Dia de Arequipa

A couple of week’s back I wrote about Fiestas Patrias which is the Peruvian Day of Independence celebrated on the 28^th July.  However the people of Arequipa do not really celebrate this day as the 15^th August is more important to them – this is Arequipa Day – and today they were celebrating their 472^nd birthday.

Each year they have parades and today I went to see these parades with my mentor Ruth Turner and another missionary from Costa Rica Brenda Darke.  We arrived at about 10.15 and got some good seats and then the parade started at about 11.40 (about 40 minutes after it was supposed to, but no worries as we had a good chat while waiting and ate some lovely ice cream)

It was a very colourful parade as there were many different costumes representing different parts of Peru as well as different parts of South America as well. There was much music provided by different bands (one of them being the band from the International Colegio – who recently won the finals of best school band – they are very very good). Other highlights included seeing dancing nuns, Harley Davidson’s (really wanted a ride on one of these but not allowed!) and the fire brigade who are known as the ‘bomberos’ (an interesting note here – the fire brigade here is voluntary so all who work for it are volunteers).

Dancing Nuns

Bomberos

International Colegio

After watching the parade for about 2.5 hours we decided we go would go in search of some food. We went to a place which serves typical Peruvian food and after six months of living here I finally got to eat cuy – guinea pig. It took a while to come and that is because they were killing it there and then. And when it arrived on the plate, wow it was a bit shocking. You can see for yourself in this picture:

The Cuy/Guinea Pig

I ate it and enjoyed it though had to not focus on the head as when I looked at the head it reminded me of my pet gerbils and hamster when I was a kid. I can hear people asking what it tasted like – well it tastes bit like chicken and pork. It was a fully intact cuy, as the kidney’s, heart and everything was still there – I ate most of it except these things and its paws and head. It is a dish everyone needs to try when in Peru and yes Mum that means you too in October (Dad has already had it many years ago) – am sure my sister is glad she is not coming out now, would have made her eat it too!!

All in all it was a good day, experiencing Peruvian dance and music as well as Peruvian food.

For more photos please click here