If we had any fears about the transition, they weren’t confirmed. We all love Peru. Most of the group would probably agree that our week in Arequipa was one of the best of the trip so far; we were in a beautiful place, experiencing Peruvian life through an incredibly full schedule. We enrolled for the week as students in a local Spanish school, taking classes for half of each day while spending the other half hanging out with kids at a nearby orphanage. Our host families were amazing, too, with comfortable homes, good food, and even hot water.
Our schedule kept us busy – I’ve never learned so much Spanish so fast, nor pretended to be a horse so often – but I can’t think of a better way to have spent our first week in Peru. This country is absurdly gorgeous, with near-perfect weather at this time of year, and it seems like day-to-day experiences are even better just because of the quality of the air. Visiting sunny Arequipa just to gawk at the snow-capped mountains and sip maté de coca would all have been great even without awesome stuff to do from sunup to sundown. Our teachers in the Spanish school were second to none, and the 3-4 hours of daily class seemed to go by like lightening. We also had a blast at the orphanage. Aside from some light yardwork and some chicken coup assembly, our only job was to play with the squad each afternoon – to give some piggyback rides, spend some time on the swing set, and pop some volleyballs over the language barrier. It was a good gig, and we were pretty sad to leave on Friday afternoon.
On Saturday we rounded off the week at Arequipa’s annual Festival de Comida, where heaping platters of delicious local fare are dished out at Peru’s typical dirt-cheap prices. The city’s evident passion for food kind of reminded me of America, although delecacies like chicha morada and picarones are probably hard to come by in the States. Picarones. Oh man. Four handmade honey-soaked donuts, flash-baked to perfection right in front of your eyes and supplemented with a side of quinoa ice cream – for less than three dollars? I like your style, Peru, and I think we’re all pretty hungry for more. Hope you keep it all up for the next month or so.