Last day in Lima

Throughout my trip I've been very fortunate to have Gean Carlo's family's house as my home base in Lima. On the 19th, I took an early bus back across the border to Peru, returned to Puno, went out to the airport in Juliaca and then flew back to Lima. It was so nice to be greeted by the family, all excited to hear about my journeys since I'd left over a week before.

Aaron was particularly excited to see his "Tia Leah" (Aunt Leah)
and play with her camera

That evening we just hung around the house and I shared photos and stories. The next day, which was ultimately my last day in Peru, Emily (Gean Carlo's daughter) and I went off to the beach at Miraflores. We had been to Miraflores before with Gean Carlo, but hadn't ventured down to the beach. One of my favourite parts of this day was taking a minibus across town. I still don't have any idea how this system works (and Emily wasn't really able to explain it either), but it did get us there and was very entertaining along the way. The constant yelling and advertising of the "doorman" who was hanging out the side of the van, along with the various patrons of the bus, all contributed to my amusement.

El Beso statue in El Parque de Amor, Miraflores
The Kiss Statue in The Love Park, Miraflores

The beach in Lima

The fancy Marriott Hotel overlooking the Pacific Ocean and the beach

We hung out on the beach for a little while, enjoying some ice cream and the occasional bit of sunshine. When it was time to ascend back to Miraflores, Emily insisted we take the path that was fenced off and stated "Peligro" (Dangerous). There were a few people doing the same so we knew it was passable, but we couldn't really see the condition of the path past half way up. Sure enough, the stairs were there, but a lot of the way they were covered with rocks, which had obviously slid off the side of the hill and deemed the trail unsafe. Emily struggled up the path in her flip flops, but we did finally make it to the top.

A little sweaty after our hike up the hillside

Beach View

Next we went back over to Parque Union and bought a few final touristy mementos for me and then went to the grocery store. I had told Gean Carlo's mother Teresa that I would make dinner for everyone that night, so Emily and I had to go get the cooking supplies. Chinese food, or chifa, is very common around Peru, so I thought I'd try making them some Japanese food: yakisoba. It's a pretty simple stirfry of cabbage, carrots, bok choy, peppers, tofu, ginger, noodles and a few other things. I managed to find everything I needed, including "tofu cheese", as it was labeled. Dinner was a success and fun to prepare and enjoy with everyone. I even got Aaron to help out with peeling the garlic, keeping the work area tidy and helping to put things in the pot. It was reminiscent of my days of teaching the Boys Cooking Club in Vancouver- so fun.

That evening Juan (Gean Carlo's father) arranged for someone down the street to come and pick me up the next morning at about 5:00 am to take me to the airport for my 7:30 am flight back to the USA. Sure enough, he still had to go knock on the guy's door the next morning at about 5:15 to wake him up... Nina, Emily and Juan were all up bright and early to see me off to the airport. Teresa had already assured me in conversation the night before, when I was explaining to her the various "homes" I had in Vancouver, Santa Cruz, Salmon Arm and Montreal, that this could be my home in Peru. What a wonderful family.

Time to get back to my not-so-real real life....

Beginning of Peru Travels and First Blog Post

I guess now is just as good a time as any to write my first blog post. I feel like I'm going to have to add a bunch of back-dated stuff, but that can come later.

Right now I'm in Huanchaco, Peru, which is about 8 hours north of Lima. It's a quiet little beach town and a nice place to get some rest. I've been go-go-going for [all of my life?] the past week or so and I need some peace and quiet before my body starts to shut down. Miraculously, I'm still not sick (knock on wood).

I'll go back about a week to New Year's Eve:

My good friend Colleen managed to win some tickets to the Michael Franti concert so we thankfully didn't have to come up with any other plans. Things like that are always so much better when you don't know what to expect, but it was a really fun night. The crowd had a really great vibe and they even had some circus performers throughout the evening. Colleen had never seen Michael Franti before (I think it was probably my 3rd or 4th time) and she was definitely impressed. Colleen also got a little "merch package" with a tshirt, toque and some sort of media stick with music on it as part of her prize. After the show we had access to the "afterparty" which was in the basement of the Vogue and where all of the performers were gathering for drinks and snacks. We chatted a bit with the bass player and drummer (I think?) of Spearhead, Michael Franti's band, as well as chatted with the lead singer of the opening band Ghost Brothers. Eventually Michael Franti came out and thoroughly and thoughtfully went around and thanked all of the other performers as well as the few other "fans" who were gathered in the room. A very sweet man. Of course Colleen and I couldn't be satisfied with going home at 3 in the am and had to make a stop at the Roxy.... When we arrived home at 5 am I had just enough time to pack and get to the airport for my 8:45 flight to Peru!

Arriving in Lima

What seemed like days later, with very little sleep, we arrived in Lima. I met Gean Carlo and his friend Aude in the Miami airport so we could all arrive together at 5:00 am on January 2nd. The day had just begun! We went to Gean Carlo's parent's house where his daughter Emily, his sister Nina and her son Aaron, his brother Gean Marco and GM's girlfriend Kathy also live. Cozy!

By 9 am we had already showered, gotten settled, gone to the market, had breakfast and visited the family. Time to tour the city. Gean Carlo took us around to Lima Antigua, Jr. de la Union and La Plaza de Armas where the Palacio de Gobierno is located, then over to Miraflores and Barranco, a visit to the Museo Nacional de Antropologia and Arqueologia (with an amazing collection of ancient artifacts). All of that and we still had time to go grocery shopping and be home in time for dinner! It's definitely advantageous to have a local for a tour guide, to say the least. I've added a few pictures below (to tease you) and will hopefully post something more extensive on Flickr in the next few days.

Fish at the Market

Foggy Miraflores View

Aude, Emily and myself at the Puente de los Suspiros

"Hombre con Llama" at the Museo de Antropologia and Arqueologia

Museo de Antropologia e Arqueologia

Myself with Aaron, Gean Carlo and Aude

La Boda

The next day, Saturday, was Gean Carlo's cousin's wedding. We rented a minibus for the day and all 10 of us managed to be ready and pile into the van by about 12 pm (the wedding was supposed to start at 12:30 "en punto"). We drove about an hour south of Lima to a very pretty hacienda (ranch) where the wedding was being held and arrived just in time to see the very end of the ceremony and start the party! The whole family was very friendly and nice to visit with. Some of the uncles were a little more difficult to communicate with, but did like to dance! There was one other very tall white girl there. Turns out she was from Boston and her husband was Peruvian. I think we were subject to an equal amount of stares. Wine and Pisco Sours were flowing until about 8:00 pm, when the party wound down and we still made it home in time to go out on the town with some of Gean Carlo's friends. Go, go, go.

With Gean Carlo & Emily at the wedding

Being attacked by ninos

Gean Carlo and his parents

Hanging out on the street with the boys

Out on the town in Miraflores

The next few days we took a little trip down to Nazca, Ica and Paracas- which justified a whole blog post in itself. I'm starting to feel guilty about being inside and should probably get to the beach and enjoy it while I can!