New Year 2006 (31 December 2005 - 01 January 2006)

We decided to go to Arequipa for a holiday and to bring in the new year. Here we are in a hotel ready to go out and join the festivities. Lorena bought 2 pairs of "2006" glasses (obviously in the picture). It is a custom in Peru to toast the new year with champagne in glasses which contain 12 grapes. Each grape represents each month in the new year.

It is also traditional to give your partner new yellow underwear. Here we are viewing some in the street.

The "plaza de armas" in Arequipa was very crowded leading up to midnight. This was another version of peruvian chaos with fire crackers going off everywhere and almost continuosly. We toasted 2006 and then fulfilled another peruvian tradition. We ran around the plaza shouting the names of all the cities we would like to see this year.

The next day we awoke late in our hotel "Casa de Melgar", a nice place constructed of volcanic stone. Here is Lorena at breakfast and here we are in one of the courtyards.

The "plaza de armas" in Arequipa is one of the most beautiful in Peru. Can you spot Lorena?