While we were in Puno, Vince and I couldn't pass up the opportunity to go out on Lake Titicaca. We arranged a full day of boat travel to two different islands. The first was called Uros. They are a group of islands closest to the land that are floating. Ancient people built these islands using the abundant reeds that grow in the lake at least 6 ft. tall. They would tie their roots together under the water and then layer the reeds to make a surface above water. They used to rebuild the islands every 3 years due to rotting reeds and weak ropes, however, with more modern supplies they are able to go longer. They also were known to eat the reeds along with a diet high in fish. We got to try them during our tour and were pleasantly surprised. They taste and have a similar consistency to celery. These people made everything from these reeds....houses, beds, outdoor kitchens, and boats. We took a short ride on one of the boats and they gave Vince a turn at rowing. Once we were back on "floating" land, we boarded our tour boat again and were off to the island of Taquille. It was about a 2 hour boat ride that could have been about 25 minutes...but we were on Peruvian time and they must have been trying to stretch every last bit of gas and took it at about 6-10 miles per hour. We agreed that we could have run faster than this boat was going! The island of Taquille has an interesting infrastructure. It is very male centered. The guys are in charge of everything...down to the textiles they make. The main job of the women is to prepare the thread used by the men to weave it into hats, bags, belts, and scarves. To tell you the truth, these textiles were the ugliest we've seen...but that’s just my opinion! The view of Lake Titicaca from the top of the giant hill we were told to climb were amazing. The lake seems to go on forever. We could see hints of the Bolivian coastline in the distance but it seemed really far away. The sun was shining at that point so the water looked extra blue. We hiked a bit more and then were back on the boat for a 3 hour ride back to Puno. We were able to ride on the roof of the boat the whole way so we caught some rays and watched an amazing storm roll through the city of Puno in the distance. The clouds were so dark in contrast to the sun we had above us and at one point there was a rainbow that formed in the clouds. It was a nice end to a relaxing and educational day!
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Weekend in Puno
This last weekend we had quite the time visiting Puno and Lake Titicaca! There was a festival celebrating the Virgin of Candelaria so tons of Peruvians travelled there to help the town celebrate. The Peruvians are almost all "Catholics" however, only because the Spanish took them over years ago and made them convert. So, this festival has developed into more of a spoof on the Spaniards and also a living history of the relationship between the Spanish conquistadors and the native Peruvians. Everyone, and that's not an exaggeration, dresses up in crazy costumes for about 2 weeks. Each costume represents something in the story and also shows where they are from. These people take this so seriously! They only had one scheduled parade while we were there, but every single day there were group after group parading up and down every street with full-on bands, costumes, and coordinated dances for our entertainment. The young were dressed in small replicas of their older participants' costumes and the old were adorned in colorful fabrics and masks that can only be described by looking at our pictures. Most of the older women and men were drunk by 8:00 am so they gave us a pretty good show. Steve and Lucy, our friends that traveled with us, and Vince and I had this wonderful breakfast at Incabar. We sat in their bay window and had the best seats in the house because the parade went right by as we ate. It was quite the scene! We also climbed up to this giant condor statue that overlooks the city. The condor, puma, and snake are icons that are very meaningful to the Peruvian people so you see them everywhere. The hike took about 30 minutes but was, again, straight uphill. We did it with Steve and Lucy, and Azita and John, other friends who came with us from the UK. We all felt pretty good after the climb and enjoyed a nice dinner of alpaca to celebrate.
While we were in Puno, Vince and I couldn't pass up the opportunity to go out on Lake Titicaca. We arranged a full day of boat travel to two different islands. The first was called Uros. They are a group of islands closest to the land that are floating. Ancient people built these islands using the abundant reeds that grow in the lake at least 6 ft. tall. They would tie their roots together under the water and then layer the reeds to make a surface above water. They used to rebuild the islands every 3 years due to rotting reeds and weak ropes, however, with more modern supplies they are able to go longer. They also were known to eat the reeds along with a diet high in fish. We got to try them during our tour and were pleasantly surprised. They taste and have a similar consistency to celery. These people made everything from these reeds....houses, beds, outdoor kitchens, and boats. We took a short ride on one of the boats and they gave Vince a turn at rowing. Once we were back on "floating" land, we boarded our tour boat again and were off to the island of Taquille. It was about a 2 hour boat ride that could have been about 25 minutes...but we were on Peruvian time and they must have been trying to stretch every last bit of gas and took it at about 6-10 miles per hour. We agreed that we could have run faster than this boat was going! The island of Taquille has an interesting infrastructure. It is very male centered. The guys are in charge of everything...down to the textiles they make. The main job of the women is to prepare the thread used by the men to weave it into hats, bags, belts, and scarves. To tell you the truth, these textiles were the ugliest we've seen...but that’s just my opinion! The view of Lake Titicaca from the top of the giant hill we were told to climb were amazing. The lake seems to go on forever. We could see hints of the Bolivian coastline in the distance but it seemed really far away. The sun was shining at that point so the water looked extra blue. We hiked a bit more and then were back on the boat for a 3 hour ride back to Puno. We were able to ride on the roof of the boat the whole way so we caught some rays and watched an amazing storm roll through the city of Puno in the distance. The clouds were so dark in contrast to the sun we had above us and at one point there was a rainbow that formed in the clouds. It was a nice end to a relaxing and educational day!
While we were in Puno, Vince and I couldn't pass up the opportunity to go out on Lake Titicaca. We arranged a full day of boat travel to two different islands. The first was called Uros. They are a group of islands closest to the land that are floating. Ancient people built these islands using the abundant reeds that grow in the lake at least 6 ft. tall. They would tie their roots together under the water and then layer the reeds to make a surface above water. They used to rebuild the islands every 3 years due to rotting reeds and weak ropes, however, with more modern supplies they are able to go longer. They also were known to eat the reeds along with a diet high in fish. We got to try them during our tour and were pleasantly surprised. They taste and have a similar consistency to celery. These people made everything from these reeds....houses, beds, outdoor kitchens, and boats. We took a short ride on one of the boats and they gave Vince a turn at rowing. Once we were back on "floating" land, we boarded our tour boat again and were off to the island of Taquille. It was about a 2 hour boat ride that could have been about 25 minutes...but we were on Peruvian time and they must have been trying to stretch every last bit of gas and took it at about 6-10 miles per hour. We agreed that we could have run faster than this boat was going! The island of Taquille has an interesting infrastructure. It is very male centered. The guys are in charge of everything...down to the textiles they make. The main job of the women is to prepare the thread used by the men to weave it into hats, bags, belts, and scarves. To tell you the truth, these textiles were the ugliest we've seen...but that’s just my opinion! The view of Lake Titicaca from the top of the giant hill we were told to climb were amazing. The lake seems to go on forever. We could see hints of the Bolivian coastline in the distance but it seemed really far away. The sun was shining at that point so the water looked extra blue. We hiked a bit more and then were back on the boat for a 3 hour ride back to Puno. We were able to ride on the roof of the boat the whole way so we caught some rays and watched an amazing storm roll through the city of Puno in the distance. The clouds were so dark in contrast to the sun we had above us and at one point there was a rainbow that formed in the clouds. It was a nice end to a relaxing and educational day!
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Sacred Valley...What?!?!?!
So we didn’t have internet much on our week long trip of the Sacred Valley but we wrote anyways. However, before we left for the trip, we wanted to tell everyone about the lions.
Andrea and I had just finished up Spanish class around noon and we headed to the international club to work out, knock the ball around, and swim. We got to the end of our street where it meets up with a main intersection. This street is as busy as 72nd and Dodge for those of you who know Omaha. The only main difference is probably that there are hundreds of people walking as well as bumper to bumper traffic. Anyways we get to the busy street and there are 3 lions in the back of a caged trailer. The cage was about 14 feet long and 5 feet wide and was welded to a trailer being pulled by a truck. The poles of the cage were no more than an inch in circumference and were about 6 inches from one another. The Henry Doorly Zoo is great and all but I have never been 5 feet from 3 malnutrition lions who, if I got close enough, would have batted down my head so fast it would have been like getting knocked out by Mike Tyson. I don’t know if they were circus lions or what but they were pretty awesome. As we walked down the street traffic was slow enough that for about 4 blocks we walked as fast as the lions were being transported. I was just waiting for some crazy man to cut the tiny lock on the cage door and let the lions loose…….
Andrea and I are currently traveling the Sacred Valley. We took a bus from Arequipa to Cusco on Saturday night. We arrived in Cusco early Sunday morning and checked in at our hostel. It was in the area of San Blas that is on the northeast side of Cusco about a 5 minute walk from the city center. We were very tired from the bus ride and decided to nap for an hour or so before wandering around town. Cusco was pretty neat, it reminded us a lot of Boulder Colorado. We walked first to the city center and took a lot of pictures of the Plaza De Armas. They have a massive church there but we decided not to go in because it was expensive. So instead we toured the city’s main market. They didn’t have many items to purchase except for meats……Andrea snapped a great picture of a cow head. It smelled as though it had been there for quite some time a day or two maybe. Other cow snouts looked as though they had been dead for much longer. The smell got to us so we had to duck out. We stopped at a local coffee shop and had some cappuccino and then went into a few small shops on the side row. We met a Peruvian named Janet and she offered us massages. We asked how much and she told us 20 Soles each. We told her we would come back the next day after we hiked the ruins and she made us promise. Before heading back for the night to our hostel, we stopped at a place called “Jack’s” for a quick dinner. It is run by an Australian couple and had good reviews so we gave it a shot. We were very happy with the sandwiches we both ordered…me beef with caramelized onions and Andrea with smoked trout, tomato, and avocado. Knowing we had a long day of exploring the ruins the next day, we opted to head home for a movie and bed.
The next morning, Monday, we planned to take a bus to the farthest ruins surrounding Cusco, get dropped off there, and hike the 8km back to town, hitting the 4 ruin sites along the way. We started the morning trying to find where the minibuses depart from and after using our navigational skills, we walked up the street that had various buses leaving for our destination. It cost us 3 soles each to ride in the bus which was not too uncomfortable or full on this morning. The bus took us up the winding road into the mountains of Cusco and dropped us at the entrance of the first ruins called Tambamachay. For our first encounter with ancient Incan ruins, Tambamachay was a bit small. It had very interesting water baths that collected natural water from higher up in the mountains. There was also a nice lookout point where we could see the second ruin site, Pukapukara, which seemed a lot more impressive. We made our way over to it, just across and up the road a bit, and started to explore. At that time, we could also see some darker clouds making their way over Tambamachay and towards us. We expected this, though, as it is rainy season here.
Pukapukara had a few levels to it. We started going down first and take in the views down into the valley. Vince had a bright idea to try and act like he was climbing up one of the walls while I took a picture. Well, before I could even point and shoot, he stumbled and started to fall backwards from the wall. It would have been fine except for close behind him was a fairly steep hill that went down to a short terrace and then dropped straight off another 10 feet at least. So as I’m fidgeting with my camera, Vince is on his way down the hill, coming so close to the edge, I almost lose it! It was pretty scary and took us both a minute...or 10 to calm ourselves and quit laughing. We were thankful to be able to laugh about it then but at the time, it was quite the adrenaline rush of panic. Once we got back on track and finished exploring this site, it was pretty much full-on raining. We had about a 2 mile walk ahead of us so we bundled up and got to it. There were many points along the way where the views down on the city of Cusco were amazing. Our favorite was seeing the storm pass through the valley and hearing the thunder echo off the mountains.
We reached the third ruin site, Q’enqo, and were joined by a group of college students from Minnesota. They were doing a complete tour of Peru for their course, Ancient Civilizations of Peru. They had an English speaking tour guide so we tagged along for an explanation of the site. It was a smaller site so soon we were on our way walking to the final site before Cusco, Saqsaywaman.
Saqsaywaman, aka “sexy woman” by most tourists, was the biggest of the four Incan ruins sites. We again met the Minnesota tourist group so we again followed them for a free tour of the gigantic site. Unfortunately, it was pouring rain at this point so they did the quick tour through the site. We saw the largest rock that the Incans moved to be the corner of one of the Puma’s teeth (Ancient Cusco was built in the shape of a puma with Saqsaywaman serving as the head and teeth). The boulders here were most impressive and fit together perfectly. It was hard to imagine whomever or whatever moved these boulders together in the different shapes but they did it well. We stayed a bit longer and hiked to a point across from the main site so that we could take in the entire shape from afar. At that point, we were pretty soaked to the bone so we walked back to Cusco as fast as we could to get out of our wet clothes.
That night, we were supposed to get massages with Janet, as previously promised. She was such a sweet lady that despite being pretty cold still we bundled up and went to the center of town where her shop was located. It seemed like a promise is a promise here because when we arrived, all the ladies in the shop knew who we were like they had been expecting us. They took us back into a dark area and told us to prepare for our massages. Vince and I were SO thankful we decided to brave the cold and go. These massages were the best we had ever had….especially for $7 each! We could not believe it and planned on swinging back through their on our return to Arequipa. To top the night off, we found a Japanese restaurant nearby that served amazing sushi for a very cheap price and chowed down to replenish all the calories we’d burnt off earlier in the day.
The next day, we caught the same bus bound for Pisaq. It is a very small town that has one of the biggest ruins sites. There are two ways to get up to the ruins…take a taxi (about 15 minutes) or walk (2 hours). We opted for walking and started the trek straight up hill from the central plaza into the mountains. Just getting to the entrance was a long, uneven, rock staircase that took quite a bit out of us that we were kind of second guessing our decision. But, we knew we’d see more if we continued so we kept climbing, hoping that each turn would bring us to our destination. We stopped a lot to look out over the edge and measure how far we had come. It was amazing how high we were. The trail was pretty dangerous and had major drop-offs so we took it slow…especially with the oxygen depravation. It was on this hike that Vince established that he was afraid of heights! There were a few times I thought we’d have to get a helicopter to get him down because he didn’t want to go any further. And I just couldn’t stop laughing, mostly due to the O2 depravation, but also because he was being so funny. There were many different little ruins that we came upon that were pretty cool. We reached the main part after almost 2 hours. Exploring it took a while and once we got to the far side of it, Vince was ready to be done. Unfortunately, there was only two options to getting down…take it gradually and keep going on the trail that led us through a few more ruins, or turn around and stumble down the steep incline that we had just ascended. I had no interest in turning around because I knew that going down would be almost harder than getting up. So we made the decision to keep going. It wasn’t too bad except for the kids that were passing us at astonishing rates. The locals would take the unguarded turns so fast and so close to the edge, we were both having panic attacks because of them. There was one point where we had to go down a steep set of stairs that were seriously straight down. What took us 5 minutes to go down, took this kid about 5 seconds. He just goes running down them right in front of us and we just stopped and watched because it was so crazy and dangerous. Finally, after 4.5 hours, we reached the bottom of the peak, thankful that we made it alive. We met some nice people from Canada and a local boy that talked our ears off on the way down. It helped us to pass the time and also to work on our Spanish.
Back on solid ground, we stopped at the Blue Llama for cup of coffee and snack before going back to our hostel. We were so tired after the hike we walked a bit around town and just watched a movie before going to bed. The next morning, we were off to our next destination….Urubamba.
We arrived in Urubamba to heavy rain. We planned to stay with a couple there, Kusi and Emily, who knew one of Vince’s friends from Omaha so we met them Kusi at work. It just so happened that Kusi’s parents own a ceramic shop that is pretty well-known in Peru, Seminario Ceramics. We were lucky enough to get a full tour of the shop and saw how they produce all their ceramics from clay to finished product. He is actually a vet as well so they had a wide-range of animals there and also at their house that had been rescued. At the ceramic shop there were a bunch of turtles that we got to hold, a monkey, some birds, a few dogs, and ducks. When we arrived at their house, we were shocked to find Ruby the dog (looked like a black Tura!), a few cats, two eagles (one missing a leg, the other missing the tip of its wing—neither ok to be returned to the wild), ducks, chickens, a squirrel and fox that had been raised in a home since birth (so no return for them either), and 2 llamas. They have hopes of opening a wild animal rescue and their house will be a great facility for it in the future. They have a huge back yard that is terraced and overlooks the Urubamba River. It was truly and amazing place. We were planning on doing some site-seeing around Urubamba but the combination of our exhaustion from Pisaq and the rainy weather gave us a good excuse to chill out and do some relaxing. The highlight of our stay was definitely the food. Vince and I found this place called Tres Keros which was actually owned by Kusi’s uncle. We both agreed that the food was possibly the best food we had ever eaten…sorry Connie and Peg! I had lamb chops that were covered in a wildberry sauce with mashed potatoes and amazing caramelized carrots and Vince had a traditional Peruvian dish called Lomo Saltado which is beef and veggies over rice. Since it is the wet season and there are not many tourists that stay in Urubamba the owner was there and was our personal chef. He was really nice and chatted with us over a bottle of wine while watching soccer on their T.V.
The next destination was Ollantaytambo. We caught a bus there, found our hostel, and decided to visit the ruins there in the early afternoon. We also had to buy our train tickets to Machu Picchu the next morning. The ruins there were big and in good condition. Thankfully, they weren’t too high of a climb and gave us a good view of the city. Ollantaytambo is one of the few cities that haven’t changed much from the time of the Incan Empire. The streets are still all cobblestone and very narrow. The architecture wasn’t destroyed by the Spanish much either like many of the other ruins so it was neat to see the entire city. By the time we came down, it was raining again so we headed back to the hostel and got packed and ready for our 5 a.m. train ride the next morning to Machu Picchu.
The train ride to Machu Picchu took about 2 hours to go 25 miles. It was pretty slow but enjoyable to see the mountains and river that ran along the tracks. We got to Agua Calientes which is the city at the base of Machu Picchu. The city is interesting, crammed into a small valley and built up rather than out. We had to get straight to buy tickets and on a bus for the mountain. Once there, we raced through the site to the base of Wayna Picchu. It is the mountain that is next to Machu Picchu that is higher than the site and gives some amazing views of the ruins. They only allow 400 totally people to climb the mountain per day, one group at 7 a.m and one group at 10 a.m. We got to the base at about 9:45 so we thought all the spots would be filled but we asked anyways. Lucky for us, they had one spot still open from the 7 a.m. group that no one had asked about so Vince and I got to start the hike before the 10 a.m. group. We were glad for that once we were on the trail because the hike us is up a very narrow, steep rock staircase (circa Incan empire) and anytime another person comes along the trail, you have barely any space for passing—either hug the side of the mountain or hope that you don’t lose your footing on the trail or its goodbye forever! Apparently there are many deaths every year but they aren’t reported due to the Peruvian government wanting to keep tourism alive…yikes! It takes the average person about an hour to get up but somehow we got up in about 30 minutes just taking it at a steady pace. We reached the main terrace and were greeted by a couple of guys with their legs dangling over the edge. Right away, that set Vince into a small panic attack because there wasn’t much underneath them other than a lot of air and the base of the mountain. We snapped a few pictures from here then I left Vince and went a little higher up the mountain to the top. I had to duck through a cave, climb a ladder that had been perched against a boulder which leaned off the mountain, and balance on a few rocks…but I made it to the top. One picture was good enough for me and I made my way to more stable ground. The views from the peak were amazing and we were glad we made it up there. Getting down, though, was another story. It had started to drizzle and the rocks somehow felt even smaller going down then they did on the way up. We carefully climbed down and rested a bit before hiring a guide to take us through the main part of Machu Picchu.
Hiring a guide was a great decision. He explained the Incan beliefs about the serpent, puma, and condor. We were shown the different places where mummies had been found, llamas were sacrificed to honor the gods, and where they got all their stones they used to build the city. They used the natural spring water to irrigate their land and channeled the water throughout the city by carving rock in the shape of pipes under the ground. They also carved their stones better or worse depending on the importance of the building or home they were building. We had been noticing at each site that some of the stones were perfectly shaped and others were more naturally shaped and didn’t follow the same patterns….that explained it! The guide ended up being very informative and super nice so we were very satisfied with our day there. We ended it with an hour and a half hike down to the base of the mountain with all of our luggage….that was not fun! By the time we got back into the city of Agua Calientes, it was pouring rain. We quickly found a cheap hostel, which are rare in that city, and had a much-needed hot shower. We had pizza at a recommended restaurant and then crashed before 8 p.m. knowing we had to be at the train station by 4:30 a.m. the next morning.
We surprisingly were on time for the 2 hour train ride that took us back to Ollantaytambo. It was uneventful except for the Brazilian family that we talked to for the 2nd hour of the trip. They were all traveling together—grandparents, 2 siblings, and their children. They had a son who was 9 that was bored so he entertained himself by talking to Vince…in Portuguese. Vince entertained him by showing him how to cross one eye and do a magic trick with 2 rubber bands. That kept him busy for about 5 minutes so we ended up talking with him and the entire family the rest of the time….as best we could. We spoke all the Spanish we knew and they did the same with a bit of English, a little Spanish, and a lot of Portuguese. It was surprising how much we actually talked about! They told us they were shocked because they thought most Americans were cold and unemotional and that we weren’t. The grandma also chimed in that most Americans were fat and ate lots of McDonalds and that we didn’t seem like that—we took that as a complement! I think by the end of the trip we had changed their impression of Americans, or at least showed them we aren’t all the same. They actually invited us to stay at their home for the World Cup in 2014 so I’m sure Vince will put their email somewhere very safe so that we can take them up on the offer.
Once in Ollantaytambo again, we caught a taxi to Cusco, endured a speedy ride all the way there, and hung out in Cusco until our 8 p.m. bus ride home. We ate our favorite breakfast in Cusco at Jack’s again, got one final massage, and Vince got a haircut and beard trim since he was looking a little scraggly with all the hair on his head/face! The last thing we did was take the bus home to Arequipa. It took about 10 hours through the night and was terrible. The driver must have thought he was driving an Indy car with the way he was taking the turns! But we made it safe and sound and were very happy to be back.
So that’s our trip in a nutshell…haha. We had a great time, took many pictures, and made a lot of new memories. Be sure and check out all the pictures we added by clicking on the slideshow to the right, then clicking on our gallery. Until next time…..
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Where to begin?????
Well, Vince and I have done a spotty job of blogging in the past couple of weeks! Where has the time gone? Well, I guess we'll start back at New Years Eve. It was quite the experience here in Arequipa. We made it to the center of town, "La Plaza de Armas," by midnight to see what the local people were doing to celebrate the New Year. We were not surprised to arrive there and be bombarded with fireworks again! These people are crazy about fireworks. They were lighting off roman candles in the middle of everyone, huge explosives that sounded like bombs going off and tons of sparklers. It was outrageous but really interesting and fun. There were a lot of foreigners as well there so we actually met a ton of cool people. It was definitely a night to remember for us!
Since New Years, we've really been just settling in to our new apartment, getting to know the new area of town, and getting to know our new neighbors. Vince and I have been using our bikes to get around to various parts of town. Sometimes we just come upon these interesting places and don't even know it! Some of our new pictures included a huge cemetery that we found. All the graves were above ground and the economic status difference between families was quite evident. Some people were buried in the walls individually and not really marked (assuming this is the cheapest way) and then others had huge marble or stone shrines built for entire families to be buried in, adorned with decorations and statues more beautiful than anything we've really seen in the homes even here. They were pretty interesting to look at.
We have also spent a lot of time with our upstairs neighbors, Steve and Lucy. They are both from the UK and Lucy is here teaching English....Steve's just hanging out I think and learning Spanish. They got us in contact with their Spanish teachers and now we are going there about 3 times a week for formal lessons. They are great people and have really put us in the right direction for learning Spanish...there is still hope for Vince and me! And, probably the best part about our Spanish lessons is that they come with a membership to the International Club of Arequipa. It is this great fitness complex in a beautiful area of town that has everything. The complex is pretty big and has a bunch of soccer fields, a full gym, an outdoor and indoor pool, paintball, archery, and probably various other things we haven't figured out yet! It is a huge bonus and we are very lucky to have it available to us. The club is desperately trying to hire Vince to coach a bunch of their teams and also to start a girl's league! But, getting his visa is just too hard and really expensive so he's just volunteering his time. He spent a lot of time there last week helping out with their training sessions in the morning and all the kids love him...surprise, surprise! By the end of the first day, all of them wanted his autograph, haha! We are really enjoying being around so many great people there. The addition of a suntan is pretty nice too :).
Through our friends, Steve and Lucy, we've also met a lot of other great people. Yesterday we spent the day cooking out at our new friends' place, Azita and John. They had a bunch of people over from France, Germany, the UK, Peru, and of course, Vince and I representing the U.S.A. It was a great group of people from all walks of life, with totally different experiences. We definitely bonded over our experiences of living here in Peru and our common desires to do something different so it was nice.
At this point, Vince and I are counting our blessings and taking advantage of each day we have here. It has been a huge learning experience! We've been mastering cooking for ourselves using only a toaster oven and a rice cooker (never thought I'd be successful at cooking, let alone cooking only with these!) But we've made a number of great meals...hamburgers, fish, ravioli, chicken noodle soup, mashed potatoes, coffee, tea, tons of avocado dishes, seven layer dip (thanks Rachel for the recipe) and lots of chicken and rice! We even made sour cream from scratch yesterday because they don't have it here anywhere! This week we are organizing a trip to Machu Picchu before it closes for the month of February. We are super excited to travel a bit and see something other than the streets of Arequipa. Then in the first week of February, we are planning a trip to Puno, which is where Lake Titicaca is, with all the new friends we've met for a week long fiesta that is happening there. It should be amazing.
Anyways, sorry for the long gap between posts. We will get back on top of it and keep you a little more updated on things here. Hope the snow is melting and the temps are rising. It's been sunny and mid 60s for quite a while and we aren't complaining a bit!
Since New Years, we've really been just settling in to our new apartment, getting to know the new area of town, and getting to know our new neighbors. Vince and I have been using our bikes to get around to various parts of town. Sometimes we just come upon these interesting places and don't even know it! Some of our new pictures included a huge cemetery that we found. All the graves were above ground and the economic status difference between families was quite evident. Some people were buried in the walls individually and not really marked (assuming this is the cheapest way) and then others had huge marble or stone shrines built for entire families to be buried in, adorned with decorations and statues more beautiful than anything we've really seen in the homes even here. They were pretty interesting to look at.
We have also spent a lot of time with our upstairs neighbors, Steve and Lucy. They are both from the UK and Lucy is here teaching English....Steve's just hanging out I think and learning Spanish. They got us in contact with their Spanish teachers and now we are going there about 3 times a week for formal lessons. They are great people and have really put us in the right direction for learning Spanish...there is still hope for Vince and me! And, probably the best part about our Spanish lessons is that they come with a membership to the International Club of Arequipa. It is this great fitness complex in a beautiful area of town that has everything. The complex is pretty big and has a bunch of soccer fields, a full gym, an outdoor and indoor pool, paintball, archery, and probably various other things we haven't figured out yet! It is a huge bonus and we are very lucky to have it available to us. The club is desperately trying to hire Vince to coach a bunch of their teams and also to start a girl's league! But, getting his visa is just too hard and really expensive so he's just volunteering his time. He spent a lot of time there last week helping out with their training sessions in the morning and all the kids love him...surprise, surprise! By the end of the first day, all of them wanted his autograph, haha! We are really enjoying being around so many great people there. The addition of a suntan is pretty nice too :).
Through our friends, Steve and Lucy, we've also met a lot of other great people. Yesterday we spent the day cooking out at our new friends' place, Azita and John. They had a bunch of people over from France, Germany, the UK, Peru, and of course, Vince and I representing the U.S.A. It was a great group of people from all walks of life, with totally different experiences. We definitely bonded over our experiences of living here in Peru and our common desires to do something different so it was nice.
Vince and Lucy.
Some of our new friends.
At this point, Vince and I are counting our blessings and taking advantage of each day we have here. It has been a huge learning experience! We've been mastering cooking for ourselves using only a toaster oven and a rice cooker (never thought I'd be successful at cooking, let alone cooking only with these!) But we've made a number of great meals...hamburgers, fish, ravioli, chicken noodle soup, mashed potatoes, coffee, tea, tons of avocado dishes, seven layer dip (thanks Rachel for the recipe) and lots of chicken and rice! We even made sour cream from scratch yesterday because they don't have it here anywhere! This week we are organizing a trip to Machu Picchu before it closes for the month of February. We are super excited to travel a bit and see something other than the streets of Arequipa. Then in the first week of February, we are planning a trip to Puno, which is where Lake Titicaca is, with all the new friends we've met for a week long fiesta that is happening there. It should be amazing.
Anyways, sorry for the long gap between posts. We will get back on top of it and keep you a little more updated on things here. Hope the snow is melting and the temps are rising. It's been sunny and mid 60s for quite a while and we aren't complaining a bit!
Monday, December 27, 2010
Feliz Navidad!!!
Merry Christmas! We had quite the experience celebrating our first Christmas here in Peru! As I had mentioned previously, we were spending it with my translator Stefanny and her family. The tradition here is that everyone celebrates Christmas Eve instead of Christmas morning. So at about 10:00 p.m. we arrived at her family's house, wine in hand, ready for the feast to come. The streets here were completely packed with people, even at that time of night. Everyone starts shooting fireworks off throughout the evening but the real ones start at midnight! We met and visited with her family for a while once we arrived. Her mom, dad, 2 sisters, their husbands, 1 brother, his wife, 1 nanny, and 3 grandchildren were all there, very excited about Jesus’ birth and Santa's arrival. Right before midnight we went outside and shot some huge fireworks off. They were going off all around us actually so it was really loud and crazy. As we were all outside, Santa decided it was the best time to come and deliver presents! When we went back inside, there were a bunch of presents under their tree...so sweet! Their Nativity scenes here are all huge and Stefanny's family's was no different. It took up most of the space in the dining room where we all were congregated and probably had over 250 pieces in it...down to a triceratops--see the pictures!--and hippo (who knew they were at Christ's birth!?!) So once we were all back inside, lots of hugs were given and then they proceeded to give everyone sparklers, lit them and we all took turns waving them over the Nativity scene! Then we sat to open presents. They were so generous and even presented Vince and I with a small gift of chocolates and a Peru figurine. They each took turns handing out their gifts to each person in the family. With each, they would chant "Abrir-lo! Abrir-lo!" or "open it!" Of course, Vince and I chimed in and by the end of it, we had them all chanting "Open it! Open it!" They loved it, especially Stefanny's mom who wouldn't start opening her gifts until we were all chanting it. Mixed with their Spanish accents, by the time we were done, it sounded like we were all shouting "Happiness! Happiness!" which was ironic considering how much happiness was in the room.
Then it was finally dinner time. We sat around the table at 2 a.m. for our feast and we were all very ready for food. We had a huge turkey, a meatloaf-type thing with turkey, chicken, beef, and duck mixed together, and lots of salads and bread. It was amazing! By the time we were done with dinner, Vince and I were almost sleeping at the table. We called a cab, and headed home for a good night sleep in our new apartment. The one thing we did notice on the way home was the streets. They were absent of all the thousands of people we had seen earlier but filled with paper and trash! It looked like a different town. It seemed like they had literally brought all their presents outside, unwrapped them on the streets, and left all the paper! It was quite a change from the usually spotless streets of Arequipa.
Christmas day we finally got to lounge around and relax together in our apartment...what a breath of fresh air!!! It has made such a difference in our sanity to be in our own space. We spent the afternoon talking with our new neighbors--one from the U.S. who is very interesting and has lots of life experiences to tell us about and two from England--a couple that is our age here teaching English. They are all really nice and fun. We actually spent Christmas night with the couple from England, Steve and Lucy, sharing some wine, stories, and celebrating Steve's birthday with cake! It was great and felt really good to be meeting people here that were so similar but different than Vince and I.
Well, 2010 Christmas is over and we really can't believe it. We have such wonderful families and friends worldwide and miss every one of them. Hope everyone's Christmas was as great as ours or better!!!
Then it was finally dinner time. We sat around the table at 2 a.m. for our feast and we were all very ready for food. We had a huge turkey, a meatloaf-type thing with turkey, chicken, beef, and duck mixed together, and lots of salads and bread. It was amazing! By the time we were done with dinner, Vince and I were almost sleeping at the table. We called a cab, and headed home for a good night sleep in our new apartment. The one thing we did notice on the way home was the streets. They were absent of all the thousands of people we had seen earlier but filled with paper and trash! It looked like a different town. It seemed like they had literally brought all their presents outside, unwrapped them on the streets, and left all the paper! It was quite a change from the usually spotless streets of Arequipa.
Christmas day we finally got to lounge around and relax together in our apartment...what a breath of fresh air!!! It has made such a difference in our sanity to be in our own space. We spent the afternoon talking with our new neighbors--one from the U.S. who is very interesting and has lots of life experiences to tell us about and two from England--a couple that is our age here teaching English. They are all really nice and fun. We actually spent Christmas night with the couple from England, Steve and Lucy, sharing some wine, stories, and celebrating Steve's birthday with cake! It was great and felt really good to be meeting people here that were so similar but different than Vince and I.
Well, 2010 Christmas is over and we really can't believe it. We have such wonderful families and friends worldwide and miss every one of them. Hope everyone's Christmas was as great as ours or better!!!
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
5 Days Until Christmas!!!
Well, this past week has been pretty uneventful. We went through a number of emotions last week in dealing with my employer. Work is great as I am seeing very interesting cases and love my patients...but, we've come to the conclusion that we are going to search for our own apartment! That way, we don't have to be surrounded by the entire extended family that is now living in the same house as us: the doctor, his wife, their newborn, Mafe's 8 yr old son, his dad, Mafe's mother, her best friend, Mafe's father, and soon, the doctor's parents from the U.S.! I mean, Vince and I are both from big families, but this is just a little too much. Plus, Mafe's mom is what we call a major *****. We've been trying to keep our distance but at this point, we just want out of here! So this last week, we've been doing a lot of searches on the internet for places and think we've found one that is pretty nice and cheap :) We hope that by having our own space I can leave work at work and we can enjoy our time a little better getting to know a different area of town on our own! Other than that, we've explored a few more streets. We thought we'd gone down most of them around the area we are in but who knew? We found a place that has a bunch of markets, toys being the popular item with Christmas being around the corner. It's amazing how much stuff people can cram into a 3'x3' cubicle! This weekend I was determined to find a Peruvian Nativity scene that we could have for future Christmas's that would remind us of our time here. We went to a market that we'd never been to, hoping we'd find something that would work. Little did we know that out of the approx. 250 vendors there, Nativity scenes were being sold by about 249! If we didn't find one we liked there, we would never find one! Vince and I scoured the items for sale and found the cutest set that has a few animals, the 3 wise men, the angel, Mary and Joseph, and of course, a cute little baby Jesus. It’s perfect and exactly what we were looking for...and only about $10 so quite the steal! We didn't even barter with them because its Christmas and we loved it! After the long day at the market, we decided we needed food so we tried a new restaurant. We ordered this platter for 2 and didn't really know what we were getting (we didn't care either at that point...we were just starving!) Out came this giant platter of meat that was still cooking on the plate. It was quite a variety and we dug right in. The chicken was awesome along with the beef. There were a couple of things we didn't quite know where they came from but we tried them anyways. One thing we recognized right away was TONGUE! It looked so disgusting (you could still see the taste buds...ew!!!) but Vince insisted we both try it and I wanted to be a good sport despite my desire not to ever try eating another animals tongue. So we both dove right into trying to cut a small piece off and it just wouldn't cut! This tongue was tough. You literally had to saw through it with your teeth to get anywhere. To me, the piece had spent way too long in my mouth at that point and before I lost interest in the rest of my meal, I swallowed it whole to get rid of it. I can confidently say that I will never be eating that again! We finished the rest of the meat, took a picture of the menu so we could look up the rest of the meat on our dish, and left feeling satisfied. Later, we typed in the menu listing and found out that not only had we consume PIG's tongue but also its stomach...ahhhh!!!!! So gross to think about but the stomach didn't taste half bad. So that was the most exciting thing that has happened to us in the last week. Christmas Eve is Friday of course. My translator has invited us to her family's celebration and we are pretty excited to be included. They do most of their celebrating on Christmas Eve with a big meal, fireworks and hot chocolate. It’s pretty weird to be celebrating Christmas without any snow or our families and friends but I'm sure we'll figure it out. We'd like to share our Christmas card with everyone so here is the link:
Merry Christmas!!!
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