Newlyweds on the Run: Trucha and rafting in Arequipa

I have been taking Spanish classes everyday with Beatrice from 9-11am and then working on seven projects (in various stages from needing IRB approval to finishing touches before submitting to big journals) all day and night. Tonight, I was invited to the house of one of my mentor's in Peru, Dr. Josefina Medina. She and her husband had me over for "coffee," which turned into three hours of talking about my family, their family, medical stuff, research, Peru, etc. (in Spanish) and drinking a few apple martinis, Pisco, coffee, Real Kola, and eating cheese sandwiches, ice cream and chocolate cake, I was very content. Their house is beautiful and has a central fountain inside and every bedroom overlooks it. They also have a nice garden with a small swimming pool. I was very impressed and grateful for their hospitality.

Rafting
After working all weekend (literally until 1am on Saturday) I took a little break and went white water rafting (grade 3+/6 rapids). I highly recommend it! It was very exciting except we had a novice guide who didn't speak English and couldn't steer. The other boat had the English speaking guide but I got moved since I "speak" Spanish (go me!). Our guide was pretty bad at giving us commands, which consisted of "Delante" "Detras" "Alto!" "Pesos derecha" "Pesos izquierda" "A dentro!" and basically steered us into just about every rock in the river. He had to get out nearly a dozen times in two hours to push us over and then leap back into the boat as we flew through the rapids. I will admit that part of the problem is that the rainy season starts in a few weeks so the river is very low right now. However, the other boat didn't have many problems. The canyon that the Rio Chile runs through was absolutely beautiful! There were a few 10ft drops that got my heart racing and one time our guide got us perfectly stuck perpendicular to the river between a rock and the wall of the canyon. As our guide is yelling "Pesos derecha" to avoid the rush of water pouring into our boat, the other boat comes flying over the rapids and T-bones us. I thought for sure we'd tip over but somehow both boats made it down and we didn't have any major catastrophes. We were back by lunch and I almost wanted to do it again. But alas, there was work that needed to be done.

Trucha
For lunch today, Josh, Katie and I met at the trout farm on the outskirts of Arequipa and ate in a cute wooden boat on the Rio Chile. For only 15 soles ($5), I had delicious "ravioli de trucha" that turned out to be fried wontons with fresh trout - absolutely delicious!

Afterwards, I climbed to the top of a hill nearby to the mirador (lookout) where I could see all of Arequipa - a city of over 1 million people - and a perfect view of the Volcano Misti (that I will be climbing in a few days).