A taste of India & Scandinavia

While walking around near the center of Arequipa, we came across an Indian theme shop. We went up to check it out. It was a lovely cosy setup, almost like in Rajasthan in India. We started chatting with the owner. She was about 70 years old German lady running the shop. It was a very interesting life story she told us.
She had come to Puno (Peru) as a youngster and fallen in love with a German engineer working there. She had planned to travel around in Peru for 3 months but they fell in love and she remained in Puno all the time. After her visa expired, she returned to Germany where her later to be husband visited her. Then she moved to Puno again and they got married and then moved to Guatemala. About 4 years of struggle in a new country didn't work out as planned so they moved to Arequipa (Peru). They had 3 kids by now and her husband expired. Left with nothing at all in Peru and nothing to go back to in Germany, she decided to stay. Initially, she opened a German restaurant which didn't do very well so after struggling for a while, she found a keen interest in Indian traditional stuff amongst the well to do Peruvians of the city and decided to open an Indian goods shop. She visited India for the first time that year and since has been going there every year for the last 18 years. The business did quite well and now she is a proud grandmother with all the kids raised with the help of the shop. Along with the goods to buy, she makes and sells Indian Masala chai and some snacks. It was a lovely inspirational meeting.
Quite near this place, we saw the Scandinavian center with the Swedish flag flying right in the middle.Read more