Ok, because I have been asked.......

...this is what I brought home for Mike. I saw it, loved it, knew it would look great in his office entrance. So glad I got it for him, but am starting to like it in our house!

Last day in Peru

Well, I am home now. Here are a couple of last pictures just before I left. Finley was busy killing flies in the kitchen.

 There is a “fly season” and we got to experience the beginning of it! Fly season? I thought it was from the cows on the other side of the fence, but Colette assured me in her very mature 9 year old voice “Oh it gets worse, February is the worst month of all.” She is a doll, as is her sister, Salona. 

I took a quick family pic of the Treadways, as I was leaving. They are the team leaders for Pioneer Missions in Arequipa. They have lived in Peru for 12 years. It was a delight to get to know them. 

My flight home was 19 hours long, with three flights. All went well and customs was a breeze. I missed the worse of the snow in Seattle by one day. I was so grateful, as I heard some crazy stories in Miami airport. It took some people 24 hours to take a non stop flight from Seattle to Miami. One of the problems is that the de-icing truck slid into the side of their airplane! 

I texted Mike when I landed and he texted back that he was at carousal 14 picking up his baggage. (He thinks he is soooo funny!) But I tell you, the best part of coming home was getting enveloped in his arms. I didn’t let him go for quite some time. 

Yesterday was sleep, nap, sleep, but today I am feeling great. Thankful for this trip. It was great to be in and see a tiny speck of South America and to meet some wonderful people. I had a great time with Patti - lots of shared memories and laughter. I wish Eric and Rachael well and pray that God would help them to be a blessing to the people they meet and work with.

Monday

Monday

Patti and I walked (a sample of the sidewalk above) to the grocery store to poke around and figure out what is available for meals. It was fun to see all the new fruits and packaged food that is unique to Peru. We bought one experimental fruit that we will cut into today. It is pretty ugly, but I have high hopes.

In the evening Kerry arrange for a babysitter for all the children and the grownups went out to a nice restaurant called Zig Zags. It is owned by German/Swiss couples that have embraced the local fare and added their own twist. It was very fun. The person who designed the Eiffel Tower designed the stairs in this 300-year-old building. (I don’t have Internet as I write or I would Google his name).  One of their specialties is serving the meat on very, very hot stones. You order it the way you like it, it comes partially cooked and then you cut into it and lay it out on the stone and it continues to cook. Splatter city! - thus, the bibs - very fun and delicious with all of the sauces.

After dinner we went and did a bit of antique shopping for something I had my eye on for Mike, so I can’t tell here what it is.

We then split up and Shane and Eric took me to Café Berea and Pioneer Peru. This is where the ministry takes place. Shane and Kerry started the coffee shop two years ago. This is its third location and it was wonderful. Coffee shops here open at four o’clock and close about eleven. It is now totally run by local people. This coffee shop was the start of a church, which has expanded next door.  The offices of Pioneer Peru are also there. There is plan of having a nice hostel for missionaries and others to stay there. It is a wonderful location, only about 4 blocks from the center of town.  Eric sounds like he can hardly wait to get his hands on some of the remodeling. 

Really, we do more than eat!

Jonathan takes us to a good meal.

Jonathan walked us to a local place to eat “Adobo” at noon today.  One of his favorite restaurants is within walking distance and serves Adobo only on Sundays. It is a wonderful pork stew that has wonderful flavor and tastes like it cooked for hours. We walked there and enjoyed meeting the owner of “Frejoles”. He is Peruvian but spent some time living in Pitsburgh!  It was refreshing to have someone who could sort of understand our English.  

We also samples some very good lamb served on a bed of creamy white beans that were surprisingly good. Then we sampled some ceviche. I had read about staying clear of eating fish in Arequipa as it may not be fresh. When we inquired about it, the owner’s first words were “This is very good because I only serve the freshest piscado (fish)”. So we went for it. It is now ten hours later and I am feeling fine. I think I will leave chance alone and stay away from fish here on out. We are also steer clear of raw veggies in restaurants. We are careful to clean all our produce that we bring home from the store. So far, 11 days, 7 people and we have all remained healthy!

Tour Day

Saturday, January 14, 12

Today we went out and about a couple of times. Levi got a new stroller that is small enough to fit in a taxi so he got to try out his new ride. Although believe it or not Eric and Rachael came home with a washing machine in a taxi! We all walked to Starbucks for some Internet relief and some goodies. E & R will be getting Internet sometime this next week. If it is anything like getting new cell phones there will be lots of hoops to jump through and even more “uno momento’s”. Eric ended up with a free Claron hat and shirt, but would rather have saved a few hours of his life. The walk to the Starbucks and small mall is becoming normal….which are the best streets…..what cross walk is best….what sidewalks have the least pitfalls, etc. The streets are pretty crazy. Pedestrians are at the bottom of the food chain. You just stand and wait and wait, then you all agree and then “Go!”, grab kids hands and scurry. You have to have a bit of an owl neck, as cars come around the corner with no concern for cars or human life. At least the weather has been beautiful lately and the ‘water’ has stopped flowing through the streets. (gross to think of what is in it as the locals all avoid it too!)

After our time at Starbucks we split up and Patti and I took a taxi home. We were advised not to walk home from there after using a computer. Best to step outside and hail a taxi. Even on the tables they warn you “We care for you, please watch your valuables.”

Rachael made us an appointment for a 4-hour tour of the city/country side. We took another taxi - let me stop here and say - you just have to imagine that at least every other car here is a taxi. They are everywhere. Most people don’t have cars and taxis are cheap. You just wave a safe one down – there are two safe ones that we have been using (“Taxitel” and “Touristo Arequipa”)– lean in the window, show them the address where you want to go, ask how much and then get in. They cost less than $2 for about a 10-minute ride. So we got to the tour and hopped on. We were excited that we got the top front of the double decker bus, until we got up there and it was the hottest place you could find.

The tour was good but it took about 5 hours. The director said “We will stop here for 15 minutes” then about 45 minutes to an hour later we would get rolling. It was a good overview of the city of Arequipa. The only complaint was our tour leaders English. We decided that a combination of a Japanese person and the Swedish Chef taught her how to speak. It was hard to understand her but it was entertaining! “If you would like to rrread the hearse please let me know.” (ride the horse) “In the year 18-fearteen such and such was built”

When we got home, Patti plugged in the teakettle to wash dishes and blew the circuit and the house went black. I bent over to pick up little Levi in the pitch dark and my fingernail went into the roof of his mouth – he started screaming - the girls started panicking in the dark and poor Eric couldn’t find the source. About 20 minutes later finally was the hero of the evening by finding a breaker outside the gate ?! All calmed down and we are settled in for the night.

update from Arequipa

Wednesday we got the family moved into their new home. It is a lovely home with plenty of space for their family and having people over. The girls are thrilled with their room as it has a big round bed and a platform area for lots of opportunity for theatrical events.

El Misti

Patti and I are staying in a room on the roof. We like it to call it the empanada (which is sandwich in Spanish) but it is really a room for the empliata (sp? – which is helper or maid). It is the sweetest place on the third floor. There are actually two rooms, one bath and a laundry room. These will serve as guest rooms.  You can see El Misti, Pichu Pichu and ChaCh…. Mountains. El Misti is an active volcano and the other two have already blown. The view of El Mist from our location has a huge cell tower in front of it. You just have to laugh when you see it. If I wake up early enough in the morning I will snap a picture of it glowing in front of this sleeping giant.

Most of Wednesday and Thursday was waiting to move, going out to the mall for dinner and a bit of shopping (pillows where the priority), then Thursday morning was sorting and putting stuff away, then Patti and I took off for some dinner/shopping/touring therapy. We were quit proud of ourselves, using the taxi, currency, our horrible Spanish and our quick and not so quick wits. We found our way, enjoyed ourselves and got back safely. Rachael, for a change, was the mother hen, anxiously waiting for us to arrive home. Eric was out on a ‘men date’ with Jonathan and Shane, so Rachael spent a quiet evening at home with kids.

Patti and I found our way to Le Crepesmio and had ourselves an alpaca crepe (yes you read that right!) and a spinach and mushroom crepe with a wonderful frozen limenade with mint drink. We then wandered around to the shops. I may go back for my gift for Mike (shhh) today. I was haggling with Nueva Sol’s, the currency and got a bit overwhelmed. The great thing though is that I have a currency app that really helps. There was some usually touristy places and then we found some nicer gift shops. I have told myself that I won’t bring back anything that I won’t truly use or love, but you know what happens then? The price of what you want goes wayyyyy up! J (Be afraid Mikee)

After shopping and a Starbucks stop for Patti we went to the Monestario Santa Catalina for a night time, candle lit tour that Jonathan recommended. Alas, very beautiful and still. It was so still because we found out after we were in that there was no English tour guide that night. Sooooo with the help of a little map and our flashlight on our phone we found our way around. I actually really loved to be poking around and clicking away with my camera without having to keep up with a guide. Yes, for the history buffs, I am blissfully ignorant. Patti had been on the tour so was helpful to fill me in on some of the history. Quite barbarack stuff. 12 year old girls would be shipped here from Spain, put in a year of solitary confinement, then start the road to becoming a nun. This was and expected thing to do for one daughter of each very wealthy family.

After our tour we returned to our Crepe place and had our dessert. Yum.

We don't have email right now, so we are sitting at a Starbucks for a few minutes, then off for a country side tour. Should be fun!

Monday in Arequipa

Shane and Kerry, Colette and Salona have the perfect vehicle for getting us all around. Pack 'em in!

 We are not in Kansas...

 Going to the mall...

 We had a great dinner at "Norky's" a chicken rotisserie place with yummy chicken and new sauces.

Shane and Kerry. He is a very, very serious kind of guy as you can see.

 This is a local Peruvian drink. Sweet and mild and very good. Made of blue corn, sugar, cinnamon!

 Chicha Morada

 Looks like America to me except almost everyone stares at our group with these blondes! The ladies especially fuss over little Levi with his blond hair and very light blue eyes.

 Mike this is for you. You go upstairs to the second floor to do your car shopping!

 Today Patti, Emery, Finley and I we went for a walk (about 7 blocks) to Starbucks and to pick up a few things at a smaller mall. These pictures don't tell the true story of how protective we were of the girls. Being in a foreign country, lots of cars, narrow sidewalks, dirty water in the streets, no pedestrian laws, etc. certainly added to the adventure. I felt better walking home and then getting back to the safety of our secure living place. People do this all the time, but my first outing was 'high adventure'.  Next time it will be better.

 We stopped for a bit of comfort....

 We don't have a clue what these are but I want to try them...some sort of mango/passion fruit/papaya?