The only time I’ve ever gotten a manicure was part of a free event by some sanitary napkin company. My nails were painted a pearly pink.
While I liked my shiny nails, I’ve never found the time or money to visit a manicurist since then.
Today, my school mate N suggested that we visit a manicurist and that the price in Arequipa is a lot lower than overseas.
We went to a little alley that led into a courtyard a few blocks away from the hostel. The manicurists in one of the shops weren’t doing much when we went in.
I chose to do a plain manicure for 10 soles but N convinced me to get something fancy. I flipped through the samples and found one that I liked.
It was a white-background with blue lines like in an exercise book and doodles. I heart it very much.
YQ gets her nail painted
The cost of the nail art was 20 soles (S$10) but it felt like a lot more work than that price. There was so much preparation: filing, cuticle pushing, painting the white base, painting the lines, painting the actual doodles. (You see what a noob I am at nailcare.)
The result was awesome. It looks like I am carrying exercise books on my nails.
My nails look like an exercise book. I love them!
Maybe I should have asked them to draw on the different past tense in Spanish, that would be very useful in class.
Throughout the manicure session, I felt something like guilt. Here I was with sweaty palms and my nails being painted with art. Am I exploiting the cheap labor of Peru or is this a fair trade?
Some things are best left unsolved.
Arequipa at night
Here is a photo of Arequipa at night to distract us all.
I moved out of my homestay in Arequipa on Sunday. I realized that I was a lot more happy when I can make a huge mess of my hostel room without feeling embarrassed.
I’m not a very good homestay guest. I like to stay in my room when I get back. I like to shower twice in a day. I like to stay near the city center.
Hosts are so hospitable I feel bad that I’m not as open and friendly
Feel miserable not being able to live as I want
Homestay ends
I do have a friend who did a homestay in France and loved her experience. She still contacts the host family and the little boys (now grown up). The difference between her and I is that she’s an extrovert who enjoys having active fun. My opinion of fun is the internet and books.
Have you been in a homestay? How was your experience?
I’m only taking the usual four hours of Spanish lessons this week. This means that I have a really long lunch time.
For today’s lunch, my schoolmate N brought me and her teacher to a picanteria (local restaurant) near where I used to stay.
La Capitana, Arequipa, Peru
The picanteria felt like it was a long taxi ride away.
On the taxi, the teacher (who’s my age) told us about a bachelorette party her friend had. The friends were thinking of whether they should hire male strippers because the bride-to-be is religious.
The restaurant was packed with people having lunch. There were a mix of people from all walks of life. People in office wear and people in “dressed down” wear all share tables in this midsized restaurant.
Walls of La Capitana
We shared a jar of chicha, a deep purple drink made of fermented corn. It’s an acquired taste and I prefer Fanta Grape (which I hate) over chicha.
My meal was chicharron which reminded me a lot of 烧肉 which is Chinese roasted pork.
Pork at La Capitana
After lunch, we walked back to the city center. I dropped off my laundry at one of the laundry places. I have to admit that I have not used a washing machine for the past 3 months. I’ve always washed my laundry by hand.
Laundry here is quite cheap. The place I went to charges 3 soles (S$1.50) per kilogram. My bag of dirty clothes were 2kg.
Visiting the Confucius Institute in Arequipa
I also headed to the Confucius Institute which is just down the road from the hostel.
They had a small museum with very Chinese things.
Small museum at Confucius Institute in Arequipa
My favorite display was the little porcelain figurines of past emperors and empress. I looked among the mini men to find the only female emperor in Chinese history.
View of the inside of San Camilo market in Arequipa
It’s Saturday and I have no class! (Although I still need to get on with memorizing my verbs, never mind that for a moment.) I checked out San Camilo a little past lunch time.
The market is very near the city center. Like many other buildings in South America (OK, maybe just this other one in Arica), it was designed by Gustave Eiffel.
From the outside, the market doesn’t look that impressive. It’s kind looks like Kuala Lumpur’s central market. But the inside is something I’ve not seen before.
Tall metal poles support the metal roofs and sunlight pours in from the side. I have a feeling the inside of the market is modern.
For me, the most impressive part of the market was the fruit stall lane. The fruits were stacked really high on a sloped display.
At the market, I ate ceviche and drank mix fruit juice. I’ll leave the food entry for one of the #FoodFriday but you can check out the photos in my Chinese blog.
Juice stalls at San Camilo marketOfficial scale in the market. Reminds me of ancient Rome.
Other important news
I’ve moved out of my host family’s place. I’ve discovered that I’m not very good at host families.
Yes, it’s a good chance for language practice but only if I’m willing to talk. Most of the time, I’m more willing to sit in front of my computer.
Taxi in Arequipa
Today was moving day. I called one of the taxi companies in my broken Spanish for a cab. The cab never came.
In the end, the host-sister helped me call for one and shared what the usual price of a taxi ride is.
My room at the hostel has 3 beds, enough for 7 people and all that for me. That is just AWESOME. I’ve also made myself at home, which is I’ve made a mess of the room. Just in one day!
It’s hard to appreciate the weekend when I’m not working. But taking classes reminded me WEEKENDS, although my weekends will be filled with memorizing the different past tenses.
This morning, I took a combi to school. My host mom told me to take the bus heading to BOLIVAR SUCRE. I got on one with not as much people.
The ride to school was about 20 minutes faster than what it would take for me to walk. I should have started taking the bus earlier. Dang.
School time flew by. The classes at EDEAQ are one-on-one, which I realize are more efficient than small group classes. If you are thinking about learning Spanish for a cheaper price in South America, do consider coming to Arequipa.
After class, I headed to a posh restaurant which Foursquare kept insisting I go. Chicha is a posh restaurant with a slight sticker shock, although it’s still cheaper than restaurants in the same level as in Singapore.
Chica Arequipa
The bill came up to be about S$35 but it did include really fresh sae urchin and a beautiful queso helado (or “cheese ice cream”).
I took another combi back to my neighborhood. This time, I sat in the back so I could take a photo of the back of the head of the passengers.
Inside a combi in Arequipa
Being on the bus meant that I couldn’t see the alpacas up close. I did see them from my seat. They have been moved to another section of the park to graze.
I went to the cinema again to see if the Superman movie was really taken off screening. It was. I had a choice of World War Z or Despicable Me 2. I chose to walk away.
After a nap back in the house (or should I say, some websurfing on my phone on the bed), I head out to the Japanese food and ceviche bar recommended on Tripadvisor.
Unfortunately, my “three plate” dish was served in tall cocktail glasses. It was too posh for me, although it was yummy.
Mother knows best
I called mom on LINE in the evening. She asked if I had been making any friends. I told her I haven’t because I don’t mind being alone.
“Then why bother travelling if you’re not meeting anyone?” she asked.
“Mom, I’m travelling for my own sake. It’s not about making friends,” I said.
When dad took over the phone, he said that I should head back home if I’m not making any new friends. (I’ve come to think that he means that travelling along is not good. I’ve been on the road alone for 3 months, isn’t that proof that all is well?)
It’s a wonder how people who raised me does not understand why I do not go around becoming buddies with everyone. It’s not that I’m a bitch who’s “not here to make friends“, but I really like “Me Time”. If I happen to chat with people and enjoy their company, then it’s good.
Skincare bought in Arequipa
At this stage of travelling, I’ve either almost used up my skincare creams or lost some while packing. In Arequipa, I realized that my skin has turned from oil-combination to slightly dry so I needed new skincare products anyway.
Unfortunately, skin care products in Peru is not that cheap. These two tiny pots of Pond’s cost about S$8 with the anti-aging being slightly more expensive.
Face cream in adorable pots
I have been using the Garnier BB cream I bought in Greece. The cream is tinted and is supposed to give me a golden tanned look. Unfortunately, I have an orange face instead which clashes badly with the white sunblock I have for the rest of the body.
Another bad thing about the tinted BB cream is that my makeup remover wipes cannot really get them off. I usually end up sleeping in Orange Face and slather on another layer the next morning.
A clean face is a happy face.
I didn’t want to end up looking like a Oompa-Loompa so I bought two cleansing products. Both cost about S$8 each.
Today’s highlight was my 5 minute bus ride in a combi (mini bus). I wanted to take the bus yesterday but I was daunted by the crowd so I ended up walking to the cinema and missing the Superman movie.
I love taking public transport to save money since taxis are multiple times more expensive than the bus. Plus, I’m very allergic to dishonest taxi drivers.
The combi system reminds me more of buses back home in Kota Kinabalu because it seems to be an unruly system.
The buses have signs of destination in large signs on their windshields. The bus conductor hangs out of the door, yelling different destinations. (Back home, the conductors yell, “Keh keh. Keh keh.“)
One of the reason I finally dared to take the bus was because I realized that “SAGA” was the name of the department store near where I am staying. I won’t get lost if I hop on buses with that destination.
So I walked to the corner of San Francisco street and waited by the wall while other locals eye me curiously.
Many buses with “SAGA” on their windshields stopped in front of me. However, I didn’t want to go on them because the buses were packed almost to the brim with people.
The size of the bus I took was similar to this, but with less people.
Finally, a slightly larger bus came and it looked like not much people were inside. I walked to the bus conductor hanging out of the door and said, “Saga?”
She ushered me into the bus. Even though it was a larger bus, there weren’t a lot of seats. Almost all of the seats were taken. I stood awkwardly at the empty space in front of the seats.
I didn’t take my camera out and take photos of people in there. I didn’t want to be the traveller who treats other people as photo opportunities.
I then saw a seat between the driver and a school kid. I went to the front and plonked myself in the tiny seat. The street that I normally walk past didn’t look much different from higher up in the seat.
Then the boy had to get off the bus so I went back to the empty space and stared either out of the window or at my feet. It would be awkward looking at the passengers, some of whom were gawking at me.
When we were nearing my stop, the bus conductor repeated, “Saga. Saga.” I think it was to notify me that my stop was near.
As I got off, I passed 1 sole (S$0.50) and the lady gave me back 20 cents (10 Singapore cents) in change.
And that, ladies and gentlemen, was my first–and unlikely last–combi ride.
Totally unrelated photo of an alpaca resting:
Alpaca in Arequipa, pretending to be caterpillar
PS Mom convinced me to stay in Arequipa for another week for Spanish class. I’ll be heading to Machu Picchu later in the month. However I won’t be continuing my homestay because the walk to school is really time consuming. And I don’t feel like talk to people in the later part of the evening.
Since I was picked up from my homestay to school yesterday, today was the first day that I walked to school. Classes start at 9:10am so I started myself walked 45 minutes earlier.
Traffic in Arequipa seems to be quite bad almost all the time. Maybe it’s because of the tiny roads and excessive number of taxis zooming around.
All looks calm on this side of the road in Arequipa in the morning.
The day was sunny but cool when I started my walk. I chose to wear flip flops today because my shoes didn’t have a good grip of the smooth stone pavements in the town center.
I immediately regretted wearing flip flops when I got out of the house. The weather was too cold for my toes to be exposed! As I walked down the road, I noticed that everyone wore covered shoes. The schoolgirls even had knee-length socks as part of their uniform.
“Combi”, Arequipa’s mini buses.
The side of the road which I walked on had less traffic since it was the road out of town. However, the opposite side which had traffic heading into town had a really bad traffic jam. It seemed to me that walking was much faster than being stuck forever in the one-way lane.
Things don’t look so good on the other side.Morning traffic at Olvalvo Grau roundabout in Arequipa. Look deeper into the photo to see the traffic jam.
Near the roundabout, the two alpacas which I saw yesterday where still there. Instead of grazing, they were just sitting around, glaring at people looking at them.
Morning traffic on Puento Grau in Arequipa. (Do you see the alpaca?)
I finally reached my language school after half an hour of walking. I’m actually quite thankful that most of my path were in the shade so I didn’t have to worry about UV rays.
At school, I learned new grammar and learned that I’ve forgotten many new vocabulary.
In the afternoon, there was an Arabic cooking session by one of the students. I got to see how baba ghanoush is made in real life! The food was good and we ended with pancakes slathered with jam from Germany.
Arabic food in Arequipa
By the time I walked back to my homestay, the sun was setting so I didn’t get an eyeful of sun.
I went to the Arequipa HQ of mobile operator Movistar to purchase a new SIM card. However, the employee said I could not buy a new SIM with my foreign passport. I was very annoyed about it so I went to its competitor, Claro, to buy a new SIM.
My friend D inspired me to write a post about travel blogs to follow when she asked for blog recommendation.
I started working on the post about travel blogs I follow and I realized that the majority of the blogs I was going to recommend were not from Asia. So I decided to write a new post to feature some of the blogs from Asia.
How do I define “from Asia”? I don’t have a specific rule but if the blogger is now based in Asia or was from Asia, then I’ll pile them in.
I’m only listing people I follow on a regular basis so if your favorite blogger in Asia is not in, tell me in the comments below.
Fist with rings spelling out B-L-O-G. Image credit Thomas Hawk
You might know Aleah from her famous post “Date A Girl who Travels“. Or if you don’t know her, you might have read the post in one way or another. She’s still being awesome travelling solo so follow her on her trips.
I came across David’s blog when I was doing research for my YQ Conquers Malaysia trips. He’s very detailed about his visits to different towns in Malaysia. If you would like to know more about small town Malaysia, check out his blog. One of his latest post about following the trail of Assassin’s Creed in Istanbul is fascinating because I loved Assassin’s Creed I.
Bloggers I know in real life and are awesome online
I was there to witness Therese’s first travel blog post. *wipes tear from eyes* She touches on subject that I never thought about writing but should have. For example, squat toilets.
Phebe travelled in India alone before. I think that should be enough reason to follow her blog. One of her latest post about whether travelling too much is a sign of discontent resonated with me.
If I have to name a person who pushed me to really do this RTW, it’s 943, a Taiwanese traveller/author/money saver who wrote the book “Round the world with NT$100,000“. I didn’t know that travelling around the world doesn’t require millions of dollars and can be achieved cheaply.
Another Taiwanese blogger, I loved her recent post about how we should wander around responsibly and not impulsively. She also posted a multi-part love story of her and a German boy nicknamed F. I love love stories!
If you read Indonesian,you probably already know her
I learned of Trinity when I bought one of her books. Trinity is now doing a RTW and I love her tweets because they are in digestible chunks of Indonesian. If you are good in Malay and Indonesia, check out her blog.
Do you have favorite travel blogs? Share them in the comment below.
[The internet at my homestay couldn’t connect last evening so I couldn’t upload this post until today!]
Although today’s main event was my 5-hour long Spanish classes (with breaks in between), I thought you would be more interested in reading about eating alpacas for lunch. I’ll get to school talk soon.
After class, I headed to a restaurant which my teacher recommended. The place didn’t have the Menu of the Day at 2:30pm so I chose something a la carte.
The most interesting items seemed to involve alpaca so I ordered one that was drenched in sweet pepper sauce with some ravioli.
Alpaca steak tastes like gamey beef steak
The texture of alpaca is a bit like beef–slightly tough. However, the taste is very different from beef.
My dish of alpaca tasted a little like not-so-well prepared mutton. Or as someone on Facebook corrected me, it tasted “gamey” not “smelly”.
Alpaca is definitely not on my list of Best Meats to Eat (TM) and is probably down at the bottom somewhere with crocodile meat.
After my meal, as I walked back to my home stay, I saw two alpacas grazing casually by the roadside. That’s insane!
Cute alapacas grazing
Back to school!
I’m taking Spanish classes again in Arequipa. Lessons and accommodation here is definitely cheaper than Buenos Aires. Plus, I get to have one-to-one lessons instead of group lessons.
I was supposed to walk to school (2 freaking miles!) today but the school coordinator and her husband picked me up from my homestay place instead. The morning traffic in Arequipa looked horrible from my view in the car.
I had two different teachers for my lessons. For the first 2 hours, I had Senorita R, the next 2 with Senor J and the last 1 hour with R again.
I think I spoke more broken Spanish in these 5 hours than the whole 1 month and a week that I’ve been in South America. Most of the time, I spoke like this: “I loves to eats Japan food.” “I have a journalist.” or something grammatically, vocabularly incorrect.
Of course it’s all about learning and I’m learning a lot. In fact, I felt like I was learning too much after 2 hours but got into the groove by the 5th hour. I hope that by the end of the week, I’ll be rather good at Spanish. Hopefully.
I usually pride myself in being one of the first few people who wake up earliest for breakfast. It’s some stupid thing I think of to feel superior over others who drink themselves silly the night before.
However, at Arica Surfhouse where I was staying, I was the last to wake up at 8:30am. There were 11 other beds in my room but I the only one in the room when I woke up.
Toto, we’re not in Kansas anymore.
I guess I have to explain a little about this hostel. It’s called Arica Surfhouse and surfing is one of its selling points. There are surfboards everywhere and people just look tanned and happy. Oh, at 6:30pm, there is a free yoga session (tips happily accepted).
Oh, a guy with a beard was doing yoga when I left the room for lunch.
I guess all signs point to a health hostel and not a party hostel which totally fits me. Plus, the Brazilian receptionist looks like a cute non-Hulk Edward Norton but is unfortunately sexist (the things you learn by being at the wrong place at the right time.
Anyway, I decided to extend one night’s stay here in Arica because sitting on a bus for several hours to Arequipa kind of scares me now.
What do I do with an extra day in Chile? Nothing, like in Kandy and Athens.
Still, I don’t want to leave Arica and tell everyone that I didn’t take a look at the town so I went out around noon for lunch and some photos.
Views of Arica
After being in the big Europe-like cities of Buenos Aires and Santiago, I felt that I finally had a real taste of South America. Well, at least small town South America.
Liquor store opposite my hostel
Buildings here don’t go too high up. Buildings are painted in bright colors but they are all in harmony with their neighbors.
PlayschoolArica, ChileShop in Arica
Christopher Columbus Square
San Marco church
I decided to tick one thing off my Things to See in Arica. I checked my location on Google Map and walked down San Marco street to the San Marcos de Arica Cathedral. This church was commissioned to Gustave Eiffel, not that I could tell.
Christopher Colombus square in AricaPretty street of AricaAduana in Arica
I debated whether I should check out the beach which was about 5 minutes away. I decided not to because I don’t care much for the beach, even if there are seals.
After the walk, I headed back to the hostel for a good nap. Now it’s about 7pm and it’s pitch black. I should go out and find food but I’ll take my time.
YQtravelling 