Children's Drawings

My son is not fond of doing art. Since I majored in art that's something of a disappointment to me. But lately he has come up with some pretty cool drawings so I have to take the opportunity to show one off. Today he finished this drawing to send to the little girl we sponsor through Compassion International in Peru. Is it just me or is there a little Van Gogh in this?

This is a drawing of one of the floating reed islands of the Uros that we visited in Peru last summer. Below are a couple of photos we took there for comparison.


The next drawing is from our sweet sponsored child in Peru. She's four years old. We love getting letters and drawings from her.


Below are a couple of pictures we took in Arequipa, Peru to show you they really do use the colors she drew on the houses there.

Peru: Shopping

One of the side benefits of going to Peru is getting to go shopping. It's a lot of fun. When we were there the Nuevo Sol traded for about three soles per U.S. dollar.

We thought we'd done quite a bit of shopping, but when we added everything up for US Customs we realized we hadn't really spent much. Of course, sometimes it seems like work to shop when you have to haggle in the marketplaces.

I sure wish that I had purchased more of the fine, intricate weavings on the Island of Taquile or some of the other places we visited.

lovely vendor in Arequipa who we bought hats from

Where do you shop in Peru? EVERYWHERE. You don't even have to go shopping. Sometimes the shopping comes to you. Musicians in restaurants will want to sell you their CDs, ladies will try to sell you sweaters in the streets, artists will hound you to look at their portfolios in the plazas and at every pull off on the road there might be vendors with their wares spread out on a blanket.

vendors on the road from Arequipa to Chivay

Various items that old ladies managed to talk Dan into buying--he's such a pushover. Some of these will decorate our Christmas tree.

beautiful girl at a roadside scenic overlook near Chivay--I purchased an ocarina from her

Above: hand-guided machine embroidered items I bought beside the road from the lady who made them in Colca Canyon. They depict the huge humming birds and the condors we had just seen that morning.

Uros Islands

Uros Islands--the little one will be a Christmas decoration

Jewelry co-op near Sicuani

Raqchi Tambo

Tambomachay

Urubamba

calabazas

The following pictures are from Pisaq which is known for it's colorful market:

dyes

Ollantaytambo--these girls followed Dan all the way to the vehicle trying to get him to buy

I think that Chinchero was our favorite market. We were only there for a few minutes. We actually went to see the highly decorated church, but we were able to quickly purchase a couple of calabazas from this man below and a woven belt from the lady in the next photo as well as one other weaving. All were purchased directly from the craftsperson--the best way to buy in Peru!

Chinchero

Chinchero

We didn't do much shopping in Cuzco, but we did find this very interesting textile co-op that had a great small museum with it.

Cuzco

Cuzco

Copyright 2009 text and photos. All rights reserved.

Peru: Arequipa to Puno

This is Peru trip post number four and it's mostly photos.

After returning to Arequipa from Colca Canyon, I scheduled in a somewhat free day for us. In the morning we had a tour to a University museum just off the main plaza to see "Juanita" the ice mummy or "ice maiden" or "ice princess". It was a fascinating tour, but no photography was allowed and they didn't even sell postcards. You can google her or watch for her on the Discovery or History channels. She's very famous.

The rest of the day we wandered around and relaxed in Arequipa's city center. Caleb fed the pigeons in the plaza, we sampled the local delicacy queso helado at an outdoor market, we got empanadas from a panaderia and ate them in front of the cathedral for lunch, we did a little shopping and walked in a city park. It was a very nice day.

school girls in the Plaza de Armas who thought Caleb was "bonito"--especially when he said "Tengo ocho anos." They were so giggly and chatty even though we only understood about a quarter of what they were saying.

a vendor we bought hand-knit hats from

we had to take this photo with the jacaranda tree since we've planted one in our backyard

Dan and Caleb trying queso helado--literally cheese ice cream even though it has no cheese in it--ice cream made with egg yolk, milk, sugar and cinnamon--on the steps of La Iglesia de San Francisco. It's a specialty of Arequipa.

Some of the many beautiful wooden doors in Arequipa:

To Puno

After our free day in Arequipa, we spent the next day on a five hour bus trip to Puno on the shore of Lake Titicaca. It was a nice bus, but there weren't any stops or sightseeing along the way except for a brief stop at the bus station in Juliaca. Juliaca isn't a very pretty place. The main features of Juliaca are dirt streets and mudbrick buildings with spikes of rebar sticking out of the flat roofs which are left in place in case they want to build another storey later. If you are going to Puno you will go through Juliaca.

In Peru you also have the option of flying from city to city or of taking a night bus. The night buses have been robbed on occasion. If you are the type of person who wants to take the small risk and is able to sleep anywhere, it's a good way to save time and money on your trip. I'm not that type of person. Our tour company booked us into the First Class compartment as you can see from the photo below (I think because we booked late and that was all that was left). It was a double decker bus and the coach compartment was the upper level. There was a bathroom on the bus and they served snacks and had movies. I guess they play bingo on the night bus.

on the bus

landscape on the way to Puno

view of Lake Titicaca from the road

After settling in at our hotel, we wandered over to the main plaza, toured the church and found a restaurant for dinner. The restaurant gave Dan a free Pisco sour with dinner. Pisco is the famous grape brandy from Peru and a Pisco sour has ice, lime juice, sugar, egg white for froth and bitters in it. After dinner, ladies selling knitwear on the street discovered Dan was an easy target for a sale. Caleb got outfitted for the cold boat trip the next day.

How cute is this?

Be careful if you go to Puno. There were pick-pockets out looking for a mark. One tried me, but he wasn't very good at it ☺ Read your guide book and find out about the tactics they use so you can spot them. All over Peru, wear a money belt for your passport, immigration card, ATM card, credit card and most of your cash and keep a close eye on your camera and other items.

Puno is at 12,500 ft altitude. It's often below freezing at night. Wear layers.

We don't have a lot of photos of Puno because it's not as scenic as other cities in Peru and we didn't really spend much time there, but it's worth the visit for a boat tour of Lake Titicaca. Check back for my next post on that!

Sue

Copyright 2009 text and photos. All rights reserved.

Peru: Colca Canyon and Condors

This is my third Peru trip post and it contains photos from our overnight Colca Canyon trip.

We began the day in our Arequipa hotel. The photo above is Caleb and me in the lobby waiting for our tour van and holding coca leaves--we didn't actually chew them. They were in a basket on the breakfast buffet in our hotel as they were at every hotel every morning of our trip. Mate de coca (coca tea) was always available in the reception area. I like the tea.

We were picked up by our guide and driver and then proceeded to pick up two other tourists from their hotels before setting out on the road to Chivay where we would spend the night.

alpacas

After passing through all the Arequipa traffic, we made a stop at a bodega where the guide encouraged us to buy water, coca leaves and coca candy to help combat altitude sickness. We received a lengthy speech on why coca leaves are good for you. The candy was good ☺ Dan and Caleb did not have any. We drove through and stopped for photos at a nature preserve with llamas, alpacas, geese and wild vicunas.

vicunas in the wild--they round them up for sheering once a year--the most expensive wool in the world

shepherdess

beautiful girl selling handcrafted items at a scenic overlook near Chivay

More lovely little ladies. All over Peru the type of hats the women wear indicate which community they are from

Andean geese

We made several stops throughout the morning and drove over a pass at nearly 15,000 ft elevation. The elevation gave some of us headaches and made us quite tired, but we had no major problems.

We arrived in Chivay for a buffet lunch and were taken to our hotels. Chivay is a small town with mud brick buildings, narrow dirt streets and one gas station. They were preparing in the main square for an all night party for Founders' Day.

getting ready for an all night party in Chivay

our hotel room

observatory that was just steps outside our room in Chivay on the grounds of our hotel

After a little rest, we were taken to the local hot springs where we soaked and swam and then investigated a wooden suspension bridge over the river before being taken back to our hotel for the night. I should have gotten a bottle of water at the hot springs. I got dehydrated and got a bad headache. By the time we arrived back at our hotel I was DONE for the night. Caleb and I stayed in while Dan walked to the main square to watch the party preparations and find us dinner. He returned with excellent rotisserie chicken and fries from a polleria, but had a hard time telling the lady he wanted them "to go" (para llegar we were told later).

With no central heat at high altitude in the Andes, our room was quite cold even with the small space heater. The beds were made up with several warm wool blankets and at 8 PM they came around to all the rooms with hot water bottles. I was expecting the red rubber kind. What we got was a wine bottle, filled with hot water and corked and then placed in a fleece drawstring bag. Caleb was delighted. The concept of a hot water bottle was completely new to him and he loved it!

After a tiring day, a good meal and with nice warm feet, you would have thought we'd have a good night's rest, but no. The party was just getting started in the main square a couple of blocks away and it would last until after dawn with marching bands, loud music, dancing and fireworks. They really know how to have a good time in Chivay. Had we not been so tired we would have joined them for the beginning, but we were beat.

Day Two

The day dawned bright and early as Chivay was finally turning in. We met back up with our small group of travelers for a trip from the beginning of Colca Canyon to Condors' Cross. Colca Canyon was once thought to be the deepest canyon in the world (much deeper than Grand Canyon), but another nearby canyon now has that distinction. Colca Canyon is much more accessible than the other and a great place to watch the condors catch the first morning thermals and rise up out of the canyon. Condors' Cross is a cross set on the canyon rim where many condors usually fly. The guide had it timed perfectly to make an early start and see some sights along the way arriving just before the conditions were right for the condors to fly (if they decided to fly at all that day).

One guy in our group stayed at a hotel in the nearby town of Yanque and joined the procession from the church the evening before. He listened to the mayor of the town give a speech in which he named off all the town's worst sinners and their sins for the enlightenment of the assembled.

Caleb and a little cutie at a church we stopped to tour

saint that was used in a procession at the church the preceding evening and had not been put back in her niche in the church yet

stunning terraces in the canyon

donkeys taking themselves for a walk

Dan zoomed in on this photo. This cliff face is high up on the side of the mountain. The red marks are pigments used to mark the spot long ago. They found burials in the small caves.

The canyon just below Condors' Cross. If you look closely you can see two young condors silhouetted on the rocks. Below is a close-up of them.

and then they flew . . .

condors have the second largest wingspan in the bird world--second only to the albatross

I cropped this photo so you could see these two youngsters playing. One would knock the other's wingtips down so it would begin to fall and have to recover itself.

We didn't get any photos from far enough back, but groups as large as about eight would form a circle and soar on the thermals

us on the edge of the canyon

look closely--it's a vizcacha--a relative of the chincilla

Flowers above the canyon--the first one is prickly

We returned to Chivay for lunch and the drive back to Arequipa. The photo below is of cairns built as a tribute to the mountain at the highest point of the pass.

Caleb getting into the spirit of things with Andean pan pipes. We didn't bother to inform him that you have to direct your breath downward for them to work. We wanted a peaceful ride back.