after returning from the lions forum of latin america and the caribbean (FOLAC), i want to extend my greatest thanks to lions club international for sponsoring my trip here. i was this year's recipient of the leo-lion cultural exchange ambassador scholarship to attend a lions forum abroad. the forum i chose was FOLAC in arequipa, peru.
day 0: jan. 16, 2024
the flight from new york to lima, then lima to arequipa was a total of 9 hours. i arrived to arequipa in the evening and was greeted by a squad of lions helping travelers navigate to taxis. as someone who had only spoken spanish in the classroom previously, understanding the thick accents of the older folks was a challenge at first. eventually, after a few “más despacio” requests and lots of patience on their end, i became acquainted.
i stayed at casa andina in the plaza de armas. for those who don’t know, arequipa is nicknamed "la ciudad blanca" or "the white city" for the volcanic rock, sillar, that composes the buildings. this rock, along with the brick roads and religious icons, gives the city a historic feel.
once lugging my stuff into the hotel room, i went back downstairs stepping into the plaza de armas and i appreciated the warm, arequipan weather, a stark contrast from snowy new york.
day 1: jan. 17, 2024
this morning, i woke up to the sounds of the desfile de banderas, in other words, the parade of flags. fanfare filled the four edges of the plaza. i looked out the terrace of my room and saw what was probably a thousand lions cheering their national pride. i looked to the right and saw what looked like military personnel playing as the band (i later heard it was the air force). blocs representing every south american country were distinct, their apparel matching their country's flag colors. i went downstairs and joined the parade at ground-level.
the last time i had ever seen this type of nationalism was the world cup. hailing from the united states, i felt a bit nervous not having a country to cheer with? however, in the distance i saw a young group with red and white vests reading “leo.” hey, that’s me! i thought. although i'd somewhat acquainted myself with talking to older people, would i be able to keep up with young people? we could only see. i took a breath and walked up to them.
“hola, soy un leo-león de los estados unidos. ¿podría marchar con ustedes?”
hi, i’m a leo-lion from the U.S. could i march with you guys?
surprised to see an american (and an asian-american, at that), they welcomed me with open arms. one leo-lion, kevin, even invited me to sit with him and other leo-lions at tonight’s dinner. awesome!
after returning to my hotel and sleeping for three hours i put on my favorite suit jacket and took a taxi to the cerro julí convention center. upon leaving the taxi, i was greeted by giant stone letters ("FOLAC") with two stone lions adjacent. "woah, this is serious stuff," i thought to myself. i walked forward into the gigantic venue and was absolutely taken aback.
it was a gala. each table was personalized with flower ornaments while twinkling lights hung from the ceiling. i would estimate there to be ~100 tables in that room (room is a massive understatement). towards the back, there were hanging portraits of LCI leadership, almost as if i were at a government event. towards the front was a stage where LCI leadership of all the south american countries, including international president patti hill of canada and immediate past pres brian sheehan from the U.S. was this the united nations?
anyway, after walking around aimlessly, i found my fellow leo-lions from earlier (or rather, they found me). kevin introduced me to vero, jorge, athenas, and renzo. a rather wholesome moment was vero bantering with kevin and renzon, insisting that they speak to me in spanish. renzo and kevin felt that translating to english was fun and/or made me feel at home. i tried to assure them spanish was okay, but they insisted english was okay too.
the night was filled with festivities including another desfile de banderas, musical performances from a youth choir, and the most delicious alfajores with dulce de leche.
day 2: jan. 18, 2024
after waking up later than usual, i took a taxi in casual leo attire to FOLAC where we listened to workshops about making our impact as lions. one workshop that stood out to me though was the talk show with ipp brian sheehan. because sheehan doesn't speak spanish, headphones with a live translator were distributed to all the tables. this mutual respect of crossing the communication barrier was something i myself had never witnessed. it was the small things that were truly amazing.
tonight's theme was noche latinoamericana (latin american night). the dinner featured cultural dances from each latin american country, indigenous to mariachi. during their respective country's performance, people would drop their forks and get up to dance around their tables. that night, i met tío victor (uncle victor), a peruvian dad thrice my age who urged me to dance with the rest of them. i explained i was not a dancer at all, but he yelled back "todos son bailadores" (everyone is a dancer).
the night ended with mariachi and i joined a conga line spanning the width of the venue.
day 3: jan. 19, 2024
i dedicated a lot of today to exploring arequipa. i started the morning off touring el monasterio santa catalina which took nearly 2 hours. this was my first time exploring a historical (and religious) building so humongous. electric blue paint (made out of some mineral) complemented paintings of apostles and angels. i wandered aimlessly through prayer rooms, sleeping quarters, and kitchens almost as if i were a nun myself.
afterwards, i heeded my spanish professor's advice and went to tanta. there, i tried rocoto relleno (stuffed pepper), los ravioles de loche (pumpkin raviolio), and queso helado (cheese ice cream) which turned out to not have cheese. the limonada (lemonade) here is also made out of limes instead of lemons which i think i actually like more. before returning to the hotel to get ready for dinner, i visited mundo alpaca to pet and feed the gigantic alpacas and llamas.
tonight's theme was noche peruana (peruvian night). what struck me about tonight's performance was the range in age. we got to watch two extremely talented children duet but we also watched older ladies balance cups on their heads whilst dancing. this added a whole other dimension to the culture seeing all the different facets of the arequipan community.
on another note, these celebrations lasted anywhere from midnight to 1am. my grandma personally sleeps by 9 pm, but seeing the older demographic live it up into the late hours showed another cultural difference between here and the U.S.
day 4: jan. 20, 2024
something i'd like to reflect on are my many trips with taxi drivers and the conversations i would have with each. one particular driver, rudy, told me about how he'd always wanted to travel to new york but he didn't have the funds nor english skills to do so. despite that, he refused to let me pay him for the ride because he found our delightful conversation to be enough of a payment.
anyway, tonight was the clausura (closing) ceremony where everyone wore fancy dress. i received many trinkets from the peruvian friends i'd made including: a mini clay teapot, a tiny sombrero, many pins, a stuffed alpaca, and a giant ant encapsulated in resin from tío victor.
final thoughts
prior to the trip, i never would have considered studying abroad. i'm fairly comfortable in my shoebox dorm. however, that sentiment has changed. that was the first trip where i didn't feel homesick, probably because the other lions and leos treated me like family. leaving was a sobering experience. a week later, i'm still writing back and forth on whatsapp to the friends i made like i'm still in arequipa.
