Huaca Huaca Huaca!

And the adventure begins! We are officially out of Lima and into the good stuff. These past couple of days we have been in Trujillo, the major city of what Peruvians refer to as "El Norte", or The North. We took a 9 hour night-bus ride to get here. (Speaking of Knight Bus, this was after we watched Harry Potter y las Reliquias de la Muerte! Just as epic in Spanish!) Not the best sleep any of us have ever had, so we took it easy yesterday. We went on a short late afternoon tour to our first ruins, El Brujo, which means the Sorcerer. It included a walk through the museum, followed by a hike to the actual ruins. The highlight of the museum was the mummifed body of a 25 year old woman called the Lady of Cao that was found in 2005. She is believed to have been the queen of the Moche people, proving that this culture held women in as high regard as men. Her mummy is dated around 450 AD.

Today we went ona full day tour to three different sites: La Huaca de la Luna (Monument to the Moon), the Huaca Arco Iris (Rainbow Monument) and the largest ruin/monument, Chan Chan. These are pre-Incan ruins, dating back to around 850 AD. We saw lots of recovered bronze (the Spanish took the gold. They took all the Peruvian gold) from tombs and burial sites, and amazing wall etchings and pottery, where most of our knowledge of the Moche people comes from, as there are no writings.

I've uploaded some pictures to my Facebook page, so you can see for yourself! (Grandma, have a look!)

We ended the day at Huanchaco, a beach where we could see ancient traditions alive today, such as the construction and use of reed water rafts. They also have some gnarly waves. (there's no other word, they're huge!) Tomorrow is the Peruvian Independence Day, so we're going to wander around Trujillo and see how the Peruvians celebrate! Hopefully it's not quite as bad as Las Fallas in Spain, where kids through fire crackers AT you and the entire city sounds like it's in a state of war! Though my mom does say they light things on fire, so we shall see :)

Green Acres Is The Place For Me

My recent sidebar has made me want to list the things that I love about Oregon. Don´t roll your eyes because I love my home. You spend most of your time at home, so you better think it´s the best place on Earth.

1.) Best water in the world. And FREE! Everyone knows I absolutely hate it when Oregonians buy water. Why are you buying water? Do you not taste that the water you are paying for was bottled up the road? Literally, most of it says that it was bottled in Oregon. Let the New Yorkers and Floridians pay for our water. Here, I can´t even brush my teeth without bottled water, or else I will get cholera. I had a momentary panic attack in the shower the other day because I forgot to not let the water get into my mouth, which is a tough habit to break after 25 years. You really need to focus.

2.) Clean air. Remember when I compared Lima to East L.A. earlier? Well, today there are no cars on the streets (well then where is the honking coming from?!), because Sundays are No Drive Days. They have to literally stop people from driving their cars so that the air has a chance to disperse the pollutants. Even New York has Central Park's trees to help out, these people have got nothing.

3.) Non-Smokers. Okay, now I´m just listing things I hate about cities in general. But really. I hate having to vear around slash hold my breathe when I walk by smokers. And I still don't understand why one filthy habit excuses another. Because you pollute my air you feel you may as well liter my streets? Cut it out.

4.) Smiles, smiles for everyone! I get it now, really I do. People in this sort of environment have stopped smiling at strangers because it´s dangerous. It makes you vulnerable. The other day when my mom and I were trying to find a place to eat, my mom stopped to ask a man for his recommendation of a good local Peruvian restaurant. He wanted to keep walking and ignore us, but was able to quickly make a suggestion and offer directions while not making eye contact and continuing on his way. Then, a woman started trying to ask us "oh, you are looking for good Peruvian food?" and my mom did the same thing as the guy. Didn't make eye contact, kept on walking, as the woman offered her friendly advice. The reason for this behavior is because theives work in teams, and one will try to distract you while the other steals your wallet. And theives are in abundance here. So everyone is on guard, all the time. Which means no smiles for me. Just creepy whistles.

5.) Different standards for truth. Ummm, people lie here, but they don´t know they´re lying. "Excuse me, how long until the internet is fixed?" "Oh, it's not broken." For the record, it was. "Excuse me, how do we get Pardo Pollo?" "Oh, you can't get there from here. Go two blocks that way, 3 blocks that way, and then ask the guys on that corner." Why can't you just give me the whole direction? I know you know where it is.

6.) English. Obviously I'm not surprised that they speak Spanish here. I just didn't think it would affect me this way, I thought it would be delicate immersion. I have had a chronic headache since arriving, possibly due in part to the pollution, but I think a lot of it has to do with the constant stimulus of noise. Cars honking, people yelling, and all the gibberish. Even my mom has to ask waiters and customer service people to slow down so she can understand them, and she grew up here, she´s a native. The thing is, a lot of people come from the provinces, so their spanish is a mashup of Quechua, the indigenous language. To me it´s all white noise. Loud white noise. Peruvians are anything but soft spoken. My brain is working on overdrive to decode, and I am exhaus--BEEEEEP BEEEEP BEEEEP. Sorry, sometimes I snap. City life is not for me. Keep Manhattan just give me the countryside.


Disclaimer: So far, do not take this blog as any sort of indication at all of what Peru is like. I have spent the majority of the past 5 days holed up on a hostel room, with the exception of going out to eat delicious food. But this is not the Peruvian experience, or the Peruvian life. This is like going to visit the U.S., and taking your sample from a stay in a shady hotel room in Detroit. My Brother will arrive in a couple hours, and tomorrow we will head to the mountains of Huaraz and really start this adventure.

Miraflores

Hi friends! Sorry it´s taken me so long to post, the internet at our hostel went from sluggish to broken, so this is the post I´ve been trying to publish for the past 3 days, sans pictures because I´m at an internet cafe. I will edit them in later.

I owe the city of Lima an apology. I judged too quickly, and made a decision based on too small a sample. I stand by not allotting much of your itinerary to spending time in Lima, but since it is the major city that most people will be flying in and out of, I have some recommendations of what to do with you time here. The part that I am staying in is called Lince (right), and that is the part I advise against. We're just here because it's convenient for my mom's business meetings. Had I planned this trip on my own, we would have been staying in Barranco or Mira Flores, half an hour south of the airport on the Costa Verde. Lima is a huge capital, made up of several districts, these two being the nice ones that I've visited. Miraflores was alright, but Barranco was what really made me breathe a sigh of relief. Think Santa Barbara meets South Beach. It looks historical yet modern, not losing it's Peruvian vibe to Americanization.

I spent the day walking around Miraflores with my mom, trying to find Peruvian food. What an unexpected

issue that was. We probably walked up and down the city for 2 hours, finding countless pizzaria´s, sandwich shops, and pasta, not to mention Starbucks and PinkBerry (you haven´t heard of PinkBerry? OMG it´s only the best hun-cal fro-yo). We finally settled on another Gaston Acurio restaurant, Panchita. That was, of course, amazing. I'm starting to feel like a Jimmy Kimmel "Bachelorette" drinking

game, so apologies in advance for my lack of spectrum in word choice for the food. Just know that they are the best at flavoring all foods and making meat juicy and tender. My mom and I shared a platter of assorted meats and the house bread, which, surprise Spain ladies! was not complimentary. However,our waiter was gracious enough to box up some fresh loaves for us to take home with our leftovers. And the meat was, of course, _________. We had anticuchos, which is beef heart, and pork, chicken, steak, and two different kinds of sausage (churrizo). Delicioso.

Afterwards, we wandered around a central park, hoping that our ride would be able to find us given our vague meating place. ¨Yeah, just pick us up at the park!" "Ok!" Nobody saw a flaw in that plan. Remember, we also have no cell phones. How you people over the age of 30 used to get by without the use of cellphones and the internet baffles me. I´m a big fan of the "two minutes away!" text, and the "we`ll be standing in front of the McDonalds and Cinema!" phone call, which we were unable to make. While waiting, I became aquainted with many of the park`s feline tenants. Some were curling up in strangers`laps ( this keyboard is driving me nuts), and others were more like my Isabelle, too cool to even pose for my pictures. I also experienced my first taste of picarones in 20 years. They´re a common Peruvian dessert, found at street carts and restaurants alike. They´re doughnut shaped deepfried pastries made of squash and sweet potato, drizzled in molassas syrup. A little too greasy for my stomach, but men and kids will devour them.

After our hosts found us, by some very good fortune, they drove us to an upscale outdoor shopping center in Miraflores. Frank Sinatra was playing in the car, which was lovely and sounded like home. I keep hearing instrumental versions of Frank in restaurants as well. It´s a nice touch. Those of you who know me know I´m just gonna breeze on over the shopping center, yada yada yada. Oh! But the Northface store was worth a laugh upon a second glance, and then I started to notice it everywhere. The clothes are SO small! That´s to be expected, because the median height of Peruvians would appear to be 5 feet tall, no exaggeration. But Ash, it made me think of how when you were in the Phillipeans you had to buy clothes from a store called Tubby´s, even though you`re an American size Skinny.

From Miraflores we went to Barranco, where I finally found myself grabbing for my camera, even though it was night. I would like to go back during the day to photograph some of the pretty building colors, doors, and streets. There was nothing too exciting going on there, it was just clean and nice, which I´ve been missing.

Sidebar: I can not tell you how many times Dane's"Hellooooooooo. I´m a caaaaaaaar. Oi-il-is-my-blood" sketch has gone through my head. Car alarms are CONSTANTLY going off here. As if the insesant honking wasn't enough! People here use their horns as a means to say "'scuse me, comin' through, 'scuse me". There don't seem to be rules here, they just sort of wedge their way through to wherever they need to be going, as you would shove through a crowd. Except: YOU'RE IN A ONE TON VEHICLE! And the amount of honking they do, I think they're just doing it for fun at this point, because the message has to have lost it's meaning, like a word you say too many times in a row. (chicken). My mom says honking was actually made illegal recently, so I can't imagine what it was like before they had "laws" about it. Ha, laws. This isn´t America, there are no rules here. In the time it's taken me to write this paragraph: about 5 car alarms have gone off.

Anyways, Barranco, it´s nice, spend your Lima time there.

Gastón-omia

21 hours and one full season of Entourage later, I have arrived in Lima. Everyone knows that emergency exit seats are the next best after first class, but new lesson learned: don't get the seats in front of the emergency aisle. They don't recline. Fortunately that was only my 4 hour flight, and I slept through it anyway:) The drive home from the airport last night had me clarifying with my mom "so, this is the rough part of town right?" "aye, Laura, you need to be open to new things". She explained that the neighborhood around the airport was "como East L.A.". Encouraging. Our hostel is in a slightly less sketchy area, but all big cities seem a bit sketch to me at night.

I ended up sleeping in to compensate for lack of good sleep I'd gotten the last 48 hours. I thought I'd woken up at 1pm, but my mom clarified that it was more like 4. I was confused because I thought it was entirely the fog making it look so dark. The weather in Lima on weather.com claims to be the same as it is at home, in the high 60's, but since it's a coastal town on the middle of it's winter, the humidity and cloud cover make it a lot colder. Walking around today I wore a long sleeve shirt, fleece, and thick jacket and was just about right, if not a bit cold. I didn't find out the actual time until my mom and I were sitting down to a meal and it started to get really dark. "The dementors are really thriving here" "aye Laura, what do you expect, it is nighttime". I thought it was 3 at the latest. Oh jet lag.

I am not to speak English here, for safety reasons. That or it's a really good parenting ploy to make sure I practice. Catering to my fears, good job mom. She also said that this isn't like Spain, I don't have to worry about every person bumping into me be

ing a potential robber. I ALSO should worry about people in my vicinity "marking" me, indicating that I'm a good target so that their friends, in my mom's words, can "take me out". It's a great camera guys, but please don't.

The best part of Peru so far, as predicted, is the food. Ooooh the food. My mom is an amazing cook, alternating between Lima staples such as aji de gallina (my fave), papa a la huancaina, arroz con pollo, ceviche, and lomo saltado. The cuisines vary by region, just as anywhere else, depending on the ingredients that are the most available to the people. Being in Lima, my mom's birthplace, I am most familiar with the cuisine here. We had dinner at a place called Tanta, owned by famed Peruvian chef Gaston Acurio. I saw him on Anthony Bourdain, so you know he's legit. In San Francisco, we'd pay $50 a plate. Here: $10. Loving the exchange rate.

We started out with some Yerba Luisa, or lemon-grass tea. Shell, it was delish! And they have Splenda here! (cue the eye roll Olichka) Then came our delicious entrees. My mom had a combination platter with arroz con pollo and papa a la huancaina and ocopa. Translation: chicken with green rice, potatoes with a cheesy sauce over it, and Peruvian corn with a tasty sauce. I specify Peruvian corn because the kernels are huge.

For my dish, my mom recommended I go with the classic lomo saltado. My mom and Tio Carlos have both prepared it for me before, both amazing, as all Peruvian food is, and tonights did not disappoint. Lomo saltado is a Peruvian dish influenced by Asian cuisine. It's steak stir fried with tomatoes, onions,

and potatoes, with a side of rice. Whatever they use to marinade it, I think with a soy sauce base, enhances it. And my mom says that the thing they traditional Peruvian restaurants do that she doesn't is they drench it in some sort of alcohol and light it on fire to make it crispy. Whatever they did, it was...I'm at a loss for adjectives. So very very good.

After dinner, we strolled around the Plaza de Armas. The architecture reminded me of the Plaza Real's in Spain, for obvious reasons. When the Spanish conquered Peru and made Lima the capital instead of Cusco, they added their own edifices. The 6-8 square blocks of downtown are nice, but there are distinct boundaries where if you cross a street beyond the area, you're on an entirely different side of the tracks, if you will. But the Plaza is full of shops, selling clothes, food, and of course, dessert. My mom got helado de lucuma, ice cream made from a local fruit. If you like ice cream, I recommend it.

Tomorrow the plan is to visit Miraflores, a burrow in northern Lima that's a little more upper class. I have a whole new appreciation for you girls who opt to live in Africa, and you Sash, with your constant posts of weird giant bugs that have taken up residence in your South Korean apartment. We have a slight cockroach issue here, but at least I don't have to sleep under nets or in fear. I'm looking forward to what the rest of Peru, the "real Peru", has to offer. And I will pass on the recommendation that I was given and can now endorse: you don't need to spend more than a day in Lima.

A Fork In The Road

"When you come to a fork in the road...take it." -Yogi Berra

I am lucky enough to have the time this summer to flit off to Peru for 5 weeks, so I'm taking it! Thanks to my mama and Piel Canela, her thriving fair trade import business, my Brother and I get to celebrate her *cough* 38th birthday with her in her homeland. Bobby has already been down there for a month doing an immersion program in Cusco, so we already have a built in tour guide when we get to that portion of the itinerary. The plan is to visit Lima, Huaraz, and Trujillo in the first few weeks. Matty will be joining us for the final two weeks as we explore Cusco and the Sacred Valley, hike Machu Picchu (and Huayna Picchu? still psyching myself up for that terrifying ascent), and visit Arequipa and the Colca Canyon. For those of you playing along at home, I've attatched a map.

Packing for Peru has been an endeavor. Contrary to my daily approach towards the world, I am a Type A traveller. I think I just forget that other countries have stores too. Also, the procrastination (yes, that persists through all 8 of my personalities) means that eBay is either off the table, or that I am praying to the FedEx gods that 3-5 days means 2. Fortunately the camera cases I ordered came in yesterday, and my Olia has graciously loaned me her winter coat.

For those of you who aren't familiar with the geography of Peru, it is located in the Southern Hemisphere, so it is winter there right now. However, the average daytime temperatures are in the high 60's right now, so their winter is like Oregon July. But what about the winter coat, you ask? As soon as the sun sets the temperatures drop to slightly above freezing. So my packing list looks like this:

Helly Hanson jacket

hot pink two-piece swim suit

silk weight long underwear

SPF 50 sunblock

gloves and chullo (alpaca hat, the warmest of warm)

tank tops

I'm erring on the side of being cold, to be safe, since I'm cold when it's 67 degrees out.

Also, I am taking every precaution not to get altitude sickness, because that can put a damper on a trip pretty quickly from what I've read. Huaraz, a city in the North of Peru, is at an elevation of 3,052 meters! I'm just messing with you, meters aren't real. It's 10,000 feet. And Cusco will be over 11,000 ft. We'll actually be descending to Machu Picchu, which I did not discover before researching, so don't feel bad. It's only at 8,000 ft. Sorry Denver. But as far as I have read, I will be chewing coca leaves before I even get on that plane to Cusco, and chugging water like nobody's business. I have been training for this hike for DAYS, nothing is getting in my way!

Procrastination time is over, I have sufficiently pumped myself full of adrenaline by blogging with an empty backpack. It's time.