Arequipa, Peru

12/7/2005

hey everyone,
at higher altitudes now. i won´t email for a few days after this cause we
are going on this trek and then to sleep on an island on lake titicaca (an
artificial island made of reeds, aint that a trip?)
yesterday we took an all night bus to arequipa. the bus was plush... nicer
than some hotels i have stayed in, but the driver was crazy. we were
speeding through these mountain roads, and i thought we would die. he was
tail gating, passing in no pass zones, going off the road - way too close to
the rail - on sharp turns, and changing gears - speeding up - going down
hill. paul and i were on the top floor of the bus in the front seats, so we
could see everything, and we were screaming like little girls. roller
coaster rides aren´t that scary. and the whole time, he was blasting disco
tunes (bee gees, abba, that i will survive song) but we made it
today we went around the city here some. it is the second largest city in
peru with 800,000 people. and i finally had my date with the guinea pig.
and ouane, i swear i am not lying, but it really really tastes JUST like
chicken. if you put it in a taste test with chicken (like they used to do
with pepsi and coke back in the 80s) you would not be able to tell which was
which... and if asked which one tasted better, you might just pick the
rodent. hehehe
well, all decisions have consequences, and my guinea pig decision had its as
well. paul got pretty grossed out by the whole thing, and he ended up
getting mad at me, cause i kept talking about it i guess. i can´t say he
was yelling at me, but he was talking pretty loud. something about how i
was wasting food (i refused to eat the head, and i was too full to eat the
potatoes and onions) and about how unhealthy i was eating, gorging myself on
all this food everyday, speding all this money. and about how the peruvians
only eat unhealthy cause they are poor. some other stuff i can´t remember.
oh yeah, and how it was wrong cause i was having to eat medicine before and
after i eat so i wouldn´t get sick (chandra taught me to take a pepto before
i eat anything; it actually works really well).
well, here is my part (i am not perfect) i said back at him, "who are you to
talk? Mr. gastrointestinal distress." and then i said something about how
all he eats is tomato soup and salad at expensive restaurants or something.
i told him i would eat cheap but they don´t have his tomato soup and salad
at the little dives. so jacob f, chandra, you have some company for your
"isn´t-joseph-annoying-when-he-travels-cause-all-he-wants-to-do-is-eat?"
club. i should come with a warning label. but i can´t describe to you the
pure joy i feel when i eat something that i have never tated before and it
is so different yet so good. and then i wonder, how have i lived without
having ever eaten this before.?
well, luckily he bounces back pretty quick. i think it is all related to
the gi problems he continues to experience. he swears its the bottled
water, but then he eats all this fruit, and even watermelon which the guide
book says to stay away from cause it can be a bacteria hotel...
well, i continue to have a good time! more later... joseph