Story Time

Well when you lave your back door open and the pigs are loose, pigs come inside the house- lesson close door.

Field Trip

       Generation of Leaders, the school the kids at Casa de Paz attend, took a field trip to Trujillo last Friday. The left early in the morning on buses to visit the Archeological Site of Chan Chan- some pre Inca stuff, then they went to the museum of Chan Chan, followed by lunch on the beach a few minutes away in Huanchaco. 

      I didn't get to go to the site, because I had my own students, but after school I hopped on a micro- well 2- and met them at the museum right before they left to go eat lunch.  On the way to Huanchaco I got the ride in the back of the bus with the cool kids (our older kids and Kevin). It was nice for Kevin to sit in the back because the whole way to Trujillo he sat in the aisle in a plastic chair- very safe (?) in case of an accident not recommended for anyone ever again. 

      Lunch was fun, it would have been excellent if Peruvians were in the habit of cold lunches when packing for field trips. It was still good, but cold rice is 100 times worse than plain hot rice, avoid it if possible haha. It was a good day for the kids to get out and see another part of Peru other than Pacasmayo. The boys especially had a good time running around chasing and being chased by girls on the beach, our girls just kid of sat around, but to each his own. 

Ruth, me and Mary at the beach in Huanchaco

Who doesn't love College?

        I saw a billboard for a college day about a month ago, and thought it would be cool to take our older kids and show them what college is all about. So I got permission to take the kids and registered to go. So the day after our field trip the oldest 6 got an even better field trip. For them it didn't start off so delightful because they had to get up super early to meet Kevin and me in Trujillo, and no teenager likes getting up early ask my mother. 

       Kevin and I actually were slightly late cause the micro we took from my house took for ever. But in the end everyone (we were also meeting our friend Kelly who brought the older 4 from Hogar de Esperanza in Trujillo) made it to the right place around the right time. After waiting outside the gate about 10 minutes they let us in, we got our sweet UPAO (University Prividad Antenor Orrego) bags with free pen included and were directed to go register the kids in the computer. After registration, we waited some more. This time standing in the hot sun, in a line, with some really enthusiastic college folks entertaining us and giving away prizes while we waited for there to be room for our group to go.

     Our kids are pretty shy when it comes to being in public and there are people they don't know around. So I had to get them excited and to shout, cause if you don't shout you don't get free stuff. Having Camp counselor on my resume means I can make myself get excited about nothing real easily, so the kids of course believe I am more insane than their previous assumptions. 

     When our group was finally called we were ushered/herded into a fence off area of campus that had a booth for all 22 career options the University offers. Each booth had representatives who were ready to sell you their career path, and did pretty well. They also handed out more free pens, bookmarks, and a big folded card that had a little information about the degree, and a schedule of all courses required for each cycle. 

      You also had the option to be lead to a classroom and where they had set up a workshop type thing. Some did lectures, others had different things to look at, and others had activities you could participate in that you would do in a course. Kevin and Yhonson went to the Business Administration one where Kevin wowed everyone with his International Business degree, even being asked to speak. Karol went to Law with Kelly- Kelly said boring Karol liked it. I went with 3 of our girls to the Veterinary Medicine one, where we saw baby animals, tapeworms, and diseased organs in formaldehyde, some corn grown on cafeteria trays, and watched a slide show of different skeletons. Our new girl Lucero went by herself to Early Childhood Education and drew a cover for a children's book, and got a free notebook. Then I went with all the girls to the Nurse workshop were we saw full body mannequins that can do everything, even change who they are, and we were taught how to properly wash our hands and get into sterile gear. (I got a free notebook this time- and more pens!)

      After college we took the kids to Pizza Hut and they ate 3 whole Super Family sized pizzas. For a moment Kevin and I believed we may have leftovers then all of a sudden there was no more! When we finished eating Kevin called for our ride to come get us and in our time to spare the teenagers did what they do best at malls, wonder around not buying anything, playing on the escalators and having a good time. For a moment I thought maybe I should go with them, but then I was tired and figured it was good for them to have a bit of freedom.

Karol being asked to introduce our group on stage, she got a prize.

Lucero- middle pink- won a backpack for 3rd best catwalk. It may have happened because I told her go go go, and then screamed super load for her to be awarded the prize- I want my kids to have nice things. 

Azucena surprised me, normally shy and reserved was the first one to jump to answer a trivia question, she got a prize.

Learning how to wash our hands. It takes a long time. Karol later volunteered to wash her hands and got another free notebook.

All of us at pizza hut. 

Betty coming down the escalator like she is in a movie, cause every girl wants their life to be like a movie at some point. 

All the girls with their bags. 

Jewelry

       Bruce, our resident old Canadian-whom we love, had a special treat for the girls this past Saturday.  His sister used to have a store, I don't know why she doesn't anymore, but she some of the pieces she had left to Bruce to give to the children or whatever. So he put some of it in the school store, and then he gave each of the girls a card with a number on it. Then he brought the jewelry to the girl's house and let them in order of number choose which piece they would like. Bruce is silly, and wasn't prepared for how much time it was going to take a few girls to decide on a piece of jewelry and was glad Sam was standing by and willing to be in control, cause he had some manual labor to take care of or something. So, I got to watch the girls choose, it was fun and they enjoyed it, and they all wore their new jewelry to church the next day. 

Can You Make Cinnamon Rolls w/o Cinnamon?

      The answer to that is obviously no. However, Saturday night I did not check the kitchen to see if it's regular stock of cinnamon was there or not. I n case you didn't figure it out it was not. So when I got to the kitchen at 6am with baby and Betsy to start rolling out my wonderfully prepared the night before risen dough, and started to make the filling mixture I realized this unfortunate fact.  My reaction- dang it. So Betsy took care of baby they watched his Old Macdonald video and I went across the street hoping they have ground cinnamon. They didn't. So then I had to catch a moto to the market and there happened to be one man open that had some. So, I took the moto back up and we made cinnamon rolls, that were delicious. But I learned that taking a moto at 6:15 in the morning not something I enjoy, especially when the driver is real chatty. 

Just like Christmas it comes once a year...SPRING!

(Spring just lasts a lot longer than Christmas)

Bienvendido Primavera

       I love change, which means I absolutely love seasons! (my only drawback on Texas) In Peru, unlike the rest of you, we have entered into Springtime. Which means that today for the first time in a long time when we said what the weather was outside in our morning routine it was no longer cloudy it was sunny! So exciting!!!!

But the important thing is that the kids enjoyed eating them!

        With Spring comes celebration, I mean why not? Most of the schools take a field trip to bring in spring, like to the beach or one of the restaurants that has the playground, pool, and soccer field.  The idea presented itself a little last minute. My only idea was to go to the botanical garden (which is still on my list but we are going to go on the close of our plant unit we just started instead), and then I decided it just wasn't possible yet. So we had a party to welcome spring, more of a day of activities for the parents to come participate and do something fun with their kids.

       So, yesterday the kids and their moms came for a fun day. There were four main events, painting, flower making, bubble blowing, and popsicle eating! On Monday we made some pineapple popsicles by making pineapple juice in the blender, straining out the yuckies, and freezing them in cups. The kids loved eating them. The moms not so much because they are so cold, and if you don't remember me mentioning it before eating or drinking cold things is bad for your health especially your throat.

And little sisters were invited too!

Yobana blowing some pretty sweet bubbles! She got it down the
others not so much they just kept stirring the mix instead of
dipping the wand which meant they only had suds on their wand.

         The bubble blowing was outside. I made bubble wands with the rings from coke, water and yogurt bottles, hot glue and straws (popsicle sticks or something less flimsy would be better but we have an abundance, plethora if you will, of straws). The yogurt bottle rings are better, because they make bigger bubbles. Then I made some bubble mix (which no I did not come up with this one my own, the internet is a wonderful thing) with baby shampoo, warm water, and a lil suga. They are the best bubbles I have ever made!!!! The kids loved them a lot!!!

Neiver beginning with the orange. 

       Inside, where the moms stayed, the kids were able to paint on giant sheets of white paper at a table to themselves. The moms were supposed to paint with them a few joined in but not too many they just watched their kids be wildly creative. And beautiful art they created, and were able to take home with them, which they love getting to take things home.

Kids, Moms, an Aunt, and Wendy making flowers to
celebrate springtime! Being creative isn't always a clean or
orderly process- and that is why my room is never clean :)

      The other inside activity was the one all the moms flocked to. One main reason is because the kids needed a lot of help to do it, hence why Samantha planned it for this day and not one where she was all alone in class with 18 kids... The project was to trace the kid's hands, cut them out, wrap them around a straw, staple it in place, and curl the fingers back and you have a flower. It sound a little painful, but the hand are only made out of paper.  The kids liked the flowers and the moms really liked making them, some of them even cut out like butterflies to attach to their 'toilet paper roll vases'. They all went home with a vase full of brightly colored fresh flowers, that will last longer than the           flowers in the market (unless they are in reach of a baby sibling or a dog...)

A weekend away

       As usual I went to Pacasmayo for the weekend. The two weeks prior I had forgotten to take my camera, and wished I hadn't been so rushed in leaving. So I took the advice of Sintia who told me one weekend, after forgetting to bring promised beads and Skipbo, I packed the night before or at least got certain things in a pile ready to go. So I have just a few pictures to share that is about it. 

This is baby, of course, (with Kevin in the background) showing us how to properly wear the sunglasses I got him.  He always wears mine so I found some cheap baby sized ones at the Mayorista the other day. 

Tilt your head to the left cause there is still no option to rotate this (come on Google, if there is it is too annoying to figure out). But not only is he walking, he is an avid climber, which he may have picked that up from I don't know, maybe me. He climbs on all the chairs and onto the table (which he got a time out from Kevin the other day for doing that), and he loves climbing on the playground. In fact whenever the door is open to the house and you can't seem to find this child it is because he up and left your lazy hinny to go play in the dirt and climb some ladders. He got to the second rung by himself, which then required a spotter. 

Saturday mornings are supposed to be glorious. Well when we walked out of the house on the way to the boys house, we ran into Bruce and Arelio looking at a bunch of dead cockroaches with extreme satisfaction. Up until this point I have seen four roaches the entire time I have been here. But in this pictures all the little brown dots are nasty dead cockroaches, courtesy of Bruce and Arelio who didn't think it was also a good idea to not just kill them but also not bother to sweep them up? But it was a teaching moment for baby, lesson? Roaches should be stomped on if live, he learned the squish a bug technique. Lesson 2 dead or alive roached should never be picked up in your bare hand and put anywhere near your face or handed to Samantha. 

I am on the other end of this teeter totter, yes there are two of them but with one pint sized kid at the other end, the adult does all the work, this way it is fun for both sides, and I convinced Mary (right) to let me take her picture. 

Again tilt the head a little to the left, a bit more, and there you can see Betsy (who also let me take a picture!) with her princess coloring project. That is what we did Saturday, they all wanted to color princesses so that is what we did.

It is not just a rumor and other short stories

        Well, I have spoken to many and told them my plans to be home in December of this year. Always being asked when my plane ticket was, bu until now I didn't have one. So it is no longer just a rumor and the hopes of m family and friends that I will be comin home because I am actually scheduled to come home! My flight leaves December 14th at 10:15 from Lima. I have to make a breif pit stop in both Miami and Dallas, but at 10:20pm the same day I will be gracing Austin Texas with my presence again. When I talked to people at home I get really excited. I am always asked what do I want to eat first when I get home let me tell you it is a long list. My friend Mandi told me while listening to my list, "It looks like you will be eating for two weeks straight!" I laughed. The one thing guaranteed not to be on that list is rice!
     Some things on it (so my mom is prepared...:) ) :
            - Muffins! blueberry, banana, apple cinnamon, bran, lemon poppy seed, pumpkin chocolate chip
            - BBQ and lots of it
            - Mom's enchilada casserole
            - Mom's BBQ meatballs
            - Waffles
            - Honeynut Cherrios, Fuit Loops, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Peanut butter Captain Crunch, Cinnamon Life....
            - Real milk
            - Banana bread, Vanilla bread, Chocolate bread, Autumn bread, Zucchini bread
            - Steak
            - Whataburger
            - Dr. Pepper
            - Bagels and Cream cheese
            - The list continues but it only make me hungry

Short stories

Sometimes things disappear

    The other night when they were over for the church meeting, they were outback playing with the balls, and unfortunately they lost one to the roof dog, who scares me (cause he almost got my arm the first time a ball went up there). However, by the time the meeting was over and I went to tell Auden the ball had disappeared so no more red ball. Then last week I was "showing" the children how to thrown the boomerang and it went straight into the tree the second time I threw it. And it was really high and near a birds nest so I didn't want to shake the branch or climb the tree in the middle of school. I had every intention of going after it after school, but it happened to be Friday, which is when I travel to Pacasmayo and I was a little rushed, so I completely forgot about it until today when we were playing but it was not in the tree.  

roof dog that scares me

Old McSam (except really I am young)

    Last Friday was a very eventful interesting day for me. Maura (the home owner, and occupier of the second floor) recently went to her land in the country and brought back two really cute piglets- they look like oreos. They have a little hut/cage in the back corner of the back yard. Well, last Friday while we had free play time out back, I was stamping the kids hands with some random circles and a pen to make a funny face, when all of a sudden "¡¡¡¡PROFESORA PROFESORA LOS CANCHO LOS CANCHOS ESTAN AFUERA!!!!" followed by really lowed squealing of little pigs. What is a teacher to do with 16 3-5 yr olds running wild, and 2 poor little piglets being really stressed out running everywhere as well? You have to catch them and put them back in their cage. The first one was easy, the second however was not easily fooled, and it took me 6 minutes to wrangle him and throw him back in their cage. The worst part is when you catch them they are even louder, and if the children moved the pigs freaked out more making the difficulty rise. But I did it, the kids were so proud.

2 little piggies

   Then as the I was waiting for the last kid to be picked up the same day, one of the moms comes by with a bag. She said she was holding a duck for the Pastor and wanted to give it to him now. So in said bag was indeed a live duck. And she handed it to me to hold onto for Auden. One I thought it was funny receiving a duck in a bag, then I wondered what on earth was I going to do with this duck. Well I carried the duck out back and set his bag under the tree, then walked back in my house to see a trail of disgusting duck poop juices from the door all the way through my classroom and to the back. Delightful. So as I was cleaning up Maura came home and I told her about the duck, she laughed and grabbed his wing and put it in one of the empty turkey cages. Eventful afternoon.

duck in a bag

French Toast, MmmmMmmm

    This past Saturday Kevin and I made the kids French toast at the orphanage. It was fun as it always is cooking for the kids, and of course the kids always come asking for more. The one kid that kept asking for more and more was baby. He got the prime seat in his high chair to my right in the kitchen. The kid had already eaten half of a bread roll cause he can't wait till 830 to eat he needs something at 630 when he woke up. Then he threw the other half for the dogs. But while we were cooking he kept saying "pan" (bread) so I broke up a piece of fresh french toast for him, went back to make more, the kid devoured it. Then I gave him a scrambled egg.  Ate the whole thing. Then he kept saying "Ma  Ma" (in his high pitched voice holding the a really long which means más-more, mama is always whiny) So he ate a second piece of french toast, then when Kevin was making the eggs for us to eat he kept asking for more so the little guy ate a 3rd piece, and about another half egg scrambled, and drank his milk. He took a really good morning nap. 

Pa PA Pos (Zapatos)

     Another baby story cause he is so cute. He loves shoes. And always tries to talk about them, but can't quite sound out the word yet. He also will always bring me my shoes if I am not wearing them. Also he enjoys chewing on sandals, which personally I think is gross, and I stop it when witnessed. A couple weeks ago I brought a new pair of shoes for baby, and left them with Kevin. They were a little big, but they were on sale and so I got him his next size up he would need. They are really cute, they have Lightning McQueen on them. Well the last 2 weeks they have been there in Kevin's suitcase baby has been playing with them (he has this thing about rifling through Kevin's things). So yesterday Kevin wanted to see if Baby would fit in them yet, cause he also liked them and wanted to see him wear them. Well the glass slipper fit, and baby was just so excited. We set him on the floor to try out his new kicks and he walked slowly in them at first then turned around smiled and was out the door. Kevin then wanted to see which Baby actually liked better or wanted, so we took his shoes off Kevin put them about 2 feet apart old and new, and I released the baby. He picked his new shoes, didn't even think about the other ones. 

Kevin scares the little children

     The first time Kevin was at my house (back in June) during school hours was when he and his mom had just gotten back from the states, and they stopped by my house to show her the preschool, etc. Well Segundo, is always my first student to arrive everyday, and that day was no different. He walked in looking like sunshine hole his flowers for me and his agenda in the other hand, gave me my kiss on the cheek, went to put up his backpack and started to cry, and ran back out to his mom. He saw Kevin and apparently Kevin is scary? But his mom eventually made him stay and Kevin stayed out back for a turn, and later they became friends while making letters with playdough.

   Last Wednesday Kevin was finishing up breakfast in the kitchen when the kids started arriving to school. Segundo came in saw him on his way to the bathroom, and just walked back out to his mom, not crying this time at least. he came back to school when from the street corner he saw Kevin leave the school to go make copies. I laughed as did his mom.

   Another funny moment with Kevin as he was in the kitchen, Niler one of my handful students also walked by Kevin on the way to the bathroom. But Kevin had finished eating and was washing dishes, Niler paused, looked at Kevin and asked "What are you doing?! Are you washing dishes?" Kevin replied, "Yes I am washing the dishes", "Are you a woman?", was Niler's follow up question cause I guess he has never witnessed a man washing dishes before. 

La Sierra

Machu Picchu in the morning clouds.


(So first I apologize that this has taken me longer that I promised and thought that it would, those of you who have been checking everyday my sincere apologies for my laziness, I love you!!!!)

    
               I have had Machu Picchu on my list since I was about 12, I say about cause I don't really know when, but it has been on my list for a long time. So, everyone can assume that not only was there great anticipation to see my father who I hadn't seen in a year, but also there was anticipation to see this place that had been building for years. One of those things that was so big on your list you feel like you did 6 things not just one.  After arriving home last night I felt so worn out as if I knocked 20 things off my list. The last two weeks were the most refreshing two weeks I have had while in Peru, well at least in a while.

       Getting on a plane again was a weird feeling. Stepping into an airport alone was a strange feeling, it is a completely different environment than I am used to. I know all the steps to get where I am going like breathing, but it was strange. And when I got to the Lima Airport it was even weirder, cause the last time I was there I was the one freshly arriving on Peruvian soil, not prepared for what was next, but this time I was the guide. I got there before my dad, so I had to wait in the crowd of Taxi drivers for him about 20 minutes, and finally I saw him looking in the wrong direction. By the time I walked to meet him he was coming in the right direction but I was still looking where he was so I looked right over my father's head as he stood in front of me. The adventure began. 

Bags stored and checked now to wait in the airport 5 hours till our flight to Cusco in the morning.

       We rearranged some gear, locked up the big bag, played Canasta (I got beat, but the end total was 5 Samantha/ 4 Scott- I was just out of practice), talked, and took a quick nap at the gate for our flight at 0530. Another short flight and we were in Cusco, the capital of the Inca Empire, so many adventures to be had- but first we slept. And then I had....a HOT Shower! So hot, so glorious, so many nights in a row- almost the best part of the trip. Then we set out to explore the city on our own. Dad didn't have too many things he wanted to do, there was just one church he wanted to see, that he had looked up right before he came, and we came across it day one! Qorikancha is the name, destroying Incas was the game. Kind of the story of Cusco except for Machu Picchu-the Spanish never got there. Qoricancha was pretty cool though, because they didn't destroy all of it. It used to be the temple for the sun, then the Spanish came took over and built a Catholic church right on top of it, using the Inca temple remains as the foundation. It was interensting to see the two cultures and architecture in the same structure- personally I liked the Inca walls better.

       The rest of our time in Cusco was spent looking at rocks, we saw so many rocks we have been named Rock Stars. We saw big rocks, little rocks, tall rocks (8 meters), heavy rocks (122 tons), rocks where they killed llamas-poor llamas, stolen rocks, sexy rocks (one place called Saqsayhuaman, when pronounced sounds like 'sexy woman'-and we are not the only people to think this), rocks with groves, rocks with holes, sacred rocks, street rocks, church rocks, and rocks that had no significance. Like I said rock stars, cause we saw them all, and don't get me wrong I love rocks. 

 Scott on the train.

     And of course the most important rocks were at Machu Picchu, or at least the most well known ones. For this adventure we started on a full day tour, but hopped off at the last stop to catch our train. It seemed as though we might not have actually got on the train because the girl bringing out tickets brought them 5 minutes before boarding time (that seemed to be normal for us, everything happened at the last second).  We got really lucky though on the train, the car sat about 35 I think, but there was only about 15 people in the car. So it was spacious and not full of loud Americans (I know I am American, but it is true, they are so loud).

           We got to Aguas Calientes at dark, but there was someone waiting for us at the train station. Got to our hotel, with the really short doorknob for our room the size of a closet (not important we were going to be there like 6 hours sleeping) and downstairs the guy on night duty had his own Harry Potter room under the staircase. We ate pizza, slept, I convinced dad that we were not taking a silly bus we were hiking up, we ate pizza, slept, woke up at 0400 in the morning, and started trekking to the bridge. Misted the whole morning, and was extremely humid, we stripped to our lightest layer, and were soaked when we reached the top. It did take us a little longer to get to the top that everyone else, because Dad informed me, "we cannot continue at gazelle pace, we must go at the pace of bear on the way to the biergarten." (a quoteish from Hogan's Heroes) So we took our time up the very uneven, very long set of stone steps, crossing a number of the road's switchbacks, not ever knowing how close we are to the goal due to the complete lack of mile markers (all anyone could tell us as to distance was a one hour walk, but how many Km or m? ah a one hour walk-fine), till we finally made it to the top and in Dad's words "Hooah!" But to our surprise and utter disappointment to find an unwelcomed anticlimax of a half mile long line of bus riders at the entry gate changing the mood in our tale of excitement and triumph.

This is how you look when you just hiked up a mountain at 430 in the morning, then find all the people who rode the bus in a line 1/2 mile long in front of you, perfect example of an anticlimax. 

       But after a while like 20 minutes of waiting for the people posing in their North Face clothes and hiking boots (when they in fact did not hike, they rode a bus and sport North Face cause they can afford it not because they have any true need for the technical aspects in the clothing and gear- apologies I sometimes hold grudges) Disappointment wore off, praise the Lord, when we unexpectedly outsmarted them all. We changed from our soaking wet clothes to our dry warm layers, and walked the path entering into Machu Picchu. And then using my superior guide skills (yes I am bragging) during the 2 hours we had before our tour guide got there, I said lets go down instead of up like everyone else. Dad agreed, because he didn't want to walk up anymore than 5 steps for a while. This decision enabled us to self explore the main part of the city, and all the special rocks without anyone around us, also we got some excellent pictures of things without any posers photo bombing us. With Dad's pre-trip research and my ability to ease drop into neighboring groups we knew exactly what we were looking at.

Dream come true.

        At 9 we met up with our guide, named Darwin, who has been doing this for 31 years, been to every festival or reinactment, and has written three book about the place. So we had the guide of guides basically. And we got lucky having a small group of six, so it was easy to get around and was pretty enjoyable. Much more enjoyable when the hotel called me (yup got cell service on Machu Picchu- surprised me but actually makes sense it is up there) to tell us that our train ticket was switched from 2pm to 7pm giving us much more time than we thought we had, which lead to more exploring and even time for a nap. In all it was a great adventure, and a giant check on my list of places I want to go to, so when we got back down (go Dad he is a sport, and didn't disappoint me cause he hiked all the way down, deserving a day of rest for his old self) I let dad in on a guide five. Awesome day.

Guide five, mission accomplished.

         After Machu Picchu we had a three more days in Cusco, a day to rest Dad's back, lounge and watch silly TV, One more tour, and then another day to do whatever we wanted. The tour we had that Saturday ended up being one of my favorites. It was to Moras-Moray, a little outside Cusco. Our first stop was to a small town, where they showed us how they processed Alpaca and Sheep wools. All of this is done by hand. They have to walk three hours to get the root of a certain plant to wash it (they also use it to wash their own hair), then the sun dries it, then they twist it onto a spool making it more like yarn, then they dye it. All of the dyes are natural plant dyes (I thought of my mom and her mom the whole time) To dye them they boil water (over fire) and leave the yarn in there for 40 minutes to boil with the dye and the other stuff they add for the yarn to retain the color. Then they again let the sun dry then out, twist it again, and roll them into balls. Then it is time to weave with the loom to make tapestries and other things. According to the girl it takes a month to make one working 6 hours a day weaving, that is a long time. 

Plants used to naturally dye yarn.

         Then we went to Moray, which I was also fascinated by, these are the true 'crop circles.' It was a project of the Incas and each level, so each individual circle was for a different crop. Doesn't sound impressive, well each circle because of the location on the mountain, and the circles being at slightly different altitudes each circle also had its own microclimate, which would be perfect for the plant they placed in it. Potatoes at the very bottom, there was one for corn, and basically most everything they grew. The place also has perfect acoustics, but we didn't get to test them ourselves by going down to the bottom level, because we chose the wrong day to go. The day we went happened to be the annual festival of Pachi Mama, which is where the Incas would honor the Mother Earth, and sacrifice another poor llama, and have a big party. The cool part is we were able to watch part of the festival-reinactment. It is done in the Quechewan language, which a lot of the natives to the Sacred Valley still speak, and the people are in different colors and they come in running with Cusquenan flags on each ring, then there were women that danced in spreading seed, or sweeping, etc, then the head honchos ran in and stood in their places. When in their places they kept running or dancing in place, looked like quite the work out. But that was about all we saw, had to move on to the next place. 

Moray, these are crop circles.

      Next were the salt mines (at which I thought about my grandpa the entire time). I thought they were beautiful, the white was so pretty banking itself next to the tans, and golden browns. It was also amazing that there is this natural spring of warm salty water coming out of the mountain. So good job to the person who long ago found it, and decided to channel it and create wells for the water to fall into so it could evaporate into salt. Pretty sweet. A little factual information, there are hundreds of these wells, and the families who tend to them have 40 to 50 they are in charged with, to keep clean, harvest the salt, and so forth. If there was anyone who needed a bottle of lotion it is these people, who stand barefoot in water  knee deep or up to mid-calf all day long, with their hands also under the water moving the salt, or pulling it out in the hot sun all day long. I give them props.

Salt Mines, pretty awesome.

After Cusco, we had a layover day in Lima until our night bus to Huaraz. So we went to Miraflores in hopes to Paraglide but we proved unlucky in that area. (They did not fly for six days the first being our first day and the last being our last day) So instead we ate lunch at Chili's, walked along the beach up top, and watched Harry Potter with my wonderful friend Gaby! It was a good day, minus not being able to fly. But then we made it to Huaraz, my new favorite city in Peru. Another mountain city bordered by the Cordillera Blanca and the other side bordered by the Cordillera Negra. So many beautiful mountains, and so many of the over 15,000 ft. Pure beauty. And so many adventure to be had I could live there, I would have to to do everything I would want to. Huaraz in my book better than Cusco, because there are less tourists and the people who are there are true adventurers they all have gear and it is well used, pretty cool people. Anyways what we did...I coned my Dad into bringing my rock climbing gear with him, so I got to get my climbing fix. Which was needed. My climbs weren't all clean but that is because I hadn't climbing in a year, but I was able to lead them so I was happy. We had two days of climbing, one where Dad got mad at me because to belay he had to fall down to a creek and I had to pull him back up and a rock hit his elbow my bad. Then the second Kevin met us, and we went in a car to the spot but he dropped us off to far up so we had to walk halfway down to find it but it was a beautiful bolted wall, and a great day.

One of the walls I climbed.

          The day after climbing, Dad pulled the old man card and let us two young folk solo the Laguna Churup hike. Which was probably a good decision for Dad, cause I had made him do a bunch of crazy things and it was a tough hike for the two young folk. It took us about three hours to make it, others made it faster but they did not take pictures on their way, we did. It was tough, the whole hike is at altitude, you have to take a taxi to get there, over some rally car roads, but driving a toyota with a hatchback, when it should be a Jeep. The last leg of the hike was climbing up the left side of the waterfalls, there is even a cable bolted in to help you up (Sam did not need the cable, she still had the climbing itch). Finally though we made it, and my goodness it was all worth it. So beautiful. Good place to chill, relax, think, snack, live, haha. I loved it, and only left because Dad was sitting at the hostal by himself, and Kevin needed to rest and eat before his not so comfortable bus ride back to Pacasmayo.

Kevin at I after finally reaching Laguna Churup, at 4,465m which is about 14,649ft.

         After the big hike Dad and I had one more day in Huaraz and we had decided to go on a commercial tour- even though we don't like them- to Postoruri a glacier in the Cordillera Blanca. The hike was all at pretty high altitude at sea level it would have taken like 5 minutes to walk or you could have ran it, but the sidewalk part too about 30 minutes then another 15 to reach the glacier. And the glacier was amazing. It was my first glacier to see and I want more, but I actually want to explore the glacier like the crazies not just look and admire it, I am hands on. Another hard to breath hike, but it was relatively easy actually super easy if it weren't for the lack of oxygen. But it was worth it, as it always is with adventures. 

Postoruri, a glacier at 16,500ft. (the base is 5000m-16,404ft and the summit of the mountain is 5400m- 17,717ft) I can't tell you the exact elevation of the base of the glacier but those are the mountain's specs so somewhere in between there. Again worth the hike. 

       And also as it always is with adventures, they always end. Ours did with one last day in Lima, with dreams of paragliding, that again fell through due to lack of wind. So instead we treated ourselves to a double feature of The Green Lantern and Captain America at the theater. It worked out perfect, and we had just enough time to taxi to the airport and make my flight. It was a fabulous adventure, with so many more stories than can fit into one blog. I have now seen the desert and mountain regions of Peru now only to slip in a trip to the jungle......

For a more complete set of Vacation photos click here!

Look New PIctures!

So I will be writing something here in the next few days. I just got back from 3 weeks vacation, one at the orphanage and 2 with my dad adventuring in the mountains of Peru. I am working on posting those pictures too, and writing something to share that adventure with all. But for now I updated my pictures, that you can look through. Love you all, I will post soon promise.

Pictures

If you have any trouble viewing the pictures, let me know, it just works so much easier uploading a multitude of pictures to Facebook and sharing that way.

Samantha