An Arequipa Trot
Beez Neez now Chy Whella
Big Bear and Pepe Millard
Sun 26 Sep 2010 21:52
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A Trot Around
Arequipa
  Our first stop was a taxi ride to the
local Alpaca Outlet shop. This young mother took
exception to me, shouting and "snotting" at quite some distance
 While we wandered around the beautiful
garments our cabbie waited patiently catching some
zeds. The prettiest shawl in Baby Vicuña cost fourteen hundred
pounds  Arequipa -
The White City of Sillar is a product of volcanic eruptions. Sillar is a
pyroclastic rock composed principally of feldspar, oligoclase, glass, quartz,
biotite and ferric oxide. The greater part of the sillar to be found in the
Arequipa Valley was produced by eruptions of Mount Chachani. Nowadays, most
sillar is provided by the Anashuayco quarry,
extending over twelve miles and cut in places to a depth of one hundred and
thirty feet. As well as white sillar, there is also a pink variety which is
harder and less porous, but less abundant and quarried in similar quantities
than the white kind.
Sillar began to be used during the
colonial period; there is no evidence of its having been used in Pre-Hispanic
times.
A light material, sillar is easy to
work but is sufficiently strong to withstand the compressive forces imposed on
it when used as a structural element in walls, vaults and domes. Its porous
nature gives it excellent acoustic and thermal properties. It is easily carved,
each cut producing a dramatic effect of contrasting light and shade owing to its
intense natural qualities, giving Arequipa its name and character. Like almost
all the buildings in the historical city, many rural buildings and Saint
Catherine's Convent are built almost entirely of sillar.
 Back again to our restaurant
overlooking the Plaza de Armas for a cup of hot
chocolate and to watch the world go by for a while
  Another political candidate
canvassing, this time on Paso horseback. The
elections are next week and it is compulsory to vote here in Peru
  Then on the table next to us the
national dish of Guinea Pig was served, the local chap ;laughed at our wanting
to take pictures
 Playa de
Armas
          Wandering around
never sure what we will see next, especially through doorways. The local newspaper and Police Station complete with Lions Club
Emblem
 A Variable
Hawk sitting on the Monastery tree
 A faint view of
Misti in the background
  A peacock in a
cage in the hotel gardens next to ours
  We took a late
packed lunch back with us after our trot, wary since the food poisoning
episode Anne and I suffered at the hands of the mushroom soup. For the first
time in my life I was sick in a carrier bag on the back of the bus to the Colca
Canyon - not best pleased but I would have gone on my hands and knees not to
have missed it. Sadly Anne and Alan stayed behind as hers was from the other
end.
ALL IN ALL A
GREAT CITY TO BIMBLE AROUND.
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