Arequipa was an unexpected stop for us, but it turned out to be great!  We love the freedom we have to move on our own time frame and change our "itinerary" on a whim. I was grappling with what we should do to celebrate Ross' 40th, but luckily he came through with his own celebration! He'd gone kayaking with one of Piero's nephews, Italo, and was invited on a multi-day river trip, which happened to include the day of his birthday.  At first, I was reluctant to have the kiddos on my own in an unfamiliar city for four days, but I knew it was the ultimate way for Ross to celebrate his big 4-0. So we said our good-byes and he barely made his bus to Cuzco for the start of his trip!

Ross' birthday river trip is documented in his amazing video.  I think the footage speaks for itself!  Needless to say, he had an amazing time!

I wanted to keep the kids busy and fill our time with fun stuff while Ross was gone, so I did some research and found some fun parks and kid friendly venues.  Because our van was in the shop, we had to get around by taxi.  Really though, even if we had the van, there was no way I would attempt driving in Arequipa!! We mastered the art of getting a taxi and finding our way around town.

Italo put us in touch with his wonderful mom and sister, who didn't live far from where we were staying in Cayma.  One of the days, we met them at their house then went with them to the Club Internacional Arequipa where they are members.  The place covered many acres and had soccer fields, a huge field filled with play structures, multiple swimming pools, volleyball courts, basketball courts, tennis courts, dance studios, a bowling alley, restaurants, and gathering spaces.  Italo's mom, Lilian, and sister were playing in volleyball tournaments so we went to watch them.  We ended up staying all day playing on the structures, swimming, playing soccer, eating queso helado, and watching volleyball games.  

We also found a great park with an interesting installation of dinosaurs on one end, and play structure after play structure on the other.  The kids loved the little paddle boats in a shallow pool and climbing on the climbing wall. And of course we had to get the obligatory Peruvian alpaca photo so we found this cool museum/store in town where they have Alpacas you can pet and get up close and personal.  Tabor enjoyed practicing her photography skills with close ups of the Alpaca's faces!

It was also the week of Halloween so we set out for Plaza Espana and the big markets to score Halloween costumes. I'd been doing research to see if they celebrated Halloween and it wasn't conclusive. Any doubt was soon blasted though by the number of places hawking costumes in this area!  The street was a madhouse and there was an entire multistory marketplace dedicated to selling and renting costumes. And it was PACKED wall to wall with Areqipenos! We found Nash a Captain America costume (which turned out to be 5 sizes too big!) and a pretty dress, wig, and crown for Tabor to be Elsa.  We had so much fun just going up and down the streets teeming with people haggling with the street vendors for the perfect costume or accessory. 

We went to The Plaza mall for Trick or Treating on a tip I got a from another mom at the park.  She said that was the place to be and she was right!  There were thousands of other families there with their adorable kiddos dressed up going store to store.  Some of the costumes were fabulously elaborate and kids of all ages were decked out - even tiny newborn babies had some of the cutest costumes I'd ever seen.  Nash was running into tons of other Captain Americas and they all wanted to get their picture with him.  We got lots of stares walking through the mall.  I hadn't really felt like we stuck out up to that point, but for some reason, that night, we really did.  I started to get the feeling that we were probably the only people there who weren't locals.  

The kids of course spotted the Chuck E Cheese sign from a half mile away in the far corner of the mall parking lot.  We needed dinner and it was Halloween, after all (Chuck E Cheese and Halloween are synonymous, right?!), so I caved.  We got our tokens and a pizza (it was the most expensive dinner we'd had in a long time!) and the kids went nuts! Kids in costumes everywhere, seizure inducing lights flashing non-stop, music blaring, video screens with weird videos all over the walls, and we kept loosing Nash - we were completely wiped by the time we crawled into our cab at the end of the night!  BUT we couldn't let the party end there! The Arequipenos were just getting started!  

I'd also heard that the Plaza de Armas was a great spot for people watching on Halloween.  I felt guilty telling the cabbie to drop us off at the Plaza as I watched both kiddos on the verge of sleep in the cab.  It was 10 p.m. by that point!  But they were ready to rally when they saw the random fire works going off outside.  Once we reached the plaza vicinity, we got out of our cab and were swept into the river of people in costumes flowing through the streets.  It was incredible! Apparently, Halloween is a BIG deal in Arequipa! 

Once inside the plaza, the kids became celebrities! Like I'd said earlier, we stick out - a lot more than I'd thought. We didn't go five steps before a parent stopped Tabor and asked for una photo, por favor.  They snuggled their little up to Tabor and started snapping away!  At first I thought it was a one off.  Then another family approached us, then another.  Soon, there was a crowd around Tabor and Nash and parents were lining their kids up to get a photo with them!  Tabor started to get shy but she was a trooper and smiled graciously.  We made our way out of the crowd and to another part of the plaza, but we kept being approached! We were all amused and I think Tabor enjoyed her 15 minutes of fame. 

We rounded out our time in Arequipa with the Trolls movie (with great voiceovers in Spanish) and Ross returned refreshed and starry eyed after his river trip.  We packed up, retrieved our van with still not-completely-functioning A/C, said good-bye to our sweet hostess Betsy, and headed south once again.  Our second time in Arequipa was much different than my and Ross' first visit, but I feel like we really got a chance to know the city this time around!