The Case of "Misty" the Missing Dog and Other Arequipa Adventures

Arriving in Arequipa from Puno is always a blessing. Puno is a cold, high, somewhat dark city, whereas Arequipa is a beacon of good food, warmth, and things to do. The air is warm, the altitude is low (which means we aren't sick), and there is even a Dominos. The past few days have been full of adventure and exploration.

One of my favorite adventures in Peru thus far has actually been a visit to an art museum/monastery that was only recently opened to the public because of its need for restoration. The convent, “Santa Teresa,” might have been one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. Our tour lasted 3 hours as we examined old art that had been donated and learned about how the monastery had been founded.

I was most fascinated by the lifestyles of the nuns who live there today. There are 21 full nuns, 4 “pre-nuns” (please excuse my lack of catholic vocab), and 1 student. The “pre-nuns” and the student are not yet committed to a life inside. They each spend periods of time at the convent and then are sent home to pray about their decision. The more questions we asked, the less we learned about the art and the more we learned about the daily drama at Santa Teresa.

Apparently, for the past three years the nuns have had a dog by the name of Misty. Since Misty grew up inside the walls of the convent, they (jokingly) consider him a member, and very integral part, of the church.

Three days ago, Misty walked right out of the convent and down the road.

In his entire life, he had never left the walls of Santa Teresa, but Friday Misty decided to take an afternoon constitutional and never returned. According to our guide, the nuns are less than pleased. They are threatening to close the museum if the management cannot find the dog. From what I hear, a search ensued, and a few leads (hehe) were found.

Someone reported that another museum guard found Misty and took him home for the weekend. Others saw Misty dodge traffic on a busy highway appearing as if he was heading towards the market.

Something to keep in mind: Misty is a hairless dog. People know Misty when they see him.

We continued with the tour, but were saddened to see Misty's little dog house and empty bowl. I hear the nuns are praying for his safe return.

For it is better to lack running water than things to do: PUNO

We went to Puno. There is ABSOLUTELY nothing to do in Puno. “There is more to do in Cusini (which lacks running water) than there is to do in Puno,” says Amos. I think he's right

(click the image above for a 360 (ish) tour of the Cusini school)

Below you'll find photos from Cusini, a small village (waaaay) outside of Puno that the government has given laptops. We spent two days trying to repair the machines and give surveys to asses whether or not the computers are benefiting the students.

All photography is compliments of Amos Espeland -”The One Photographer”

The Day I Rode Many Things

I write this from Arequipa, with sincerest apologies for my extended absence. I've been traveling like crazy and barely have time to turn this computer on, let alone write anything.

I did celebrate a birthday a few days ago and to ring in my 21st, we decided to take to things of high adventure in the grand city of Cusco. Picture this Sunday morning:

9am: Picked up by sketchy taxi and taken to “ranch.”
9:30am: Realize that “ranch” translates to field of horses.
9:35am: Realize that “guide” means cute old Peruivan who doesn't care a bit about ruins
9:45am: Are dropped off and sent walking to find the temple
9:48am: Have found a cave (left) that may or may not be the temple
10am: Decide that we don't care about the ruins either
10:01am: Communicate that we don't care about ruins and gallop through fields (with the provided helmets)


11am: Realize the taxi driver has abandoned us (and taken my Snickers bar!) and start walking towards the main road. We caught a taxi back to town and had a great lunch!
11am-1:30pm: LUNCH/shower


2pm: Arrive at ATV office and climb in sketchy taxi #2
2pm-7pm: Dusty, dusty, dusty ATV riding.

Riding ATVs is a sometimes challenging affair even in the US. Paths are sometimes not clear, machines sometimes break, and vision can be a bit misconstrued. Now I want you to imagine a line of 14 ATVs driving down a road. Not just any road, but a big road with cars and taxis and buses. Peruvian traffic is not the most predictable of situations and so I was a bit shocked as we took to the highway. Not to fear though, we were just changing trails.

Peru, in the winter is dusty. No, no, you don't understand. DUSTY. There isn't any rain and the dust is absolutely everywhere. In fact, the ATV trail is made of dust and as I close my helmet over my eyes (see Mom, helmet!), I wonder exactly how dusty I'm actually going to get.

The answer is REALLY DUSTY (see below). Our group of 14 spends four hours riding ATV trails, crossing small rivers, and jumping things. At one point, we got stuck behind a cow crossing and spent considerable time waiting for all the cows to get across the small path. Seven of the fourteen riders made it before the cows decided (of course) that the grass was greener on the other side of the path. So we waited another 10 minutes for them to make their way back across.

Returning to the base, there was a nice gentleman with a hose. One by one we went up and he used air to blow the dust off our clothes, bags, hair, etc. I went last. The guy looked at me and started laughing. So did Amos. He gave me a few puffs of air and shrugged his shoulders. There was little he could do to help me. I was a mess.