July 23--Road to Arequipa

You know it’s never a good thing when one of your group leaders stands up and says: “ I have some good news and some bad news. . . “ Well, midway through our lovely and tasty dinner at The Chelsea restaurant in Trujillo, Jacques stood up and said those very words. The good news was that we would be able to keep on our schedule as planned. The bad news, however, was that Lan Perú, the airline that we are flying on for our domestic flights here in Perú (not by choice, but because it’s a monopoly) had decided to cancel the flight from Trujillo to Lima. Great! So we would have to go by bus to Lima and catch our connecting flight from Lima to Arequipa. Oh—at a little after 3 a.m.!

Each room received a wake up call at about 2:45 and we were on the road at about 3:20 a.m. PersonallyI was lucky and was able to sleep for most of the time, so I wasn’t able to be annoyed by an incessant beeping noice, or observe the steep coastline drop-offs that we were driving along (with no guard rail). Well, we made good time, arrived at the Lima airport with plenty of time before our flight. After checking in, most of us went to morning worship at Starbuck’s.

Nothing was planned for us in Arequipa until later in the afternoon, so we settled into our rooms, some people walked around to explore the city and others rested. In the early evening, we took a bus to la Universidad Católica de Santa María and heard a lecture in a very cold and dark room entitled “The Indigenous Migration in Peru.” The speaker, Dra. Pamela Cabala started out by discussing appropriate and inappropriate terminology when referring to the indigenous peoples of Perú. Curiously, she stated that the word “indígena” is viewed as somewhat derogatory and the terms “native” or “andino” are preferred. The other part of her talk focused on the destinations of Peruvians who migrate both within and outside of Peru. As one would expect, Lima is a hub, as it is the biggest city, with about 1/3 of Peru’s population. Destinations outside of Peru include the United States, Spain and Germany. More women migrate to Germany than men. Most of them find work in the service industry—cleaning, domestic help, cooking, etc.
Following the lecture, we all went to a great restaurant called which I think means Day and Night. I had a Maracuyá (passion fruit) sour which had Pisco in it. Yum! Some people tried alpaca meat , which most people said was too gamey, but they were glad they tried it.

Alisa
Spanish teacher
Shaker Heights High School