Christmas in Peru

Please be aware that because this is what I use as my journal now, there are numerous pictures and comments to follow. Happy reading!

This year we had the opportunity to spend two weeks with all of Adam’s family in Peru. His Dad was called as the mission president in Arequipa, which is a three year calling so we were so excited to get to see them during that time. They hadn’t seen Seth yet either, so they were also excited. The trip definitely had its ups and downs. Peru itself was awesome but the traveling was a bit of a nightmare. To begin with, a few hours after arriving in Portland, we discovered that a huge snow storm was underway so all flights out of Portland were cancelled. We spent hours on the phone trying to look for other options but in the end our only alternative was to drive 15 hours to LAX to try and catch our connecting flight. We drove through the night and luckily we made it just in time. The trip from LA to Florida was uneventful but after the long day we were just looking forward to sleeping on the flight from Miami to Lima. But that was not to be. After boarding the plane we were dismayed to find out that they were experiencing “mechanical problems” and that the flight would be delayed. And delayed it was. For three hours. Normally that wouldn’t have been more than an inconvenience but given the fact that it was midnight and that the plane was boiling, one by one our kids started to breakdown. Calvin was the worst off. During the landing of the previous flight, he began to complain of an ear ache. By the time we boarded the next plane he was literally writhing in pain. And since they denied our requests to let us off the plane we spent our time walking the isles with our sobbing children. Eventually Calvin’s eardrum burst and that eased the pain. We flew seven hours from Florida to Lima and then another two hours from Lima to Arequipa. After deboarding the plane we were thrilled to see Dave and Pauline. We exchanged a few hugs and then I turned around to take Landon’s hand only to discover that he was missing. After a few minutes of searching (the longest any of my kids have ever been missing), panic started to set in. After another 10 minutes went by Adam informed the airport police who immediately ran to the parking lot and began stopping all the vehicles attempting to leave. Finally, after what seemed like a life-time later, Dave found Landon wandering around inside the airport. He had followed someone he thought was Adam and somehow managed to slip past security back into the airport. By that time I was a complete wreck but grateful beyond words that he was found. The day with the Davis’ getting reacquainted and touring Arequipa was great, but then one by one we all began to get sick with fevers and severe stomach pains. We deduced that we must have contracted it while sitting in the stagnant air on the plane in Florida because it was the only time all 20 of us were together. The next four days was like nothing I have ever experienced. I wish I had gotten pictures of the bathrooms because that's about all we saw both day and night. After those initial four days though things started to look up and we were finally able to enjoy the sights around Peru. Most of the area in southern Peru is very desolate; dry and rocky. You can drive for a hundred miles and not see a single plant. We passed through some of that terrain on the way to the coast. Other parts of the country are very green and at very high altitude. We took a short 3-day jaunt over to Machu Picchu without the kids. We were in Cuzco for a day and the elevation there is 12,000 ft. Machu Picchu is at 8,000, though it feels much higher. It is at the top of a mountain range with steep sides that drop away a few thousand feet to the raging Urubamba River that eventually joins the Amazon. The ruins were spectacular. They were much larger in area than we originally thought. It’s amazing that people really lived up there in the 1400’s. Another place that baffled me is the floating reed raft islands on the middle of Lake Titicaca. These people live on these islands they make out of reeds that grow in the lake. They anchor them down, but sometimes they will come back from the land after a heavy wind and find that the raft has floated a few miles away. They use the reeds to build the islands, their homes, fuel their fires and even eat. It is noble that they are trying to continue the traditions of their ancestors, but it is an odd way to live. Although, they probably don’t have it any worse than the many other poor Peruvians that live in an 8’x8’ mud hut with no roof and no water. Being in that atmosphere really opens your eyes to the diverse ways that people exist in our world. And it made us appreciate the comfort we have. The trip home was another traveling fiasco. Somehow the airline we flew with managed to cancel Adam’s flight from Lima to LA and since the plane was overbooked by 30 people we couldn’t get his seat back. Instead we were held up in the Lima airport (while the rest of Adam’s family continued on) for four hours. It was 3:30am before we finally sorted the mess out. In the end they put us up in a hotel for the night and we flew out at 1:00am the next day. We picked up our car in LA and made the long drive home so that Adam could get to work the next day. Even though the traveling we experienced was less than ideal, we count our blessings for a safe journey and for the chance to spend Christmas in a foreign country with all of Adam’s family together. Dave and Pauline were wonderful hosts as well as tour guides and it was great to see how the Lord’s work is progressing.

This plaza in Arequipa was our first destination. It was filled with people selling their trade and wares. The kids favorites things here were feeding the pigeons and eating ice cream.

This cathedral was one of my favorite that we saw in Peru. I was surprised at just how many cathedrals there were!

Many of the Peruvians were facinated with our kids. They always commented on how cute they were. These local boys liked to practice their small vocabulary of english words on us. Our boys did the same with them. They were happy to pose for a picture because that usually means a tip for them. And it was no exception this time. They are pros at negotiating as much out of you as they possibly can!

I had to put this picture of the Ticos (taxies) in because they are everywhere in Arequipa. Adam's dad calls them little mosquitos because of how annoying he finds them. They usually drive down the middle of the road so that they have access to possible passengers on both sides of the street, making them nearly impossible to get around. The driving in Peru is something else. There are very few traffic laws to follow so everyone basically just does what they want. If someone wants to merge or move over they just honk their horn and that means, get out of my way because here I come! Not surprisingly, horns are the everpresent background noise there. Another thing to be aware of is that cars, not pedestrians, have the right away there so you have to be very aware of what's going on around you when on foot. There are very few stop signs and even fewer traffic light but even with that being the case, the drivers all seem to know what's going on and the traffic flows pretty smoothly. Even though everyone drives within inches of each other we never saw an accident or even a driver getting upset with another. Traveling through the city was always an on-the-edge-of-your-seat, nail-biting experience but we enjoyed it

(as you can see in the picture there are usually people in the streets trying to earn money by either offering a service, like washing windows, or doing a little trick or dance move.)

We rented this bus to take us on a four hour tour of different sights in Arequipa

One of the things that amazed me the most was how the people built their homes right on the sides of the mountains. I don't know how they kept their kids from tumbling all the way to the bottom. Real estate works a lot different here. Esecially since you just pick a spot you like and start building!

Most of the homes here were built of mud and brick. The people who lived here would be considered "middle-class". Big difference that the US middle-class.

You can see from this picture that the homes are never considered finished. Nearly everyone of them has rebar sticking out the top just in case they decide to add on later. A lot of them even had half finished floors on them that they would work on whenever they came across more materials to use. They rarely build "out", it's usually just "up". Notice the dog on the roof. Since no one has yards, this is where nearly everyone kept them. If they weren't roaming the streets, they were on the roof tops.

Roof tops were often also where they laundry was done, as you can see here.

The Alpaca is a very important resource for Peruvians and is actually quite revered. It provides a source of food and clothing for them. Cusco is also the perfect place to stock up on woollen products mostly made from soft alpaca wool. You could find just about every woollen garment you could imagine from jerseys to ponchos to gloves, scarves, socks and hats. Not knowing much about wool I found the prices were often reasonable and the quality very good, we so wished we had more space in our luggage as these would have made fabulous Christmas gifts.

Here's one example of the many many markets on the streets. Notice that nearly everything is made from Alpaca.

Nearly everywhere you would look, both the men and women would be carrying something on their back, using these beautiful slings. Usually the woman had their babies or toddlers but I saw everything from bundles of fire wood to huge jugs filled with water.

They also LOVED to wear bowler hats - especially the older generation. We could never figure out how they kept them on since they just sat right on the very top of their heads

This was a sight we saw numerous times - the people driving their animals through the streets. There a quite a few food restrictions that the missionaries are supposed to follow (and that we did too). One of them was to never eat pork. The reason being that the people usually tethered their pigs in the middle of the trash piles. Another restriction was to never drink the water or anything that had been washed with water, like fruits and vegetables. We drank a lot of bottled water and Coke.

One of the highlights of our trip was traveling to Puno to see Los Uros. You might remember Elder Rasband talking about them in his last conference address. They are floating islands located on lake Titicaca. The islands are made of tortora reeds, which grow in the lake. The people harvest the reeds and anchor them with ropes attached to sticks driven into the bottom of the lake. The reeds at the bottoms of the islands rot away fairly quickly, so new reeds are added to the top constantly, about every three months. They make their islands, homes, and boats out of them as well as use them for fuel and even eating. They kind of taste like cucumber.

They earn a living by creating handicrafts that they sell to tourists like us.

I had to take a picture of this little baby. Peruvians have the most adorable babies and I just fell in love with them.

After visiting Puno, we went back to Gram and Granddads to celebrate Christmas. Before leaving, we wrote Santa and told him to leave the kids presents at home because we would be in Peru. Luckily he got our letters and they were waiting for the boys when we got home. We just did little gifts from Mom and Dad in Peru.

This is a picture of Seth playing soccer with the missionaries in the yard. Seth could kick a ball before he could walk so he was in heaven. I wish I had taken more pictures of the mission home because it's beauiful and HUGE. I was still discovering new rooms the day before we left.

The Plaza de Armas in Cusco

After Christmas a few of us flew to Cusco, which was the beginning part of our journey to Machu Picchu. The other part of our group stayed home to watch kids (THANK YOU!). We loved Cusco. Cusco was the capital and center of the once mighty Inca empire and Quechua nation and is one of Peru's top tourist destinations and not just because it's the gateway to the famous Machu Picchu but also for its beautiful countryside and spectacular churches. Cusco sits at an oxygen deprived altitude of nearly 12,000 feet, something we soon felt the effects of while trekking up some of the hills. Luckily none of us suffered from the effects of the altitude-sickness but even if we did, a quick cure for that was the endless supply of coca tea. Coca tea is simply made by soaking a handful of dried coca leaves in hot water. We found it amusing that these were the same leaves used to make cocaine. Coca leaves have long been an important part of the Andean culture and used for a host of different purposes but mostly to give a little extra lift when tackling the peaks.

With its narrow cobblestoned streets, fascinating architecture and lively squares, Cusco is a perfect city to stroll through and simply absorb a little Peruvian culture. The Peruvian ladies in their immaculate colourful traditional dresses were particularly impressive and were seen all over the city. With the influx of tourists it was also a perfect opportunity for many locals to make some extra income so it wasn't unusual to see young children dressed in traditional outfits carrying baby alpaca's posing for photos for a few Soles. There was also an endless barrage of art students packing their entire portfolio and offering paintings at a bargain price of 1 Sol , clearly to try and entice you to stop and look at their collection. One of our favorite things was the amazing prices that you could get on jewelry there. You just had to be willing to haggle the price a little. I learned the phrase "Quanto es?" very quickly.

The town was also filled with great restaurants serving everything from alpaca steaks to guinea pigs and other local Quechua meals. To Tim and Keith's joy tucked in a corner of the main square was a McDonald's restaurant that I had to take a picture of because how often do you see a McDonald's with chandeliers?! We did eat one of our meals there with the guys, but for our next we decided to be brave and really get the full experience of Peru.

Along with their dogs, many people have guinea pigs kept in cages on their roofs - only they aren't pets....

Yes, that's right. I ordered and ate a guinea pig. It was not very good. Not much meat and very greasy. The first bite was the worst because it had an unexpected "crunch" to it.

But at least it wasn't this on my plate. I was shocked when we came to the meat street. I call it that because the whole street was filled with venders selling nothing but different kinds of meat. And when I say kinds I mean whole plucked chickens, whole skinned baby pigs, sheep heads, and every other part of the animals you can imagine. The worst part was that they were sitting out on the side walks and tables for hours, if not all day, in the 80 degree weather. Not surprisingly this wasn't in the very touristy part of Cusco.

Even though it was only a few hours, we loved our stay in Cusco and felt we could easily have stayed longer but we had planned our trip to Machu Picchu to be as short as possible in order to get back to our kids. From Cusco we traveled to Ollantaytambo where we got a hotel for the night because we had to board the train at 5:00am the next morning.

After the train, we took a bus up this narrow, winding road to get to the entrance of Machu Picchu.

The first sight of Machu Picchu is almost magical. The temples, fields, and terraces appear to be part of the hillside itself...an imposing, elegant green paradise carved into its natural surroundings. Separated into three areas - agricultural, urban, and religious. The agricultural terracing and aqueducts take advantage of the natural slopes; the lower areas contain buildings occupied by the workers, and the most important religious areas are located at the crest of the hill, overlooking the lush Urubamba Valley thousands of feet below.

It is said to have been built by the 15th-century Inca ruler Pachacuti, and is believed to have become his mausoleum – much like the pyramids of Egypt for the pharaohs.

Archaeologists believe that this extaordinary city was built in the 1400's. It is invisible from below and completely self-contained, surrounded by agricultural terraces sufficient to feed the population, and watered by natural springs, which the Incas utilized by creating an irrigation system. The structures, carved from the gray granite of the mountain top are wonders to todays architects. Many of the building blocks weigh 50 tons or more yet are so precisely sculpted and fitted together even a thin knife blade will not fit through. And this was all done without the aid of any type of mortar.

The Inca were accomplished astronomers, and used the angles of the so-called "Hitching Point of the Sun" which gave a precise indication of the dates of the two equinoxes and could also be used to calculate other important dates.

The sacred rock. This stone was cut to match the shape of the mountain behind it (it was too cloudy to see) and supposedly containes mystical, cleansing powers.

This is the Temple of the Condor. It's difficult to tell from this picture but it is supposed resemble the outspread wings of a condor in flight. On the floor is a rock carved in the shape of the condor's head and neck feathers, completing the figure of a three-dimensional bird. It is believed that the head of the condor was used as one of the many sacrificial altars. Under the temple is a small cave that contained a mummy.

This is the “Incan cross” which symbolizes the 3 levels of existence (interesting......). They believed animals represented each level; the condor represented the highest, the puma the middle, and the snake the lowest. At a specific time the shadow exactly matches the shape of the stone, completing it.

With all the archaeology studies it's surprising that Machu Picchu still remains, for the most part, a mystery. Was it an observatory? Pleasure retreat? Fortress? And what happened to the inhabitants? When it was excavated, not many skeletal remains were found, and of those, most were women. Our tour guide suggested that perhaps when the Spanish invaded, the Incas abandoned it both to keep it a secret and to join their brothers in the war against the Spanish. Unfortunately we know that in...............the Incas lost the war to the Spanish and were killed.

We spent most of the day enjoying ourselves at Machu Picchu. When we were finished, we took the bus back to Aquas Calientes where we relaxed at our hotel, did a litte more shopping and then headed for home the next morning.

We stayed at this great hotel called Gringo Bills - we highly recommend it!

The day after we returned from Machu Piccu, the whole family took a three hour bus ride to the coast of Peru. The scenery on the drive there was nothing but rock and cacti.

But when we got there, it was a beautiful beach with warm (well at least warmer than the Oregon coast!) water. We had a great time playing for a few hours in the waves and sand.

In the end, we were all exhausted but grateful for the experience of Peru!