Taiwan with friends

Our last trip in SE Asia (for this time period – hopefully not forever!) was to Taiwan.  We have 2 friends living there and being so close to them (well relatively speaking, the flight was still 4 1/2 hours but closer than 18 plus hours from Portland!) it would be a shame to not visit them.

We stayed in an area close to the domestic airport; I was told this is the old financial area, there’s a university here, and I think my friend might be the only Western person in the area!  Lots of fun to walk around; many small mom and pop restaurants, small shops for every need, went to the fish market,  checked out the grocery store and the all important Metro is nearby.  All in all a very dynamic area.

Many scooters, more than what we see in Singapore and all buzzing around you.  Eyes are needed everywhere to watch out for them (though we found the trick is to walk calmly forward and they (scooters) will buzz around you easily.  Though hard to think calmly as those scooters are barreling towards you!!  Here in Singapore we have the “green man” to walk.  In Taipei their green man is animated (I wish I had taken a little video of the green man walking, funny).  There is a count down clock above the animated green man and as the time is getting closer to zero the green man walks faster until he’s running.  The green man reminds me of the cartoon character from “Mad” magazine (one of the Freak brothers; Freak Brothers – it’s the big feet of the green man, and the loping walk is what reminds me – okay this is really showing my age!)

I booked a tour for us of the Dadaocheng area; “the major street of Dadaocheng are lined with hundreds of old houses. The facades of the buildings reflect architectural trendings in different eras. Some of them suggest the influence of Qing dynasty (the last imperial dynasty of China), while others give way a marriage with european styles or modernism. Despite the diversity in style, they are all long and narrow.   The first section is used to run business, showcasing goods from herbs for Chinese medicine, dried foods, bamboowares, to lanterns. The second section behind the court is in its capacity as a living room or warehouse.”  This area is known for their fabric; as in a huge building full of little fabric shops (if you have any need for fake fur, tulle, polyester printed fabrics its there; overwhelming is an understatement!)  Good thing I don’t need any more fabric.  We had a tea tasting in an old tea house (very fun – loved the architecture!)  The whole area is being revitalized; keeping the old facades and making the space inside into new functions – lots of art space is the newest thing.  The above picture is from the Dadaocheng area (North gate.)

Our next day was a short hike into the city mountains (Taipei is ringed by mountains, lot of lovely green to see, unfortunately though it suffers the same fate as Los Angles, smog.  All the smog is captured into a bowl situation.  This time of year, not too bad – but I understand it can be bad.)  From the short hike we go to Taipei 101; the world’s tallest Green building.  The building has a wind damper which is supposed to help the tall building sway and resist the typhoons and earthquakes.  The wind damper has now been made into a damper baby toy/mascot.  Damper Baby.  Had the very famous dumplings at Din Tai Fung (1 Michelin star!)  Lots of fun and very delicious!

We spend a couple of days at Sun Moon Lake which is in the middle of the country.  Beautiful.  The lake is small (about 30 kilometers around), it has a boardwalk/trail around for most of it (biking around the lake is considered one of the top places to go, though I will say, if you’re on the trail it’s great.  When the trail stops, you have to go on the road.  Well, the roads is narrow and the drivers are a bit crazy.  I’m not brave enough to be on the road with the drivers!)  We walked around some of the boardwalk, did a boat ride around the lake (though next time we might need to see if we can’t find a private boat to allow us to investigate a bit more of the lake side.)  Got to a butterfly garden and saw some of the biggest butterflies ever!  We took a gondola ride, not only a great views but we ended up at an Aboriginal center (Taiwan has 27 local indigenous people, and 9 of these tribes were represented.)  Many of the houses are original and moved to the village, from bamboo to great slabs of slate (I was surprised to see the slate!)  There were displays of,  clothes, basketry and wood carvings, lots of interactive things the kids could do (weave, clay work, playing traditional games – the boys tried out a blow dart.  John is a natural!)

What I’ve discovered about Taiwan; it’s hotter and more humid than Singapore (or at least during Taiwan’s summer months!)  I thought I’ve gotten used to the heat/humidity here (maybe not becoming one with the it, but being able to press forward at least).  Taiwan smacked me down with the humidity!  On the other hand Taiwan had some of the best food we’ve eaten since we got here!!!  Wild boar ribs, ribs with roasted cumin seeds and chili peppers, water spinach with garlic, morning glory greens, spring roll ice cream, beef noodle soup, milk fed pineapples and lots of red wine (okay that last part was with our friends and not in the restaurants).  Sorry SIN you have some good food, but I think Taiwan might have you beaten as a foodie destination!

No photos again. The internet where we are is painfully slow; if you’re Facebook friends with me, I’ve posted pictures of our time in Taiwan.

Well this is it.  We head back home tomorrow morning.  Thanks for listening to my rambles.  Will chat with you again when our next adventure starts!

Lynn

And we’re out of here; well mostly

Contracts can run long (case in point Australia; we were to be there for 3 months, 21 months later we left) and they can run short (this contract; we were to be here until the end of November).  Rarely do they run on the dates that were originally given to us. Since John “serves at the pleasure of the client”, we have learned to be flexible (John is way better than me, but I’m slowly learning!)  We’re now getting ready to head back home to Portland, with a couple of slight detours.

Detour 1; a trip to Myanmar!  I’ve booked a tour, Yangon (the defacto capital of Myanmar), Mandalay (the religious and cultural center of upper Myanmar) Bagan (an ancient city full of pagodas) and Inle Lake (this where the fisherman row their boats with their feet!)  It should be quite the interesting trip.  We leave this Sunday for a week.

Detour 2; a trip to Taipei Taiwan to visit 2 friends.  We’re so close it would be terrible not to “run” over and visit. The (tentative) plan will be a couple of days in Taipei and then a couple of days outside of Taipei.  Back to Singapore and then fly out to Portland.  I’m hopeful that I’ll be able to write a brief post about each trip once we get back to Singapore after each leg.  We leave Singapore permanently on Weds July 27^th (and arrive home that same day through the miracles of International Date line!)  Looking forward to catching up with everybody in person; red wine, BBQ and friends.  Can hardly wait!

In the meantime it’s time to say good bye to SIN.  It’s been fun living here, and there’s many things I’m going to miss.  The food: lime juice; with lemon grass stalks, cilantro, kaffir leaves, lime wedges  all muddled together with sparkling water. Very refreshing and so tasty!

Love your carry bags for drinks, a little plastic sling with handles.  Very clever and convenient!!

Your Indian food; all of it so good – I haven’t had a bad Indian meal the entire time here, and all those lovely mango lassies.  Oh so good.  Your fabulous Thai Honey Mangoes, we might be able to get them at home (and I’m certainly going to look) but they have been a treat to have here, every day with my yoghurt.  It’s going to be sad to go home to bananas and yoghurt.  And I’m really going to miss my ice cream sandwiches; slab of ice cream in bread.

I’m going to miss my Garden city; for being such a urban city you have so many gardens and green spaces.  I just found out that for every new building going up (and there are many) there needs to be the equivalent space dedicated in the building for gardens (so if the building takes up a square block, there needs to be the equivalent of a square block of garden in the new building).  Nice, helps bring down the temperature of the city and improves livability.  Now if they could only put in some bike lanes, so all the bikes will get off the sidewalks, ditto for the scooters – that will really help with the livability or at least with walking on the sidewalks!

We’ve gotten to Fort Canning, Gardens by the Bay, Botanical Gardens.  All lovely green space right in the heart of the city.  Plus we were able to get out to some of the outer edges of the city to see more nature; Southern Ridges, Changi Boardwalk, Labrador Boardwalk, St John’s Island.  All wonderful pockets of goodness.

All the little neighbourhood areas; Little India my favourite haunts (though it helps that it’s so close to where we live), Chinatown, Kampong Glam (Malay area). The temples, mosques and churches all right beside each other (and no fighting!)  The oldness of the city; it’s been around forever VS Portland is barely 100 plus years old. 

The public art; so much of it.  Love it all.

The wet market that I’ve started to go to – the choices; all the fresh produces, dry goods (spices/rice), all sorts of seafood.  I maybe won’t miss seeing all the meat – it is slightly off putting to smell the meat (chicken especially) and to see the chicken heads.  I have to say I like my meat a bit more hermetically sealed!!

The friendliness of everybody I interacted with.  I’ve heard stories of people not being very helpful, I never found it at all.  Everybody went out of their way to help us out.  Though I will say, once they got behind the wheel of car; not quite so friendly!  Oh well – I’m sure we can say the same thing about the states.  And very safe here.  John made a comment to a little girl and her dog at our first place, wanting to know if “Bruno was an attack dog?”  “No, she replied –  you only need attack dogs in America for the burglars, it’s safe here in Singapore!”  We could (and did) walk everywhere and felt safe everywhere.

I love your floral displays – fun to see all these tropical flowers/plants outside, especially since where we live all these tropical plants would be house plants for us!

Plus the views; night views in all it’s lit up glory, or up high in the trees, Singapore shines.

Thank you Singapore for a great time.  Hope to see you again, very soon!!

Lynn

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Shopping; A National Sport?

I think if there is a national sports in Singapore, it might need to be shopping.  For what is a small island city state (276 square miles; half the size of LA) and with a population of 5.6 million people (that’s 21,077 people per square mile!) I’m amazed at the amount of  malls here.  And I’m not talking about just the typical mall I see in big cities (you know a mall located in one area with many smaller stores surrounding it and a couple of big department stores).  I’m talking about a street full of malls; 4 to 5 stories with shops, restaurants, and other services.  High end shops like Gucci, Chanel, Calvin Klein, Fendi, Louis Vuitton, Tiffany are common.  So common in fact, I see them in many malls that are right beside each other.  Not that Singapore is a poor country, but who is buying all of these goods?  Clearly there is more wealth here than I imagined.

Are the ex-pats driving the shopping?  Bringing a touch of home to the “unknown”? My local mall has Marks and Spencer and John Little (both British) and Spotlight (Australian home goods and fabric/notions).  I’ve seen Harvey Norman (OZ electronics) and the local Dollar store, a national Japanese store Daiso, (where everything costs $2. I buy all my kitchen stuff from them!!)  Plus of course all the shops from the States; Forever 21, Victoria Secret, etc. And not to mention all the food chain imports; McDonald’s, Burger King, KFC (I personally think these are some of the worst things to import to this country!)  I’ve come across a Baja Fresh (I wonder if their fish tacos are as good was what I could get at home?)

Stores are getting ready for the Great Singapore Sale (end of May until the end of July); 10% to 70% off goods.  Will be interesting to see what it will entail.  I’m looking for a few things; carpets and fabric, but so far have only seen that in small shops.  Somehow I’m not thinking I will be getting 70% off a carpet or a sari!  I am hot for a silk comforter and hope I might be able to get one one sale.  Checked out Tang (Japanese high end department store), chatted with the staff, looked at what they had, discussed merits of silk cover VS cotton cover.  Okay going with cotton cover.  Oh sorry, we only have cotton cover silk comforter in a single width, new ones in the size I want won’t be for another month or 2.  Why it wasn’t it mentioned right up front when they knew the size I wanted?

John and I headed out on Saturday to celebrate Vesak Day at Buddha Tooth Relic Temple and Museum. http://www.btrts.org.sg/museum-guided-tour.  Buddhists world wide celebrate the birth, enlightenment and death of Buddha on this day, it’s a time of joy, peace and reflection.    The temple/museum is new(ish) built in 2007 in Chinatown, cost of $75 million dollars.  The sacred artifacts of Buddha (his bone and tongue) were on display in the Buddha culture museum, and the tooth is in a giant stupa (a dome shaped building) weighing 3.5 tons and made from 320kg (that’s about 7o5 pounds) of gold, of which 234kg (515 pounds) were donated by devotees.  4 floors of incredible!  2 floors of worship, bathing of Buddha (significance of one of his legends that the infant prince was showered with waters of nine dragons soon after he was born).  10,000 little statues of Buddhas, many stations of little alters of fruit and flowers with a bowl to put change in and Buddha in many poses.  The museum was very interesting; how Buddha became, his journey of enlightenment, how Buddhism traveled the world.  The top floor is the roof top garden; more Buddhas (annual sponsorship – business/general public would pay a fee to “own” Buddha for a year), along with a lovely garden and a prayer wheel.  It’s the largest cloisonne Buddha prayer wheel in the world, every turn represents a single recital of the scripture and mantra.  Huge, but shockingly easy to turn the wheel.

Sunday the plan was to head to one of the smaller islands and hang out there for the day.  Well it would help if I could read the schedule better.  I clicked on the wrong area so we were a half an hour late for the ferry.  Okay, we now know the drill and will for sure go back this weekend.  In the meantime we decided to go to the east side of the island to check out the beach boardwalk close to the airport https://www.nparks.gov.sg/gardens-parks-and-nature/parks-and-nature-reserves/changi-east-boardwalk.  Of course we didn’t have all the information and only a phone to try to figure out some of the logistics.  We did find a lovely park, and the ocean but not the area I was looking for.  The big amazement to me was the camping along the beach.  Mostly the amazement was, enclosed stuffy tents with NO A/C.  I know one is supposed to “suffer” when you camp, but this went way beyond suffering and bordering dangerously close to torture (well for me anyways!)  I’ve checked out the logistics and we now have a plan for the next time we head out that way.  Starting with after we get off the train, we should have taken a cab to the beach area.  Clearly the heat/humidity had affected us!!

A romantic date tonight at the Long Bar (where the Singapore Sling was invented!) at Raffles hotel.  I’ve walked around the shops, would love to walk the ground or at least see the lobby.  You need to be a registered guest, but at $760 a night I guess I will be happy to check out the Long Bar and the shops!  Going to check out the little islands this weekend, now that I know the right ferry schedule.

Have a great holiday weekend for those in the States.

Lynn

 

I’m here!

First week in Rio, yep I’m back in South America.  Where everything is just a bit harder to figure out and to do.  Went and got a SIM card for my phone; knew to bring my passport, waited in “short” line that was really at least 15 minutes long, then the experience of trying to convey what was needed to the store associate.  She had to whip out her phone a few times to Google translate to us what she needed and used her phone to figure out where the English settings were.  We were all pleased an hour later to have a functioning phone (the next hurdle will be to add minutes to the phone.  I’m hopeful that by the time I need minutes, I’ll be back in the states (chicken I know!)  Today’s hurdle will be to find laundry soap for a front loading washing machine.

World Cup: Brasil made it from the quarter finals and is now into the semi finals.(mascot)

The game was on Friday and a day off for most of the work force (John did go into work).  The locals (of course) are super excited that they advanced – during the game when they scored fireworks went off, cheers, horns honking.  We walked around the beach after the game; swarms of people dancing, lots of hugs and kisses, somba lines – lots of pandemonium.(me w/local football star)

Tomorrow Brasil will play Germany (another day off from work) and the final match will be on Sunday.  What will be interesting is how the city will be once all the tourists are gone.  Right now I’m (seeing lots (and lots) of military and police (many in full riot/storm trooper gear!) on street corners (though I feel pretty safe from them as it seems without fail all are looking at their phones (Facebook updates?!) and not watching the public. When everybody is gone, will crime rise up (no more overtime for police?)  Regardless for all the publicity Brasil was getting about not being ready for the Cup – there has been only 1 problem (that I’m aware of) about a bridge collapsing at one of the host cities.

John and I got up to Sugarloaf Mountain (Pao de Acucar) this past weekend.  Beautiful views of the city – you can really tell this is a beach city.

We live near the end of the point – you’re seeing Copacabana Beach, Ipanema Beach is on the other side of the point.  Sugarloaf Mountain is 1312 feet tall of granite and quartz (perfect for climbers!)  You can hike to the summit (though too humid for me), so we took the cable car (which has been running since 1912 – though not the same one!)  The view from the top is incredible – 360 degrees, you see the whole bay, and for as crowded as the place is, we were actually able to find some quiet, shady spots to enjoy the scenery.

A few items of note: I have the “biggest” bathing suit here.  I was kidding before about a string bikini, but maybe I might need to re-think!  Though I won’t go out into the public until I have more tan on tummy – will need to get more of a base tan here at the pool. Tried a few of the local favs – aqua de coco (coconut milk – not bad if the coconut is nice and cold), acui ice (a super berry that comes of slushy machines, a bit gritty and a little sweet; though you eat with your eyes, and the berry is very dark purple/brown.  I don’t need to say anything more!) The best have been the pastel de carne (meat empanadas!)  I can eat those every day.

Tchau, the girl from Ipanema Beach

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The Adventure Begins (soon!)

I’m almost ready to head out the door for our next adventure, Rio de Janeiro, Brasil (I can barely believe I’m saying those words!)  I’ve started to pack (do you find it hard to pack for weather in another country?)  Even though I’m watching the weather in Rio it’s still slightly hard to pack.  The saving grace, they’re on the Tropic of Capricorn and it’s their winter.  Essentially our summer, warm during the day and a bit cooler at night.  Dresses, flip flops and lightweight sweaters, possibly a string bikini (well no that won’t happen – but maybe when I’m there I might have a look at one or two!)

My list of places to see and do while there:

the beach – we’ll be living at Ipanema Beach, right beside Copacbana Beach (just hearing it sounds like fun!)

Sugar Loaf Mountain, Christ Redeemer, Favelas (located in what might be called “sketchy areas” this would be a tour, there are supposed to be some pretty amazing art/samba schools), cooking school (can hardly wait to try some of their food – http://www.buzzfeed.com/gabrielakruschewsky/traditional-brazilian-foods-you-need-to-eat-right-now  – all of that food sounds amazing), plus all the usual suspects of museums/shops/botanical gardens/and hopefully a few weekend side trips (Mr Adventure is working after all!)

Iguazu Falls (bigger than Niagara falls) found at the corner of Argentina, Paraguay and Brazil.

The Amazon – Manaus – jumping off port for the Amazon.  Though after reading one of my guide books; DEET needs to be packed, and no fingers or toes into the water (either super dirty or bitten of by Piranhas!)

And of course World Cup!!!  Not that I’m a huge fan (okay barely a tepid fan) but I’ve seen clips of fans all excited, watching on the big screens on the beach (Copacabana) and generally having fun and I’m all about having fun!

I’m all ears if anybody has words of wisdom of things to see/do/people to connect with in Brasil.

Tchau (pronounced ciao)

The girl (soon to be) from Ipanema Beach

Hopefully this won’t be me leaving for Rio (luggage wise I should qualify!)

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Phoenix Bound

It’s been a while since I wrote (I hope some of you might have missed me!), time for an update.  John took a new contract mid-July in Phoenix.  As places go, mid- July in Phoenix isn’t at the top of my list!  I joined him mid-September and even then, that first week I was here, still in triple digit heat (though low triple digit heat as people are so quick to point out).  It was still hot for this PNW gal!  The weather has finally broke, loads of rain (leftovers from 2 different hurricanes) and much cooler temps.  Though all this rain caused lots of flash flooding, nothing like the power of rain in the desert.  It’s incredible on how fast the water rises, and how fast the actual flow of the water is.  Like mini rapids.  It can (and does) take out cars/people/trees.

first picture is the day of the flash flooding, the second picture is a slight receding of the flood waters

We’re in a cute little bungalow house in Scottsdale, within walking distance of Old Scottsdale (now that the weather is cooler!)  The house belongs to John’s sister (second home), and it also includes the use of a car.  As contract living goes, this is a pretty sweet deal.  Fully furnished, comfortable and a lovely outside patio area (again now that the weather has cooled off, nice to be outside.  Though the shocker is all the mosquitoes.  Who would have thought Phoenix would have so many mosquitoes – all this flash flooding!)

The other bonus about Phoenix, we used to live here, I think it was about 17 years ago.  We’ve seen many of the sights, but it will be fun to see them again and I hope to see a bit more.  This go around since we’re renting and not being home owners; no need to do any re-model to the house, work in the yard, clean a pool.  Pretty nice set-up!  And we have a few local friends here to catch up with.

We’ve already done some exploring.  I joined the Desert Botanical Garden and was here in time for their opening exhibit called Electric Desert.  Essentially, it’s a light/sound show that reflects onto the cactus.  Very cool.

some of the very cool special effects of the Electric Desert exhibit

We’ve checked out the Heard Museum (again) – always wonderful.  Wandered through the gift shop once we were done, saw some lovely wall hangings that I thought would be nice in our house.  That would be until I saw the price tag of $5000.00.  The wall hangings are still exquisite, but not exquisite in our house!  Got to the Musical Instrument Museum (new since we were last here). Truly incredible, well worth a visit even if you’re not that much into music.  The museum is divided up into continents and then by country (bonus you learn some geography as you wander around).  Each country has a few musical instruments, maybe some indigenous clothes/jewelry and the best bit (to me) is many of the exhibits will have a TV with a clip of what the music sounds like.  You access via Bluetooth headphones.  Very fun to wander around and hear the music coming randomly coming over the headphones, you need to look to see from what exhibit it’s coming from.

just some of the many cool exhibits at the Musical Instrument Museum

We also got to a Taco Festival (street tacos – tiny, about 3 bites) – I had no idea there are street tacos or even Taco Festivals!  They even had chihuahua beauty festival (which I didn’t see to my huge disappointment), but I was able to catch some of the Lucha Libre Wrestling (you know, like the Jack Black movie – Nacho Libre.  The movie is off the wall, just like Jack Black and I just saw he wants to make a sequel to Nacho Libre!)  Hopeful for good margaritas (not to be had – having trouble finding nice margaritas here – who would have thought?!)  But found some nice tacos – we’ll be to their restaurants.

Lucha Libre action shot

We did a small hike/walk around Boyce Arboretum – I was hopeful to see a bit of fall colour, okay a bit early for fall colour here in the Valley.  Maybe next month.  In the meantime it was a great walk around to see some desert landscape (and eucalyptus trees which change colours for those who doubt there are trees that change colours in the desert!)

I’ve joined a yoga studio, it’s within walking distance of where we live.  I signed up for the first month introductory offer and show up to the studio.  Imagine my surprise to find out it’s “hot” yoga!  I swear there was no mention of hot yoga on the website.  I survived my first class (if you’ve never done a hot yoga before, the temps in the studio are hovering right around 100 plus degrees with lots of humidity so essentially the sweat is dripping off you.)  People I’m paying for the privilege of sweating like a pig!!  I can only be glad the outside temps are cooler, so once I’m done with class I make a beeline outside to cool off.  It might grow on me, but the jury is still out for final decision!

I’ve signed up for a couple of classes; cooking (though so far the classes keep getting cancelled as not enough people are signing up for them) and a couple of sewing classes.  Just enough to keep me sort of busy.  I’ll need to come up with a project to keep me a bit more occupied (back to blogging and I guess begrudgingly study Spanish on my own.  I’ve tried to sort out a Spanish tutor, hard to believe but couldn’t find anybody.  Or at least what I am looking for in a Spanish tutor)  and sort out a few more trips for around this area.  First local trip is to Page, AZ to see Antelope Canyon/Horseshoe Bend/Lake Powell – a weekend trip (about 4 hours north of us).  We’ll go next week.  I’m also looking to go to Tucson/Bisbee area (far southeast corner of the state).  Plus we have family coming to see visit us.  Maybe I’ll be just busy enough.

Have a good weekend,

Lynn

 

 

Peru, how do I love you?

Peru, how do I love you?

Our time in Lima is now coming to end (tears from us both).  We both “heart” Lima and our time here.  A few thoughts and observations from our time here (from A to Zeta!)

A – some of the cities we visited; Arequipa (the white city) and Ayacucho (the handicraft city) along with Aguaymanto fruit (golden berries; slightly tart, love in salads and in dark chocolate bars).  Aji peppers – a (sort of) hot pepper.  This is what makes Peruvian food so wonderful!  I’m bringing seeds home in hopes I can grow a few.  No Peruvian Amazon, but we did go see it in Ecuador (I know, not the same!  A reason to come of course).  And the big A – los Andes!  We did a 32 mile trek of “El Camino del Apu Ausangate” (outside of Cusco).  The highest point of the trek was just a bit over 16,000 feet.  Surprisingly we both did well with the altitude, it helped we were a week before in the high altitude of Bolivia.  Plus a very special thanks to the American Women’s Literary Club (AWLC), I met some very lovely ladies and made my time here very rewarding.

 

B – Boot camp.  One of the first groups of ladies I met here.  I put out a sad plea on Facebook ex-pat support page for Lima.  “I’m looking for friends”, Kelsey responded with come join her at boot camp.  I’m now hooked on exercising (on the Malecon only though!)

C – Ceviche (raw fish) and causa (mashed potatoes with toppings): just a few of the very yummy local dishes found here.  Colca Canyon, the “Grand Canyon” of Peru (and deeper than the Grand Canyon in the States).  Saw condors, Inca terraces, wild vicuna, llamas and alpacas.  Census – participated in the local census (hopefully we didn’t skew the results!)  Supposedly all done in 1 day by volunteers – house to house to ask you questions (47 questions – Lima is a city of 10 million.  You do the math; not too sure how accurate the results were!)  Because you were at home, the streets were deserted.  Shops were closed.  Slightly eerie!

 

D – D-MAC. a group of Dilettante Makers, Artists and Creators.  Lovely ladies who get together once a week to create.  A lifesaver; I couldn’t bring much of anything in way craft supplies, this group allowed me to be creative at least once or more a month.  Plus made some wonderful friends!  Driving.  As in, driving lanes are over rated, if you want to turn left it’s best if you all pile up side by side and turn (rather than one behind the other).  Of course, a horn is necessary; you can tell people you’re coming down a street, it can be a cab driver looking for a fare, or it can be a driver saying don’t cross the street as I’m coming down and not stopping for you.  All in all, traffic here is chaotic, driving takes nerves of steel.  Glad we walked!

E – Español.  Time to learn Spanish (again).  This time I went with twice a week lessons (when I took lessons the first time, I only did it once a week – not nearly enough and frankly I think twice a week isn’t enough either.)  My Spanish has improved some, but what has really helped are all the locals here who will let me “struggle” and not speak in English to me, but rather correct my Spanish.  I’m still “muy malo” but maybe just a bit better than what I started out with!

F – Flora.  Seeing all the local plants; bougainvillea, hibiscus, poinsettia, anthurium that are all house plants for me, here they grow just fine outside.  But I also see hydrangeas, impatients, geraniums, these are also local plants (but which I see at home).  Plus of course all the more tropical plants; golden shower, orchids.  All outside.  Felize Cumpleanos – Happy Birthday (well literally happy of your completed year), what makes it so great for me is the singing, the song is sung just like happy birthday and then it’s repeated a second time, faster and with claps.  I love it!

 

 

G – My local green grocer.  It has almost everything I need (though I haven’t been convinced to buy fresh meat them.)  This is when the American in me comes out, I rather have my meat to be hermetically sealed!  I’m almost able to chat with the vendors, they all recognize me (I’m a local!).  Gocta Falls – a chance to visit the Northern Highlands of Peru (not very high on the radar of tourists, which is too bad.  It really should be!)  The waterfalls were considered 3^rd highest in the world (though now only considered 15^th highest – something to do with the math!)  A 10 km hike to check them out – fabulous!

H – Huaca Pucllana, the first pre-Inca site I visited when I arrived here; within walking distance from our house.  Looks like mud pyramids as one friend said.  Since then we’ve seen a few more Huacas (temple of moon, sun, el Brajo, Pachamama), all worth a visit.

I – Inca market.  For any and all your souvenir needs, the Inca market has it.  In fact, when I go to other cities to look for something special, sure enough when I go to the Inca Market, they have the same thing I bought in the other city.  It’s all at the Inca Market.  Indigenous clothes. I’m all about textiles, and Peru has an abundance of textiles.  The clothes that the people wear for their parades/dances/and everyday wearing.  I can’t get enough of it.

J – Jorge Chávez International Airport – small, slightly run-down airport that serves Lima.  The airport is now operating at double the capacity it was meant to be.  This is the reason why we were here, to help out with the new airport expansion.  Another runway (maybe a few less international flights out at 1:00 am?) and a new terminal.  Not to be completed for another 5 more years.

K – Kuelap Fortress – the Machu Picchu of the North (northern highlands of Peru); the largest stone structure of South America with more than 450 stone houses.  A brand new cable car was recently opened, taking 2 hours off the road trip (or at least 4 hours off of the hike up to the fortress.)  It’s considered to be older than the Inca Empire and on a higher mountain that Machu Picchu.  Also not on the tourist radar and should be! Kennedy Park – big hangout for cats.  Cats are dropped off here (illegally) and a group will feed and water them.  I’m not so sure why the park is so popular (in all the guide books) – but lots people (locals and visitors) hang out in the park; there are exhibits, events, local cathedral.

Kuelap Fortress

L – Lima (of course); you’re gritty, you’re noisy (a bus rumbles by and the car alarms go off.  Fines for car alarms (202.50 soles).  Too bad the fines aren’t enforced.)  You’re mostly grey skies.  But you have fabulous food and no rain (I’m from the Pacific Northwest; I get grey skies and rain.  It’s slightly strange to know every day will be fine.  It might be grey, but it won’t be raining!)  Limes, I love the tart little limes and the sweeter big limes.  Everything tastes better with a squeeze of lime!  Lake Titicaca – highest elevation lake in the world (at almost 12,000 feet).  It was a great visit, though the high elevation just about did us in!

M – the big one, Machu Picchu.  We went to it when we visited Peru about 10 years ago, but didn’t go this time.  It was on our list, but at the bottom.  We both wanted to experience other parts of the country first.  Malecon, the boardwalk along La Mar (the ocean).  More than 4 miles of a promenade, along with a bike path, and many parks and play spaces.  We live along the Malecon, going to sleep with the sound of the ocean crashing onto the shore, very tranquillo.  Maracuya (passion fruit Pisco sours), so delicious, so sneaky – the alcohol will knock you for a loop!  Museums; Larco, MATE, MALI, National Museum of Archeological, Anthropology and History, Textile, plus all the many small ones around the country – Wari site, El Brugo site, Puno (costume and coca leaf museum), Choco museum (free chocolate samples!), Pisco Sour Museum (free drink samples!)

 

from the on-site Museum at a Wari archeological site

 

N – Nazca Lines – or how the aliens landed in Peru?  All sorts of theories, but no definitive answers about why/how the lines were created.  Because of the lines isolation (Nazca desert in the southern part of Peru), and the dry, windless, and stable climate of the area, the lines are mostly been naturally preserved.  We took a plane ride to see them, interesting.  Though the more interesting part was the brand new airport to serve the Nazca lines.  Nobody using the airport, most of it still under plastic wrap.  The expectant tourists are just not there yet!

 

 

Not the official lines, but rather the flower lines from the park across the way of where we live!

O – Ovalos or roundabouts.  The slightly easier way to make a U turn in this crazy city of drivers!

P – Peru, so much more to you than just Machu Picchu!   Pisco Sours; the margaritas of Peru.  Slightly sour, you don’t taste the alcohol, and really you should stop at one!   Palta or avocado – I can’t get enough of you!  Even better, I can go to my green grocer and ask for a palta for tonight’s consumption and they will find the perfect one for me.  And if they don’t have one they will tell me and not sell me an under ripe one.  I’m going to miss that kind of service!  Pompoms – I’m not sure why pompoms are such a big deal here, but they are.  Hanging in the trees, off of llama ears (okay that is more like a brand), in doorways, and on clothes and bags.  Always colourful.

 

Q – Quinoa – not just a grain, it’s also delicious ice cream in Ayacucho, a town outside of Ayacucho known for its ceramics, and a monument near the town of Quinoa; installed after achieving independence from Spain.

R – Retablos; I’m fascinated by them – little portable boxes of Andean folk art depicting religious, historical or everyday events.  Ayacucho is known for their retablos.  Everywhere, including the newsstands.  Everything is a retablo!

Retablo at the Ayacucho airport

S- Sunsets from our balcony; ocean view apartment on the 15^th floor, a celebration of the sun setting almost every night.  We’ve never had it so good!

T –   Tiradito; ceviche with 3 different sauces, though the ceviche is sashimi cut (very thin slices) VS the bigger chunks of fish in a typical ceviche.  Trujillo – city up north with many pre-Incan ruins.

U – Uva; as in grapes (the wine form of grapes!)  Lots of Carmanare (wine from Argentina) was drunk; found a local wine/tapas bar (La Esquina) that was almost our local hangout (just a bit too far to walk to easily), but boy did they have nice wine (grapes!)  Lluvia – rain (yes really it’s a “U” word, the double “llu” when pronounced correctly sounds like “U”), as in Lima is a desert capital city with an average of 0.5 mm of rain a month.  Essentially nothing!

V – Vinicunca, or Rainbow Mountain.  We got to see it on our Andean Trek, incredible.  The mountain has many layers of colour from the different rocks.  I understand over the last few years the colours have become a bit brighter due to erosion of the mountain, and possible global warming.  Even more disturbing are the masses of people coming out from Cusco on a day trip to see the mountain.  The mountain is being “loved” to death.

W –  Wooden balconies; the historic center of Lima is known for it’s lovely wooden balconies.  Built during the Spanish colonial and used to for privacy and air circulation and to shield women of nobility from amourous gazes.  The balconies gave the women a chance to see the city but remain hidden at the same time.

X –  a few “xtra” pictures of our time here!

 

local murals (one of many!), the dancing, favelas, guard at the president’s palace

Y – Yucca Fritas; consistently some of the best fries ever, especially with aji dipping sauce!

Z – Zapateria –  or La Zapateria; handmade shoe store.  I got a pair of boots and sandals made for me, John got a pair of boots.  So decadent!

didn’t buy these boots – but would have!

Hasta Pronto,

Lynn

Northern Highlands of Peru

John and I headed up to the Northern Highlands of Peru – time to check out the high elevation cloud forests in the Amazonans department (state).  We took a small flight into Jaen (high jungle city and one of the warmest cities in Peru – so use to the coolness of Lima that the warmth of Jaen was very surprising!)  Though as we made our way to Chachapoyas, the weather did cool off.  The flight is short (about an hour – typical for most all of air travel in Peru – super quick), but it was a 4 hour bus ride from the airport to get to Chachapoyas (stop for lunch at a very local restaurant).  From Chachapoyas we wanted to see Gocta Falls (the name came from the noise the monkeys makes around the falls at dusk – or at least this is what our guide said.  And you know those guides; if they’re not very sure about the facts, it’s okay to make something up and say it in a very believable tone of voice.  Who’s going to call them out?!)  And I wanted to see Kuelap Fortress (large stone structure, all circular houses).

First up, the Fortress, we sign up for a tour with an English guide.  There was about 12 of us – mostly Peruvians with 2 young ladies from Germany and us.  About an hour bus ride with a quick stop in a small town outside of Kuelap Fortress where we turn in our lunch order.  Next stop is a timed entry bus ride to the gondola car.  The new gondola takes about 2 hours off the drive to the fortress, before it was either dirt track road or hike up 4 hours (1200 altitude gain.  I saw the path, steep is an understatement!)  We literally swing across the Amazon basin starting at 2000 meters and ending up at 3000 meters at the fortress, then it’s a short 2 km walk to the fortress.  Though it’s at elevation; 10,000 feet, so short walk is a slight misnomer!

the cable car and the views of the basin from the cable car

Kuelap Fortress is the largest stone structure in South America, consisting of more than 450 stone houses (round).  It’s located on  a mountain higher than Machu Picchu, and is older than the Inca Empire.  The Machu Picchu of the North!  I read Incas never conquered the Chachapoyas people, but our guide told us Inca did come to the area as evidence by 2 rectangle buildings (evidently that’s an Inca thing!)  The land is referred to as “ceja de selva” or the eyebrow of the Amazon; a cloud forest of mist high in the Andes overlooking the Amazon Basin with lots of bromeliads and supposedly orchids – though I never saw any orchids .  Chachapoyas people are called Cloud Warriors, the fortress is believed to a fortified citadel built in the sixth century A.D. and continued to be in use until the 16th century (just about the time when the Spaniards came!)

 the flora and fauna of the area

The whole area was fascinating.  Loved all the circular houses, some walls have friezes of rhomboid and zig-zag shapes and many stones have reliefs with anthropomorphic, zoomorphic and geometric designs.  There is a section known as the high town (thought the religious people and temple in this area).   There is a tower-like structure named Torreón (Spanish for tower) rises up to 7 meters and may have been used for defensive purposes as stone weapons have been found there, though our guide said the current thought the stones that have been found there were used to be thrown to the heavens for rain.  Late lunch and back to town.  Dinner was slightly disappointing; a so-so cafe.  Though it didn’t help we had lunch so late and not very interested in dinner!

Kuelap Fortress

The next day a hike to Gocta Falls.  The falls are relatively unknown to the outside world; it wasn’t until a German engineer who saw the falls in 2005 and had them measured that the falls began to become more well known.  Originally measured at 771 meters (2529 feet), making them 3rd tallest falls in the world.  Since then debate on the accuracy of the measurement; but the falls still fall in the top 20 of the world!

The falls are fed from the Peruvian Andes insuring the falls have water all year round in an area know for it’s virgin rainforest, about 2800 meters above sea-level. (Code for lots of “scenery breaks” so I could catch my breath!)  The region is not widely travelled and one of the true unknown gems Peru has to offer to outdoor enthusiasts.  The area is considered cloud forests, with lots of epiphytes (air plants), living up on the branches.  For me it was hard to wrap my mind around the fact that we were going through a tropical rain forest but its at an altitude of 2800 meters.  

It was a 10 km hike from the trail head, round trip; I will say the hike was a bit hard.  What made it hard was a) we had some rain (or maybe what you could call low cloud cover).  But I’m never really great hiking in the rain, so a bit of bummer.  The good news though, the clouds did lift, and it was intermittent rain.  b) the trail – the trail was actually surprisingly in good shape, except for the fact the horses were on the trail.  That would be the horses that would drag your body up 3 km (you still had to walk the last 2 km to the falls and 2 km back to the shelter).  So the horses clopped through and churned up the trail to mud pits.  After a while you just forged through.  c) and unlike the trails at home (you go up the mountain and you come back down), this trail was up and down the whole way.  Luckily the scenery was great!  When we finished we had the coldest beer ever.  So delicious we had another one!

groves in the rock, us at the falls (essentially at the bottom of the falls) and us back at the beginning of the trail

Chachapoyas is a lovely little town, with a cute Plaza de Armes, or so I’ve read.  When we were there, the plaza and many of the surrounding streets were all torn up.  I was told government hadn’t done anything in the last 3 years, and this was their last year in power and needed to do something!  Evidently the town is old Spanish colonial, known for their balconies.  Our last night in Chachapoyas and we ate at a funky place called El Batan del Tayta.  Food was good (served on heavy stone dishes), and the décor was definitely a bit different (we ate in what we finally decided was one of the houses found in Kuelap, literally had to poke our head out from under the “thatched roof” to find our server!

the wooden balconies and some local art work (copies of sarcofagos found in the area)

A great trip, with lots more to do in the area (Sarcofagos de Karajia, Yumbilla Falls, plus lakes, canyons.  Clearly we could spend more time to hike and explore.)  A reason to come back!  Back to Lima – though a day late, because thank you LATAM, once again you cancelled our flight.  After spending 2 hours in the small airport to be given a voucher (which was nice – last time no voucher was handed out), and being eaten alive from mosquitos (more than a week later and I’m still itching!)  we head into the small town of Jaen and overnight there.  Found out the next day the plane had a rock in it’s wheel, so a little operation was necessary.  By the time it was done, it had lost its spot to get into Lima.  Lima said later, Jaen said we’re visual only, we’ll see you tomorrow.  Some of the joys of travel?!

Hasta Pronto,

Lynn

 

Trujillo

John and I headed out last weekend to Trujillo; time to visit some pre-Incan archaeological sites, Chan Chan and Sun and Moon Temples (Moche Huacas del Sol y de la Luna) along with El Brujo (Lady of Cao).   Right now it was pretty quiet, mostly Peruvian families on summer holidays.  I was told the busy time is in July and August when Europe is on summer holidays.  Trujillo is the third largest city in Peru; also known for the Paso Horses (the type of walking the horses do) and the Northern coast dancing (this the flirty dance with twirling handkerchiefs).  

the Northern dancing (in Lima along the Malecon) and feeding Paso horses

The temples of the Sun and the Moon are more than 700 years older than the Chan Chan (built 100 to 800 years before Christ).  Some tidbits about the area: Temple of the Sun was built with an estimated 140 million adobe bricks, many of them marked (signed) by the workers.  Or in other words; locals bought a brick with their name on it to contribute to the building of the temple.  This temple is still being researched and as such nobody is allowed into it.  Erosion has made the temple not quite so grand (has lost some of it’s height) and because it’s desert like conditions, lots of sand drift.  The temple of the Moon is considered the administrative temple, and has been heavily excavated.  Each generation expanded on the Huaca; essentially covering up the old level (burial) and making a new level.  Which is a huge reason of why so many adobe bricks – it’s not just rumble poured into the temple, but rather bricks laid, sand poured into the cracks and a new level created.  A big reason why some of the art work was so well preserved, it was covered up by adobe bricks.  Some lovely painted friezes were uncovered,  for which the Moche people are well known for.

A few tidbits of note: there are a few native Peruvian hairless dogs around the digs (biringos).  I certainly don’t mean to be mean – but these dogs are pretty ugly.  Anyways the dogs (I was told) are used as body warmers for people with arthritis as these dogs have higher body temperature than normal dogs!  The Moche people were a slightly bloodthirsty lot.  Lots of fighting (one on one it was pointed out, several times), the prisoner would be taken back to the temple and offered up has a human sacrifice. We were shown how the “winners” would cut the neck of the “loser” and  drain their blood (blood was then drank by head person).  Additional ways to sacrifice was hitting over the head or pushed over the edge of the ramp.  Proof was marks on the bones showing how the bodies were killed.  And this was all done in front of the masses.  More proof were the skeletons at the bottom of the ramps.  Maybe just the tiniest bit gruesome!

the Peruvian hairless dog – a face only a mother would love!

Chan Chan, built around AD 1300 and covering roughly 8 square miles (with the road running through the area).  It’s considered the largest pre-Columbian city in the Americas and the largest adobe city in the world.  Which would make this ruin very grand, too bad El Nino floods and heavy rainfalls has eroded lots of it away.  (Pre – Colombian Timeline, trying to sort out the names and when they were around time wise.  There are several different “tribes” of people along the Northern Coast (where we were) Moche, Chimu (who built Chan Chan) and then the Incas.  Different people in different areas of Peru, but essentially all ending with Incas until 1532 and then the Spaniards).  The Chan Chan was able to resist the Incas for some time, due to how the walls were constructed (narrow opening, so essentially only 1 person at a time could walk in), fresh water from the canals, lots of food storage.  Or it was fresh water until the Incas figured out the Chimu water source and blocked it.

The last huaca we went to is El Brujo (part of the Moche timeline) and it’s known for the Senora de Cao (the Lady of Cao), mostly because she was fully intact when she was excavated and covered in gold! (The Spaniards didn’t find this Huaca, hence still gold in the complex).  This complex we went to on our own, and had a local guide from the area show us around (all in Espanol no less.  John understood pretty well, I got the big picture and luckily all the signs were both in English and Spanish!)  Another side note; a very fabulous museum is attached with the huaca where the Lady of Cao resides, along with all the artifacts found in the huaca.  A big change in policy – typically all found artifacts are sent back to Lima, by allowing them to stay in situ, it encourages visitors to the actual area where found.  Of course this can lead to problems of display/security/conservation.  The Lady of Cao was the last artifact to see – you could see she had tattoos on her arms, very tiny in height, and young (estimated between 20 – 25 years old).  Interesting; so very young, and a woman to have such high standing at the huaca.

the top row of pictures is from the museum associated with El Brujo – check out the wool textiles.  

In addition to seeing the pre-Colombian archaeological sites we had lunch in Huanchaco; known for it’s beaches (gray-sand beaches and still cold water for me!) and the long narrow reed boats (fisherman still use them today, sit on the top and the catch goes into the back hold – out early in the morning.  In the afternoon the gringos use the boats, though they sit in the hold and paddle around the shoreline!)  Fun to have a little walk around and checking out the sights.

reed boats

We also got into Trujillo proper (Plaza de Armes), for a lovely dinner (El Celler de Cler – a lovely place, wood balconies to eat dinner, great meal.)  Interesting wine list and surprisingly expensive; 850 – 1200 soles for a bottle of wine (that’s almost $300 to $400 for a bottle of wine) – not that I disagree with the price, but there were quite a few this price range of wines on the list.  And not to say we were at the ends of the earth, but Trujillo isn’t exactly on the beaten path.  Who is buying these wines?!  Oh the bit of a shocker, I’m waving my hands around and I catch my wine glass (thank goodness empty!!)  It breaks (of course) but the surprise – we were charged 20 soles for the wine glass!!!!  Luckily dinner was fabulous and I could (almost) overlook the glass charge.

Plaza de Armes

and at night

All in all a very lovely weekend up north of Lima.  Next up on my list sea kayaking in Barranco.  Last trip of the summer season.  And I’m looking to go north again, this time to Chachapoyas, in high altitude cloud forests – Gocta Falls and Kuelap Fortress.

Hasta pronto,

Lynn

 

Barranco

John and I were to Barranco last weekend; one of the 43 districts in Lima, known for its art murals, bohemian and romantic atmosphere.  It’s right beside Miraflores where we live, we don’t seem to get there often, but it’s always lovely.  Two big reasons we were there last weekend.  Reason number 1 La Zapateria; handmade shoes and boots!!!  I had heard about this place from one of my friends here.  John heard about the same place from one of his co-workers.  (Side note; I think now almost all of John’s ex-pat co-workers have been and ordered from the store!)  Off we went to check it out and buy some custom made shoes.  We weren’t able to bring in our favourite style of shoe and ask for it to be re-created, but we were able to chose a style we liked, the leather we wanted, and the stitching we wanted.  John bought a pair of boots and I bought a pair of sandals.  Selection does change, I’ll be back to see about a new pair of boots!

the shoe shop; check out all those wooden shoe forms, and I’m lusting for that leather!

bought the sandals on the right and going back for those boots, but in different colour combo – because I can!

Reason number 2, last Saturday was International Pisco Sour Day!  And since Peru is the birthplace of the Pisco sour, it is only fitting to have a competition on who makes the best pisco sour.  The friendly competition was hosted by Living in Peru (local ex-pat newspaper) and Internations (a world wide organization about connecting people).  Essentially a reason to act immature and drink in the late afternoon!  Fierce completion; 8 contestants from Argentina, Venezuela,  England, Scotland and the States.  One competitor used an electric screwdriver to mix his drink (no blenders were allowed!).  Two of the competitors had never made a pisco sour (first time at the competition.)  The winner had been in the competition before, (always the bridesmaid, but never the bride).  The funniest part, when we went to the competition local a young lady asked if I was Lynn.  Come to find out this is the editor for Living in Peru and who I’ve been sending my blogs to.  I’m always so surprised when I see somebody I know/or in this case was recognized.  A city of 10 million people and I say I know nobody here.  But maybe I’m not quite so anonymous after all.

some of the competitors and the pisco sours

A few of the other places we’ve been to in Barranco: Dedalo, a local art gallery I always check out.  They have some lovely pieces – jewelry, some killer textiles (really would love one of their coats), and lots of fabulous wood pieces.  Whoever does the buying for their shop has a fabulous eye.

crèche in the front of Dedalo, a little late in the season!

MATE; Mario Testino museum, he’s best known as a fashion photographer from Peru (has photographed Princess Di and local indigenous people), though maybe his bigger claim to fame right now being part of the #metoo (though as a predator).  Regardless, the pictures are incredible and it was a great visit.

Bridge of sighs; “hold your breath the entire length of the bridge and all your wishes come true”, or at least this is the legend.  Under the bridge is some of the many art murals in the city.  Plus of course the food to be checked out.  My favourite place to go is Burrito Bar; huge burrito and shockingly good margarita!

We’re so “local” now, it’s easier to take the bus into Barranco rather than hailing a cab.  The bus is always interesting – it can be a bit “earthy”, but always fascinating people watching.  One of the interesting bits are the people who come onto the bus to sell product.  I still miss the majority of what they are selling, but I am slowly catching a word or two.  Today’s seller was hawking chocolate (2 for 1 sole), he was from Venezuela (lots of Venezuelans in the country trying to make a living, it’s desperate in Venezuela.)  Last week a fellow was selling books – a medical book with maybe local remedies?  10 soles, regular price in bookstores 16 soles.  (Don’t be too impressed I know some of the details, John needs to fill in the gaps for me!)  Even more interesting when the bookseller was on the bus, I noticed another busker was getting ready to come onto the bus (guitar and amp) but saw the bookseller and didn’t get on – no compete clause?   When we got off the bus today a busker asked if he could come onto the bus and sell his product.  The sellers will get on, give their pitch, got to all the passengers to see if they might be interested and then get off the bus.  Repeat.  That’s a tough way to make a living.

Happy Valentine’s Day.  We’re going to Jeronimo for dinner (one of the many places we love to eat at) wearing our new shoes!

Hasta Pronto

Lynn

 

Random thoughts

A few random observations.  I’ve now seen a couple of signs for World Cup; a homemade sign at one of the local restaurants I like to go to for lunch at their tip jar (money from tips will go to travel to World Cup – good thing the sign is up now!) and a big billboard sign saying you can win tickets for World Cup.  Just in case you didn’t know World Cup is in Russia this year, starting June 14th and Peru is playing (first time in 35 years!!)  It’s a big deal, a really big deal here.  As in the country will essentially shut down on the days the team plays.  Fingers cross they play well!

I try to watch a bit of Spanish TV (emphasis only a bit – I mostly press the “magic” button to change the language from Spanish to English) but commercials are in Spanish.  Many continue to go right over my head.  Though there is one on right now – English Live – the actor to promote it; so cheesy, so over the top, but I do get what he’s saying.  A step forward, right?!

Winter Olympics start this week and we haven’t heard a word about here.  Is it because nobody from Peru is participating?  (First time Peru participated was in 2010 and then again in 2014.)  Or is it because we don’t watch Peru news and it might have been mentioned but we don’t know enough Spanish to know it has been reported on!

It’s summer here (so strange from the Northern Hemisphere point of view).  What I do notice is lots of workshops for kids (of course, need to do something to entertain them), I’ve seen yoga in the park for kids, lots of skateboarding lessons at the local skateboard park and my personal favourite; learning to ride your bike in the park.  The other thing I’ve noticed, the weekends are (slightly) quieter.  People here have beach houses and everybody is at their beach house.  Or looking for somebody who has a beach house.  Which means the streets are not quite so busy and easier to get into a few restaurants at lunchtime.  Bonus!!

Last weekend we went to the Panda Bear Festival of Lights with a girlfriend and her little boy.  I’m all about lights (love Christmas lights) so interested to see what this festival of lights was all about.  The display was in partnership with China and Peru – tourism?  There was a Christmas tree and presents (the display went up right around Christmas and coming down a bit later on this month) and lighted displays of dinosaurs (with sounds and movement – the first time it moved and roared was a surprise for me and the little boy!)  One of the most unusual was the llamas on a Chinese bridge – spanning of the cultures?  There was a Dragon made out of Chinese cups, saucers, plates, spoons, about 60 meters long and weighing in at 10 tons!  We all went with low expectations of food (expecting fair corn dogs/mall food); surprisingly the food was quite good.  We ended up with gyozas, dumplings and scallion pancakes for 10 soles (that’s roughly $3.00 – cheap!)  And there was a cultural show.  We stayed only for a bit, our young man was tired by then (lots of running and laughter checking out the lights.)  All in all a very fun evening!

 

Have you heard of Paso Horses?  They are a type of horse known for their gait (very smooth, no bounce).  One of the ladies in my quilting group has a house about an hour outside of Lima (side note – she drives back and forth daily into Lima for either work or to drop kids off to school.  That’s easily 2 or 3 trips a day daily!!  Lima traffic is terrible at best of times, I could not imagine going back and forth more than once a day!!) and we were all invited down to her house for lunch and riding of her paso horses.  I’m not a horse rider, but several of the ladies rode, I did more of the watching of the riders.  A nice day out of the city; very tranquillo and green and a lovely time to hang out with my quilting friends.

This weekend is the International Pisco Sour Day (Saturday).  There will be a competition of who makes the best Pisco sour – John and I will go check it out and maybe have a pisco sour to celebrate the day!  But only one pisco for me; they are very sneaky strong!   Dinner plans and lunch plans with 2 different couples (my social network is expanding!)  And it’s Superbowl this weekend, I’m not a big fan of American Football but I do like to watch the commercials (and sort of the game).  What I found out though, we can watch the game on one of the TV stations we get, but it will show local commercials, not the US ones.  Those I guess I’ll need to watch on my laptop.  Not quite the same!

Hasta pronto,

Lynn

 

 

Es verano!

It’s summer in Lima!  For as close to the equator as Lima is (about 12 degrees south of the equator, really we should be hot) it’s not overly warm.  Not too much more than in the high 70’s (or about 25 C); for me, typical Oregon coast summer weather!  Today as I look at my window, I see nothing.  Which means the sea fog has rolled in, you can’t across the street and best to keep your windows shut as the sea fog (and sea gulls!) will roll through your apartment!  I have been told it will get warmer, and evidently last summer was very warm.  But as of today, still in jeans and long sleeves, though wearing sandals because it’s summer!

Now that I’m a “local” here – starting to see the day to day changes in the neighbourhood.  Biggest one; trees are in bloom.  I love seeing all the colour, especially the bougainvillea – one of my favourite flowers; a houseplant at home, almost a weed here as it grows so prolifically!

I see buildings come down in a day (wait – when did the fence go up and what was there before?!)  Lots of construction and then it stops (often times for “norms of infringement” – something the builder did wrong, though I haven’t figured out what they did wrong.  The infringement sometimes is fixed right away, but I’ve seen many buildings and those infringements have been happening since I’ve been here, almost 8 months now!)  And all the road construction around us.  It started in October huge round of road construction which I thought was for the new 4G network – done fast.  Now a  second round of construction almost in the same place of the first round.  This time bigger chunks taken out of the road, huge piles of dirt on the side of the road, and no need to bother with speed bumps in the roads as literally a 18″ section is cut out of the road at the intersection.  One way of making traffic slow down to a crawl!

Last weekend the Papa Francisco was in town (the pope).  Lima’s traffic at best is a nightmare, now with the pope in town to say it was worse is an understatement.  The worse was at the airport (always bad at best of times).  The airport was actually closed down (or very limited access).  One friend’s parents had a 9:00 pm flight out and they left for the airport at 3:00 pm!  I’m so glad we had no travel plans for that weekend.  It would have been a nightmare!!  Sunday the pope had mass at the local navy base; I thought I heard about a million people attended.  I can’t even imagine that number.  But interesting, as John and I walked around our area, we noticed many of the Catholic churches were closed (or at least the doors were shut).  Everybody was off to see the pope?  One of my Catholic girlfriend said at the English service they go to, only 5 people were there.  Even the English went to see the pope.  Though the bonus of the pope being in town, no waits at restaurants.  Too bad my tummy was still upset from Friday night dinner; my favourite cevecheria has no wait on Sunday (the wait is always at least an hour and a half!)  And with everybody to see the pope, traffic in our area was almost non existent.  Walked in the middle of the streets, very strange!

 

local banner for Papa Francisco

 

 

We took in our first cultural performance this past weekend; Flamenco dancing at the ICPNA, (institute of culture of Peruvian and North America) I needed to buy tickets; okay not to be too impressed with my Spanish – but I was able to sort of tell the guard what I wanted and he was able to tell me where the ticket booth was.  Wow right?!  Okay, it was mostly done through lots of hand motions by the guards of where I should be going.  But I’m slowly getting better – I was able to hear 2 floors (though it wasn’t up 2 flights like I thought, but rather the ticket office was on the 2nd floor).  Baby steps!!  The dancing was wonderful; bonus not necessary to understand Spanish.  The music was incredible; that is when it might have been nice to have understood what they were singing.  I’ll need to check out the institute more – lots of different activities are offered.

pictures from the program, I was able to “hear” no pictures allowed!

Off to a local pub this weekend with Australian friends to help them celebrate their Independence day (2 Americans celebrating an Australian holiday in Peru at an English pub.  Very multi cultural!)  And going to see Panda Bear Festival of Lights with friends – not too sure what to expect.  When I looked online, it’s a big deal in other parts of the world – first time here in Lima.  I love lights; I’m thinking it’s like the Portland Zoo Lights at Christmas?  Guess I’ll find out soon enough.

Hasta pronto,

Lynn

 

 

 

Back in Lima

After a whirlwind trip back home (the States), onto a planned textile tour of Bhutan with a girlfriend, back to Lima and then one more trip to Colombia for the holidays and a wedding (one of John’s nephews), I’m back in Lima.  Time to pick up the pieces and get settled back in.  Though for next week or so I’m temporarily side lined.  In Colombia (luckily on our last day there) and rogue wave got me.  Injury was a badly scraped ankle.  No big deal, leave it in the salt water; that’s good for many aliments (though I will say when it happened, I felt like Tom Hanks in Castaway when he got dashed up onto the coral reef!)  But it felt worse as the days went one.  Three days later I was dragged to emergency (I’m a terrible patient – if I’m really hurt I will protest that no I’m fine.  If I’m medium hurt, you would think I’m dying!)

We take a cab to the clinic (cabs are going to be my future of the next while), the one we were told that is bilingual.  (Note: not as bilingual as we had hoped.  Luckily between the two of us and our doctor we were able to sort ourselves out.)  Check in; John shows them our new medical insurance (the whole packet that you get when you’re a new hire – we literally just got it on Tuesday and the hospital visit was on the Wednesday – really a coincident!)  Receptionist takes one look at it and hands back to John – too much paper?  She takes my passport number, and our address.  Take a seat and we’ll get to you.  5 to 10 minutes later I’m in the back.  Temperature taken (normal), blood pressure taken (too high, taken a second time – still high.  I’m going to put it down to the stress of being there!)  Name on wristband is checked and a second band is added.  Fall Risk.  In English.

I’m finally put into a wheelchair, wheeled off to see the doc.  First doc comes in (I’m sure they were drawing straws of who gets to deal with the English speaking people, she was the short straw!) looks at me and decides maybe an X-ray is needed.  Off they take me, (no John, I have to tell the radiation tech the only Spanish I can understand is really easy).  Luckily it’s a lot of pointing and she positioning me.  Back to the exam room, new doc (bonus some English from him!)  No broken or chipped bone (huge relief!) but infection and pain pills are in my future.  Prescription handed out, back to the waiting room.  John fills out the prescription, the orderly ushers me into a waiting taxi, and off we go.  From start to finish I bet not more than hour.

The only slightly strange part no mention of a bill.  Before John came home, stopped at the ATM for lots of cash, credit cards.  And nothing.  Nothing at the pharmacy and nothing when we left.  I’m pretty sure we’ll see a bill in the mail, but still so different from the States.  Or could it be because again, nobody wanted to deal with those English speaking foreigners?!

I’m now at home for the next few days (stay off my feet is part of the new regiment).  No walking (did I mention that is mostly how I get around, Peru is very much a walking city!)  Ankle is starting to feel better, still slightly swollen but the pain level is at a 1 or 2 VS the 6 or 7 that it had been.  The most walking that I’m allowed to do is to go onto our balcony.  Hopefully by this weekend Dr. John will clear me to do a bit of walking outside (that would be after he runs out and buys an ugly stretchy ankle brace for me to wear – it won’t look cute with my skirt!)

Everybody write to me!!  I’m home, not going anywhere and I’m desperate for interaction.  Hopefully next week will be more action packed.

In the meantime a few pictures from my latest travels.

Bhutan: Buddhist monk, at a festival, one of the dancers, me at a temple courtyard and me above Tiger’s Nest Sanctuary.

Colombia; Bogota, Plaza Simon Bolivar, art graffiti, hiking in the Andes

Colombia; Guatape (the rock and lake view) and saw this sign in Medellin

Colombia: Cartagena and Santa Marta; old colonial homes in Cartagena and lovely beaches in Santa Marta and all dressed up at the wedding!

Hasta pronto,

Lynn

Merry Christmas

I’m back in Lima (did anybody notice I was gone for 4 weeks – a trip home and a trip to Bhutan.  Both were fabulous!)

It’s been fun to notice changes in my city (it’s my city now!)  The big pot hole in the middle of the sidewalk is fixed (we thought for sure the hole would increase in size and suck down a small child).  It’s officially summer here and most days we actually have summer temperatures (though today the sea fog is so thick, we can’t see across the street to the sea!)  Flowering trees are starting to flower, instead of just being green and new flowers have been planted in the parks.  2 new restaurants have opened up in our area, and buildings have progressed in construction.  I love being able to see the changes – makes me feel like a local!

Sea fog – note you can see my balcony rail and pretty much that’s it!  Seriously the sea is literal right across the street from me.  Really!!

The city is getting ready for Christmas.  Not quite the excess of the States; some of the apartments have lights on their balcony, I’ve seen a few small lighted displays on the balconies, some Christmas trees (though nothing big – I’ll need to walk down to our big mall and to Parque Kennedy, where I’m sure I’ll see big decorated trees.)  The best though are the crèches in the parks.  (Crèche is the manager scene of typically Mary and Joseph; sometimes with animals and Wise men).  John tells me baby Jesus isn’t put out until Christmas eve (I put out all my crèches with baby Jesus the beginning of December – I had no idea baby Jesus doesn’t come until Christmas eve; the difference between a Protestant and a Catholic!)  Sure enough, crèches here have no baby Jesus in them.  Which makes me wonder, Christmas eve is park maintenance going to run around the whole city trying to figure out which baby Jesus goes with which crèche?  Will there be a bit of a panic trying to get it all done in one evening (if Santa can, why can’t maintenance?)  Will maintenance even care if it’s the right baby Jesus and towards the end just start chucking in random babies?  Inquiring minds want to know!

The first crèche is found at Parque Kennedy; check out the cat resting comfortably with Mary and Joseph.  Surprised he’s not in the manger!  The other crèche is slightly “homemade”, the brown “straw” is where baby Jesus will go.  Not sure if you can see in the picture, but crèches here often have chickens as part of the animals involved.    

And check out the Amaryllis growing in the park, outside!  Not like at home where it’s inside, coddled and I hope it will bloom in time for the holidays.   The other is a pom-pom tree in front of a boutique hotel.  So cute!!

Grocery stores are also ready for the holidays.  The one that fascinates me is the pre-done food boxes to be handed out to???  The boxes are about a printer box size, the sides are printed with Christmas decoration and Feliz Navidad is stamped on the front.  Boxes are full of assorted food staples (panettone, crackers, olive oil, some might have wine, pasta, canned goods).  All in all quite interesting.  The biggest food tradition here (so it seems) is having Panettone and hot chocolate Christmas Eve at midnight/Christmas morning (after all the fireworks are over at midnight – now that is a tradition I can embrace!) Though I will say I have Panettone for breakfast as much as possible during December.  This does beg the question though, why is Panettone so popular in Peru when there isn’t a very big Italian population here.  I guess shouldn’t wonder why, but instead enjoy the goodness of the lovely hot chocolate you can find here, along with the sweet bread that is Panettone!

Food boxes and Panettone supplies at the grocery stores

Summer Santa – because coming from the Northern Hemisphere, summer Santa is just too strange of a concept to grasp!

A bit of local news here; the Pope is coming to town (Jan 18th – 22) and the city is preparing like mad.  I’ve seen at my local grocery store a “pope kit” (I might be paraphrasing here!)  The kit consists of a T-shirt/back pack/baseball cap, both with the date of his visit and a picture of the pope (S/25 or about $8 US).  He’s to go to 2 cities and Lima; fisticuffs of where he was going hold his sermon in Lima.  The original place was to be along the Costa Verde; lots of open space and relatively easy to get to.  The downside, if we have a Tsunami everybody would be history (who knew this was a serious worry here).  The other place is on a military base near the airport; the downside, it’s a military base and of course the pope is (well should be) about peace.  In the end the military base is where the pope will preach.  Pandemonium is going to run rampant that week!  The other big local news; PPK (the country’s esteemed(?) leader) isn’t going to be impeached.  Congress said he can stay in power.  It’s been a big topic these last few months.  It’s good that he’ll still be in power, I personally would think it would cause too much unrest here.  Will be an interesting first month in the new year!

John and I are heading out for the holidays tomorrow; Colombia.  A nephew is marrying a Colombian and the family is heading out for the wedding (for some us it might be an excuse to leave winter cold behind and to enjoy some Caribbean sunshine!)

Feliz Navidad and Feliz Ano Nuevo,

Lynn

 

 

 

 

This and That

Last weekend we headed to the Mistura; this is a big food festival in Lima.  In past years it’s been held on the Costa Verde (along the water edge, along the outskirts of Miraflores), this year it was held in the Rimac area (the concern was it was being held in a slightly dodgy area – for us anyways it was just fine).  Very interesting; a huge marketplace of all sorts of cheese, bread, vegetables, fruits, coffee and chocolate.  Too bad we’re heading out for a few weeks, would have bought much more (though we did get coffee and chocolate  – that never spoils!)  The area was divided out by types of food; sweets, ice cream and drinks, pisco sours, sandwiches, ceviche’s, BBQ (evidently BBQ pig is a big deal here from the amount of pits we saw!), anticuchos (heart), and restaurants.  Lots of samples, 2 little parades (or wandering musicians might be the better term), somebody described it as a state fair without the animals, rides and all the selling of different gadgets.  A very fun day!

I also checked out CasaCor; this is a local house (typically in a slightly depressed area) that has been re-furnished by local designers.  Lots of fun to see, and saw some cute ideas I would love to try out in my house.  But really the fun part of the whole outing was the going out with a few friends.

This past weekend was another visit into central Lima for a walking tour; Lima Walks.  We’ve done several walking tours now with Ronald, they’ve all been fabulous (he’s an impressive wealth of knowledge!)  A new co-worker with John was in town, so we dragged her with us on the tour.  This time the tour was in Monserrat, home to the two most important Peruvian Saints; Santa Rosa de Lima and San Martin de Porres, along with Senor de los Milagros (October is Senor de los Milagros month – the patron saint to prevent earthquakes (okay that might a bit of a paraphrase!)  In the 17th century an Angolan slave painted an image of the crucified Christ on the adobe wall of his dwelling. This wall kept standing during several earthquakes. A copy of the painting is carried around in the most important religious processions of Lima, each year in October.   The added bonus; a little parade/procession of indigenous people going into the Governor’s Palace for a ceremony.  Not sure why there was a ceremony, but music (big drums – love those big drums) and local costume.  The best was seeing some of the ladies getting out of the taxi cabs in their very elaborate costumes.  Struck me as funny.

Fabulous lunch today at Rosa Nautica, with John’s co-workers.  The restaurant has been around for 25 plus years, built right over the sea, which means delicious seafood.  It’s been on my list for awhile to check out.  Perfect day to sit by the window and admire the view and food!

We head back to the States this Wednesday (how are we going to watch the last fubal game of Peru VS New Zealand – it’s the final qualifying game for World Cup 2018?)  Rumor has it, if Peru should win (and come on, they’re playing here – they have to win!) PPK (Peru President) says Thursday will be a holiday.  Maybe he should just come out and say Thursday this week will be a holiday regardless of the outcome.  If Peru wins, people will be on cloud 9 and hungover.  If Peru loses people will be down in the dumps big time and hungover!

I’ll be gone for the next few weeks.  More of my Peruvian adventures when I return in late December

Hasta Pronto,

Lynn