Since New Years, we've really been just settling in to our new apartment, getting to know the new area of town, and getting to know our new neighbors. Vince and I have been using our bikes to get around to various parts of town. Sometimes we just come upon these interesting places and don't even know it! Some of our new pictures included a huge cemetery that we found. All the graves were above ground and the economic status difference between families was quite evident. Some people were buried in the walls individually and not really marked (assuming this is the cheapest way) and then others had huge marble or stone shrines built for entire families to be buried in, adorned with decorations and statues more beautiful than anything we've really seen in the homes even here. They were pretty interesting to look at.
We have also spent a lot of time with our upstairs neighbors, Steve and Lucy. They are both from the UK and Lucy is here teaching English....Steve's just hanging out I think and learning Spanish. They got us in contact with their Spanish teachers and now we are going there about 3 times a week for formal lessons. They are great people and have really put us in the right direction for learning Spanish...there is still hope for Vince and me! And, probably the best part about our Spanish lessons is that they come with a membership to the International Club of Arequipa. It is this great fitness complex in a beautiful area of town that has everything. The complex is pretty big and has a bunch of soccer fields, a full gym, an outdoor and indoor pool, paintball, archery, and probably various other things we haven't figured out yet! It is a huge bonus and we are very lucky to have it available to us. The club is desperately trying to hire Vince to coach a bunch of their teams and also to start a girl's league! But, getting his visa is just too hard and really expensive so he's just volunteering his time. He spent a lot of time there last week helping out with their training sessions in the morning and all the kids love him...surprise, surprise! By the end of the first day, all of them wanted his autograph, haha! We are really enjoying being around so many great people there. The addition of a suntan is pretty nice too :).
Through our friends, Steve and Lucy, we've also met a lot of other great people. Yesterday we spent the day cooking out at our new friends' place, Azita and John. They had a bunch of people over from France, Germany, the UK, Peru, and of course, Vince and I representing the U.S.A. It was a great group of people from all walks of life, with totally different experiences. We definitely bonded over our experiences of living here in Peru and our common desires to do something different so it was nice.
Vince and Lucy.
Some of our new friends.
At this point, Vince and I are counting our blessings and taking advantage of each day we have here. It has been a huge learning experience! We've been mastering cooking for ourselves using only a toaster oven and a rice cooker (never thought I'd be successful at cooking, let alone cooking only with these!) But we've made a number of great meals...hamburgers, fish, ravioli, chicken noodle soup, mashed potatoes, coffee, tea, tons of avocado dishes, seven layer dip (thanks Rachel for the recipe) and lots of chicken and rice! We even made sour cream from scratch yesterday because they don't have it here anywhere! This week we are organizing a trip to Machu Picchu before it closes for the month of February. We are super excited to travel a bit and see something other than the streets of Arequipa. Then in the first week of February, we are planning a trip to Puno, which is where Lake Titicaca is, with all the new friends we've met for a week long fiesta that is happening there. It should be amazing.
Anyways, sorry for the long gap between posts. We will get back on top of it and keep you a little more updated on things here. Hope the snow is melting and the temps are rising. It's been sunny and mid 60s for quite a while and we aren't complaining a bit!
