Saturday shopping

This is what I brought home today. I also saw a pair of too-cool-for-school shoes in a window, but decided to save my money for baby alpaca. Good call, no?

On the left, three postcards, two with pics of cute alpacas doing their alpaca thing, and one of three vicunas. Two of these will hopefully make their way through the snail mail system to a couple of special people who shall remain nameless.

In the center, an unbearably cute watercolor of alpacas that I bought in the Parque Kennedy art market. The artist's name is Francisco Yarleque Antunez, but everyone calls him Chusty. He also does some oils that I'm not as fond of. If you would like to get in touch with him when you are in Lima, go to the park on a Saturday afternoon and ask for him among the other painters.

On the right, the baby alpaca in question. The color is a beautiful apple color, and it is a super soft DK weight, perfect for a Christmas gift for someone else who shall also remain nameless, but let's just say she's not yet received a knitted gift from me, but certainly deserves one. It is made by Mitchell & Co in Arequipa, Peru. This is their "Indiecita" 100% baby alpaca. I bought 500 grams for $48. Each ball is 50 grams, $4.80 a ball. This price is by no means great, but it is better than it was two years ago when I went to the same store.

The store in question is pictured below. I know, this is the one I complained about earlier in this here blog, but I couldn't help it. I didn't find any other place to buy and I just had to.

Alpaca 859 is on Avenida Larco in Miraflores. In fact, it is at Larco 859. you can email them at alpaca859 at yahoo dot com. The last time I went there, they were kind of rude and snobby, and told me that they didn't know where else one could buy yarn in Lima. This time, probably because I bought something from them first, they were nicer, so I have some places to check out next week. The selection is limited, but the colors they have are nice and the quality is high. They sell the little yarncakes individually or in bags of 10, and also have 1 kilo fingering weight cones in many colors.

In addition to all that goodness, I also had a grand treat today. A serendipitous treat. Passion fruit green tea bubble tea. YUM. This was my first (yes, I know, I'm behind the trend, but really, does that surprise anyone?) bubble tea, and I LOVED IT. They sell in in the cute Japanese store pictured below, along with a ton of other great Asian goodies on Pasaje Los Pinos 118 in Miraflores, across the street from the Ripley department store. They are open from 10am to 10pm. I drank this stuff down super quickly, and I swear it is the best remedy for a mild hangover ever invented by human beings.