On the Road!

We are having a great adventure on our trek through the small towns of northern Peru!  The landscape is beautiful but is juxtaposed by the poverty that most people live in here.  While many kids go to school, the vast majority do not and they work alongside their parents to support the family.  Most people live by farming and raising livestock.  We were talking to a guy and when Dan said he was a "businessman" he assumed that he bought & sold cows since that is the primary business in many of the small towns.  Of course Dan immediately thought about starting a Cattle company while we're here!   Driving in Peru is completely crazy too, as no one follows any rules and cars just shove their way in when they can.  We actually got double passed on the highway today (as we were passing a car on a 2-lane highway another car passed us at the same time!)  As I continually wondered why people do what they do here, Carlos summed it up quite nicely:  Peru raises more questions than it answers.  Spoken from a true Peruvian!

Leymebomba

Views from the Bus

Be Careful around the turns, Maestro!

Museo Leymebomba

Tingo 

Gocta Lodge - Cocachimba

Gocta Falls

Check out my awesome narration!

We Made It

I am dead tired so this will be a short post, but I am happy to say that we finally made it to Cajamarca just in time to see Carlos & Jen's niece's baptiso :)  We left out the next morning via bus to Leimbomba where we got to see a little museum housing mummies that had been excavated from within a nearby cave, then onto a small town where we toured an ancient ruins, and now we are in Chachapopyas.  The bus ride was LONG also amazing!  The Peruvian country side is breath-taking and we got to see the changes in landscape as we traveled to the Amazon Basin.  We literally drove over the Andes mountains to get to these towns, and it seemed like the higher we got the narrower the road became!  These are one-way dirt roads with twists and turns the whole way; the driver just honked as we came around each turn to let any oncoming vehacile know that we were coming around the bend!  Totally scary but what an experience!  Pictures to follow soon...

Stranded in Lima

We are currently stranded in Lima after a 16 hour bus ride and then missing our flight to Cajamarca :(  Oh where to begin...

Our besties (and inspiration for our trip) Jen & Carlos were planning a trip to Peru to visit his family, so Dan & I jumped at the chance to fly out to meet them.  We bought our tickets through Peruvian Airlines about a month ago, and on Tuesday we get word that the government has shut down this airline for 90 days due to "poor" plane conditions!  See article here.  So we go down to get a refund and they tell us that they will only issue a refund on the same day that we are supposed to fly out (what?!)  As a result of this policy people were rioting outside their office because they were not going to be able to get their money back.  On a side note, can I just say that the idea of waiting in a line for your turn is really an American idea, and that in other countries they just squeeze their way in.  This is so frustrating and I just wish there were a teacher around cause I would totally tell on them!  Anyways...we had a connecting flight with a different airline so we couldn't wait around for this, so with the help of our Spanish teachers (and a whole lot of paperwork) we were able to get a refund early and then just plan to take a bus for this leg of our trip.  So we catch our bus to Lima and things started looking up because they bus was awesome!

The seats are twice the size of airplane seats and they reclined all the way back (not to mention they had wifi, tv and 2 meals...not too shabby).  We got in at 9:00 this morning and, thinking that we didn't have to be at the airport until 3:00, we relaxed at a cafe.  We get to the airport, and thinking that we were 2 hours early, were in absolutely no rush.  We get up at the front of the line, and as it turns out, our flight actually departed at 3:30 and they had already stopped issuing boarding passes 30 mins early!  After little debate, we accepted our fate and booked seats on the flight tomorrow morning (of course they were way more expensive because it was next day and the airline hiked up their prices since the other airline is shut down).  After all this, it turns out that the government is lifting it's ban on Peruvian Airlines and they should be back in action within a couple days.  Needless to day, we have had a bad run of luck!  Hopefully everything goes off without a hitch tomorrow and we get to Cajamarca to see J & C.  I keep telling Dan that one day we'll look back on this and laugh...he thinks not ;)

P.S.  just found out that the airline actually booked Dan & I on separate return flights...the saga continues!

The Peruvian Doughnut

Another yummy food we have sampled are Picarones, or as we like to call them, Peruvian doughnuts.  The dough is made with pumpkin and sweet potatoes and served dripping with a warm sugar syrup.  There is a small group of locals who make these fresh nightly and sell them near the neighborhood plaza.  People come from all over the city to get these tasty treats and they line can stretch down the street if you come after dinner.  The group had an assembly line and each person had their own Picarones job...

If you are interested in making these you can find a recipe here. 

I wonder if these ladies would take on an apprentice...

The Market

We finally got Internet and hot water in our apartment!  Just to give an idea of how things roll in Peru, when our hot water went out several days ago-our landlord installed a heater for the master shower as an interim solution. Take a look and see if you can guess what two things shouldn't go together:

If you guessed the water & electricity, then you are correct.  They say it's ok because not many people actually get shocked, but suggest that you get a rubber "grounding" mat just in case :)

So today we went to the local market here in Arequipa...

 Potatoes as far as the eye can see

 Yummy Fruits & Veggies

 Muchos pollos

Dan's Tongue VS Cow Tongue

We also had the opportunity to try a new "special Peruvian" drink.  I don't think any explanation is needed, but I will warn you that the following pictures are not for the faint of heart.  Proceed at your own risk!

 Oh, what do you have there?

The breakfast of champions

Muy romantica!

Frog shakes...bringing people together!

Home in Arequipa

We are now living in our new apartment and have just finished our first week of Spanish lessons!  The apartment is pretty nice, but the only problem has been getting internet - people are pretty flaky and it takes an act of congress to get just about anything done around here (not like the US at all, right???? :)  So this is why I haven't updated the blog lately, but now I'M BACK like Arnold, so check out our new pad pics...

We have also met some cool people since we've been here (I know, it's hard to imagine since Dan & I are so anti-social :)  In typical Dan fashion, we befriended the couple who owns the hotel we were staying at as well as a nice French couple (Hilda & Greggory) who were also staying there.  We're also starting to meet people at our school and went to see a South American dance performance with a nice couple from Arizona. 

 Argentina

 Chile

Columbia

My camera battery ran out after Columbia :(

And of course, my man dan...

Tomorrow night we may be going to a Picantaria--a restaraunt with traditional Arequipian food, singling & dancing.  We are having a great time but are missing our family & friends.  Much love to everyone!  Hasta Luego.

The City of Arequipa can party!

We arrived in Arequipa just in time to catch their anniversary celebration.  Every August 11-15 the city celebrates its founding anniversary in a grand fashion!  There is a stonework contest, international dance festival, beauty contest, music, and parades.  We watched the first parade yesterday and it was a lot of fun!  The BIG parade will be on Monday and they are shutting down all the streets in the City Center for this massive, city-wide party!

Arequipians have an amazing sense of pride in their city and this is their one time of year to really shine.  They flaunt their traditional outfits, dances and music while showcasing all the history their wonderful city has to offer.  We heard from a local that this holiday is more celebrated then the The national Peruvian holiday.  Here are some cool pics that we got...

What a wonderful, humbling experience this is to be a part of.  It's ironic that in the states, most people complain about the city where they live, and here, they shout their city's name from the rooftops!  When we get back we plan to have more Sac-pride! 

Making Arequipa Home

It is now day 3 in Arequipa and we are assimilating well into the Peruvian way of life!  We signed up for a Spanish Language School called EDEAQ and  it's located right in the middle of the City Center--which is beautiful by the way!  Here is a picture of it at night...

The man who runs the school also had a furnished apartment availible to rent which we quickly snatched up!  It's a great place in an area called Cayma and it's located on the 4th floor so it has a breath-taking view of the city and surounding volcanoes/mountains...

 

Chachani

 

 

Misti

 

 

PichuPichu

 

We also will be signing up with the local gym/sports club here called Club Internacional.  It's got soccer fields, bball courts, tennis, swimming, etc....this place is awesome!  We hope to workout in the mornings then walk over to the city center for our classes.

 

BTW, my new favorite thing about Arequipa...they're love of fine cakes!