We slept in. It was glorious. Breakfast at the hotel is served on the rooftop, and is the typical fare (though well done) with a couple of unexpected additions. They had chicken nuggets (?!). We snickered a little until we tasted them. Admittedly they were the best chicken nuggets that we can remember.
Today we started in on Arequipa proper, excited to be into the more relaxed part of our trip. First things first, we wanted to get a feel for the city we would be in for the next couple of days, so we headed across the bridge to the less touristy Yanahuara district to find a good overlook. There is a famous arched viewpoint near an old church, which did provide a nice view of the city and of the three volcanos that loom over its northern edge, but we weren’t too impressed with the view which was honestly comparable to our rooftop vista at the hotel. Instead, we found ourselves drawn into the district itself: narrow, winding streets with evenly spaced, geranium-filled flowerpots hung from the old, stone walls. The whole place was ridiculously picturesque, down to the sweetly labeled flour pots and perfectly preserved vintage VW bugs.
For our next stop, we ducked back into the edge of the central district to visit Mundo Alpaca. Stu was initially a bit disdainful of the place because it absolutely screamed tourist trap, but it was on our way and I convinced him to go. We were both glad that I did. Though it was originally set up by a clothing company as, yes, a tourist trap, Mundo Alpaca had evolved something much cooler.
Beyond the mostly overpriced gift shop of fine alpaca wool wears, there is a camilid meet and greet (camelids are large, strictly herbivorous animals with slender necks and long legs as well as some other distinctive features. Included in this group are Alpacas, lamas, vicuñas, and guanacos as well as camels, of course. We finally got to learn a little bit more about the difference between these animals- both physically and in terms of how their wools fit into the textile world. We also got to get to know them a little and I made good friends with a shaggy alpaca who made me think of a beatnik poet out of the seventies with his perfect bangs (respect the bangs).
From there, the site led us through a series of exhibits explaining wool quantity and color, and then traditional treatment, dying, and weaving methods including an older woman weaving on a traditional back strap loom while her grandson terrorized the alpacas and remaining within shouting distance. It felt extremely authentic and really made you appreciate the detail and precision of some of the designs we had seen. Out of respect to her, we did not take any photos of her weaving but we were unable to resist hovering closely to watch as she shuttled threads through her loom at speed, with casual grace and ridiculous dexterity. It also helped to put into perspective all the women we had seen (especially in Cusco) weaving on hand looms or having beleaguered menfolk hold as they weaved on street corners or fountain steps.
Alpaca Mundo cleverly contrasts the traditional methods with an exhibit detailing the history of the mechanization of converting alpaca, lama, and vicuna wool into thread and then into textiles. Unfortunately, none of these machines were running but they were displayed in a way where you could walk up very close and look deep within the machine to try and understand what it was doing. As you can probably guess, Stu and I spent a great deal of time in here making educated guesses based on the processes we understood, the mechanics we could see, and the general description plaques provided.
The last piece of Mundo Alpaca was an art gallery of woven works from all over Peru. Evidently there is a nationwide completion annually of pieces woven traditionally on back strap looms using camelid wools and Alpaca Mundo features the winners (as well as several first and second place entries). Some were interesting, others were absolutely gorgeous. Stu was particularly taken with one that looked like a painting until close up, with beautiful work shading a larger image that felt less like a textile than a piece of art. I liked one that did a beautiful job telling the story of the Incas as we understood it from our time in Machu Piccu.
Around the time we were wrapping up in the gallery, hunger started to set in, and we figured it would be frowned upon to snack with (or on)the livestock. We wandered over to Huayruro, a local coffee shop and hostaller haven. We had heard promising things about their sandwich game, and Stuart had to follow up on the reputation. We ordered coffee (Stu) and teriyaki chicken sandwiches (both of us), and I found my new favorite drink, hibiscus iced tea. I drank one there and then got one to go. At this point we were starting to realize that Arequipa is a foodie city up there with anything we would hope for in a european country. Everything we’d had so far had been delicious, and we were hoping it would continue (spoiler: it totally did). Bonus: we were able to pay for the entire meal in coins which amused our waiter and significantly lightened Stu's jangling pockets.
After wandering around the central district for a while, window shopping and admiring the local architecture, we ambled back to the hotel to continue our tradition of watching the sunset from our rooftop. This time we made sure to bring a bottle of white wine with us (and I cut into a mango I had picked up during yesterdays jaunt to the market.
After the reds and yellows in the sky faded into a deep purple, we left to go get dinner at Las Gringas Pizzeria (for obvious reasons). In proper foodie tradition, we got a pear pizza and balsamic focaccia (both delicious) and while enjoying the courtyard where we were sitting, noticed advertisements for and immediately signed ourselves up for a chocolate class at the chocolate boutique next door. We’re excited; more to come on that tomorrow.
All photos for Day 10
No comments:
Post a Comment