Arequipa part 1

You may have been wondering, where in the world is Lauren? What country is she in now? Is she lost, again?

The answer is yes, i have been lost many, many times. But i´m not here to discuss my lack of direction. This blog is to save you any repeated, lazy or brief replies. You can check it however frequently or infrequently you want.

So here we go.

For the next 2 months, i´ll be living in a town called Arequipa, just outside of Peru´s capital Lima. It´s soooo beautiful here! I arrived after a horrific 27hrs in the air, entertainment not included. This was of course followed by 48hrs without my baggage, typical of Latin America so i´m learning. I´m still recovering, after 5 days of living here.

The first day i arrived, i wandered around the city - without getting lost!- before meeting the GVI guys. Our group here is apparently the biggest Childcare education Volunteering group they´ve had, with 24 people from all over the world teaching across 3 schools, maybe even 4 in the next few weeks. That night, Friday, we had a massive BBQ - apparently a weekly ritual - which gave me a good chance to get to know everyone. This was of course followed by a night of bar hopping and a weird Peruvian liquior, which tasted awful, and was stronger than i had intended.

Eating lunch with Madeline, a Norwegian volunteer, inside a monestary (Santa Catalina)

AND the best part, is everything is so bloody cheap; i spent 50c AUS on a huge chinese wok meal yesterday for lunch. (My first Peruvian meal)

Since then, i´ve moved in with my homestay - Martha - and her family, who live 30minotos from the hotel Casa De Vila, where the program is based. She lives in a 3 storey granny flat, and everyday i walk to the Casa for 4hr Spanish classes passing through bustling streets of Arequipa, in particular this gorgeous bridge that overlooks 3 or 4 active volcanoes, a river, and most of the city.

On my daily walk to Spanish school...

The view from my bedroom window

My small and very cosy bedroom, located on the third floor

As for my spanish, i can already have a (very brief) conversation after just 2 days of classes, which i discovered having spent a 10minute car ride with a taxi driver yesterday.

All in all, i think i´ll be here a while.

Hope you´re all recovering from those terrible Melbourne storms!

xLB