To market, to market, to buy a fat pig...

Actually, I saw sheep's heads, cow tongues and hearts, and chicken feet but no pigs. Of course, I didn't pay attention much to the meat section of the big market near downtown Arequipa - I was still too googly-eyed after the fruit aisle. There were tons of vendors with bushels upon bushels of colorful produce and I had one of their mangoes tonight (after washing it really well and peeling it). Delicious.

So, the weekends up at the Mision are slower. The knitting ladies don't work, the clinic isn't open, and neither is the day care. So Lauren and Steve and I explored the markets downtown on Saturday and Lauren and I went again today just to roam around. We ended up walking back from Plaza de Armas to the Volunteer House, a two hour adventure which was fascinating because we went through so many different kinds of neighborhoods. It's amazing how quickly you can go from the ritzy neighborhood of Cayma to Alto Cayma where we are and where many people are living in brick houses without a whole lot more to them.

Arequipa: Ciudad de Blanco (city of white)

But also a city with lots of fun colors!

As you can tell, the day started out sunny and then turned to rain. We made it back to the house before it really started to downpour which it has continued to do all evening long. It was much needed in this part of the country which is so dry but hopefully it hasn't created too many problems for those living up the hill from us.