My first American Visitor

Well, here is the promised update. Life has been good. Before my mom came to visit me, I had med checks in Lima. I had no cavities, and no parasitic infections. Clean all around which was nice to know. I was a little surprising I didn't have giardia, honestly. After that, I repacked my stuff back in site and got ready to meet my mom at the airport. The wait was really hard. Even when I knew she wouldn't be landing for an hour, I couldn't stop watching the people coming out and being anxious. Our ride back to the hostal was funny, because it wasn't noteworthy to me, but my mom was shocked by his driving. The thing was the lights weren't working, they were flashing red. So, he was ignoring them, and since it was 3 am, its not like there was a lot of traffic.

We had a little bit of difficulty getting transport to Paracas, which was our first destination. We ended up taking a 3:45am bus the 2nd morning and taking the tour of the beautiful wildlife islands shortly after arrival. Directly from there we got to head to the sand dunes of Huacachina, a wonderful little oasis in the desert of Ica. The sand buggy right was incredibly exhilarating and fun. We took an afternoon bus from Ica the day after our arrival in Huacachina, down to Nazca. Nazca was the only place I was disappointed with the tourism that I'd paid for. I guess it's not the fault of the tour company, Alegria tours, which was very nice and their hotel is wonderful. But the flight was a waste of our money in my opinion. The plane is a small, hot, sticky 6 seater. You go in circles over each Nazca line figure, both directions. I've never felt motion sickness before, but I was starting to feel a little queasy towards the end, and had to focus on the distance as we did the circles. The lines look exactly like the photos show, and while its nice to say I've seen the mystery, it would have been enough to know of it and know I was passing them.

After that we headed to Arequipa, and explored all the amazing colonial architecture. We went from there to the Colca canyon, Condor outlook to see the condors soaring. When we arrived there were 4 or 5 birds perched on the rocks and we waited to see them soar. Just as we ran out of time, the birds decided to grace us with their flight. Even more appeared, and it was incredible to see them overhead. I counted 8 in sight at once, but I'm positive there were more, since I'd lost sight of at least 2 juveniles that weren't with the 8 soaring adults. Directly from Chivay, we took a bus to Puno, which was nice although expensive. In Puno, we spent a lovely time relaxing in Colon Inn, passing Christmas in our room with a colored paper Christmas tree. We visited the floating islands and the burial towers along the coast, and both were interesting. Our next destination was my site for my birthday, which was lovely for me. I was preoccupied with my mom having troubles with the altitude, and stomach issues, but the lunch and Christmas presents given were wonderful. I felt very happy to share my host mom and my real mom with each other. We didn't really do much after that. In Lima, we saw the main plaza and the President's house. We watched his formal changing of the guard at noon, with a marching band and high precision marching.

I'm actually thinking about visiting home now; I really missed everyone once I saw my mom and realized how much more was missing still. But hopefully, my brother will come visit me this year, so I can see Machu Picchu and the rain forest. Those are practically the only places left on my must-see-during-my-time-here list.  Now I'm taking Quechua classes with the new group of Volunteers who swore in at the end of November (like I did last year). I'm surprised that I feel I'm actually learning a bit, since its so complicated and intimidating. But I'm excited to learn. These classes were definitely a good idea to transition from my long vacation back into work. It makes me excited to learn and looking forward to the future in the company of bright new eyes, rather than adrift and at a lost in site alone.

Hope you all had a wonderful New Year, cuidate bien!

Mom's visit to Peru

I know its been awhile since I've posted. Sorry about that, but it has been due to the fact that I've been incredibly busy carrying out my Climate change education grant, and then traveling Peru with my mom. This blog, I'm dedicating to her, and her thoughts of Peru. The next one, when I have a bit of time, I'll update you guys on my life and my own thoughts of my first American visitor to see my work here in Peru. Without further ado...

Sunday, Jan 6^th, 2013    Adventure in Peru

Peru was quite thrilling, but it was also very thought-provoking.  I headed out excited to see my daughter, but with lots of worries and insecurities.    I tried not to have many preconceived notions on what I would find there.    I knew I was heading to a country that wasn’t like home, but I was surprised at some of the differences.

 

I was initiated immediately upon arriving in Peru to their unique transit system.   The taxi driver taking us back to the hostel at 3 am used all lanes as his own and traffic lights were suggestions not always followed.  Driving in Peru is not something I’d ever want to do, but all the drivers seem to understand the rules.  Of which there seems to be times when the rules are used and times when it’s a free-for-all. There is every kind of public transportation you can imagine.  A taxi or cab can be a bicycle with extra seats or a Mercedes with AC.   Each type of vehicle seems to have a level of what it can and can’t do too.    It’s not size in all cases that determine right-a-way.   The interesting thing is that they all can take you where you want to go with just a bit of bargaining on cost.     There are lots of private vehicles in the bigger places, but the main way to get around seems to be by bus.    Buses can take you from one end of town to the other like RT does here but they can also take you from Lima to Huaraz overnight.   The big busses run with military precision and set times, while the combi buses only leave when full.

 

In the beginning of my trip, I hadn't tried a lot of the different foods, but the Alpaca stew and filet (Alpaca) were pretty good. I tried a bit of the guinea pig at one place, but didn’t get enough to know flavor and taste.    I got to try it again later at Allison’s host Mom’s and it was very good.   I had seconds.   You can find every kind of food place in the big cities from Mediterranean to Sushi (which I didn’t try).   The smaller areas had more basic fare but all I tried was good and filling.   Portions are big and several places we split a meal.    The bread is more biscuit or bun than sliced bread, but all the types I tried were good.    Something hard to get past was not having water everywhere I go.    Allison made sure we carried bottled water with us, but not having a glass of ice water at a meal was strange.

 

The crafts have been wonderful and varied. I found myself wanting a lot of them, but then I try to figure what I'd do with some of it.  These little old ladies sit and weave, crochet, or knit all the time.   Their weavings can take months to create and they’re getting 50-60 solas for them (around $25).   They create some amazing things.   In Paracas, we watched a man carving with what looked like a machete.   On the floating islands, we saw ladies stitching murals.    They also made crafts from the reeds that kept the island floating.   Reed boats, wind-chimes, baby mobiles, were all for sale.  Many towns had the same crafts for sale and it appeared some were manufactured and not hand-created.    I really liked the little carved chess sets of Spanish conquistadors vs. Incan natives.   The window boxes were pretty too and contained mostly nativity scenes.   Most everywhere had Alpaca sweaters, scarfs, shawls for sale and little stuffed Alpaca animals with real coats.   These were so soft.

 

I was surprised to see similar architecture to places at home. The Spanish flavor of buildings here look so much like ones in San Francisco.    However, here in the middle of all these old style buildings you’d find one very modern and renovated.   Styles change not just block by block but many times sometimes on one block.  We were in one 15^th century building that had been converted into a bank.   Each of the rooms had different offices and the main center was where all the tellers were set.     On this same block there was a fallen down shell of a building.    There seemed to be a huge range of construction materials too.   Many places had folks working on some part of a building or another, but while some had wood to use, others were using mostly bricks or rocks and mortar.   

 

We visited so many places and saw so many things that reflecting back on now bring out a couple of really strong points.    The country may be poor and under-developed, but the people are strong and hard-working.    Their lifestyle is so much different from ours, but they make it work.