"Shrimp soup" might not sound like the most appetizing Thanksgiving meal, but let me tell you: the Peruvian dish chupe de camarones is one of the most uniquely delicious soups you can eat. The above bigger-than-my-head bowl of chupe is what I had for this year's turkey day, dining at a traditional Arequipan restaurant with 26 other Peace Corps volunteers. And as you can tell from the photo, the translation "shrimp soup" does not do this concoction justice - in reality, it's more like shrimp-crawfish-egg-potato-milk-cheese-bean-onion-herb soup, and it is amazing.
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| A Peace Corps Thanksgiving |
Taking advantage of our free Thanksgiving vacation days, I spent some time in Arequipa, Peru's second largest city, located in the southern mountains. Some friends and I also hiked the nearby Colca Canyon, but that'll be another blog post. This was my first visit to Arequipa, and I loved it. It's got the cobblestone colonial character of Cusco, but without the hordes of tourists. It's got the mountain traditions and vistas of Cajamarca, but it's a step ahead in developing its food/social/city scene. I loved just strolling around the streets, appreciating the arch-heavy architecture and beautiful volcanic stonework that gives Arequipa its nickname of "the white city."
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| The cathedral |
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| Cloisters courtyard |
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| Santa Catalina monastery at night |
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| El Misti volcano overlooking the city |
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| Traditional weaving, traditional arequipeña dress |
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| Getting queso helado (literally "iced cheese") - really it's just ice cream that looks like cheese |
Besides honoring the good old American holiday of Thanksgiving, we had also gathered in Arequipa to celebrate the 30th and 25th birthdays of two Peru 19ers. Twenty-seven volunteers in one city meant lots of great reunions, and of course some fun-filled nights out on the town.
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| Birthday kids Kaeli and Brad |
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| Catching up with some 19er ladies: Carlhey, Lindsay, Nanda, me, Nydelis, and Anel |
Good morning, how are you?
ResponderEliminarMy name is Emilio, I am a Spanish boy and I live in a town near to Madrid. I am a very interested person in knowing things so different as the culture, the way of life of the inhabitants of our planet, the fauna, the flora, and the landscapes of all the countries of the world etc. in summary, I am a person that enjoys traveling, learning and respecting people's diversity from all over the world.
I would love to travel and meet in person all the aspects above mentioned, but unfortunately as this is very expensive and my purchasing power is quite small, so I devised a way to travel with the imagination in every corner of our planet. A few years ago I started a collection of used stamps because trough them, you can see pictures about fauna, flora, monuments, landscapes etc. from all the countries. As every day is more and more difficult to get stamps, some years ago I started a new collection in order to get traditional letters addressed to me in which my goal was to get at least 1 letter from each country in the world. This modest goal is feasible to reach in the most part of countries, but unfortunately, it is impossible to achieve in other various territories for several reasons, either because they are very small countries with very few population, either because they are countries at war, either because they are countries with extreme poverty or because for whatever reason the postal system is not functioning properly.
For all this, I would ask you one small favor:
Would you be so kind as to send me a letter by traditional mail from Peru? I understand perfectly that you think that your blog is not the appropriate place to ask this, and even, is very probably that you ignore my letter, but I would call your attention to the difficulty involved in getting a letter from that country, and also I don’t know anyone neither where to write in Peru in order to increase my collection. a letter for me is like a little souvenir, like if I have had visited that territory with my imagination and at same time, the arrival of the letters from a country is a sign of peace and normality and an original way to promote a country in the world. My postal address is the following one:
Emilio Fernandez Esteban
Avenida Juan de la Cierva, 44
28902 Getafe (Madrid)
Spain
If you wish, you can visit my blog www.cartasenmibuzon.blogspot.com where you can see the pictures of all the letters that I have received from whole World.
Finally, I would like to thank the attention given to this letter, and whether you can help me or not, I send my best wishes for peace, health and happiness for you, your family and all your dear beings.
Yours Sincerely
Emilio Fernandez