The end of the first half of the school year coincided with our three week vacation and Peruvian independence day called Fiestas Patrias (which is actually a four day celebration). On the last day of school for the semester students from every grade level, pre-school through secondary, participated in a two and a half hour event that showcased traditional dance and song from all over Peru. There is so much diversity in this country, but I never really had the chance to see it until I was able to participate in Fiestas Patrias celebration, not only at Fleming College, but in other parts of Trujillo and Lima, as well.
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| My P6 (6th grade) students preparing to perform. |
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| Students, teachers, and parents watching the opening ceremony of the event. |
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| Some of younger ones patiently waiting their turn to perform. |
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| Some of the secondary (high school) girls performing the traditional dance of Trujillo, Marinera. |
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| After the show the teachers had a great lunch outside. Grilled bull heart on a stick called anticucho (my absolute favorite) Corn on the cob called choclo Peruvian style doughnuts with a honey sauce called Piqueos And of course, wine |
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| A very happy Me. First half of the school year completed with a three week vacation coming with a visit from my parents. |
School ended on a Friday and my parents flew into Lima the following Monday for a two week visit. Before they arrived I hadn't really had the chance to travel much in Peru since I work so much, so I was excited to be able to see places like Machu Picchu and Lake Titicaca for the first time with them. To be honest, I really didn't know how well my parents would do down here with all of changes from the States. The language barrier, food, and overall cultural differences can be very overwhelming for some people visiting Latin America for the first time. It didn't take me long to see that they were going to do just fine. My Mom and Dad are hearty people who are very relaxed and accept cultural differences very well when they are aboard (and at home too). The big part of traveling with them that I was worried about was the way their bodies would react to the different foods and water since to sanitary standards are very different from home. Again, they did wonderful and no one got sick, including myself.
Having them here is, definitely, one of the highlights of my time down here so far. I know it put my mother at ease for her to see where I live in Huanchaco and that I am living a pretty safe and happy life down here.
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| The first day of our trip we took in the sights of Lima. Plaza de Armas |
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| Dad and I having an afternoon tea on the roof of our hostel in Lima |
Our first stop on the trip was a flight to Cuzco; the capitol of the Inca empire. The city, now, has over 300,000 people and is a big tourist attraction since it is so near Machu Picchu and holds so much history of pre and post colonial Peru.
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| Mom and Dad in front of the main cathedral at the Plaza de Armas in Cuzco. |
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| Dad and I at Saqsaywaman. The most important temple for the Incas. Very impressive. |
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| A view of Cuzco from the mountains outside of town. |
Our next stop was a bus ride a Puno where we would take a boat trip on Lake Titicaca. We stayed in Puno for one night and took a boat the next day to see the floating islands of Los Uros and to stay the night on the Island of Amantani in the middle of Lake Titicaca. Though very touristy, the lake is so beautiful and the people are so nice. The whole trip in itself was awesome but Lake Titicaca is near the top of my list.
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| The floating Uros Islands. Though very touristy, it was very interesting to see how these people still live. They receive no assistance from the local or national governments and make a living from subsistence fishing and tourism. |
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| Our home away from home on the island of Amantani. For 30soles ($11) a night per person we stayed with a local family; food included. |
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| The guest quarters. There were three beds and no heat, but plenty of heavy blankets. Lake Titicaca is over 12,500ft above sea level so it gets pretty cold at night. |
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| Dad sneaking a kiss while taking a walk on Amantani. |
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| While we were walking along the shore line we came upon two men building a boat. They weren't into answering questions, but they said we could stay and watch. It was very interesting, especially for my Dad who grew up on the coast in Wilmington, NC seeing boats being made throughout his child. This photo is, also, for my cousins Jess and Pat Jewell. They would have really appreciated the craftmanship. |
After a night on Amantani we continued our boat trip to the Island of Tequile where we ate a delicious lunch and went for a walk.
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| Mom relaxing at the Plaza de Armas on the island of Tequile. Walking 13,000ft above sea level is a bit more difficult that walking at sea level. There is a lot less oxygen and you can feel it. |
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| Most of the bigger islands on the lake were terraced for farming and livestock grazing. Mom and Dad said it reminded them of being on the Mediterranean. |
No rest for the weary. After returning from Puno and Lake Titicaca we were back in Cuzco for a night before taking off for the Sacred Valley and Machu Picchu. A tour operator named Luis who set us up with the trip to Lake Titicaca offered to drive us on a tour through the Sacred Valley and to Ollantaytambo (pronounced O-yanta-e-tambo) to meet our train to go to Machu Picchu. We made a few stops to see various Inca sights along the way, but the drive alone was completely worth it. The other great part was that Luis had a very nice car and we didn't have to worry about finding a reliable taxi. He didn't speak English so I was able to work on my Spanish skills by trying to translate everything. I was quite happy with my performance and I think I did it with 85-90% accuracy.
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| Photo opportunity through the Sacred Valley. |
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| Salineras A natural salt spring flows out of the mountains and into 3,000 pools where nature does its magic by evaporating the water and leaving the raw product. These process has been happening continuously since before the Incas conquered the area. That's old. |
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| Terraces of Moray An experimental farming sight leftover from the Incas. Each terrace is a separate micro-climate with, exactly, a two degree variation from terrace to terrace. |
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| Train station in Ollantaytambo About to join the circus that is Machu Picchu |
Ok. I have been writing for the past two hour and I am going to need a break. I'll be back later today with the rest of our trip and other fun stuff too.
I apologize for there are spelling or grammar errors, but I don't feel like proofing right now. If there are I'll fix them later.
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