I'm the chaufa to his chicharron...

Well, hello, my lil' chechua...

How is my chicharron doing today?

Aw! That's so tacu tacu!!

Yes, since I have arrived here in Peru, I have become fluent in my own version of Peruvian Spanish. I seem to take words for foods and make them adjectives and verbs all the time. The locals seem to understand what I am saying, even when I don't have a clue what I am talking about...

I still don't think chechua is an actual word, but I called Nicole "my lil' chechua" this morning at breakfast. She didn't respond with the huge smile I expected, and seemed a bit more confused than anything. Hmm...

As my traveling buddy and I walked around Arequipa on Tuesday, checking out the European-styled cobble-stoned alleys, we agreed "chicharron" was one of the coolest words ever invented in ANY language. Those Latinos really know how to share what's on their minds...even if "chicharron" really only means "fried" (well, fried porkskin). He was my lil chicharron, and I was his chaufa (fried rice). I decided Nicole was my chechua because she was a little "chick"...thus, chechua naturally. Actually, she is more like my chiquita...that must be where they got the name of those bananas.

As we sat in the Plaza de Armas enjoying our drinks (notice a trend?!), our food terms synthesized into our sentences so much more fluidly.

I would absolutely recommend visiting Arequipa one day...the town itself is quaint and very similar to a European small town; however, the people there were very kind. We met a police officer lady who walked us to the Plaza from our hotel only because we asked her to point us in the right direction. Acts like this typically come with a request of some type of payment, but she just left us with a smile and questions to ponder, like why DID we choose to come out to Peru for our vacation?

When we got in the night before, and decided to see the town by moonlight, we could tell we would like it in daylight, but we did notice many drunk individuals walking around. We thought maybe it was a hot spot for Easter vacation...but I don't think so. I would rather hit the beaches here, I would think, than hang out on romantic alleys with my boys. ;) Nonetheless, the daytime definitely sold me better.

And to answer the policelady's question: what we are realizing is that Peru has a bit of everything - the mountains, sea, desert, jungle, Andean music, surf, hot salsa, pisco sours, ancient ruins, excellent cebiche, indigenous villagers, and cityfolk....and never forget the chicharrons and chaufas. ;)