Cuzco (elevation 11,000 feet)

Another night bus from Arequipa brought us to Cuzco.  Landon & Tianna were excited to be on the top floor of the double decker right in front.  It felt as though we were driving the bus and at times I wish I was!  

For such a large vehicle it amazed me at how many times the driver decided to overtake other equally large vehicles such as fuel trucks!  I clung on desperately as the bus careened around hairpin turns.  Let's just say I did a lot of praying on this night.  Oh and each time the driver went over 90kmph an alarm would sound with an annoying beep and would keep beeping until he slowed under 90.  How did I know this is why it was beeping?  Because it would also show up on the screen above our heads (the same screen that told us the temperature and the time).  Why would we, the passengers, need to be alerted to this, especially in the middle of the night?  It's not like we could do anything.... I never did find out why!!
We arrived, safe & sound, Thanks to God, at 6:00am and there waiting for us at the bus station was our 2nd Couch Surfing contact.  His name is Ramiro and he and his wife Vanessa have 3 children Lia (4), Liam (3) and Kim (1).  Also living with them is their niece Janeth.  

 helping Vanessa get the kids ready for school 

 so happy we were there to pick them up from school

Ramiro holding Kim, Liam, Vanessa, Lia, & Janeth

Ramiro has his own travel business called Info Cuzco.  He organizes treks into Machu Picchu however in order to do this 4 day hike one needs to book several months in advance.  (JC & Landon would have joined a group if it was possible).  Due to the high elevation of Cuzco we were warned not to do too much on the first day but drink lot's of coca tea which was fine by me since I didn't sleep much on the bus and was very tired.  The kids went hard though playing with the 3 kids!  Of course as usual they bonded immediately despite the language barrier, play is the universal language.  The cutest thing ever is listening to little ones speak spanish especially when they are excited.  Kim had just learned to walk so Landon & Tianna spent lot's of time having her walk between them.  Her only word is 'Pa Pa' but after a couple days we taught her to say "Ma Ma", I think Vanessa was happy about this.  In the afternoon JC & Landon went to the Plaza (remember every city has one?).  They came back with pizza and Ramiro's brothers Eddie and Clever and we all watched Peru vs. Chile that Ramiro projected onto his wall.  Unfortunately Peru lost 3 - 0.

The next day we treated Ramiro and his family to treats at the Chocolate Museum, yummmm!  Landon was able to do a mini-lesson on how to make chocolate in the kitchen while the rest of us enjoyed hot chocolate, mocha's, & chocolate fondue.

On our 3rd day in Cuzco we were so thrilled to have our very own tour guide come with us to a few of the attractions Cuzco has to offer.  Ramiro's brother Clever has studied the history of the Inca people and is a guide on the Inca trail to Machu Picchu but not today!  His clients from Argentina had to cancel due to a sickness but very fortunate for us because his knowledge of the area was priceless.

Clever (our awesome tour guide), city of Cuzco behind us

  

 

Landon purchased his CD and then got a lesson on his 18 string guitar!! 

 

Clever taught us all about the history of Inca's and showed us their ancient runes. The first Inca's came from Bolivia, & the first Inca building was in the shape of a Puma.  The Puma was important during this time and the head was a symbol called Saqsaywaman.

 pronounced "sexy woman"!

Saqsaywaman is an impressive fortress on a hill overlooking Cuzco, erected over five centuries ago when the Inca ruled.  Some of the huge rocks weighed more than 100 tonnes.  This fortress is a remnant of the once-mighty Inca empire, which at its peak in the late 1400's stretched from southern Columbia to southern Chile, about 4000 km.

After our tour we were dropped off near the Plaza and main square which is lined with restaurants, shops, old buildings with attractive balconies and street vendors.  It was certainly bustling but we found a nice quiet restaurant recommended by Clever where we enjoyed a superb italian lunch.  I loved watching all the Indigenous women wearing colourful shawls and heavy, long skirts with their long black hair in two braids down the back and a bowler hat that sits high on top of their heads.  Many also had a baby strapped to their back tied on with a colourful blanket.  Some of the women look too old to have a baby that young so presuming it's the grandma?!

Afterwards, we purchased more stuff than we have during our entire trip.  It was fun though and very reasonably priced which is a bonus for us budget travellers.  The time we spent hanging out in the town square was typical of Southern American cities as we were approached to buy all sorts of stuff, paintings, greeting cards, passport holders, finger puppets being sold by 2 little boys, bird seed, and even a mute & deaf lady asking for donations for her school.  Of course we bought a turtle finger puppet that Tianna named Henry and made a donation to the school.

 so much stuff to buy!

 Showing our newly weaved bracelets 

 

  

  MAKING PASTA!

 We highly recommend anyone thinking of hiking the Inca trail to Machu Picchu to book your trek with Ramiro!!

 ENJOYING THE FRESH PASTA!!

It was nice to have one more day with Ramiro's family after Machu Picchu, Vanessa was so sweet to make us a beautiful card with pictures of both our families and she also gave us a painting of Huacachina that she painted!!  

An incredible artist, mother, wife, business woman and now friend to a bunch of crazy Canadians!!

AMIGO'S!!

Food and Traditions in Peru!

Peru has been awesome and is so rich with culture and tradition that it's hard to remember all the details but I'll try.

Okay so I know I'm not alone when I ask who would be willing to eat Anticucho, Heart of Cow?  All the Peruvian people say how delicious it is but I'm not convinced!!  Landon wants to try it though.  He's much braver than I am?!?

This women is one of many preparing heart of cow on the street in Arequipa!

Many of the food here is so different from what we would prepare at home:
- Chicha drink - made from purple corn
- Mazamorra dessert - also made with purple corn and pineapple and has the consistency of pudding
- Ceviche - fish 'cooked' in lemon juice (no heat) the acid from the lemon juice cooks it
- more than 500 different types of potatoes, including freeze dried where they leave the potatoes in a very cold running stream for about a month.  Potatoes only cost 1 soles for 2 lbs. (that's about 38 cents).
- Cactus fruit they call Tuna
- Granadilla fruit which has bitter jelly & seeds inside but when it's blended and sugar is added tastes wonderful.
- Coca Tea (more on this below from JC)
- Inca Kola, yellow pop that taste similar to cream soda
- All the yogurt is liquid which we pour on cereal or fruit
- fresh lime/lemon juice, they look like limes but are called lemons?!
- Guinea Pig, how could we ever eat Guinea Pig, I had one as a pet when I was a kid.  RIP Ottis!
The one food we have all been missing from home is peanut butter and were so excited to find it in the grocery store.  We all did a happy dance!  It cost $19 soles which is $7.30 for a small jar...of course we bought the last jar on the shelf and then went back for more a few days later!

I will try to explain the Easter week traditions of the Catholic population in Peru which is about 90%.

JC & I at the Plaza

The celebrations begin on Palm sunday and every day of the week leading up to Easter has it's traditions including what food you eat on each day.  There is a procession every night of the week where each church will march with statues of Mary and come together in the Town Square.  


JC & I helped(a little bit) with preparing a Peruvian meal compliments of Giannina.  It was called Lomo Saltado which consisted of fried potatoes, saute onions, beef steak seasoned with cumin & pepper, tomatoes & parsley.  It was soooo good!  
After our meal with the Posner's, Giannina, Joel, JC & I ventured down to the Plaza where thousands of people gathered to visit 12 churches.   We made it to 3!  On this day the Peru people will eat 7 meals!!  We definitely feel this is more about tradition than a personal relationship with Jesus but it's interesting all the same.  Something you don't see everyday that we witnessed at the Plaza was suddenly all these women running down the street holding benches over their heads, I guess the street was just closed off to traffic and these women were running to secure the best spot to sell their food!  My new Peruvian friend Giannina is going to help me get this right so I will add more or make corrections as needed!  

  

Compliments of Giannina's website!

Easter in Perú

Holy Week is one of the religious dates venerated in Peru with great devotion there are processions, carpets of flowers, the aroma of incense, sorrowful hearts, slow pacing, grief-stricken by the death of Jesus, temples with candles welcoming devotees begging pardon for their sins. Just a few of the demonstrations of their faith.
Food is an important part of Easter, especially on Friday where eating meat is not allowed but people instead eat fish in a variety of preparations,most people eat the typical Chupe de Viernes (Friday Soup) made with Crabfish, cheese, milk, potatoes and vegetables. People eat as well variety of desserts like Mazamorra Morada (Jelly made from starch and fruits and colured with purple corn) or rice pudding. On sunday it’s typical to eat in Arequipa the “caldo blanco or seven meats soup” made with beef, lamb, chicken, pork, charqui (dried meat), goats and potatoes and vegetables to celebrate that Jesus is alive again.

Here are JC's thoughts:

The Catholic traditions and idols are much more intense here than in North America, down to what to eat on which day of the week (during lent) including 12 meals that must be consumed, all day, I believe on Easter Sunday? Shelley and I went down to the main city square, each community in the city has their own square, all complete with a statue of Mary holding Jesus. The streets downtown where closed off due to the thousands of people who goal was to visit 12 Church's yesterday alone...great experience however no personal relationship with Jesus, more of the "Pharisee" outer stuff!!

Kissing on the cheek is the norm for Peruvians, everyone from little children to the elders kiss you on the cheek upon saying hello and goodbye.  

Even little Dennis who is only 1 year old knows to kiss you on the cheek!

Not so much a tradition, more like an observation....we noticed that Kid’s aren’t in car seats, no one wears a seatbelt or uses a helmut – seems to be very few laws even though there are plenty of policemen on every corner?!


Something I don't think I will ever get used to is the lack of toilet seats, even in some of the fancy malls or nice restaurants.  Sometimes you even have to pay to use the banyo but still must squat since there is no seat!!


Now back to JC's explanation of what Coca tea is:
Coca tea is a herbal tea drank daily by the Southern Peruvian people. This leaf is also chewed on for centuries throughout the day by the (Andean’s) highlanders, as the coca plant with a complex array of mineral nutrients, essential oils, and varied compounds creating a benefit to human health yet is not addictive.  The traditional method of chewing coca leaf, called “Acullico”, consists of keeping a saliva-soaked ball of coca leaves in the mouth together with an alkaline substance that assists in extracting ingredients from the leaves. When chewed, coca acts as a mild stimulant and suppresses hunger, thirst, pain, and fatigue. It has also shown to be an aid in the relief of high altitude sickness. There is an increasing use of coca flour as a food supplement.

Now if you are wondering coca is similar to an ingredient used in the making of Coca Cola…well in a word yes, the coca leaf was used at one time as an ingredient in Coke, due to it’s stimulant effect, however it was removed and now a decocainized coca extra is used as one of the flavoring ingredients. It is however the main ingredient in the making of cocaine!! Yes, amongst an entire laboratory process this is the plant used in the street drug, yet it has no drug effects when chewed or steeped in a tea. It is illegal to take out of the country and does leave traces of cocaine in your system for a few days after drinking or chewing it...so place a "note to self" those of you planing on competing in any upcoming international sporting events!!

A word you don’t want to use when speaking to the local police is Papuse, which means cocaine.  In Costa Rica we wanted to buy ingredients to make Pupusa, a local fried soft taco like product with beans, veggies and cheese, but accidently said Papusa!!  Yikes!

Arequipa, Peru

The past 10 days here have been insightful and educational.....now that may sound boring to some but learning about another culture by living in it is far from boring!
Once again we have been blessed to be staying with a couple we connected with through one of my co-workers at Forestry.  Thanks Leanne!  Her uncle is a Pastor here in Arequipa.  Dennis and his wife Ruth have lived here for 30 years, raised their kids here and continue to do God's work in this area.  

This is the view from behind our house!
 Can you see the snow capped mountains in the background?

Now don't be thinking we have to be on our best behaviour staying with a Pastor, oh no Dennis has taught our children all sorts of stuff, just ask Landon and Tianna about the 'Mississippi Ripper' and 'Fraser Fluffer' :-) and the sound of his back cracking or how loud his sneezes are!  He is quick witted and they love him and all his jokes, stories and teasing but most of all they love the chocolate he gives them almost daily!! Princesa Chocolate is the best according to Uncle Dennis! 

Landon is attempting to flick puff wheat into Uncle Dennis's mouth!

Ruth is a wonderful cook and we've been so thankful to share lot's of meals together.  Tonight we made home made pizza and JC & Tianna made the dessert, Nana's puff wheat cake!  

I think their dog Rose has accepted us as part of the family.

I borrowed the following from my new Aussie friend whom we met in Huacachina.  She and her family were in Arequipa prior to meeting us and this is what she has to say (by the way she is a teacher so all the facts will be correct:-))  Thanks Katherine!

"Built from giant white stone slabs of volcanic rock 250 years ago, Arequipa has plenty of charm. It is built around the central plaza where there is an impressive cathedral and is called the white city for the beautiful colonial homes and buildings built from the white stone. But even more spectacular is looking skywards toward the perfectly cone shaped volcano, El Misti, which is covered in snow and is 5822m above sea level."

Arequipa is at 8000 ft. elevation and was hit hard by an earthquake in 2001 which the government downgraded so they wouldn't have to cover the cost of power and water for their people.  Typical.
Unlike North America, in Peru and I'm assuming all central and south american countries, the poorest people live on the hills surrounding the city.  Many of these homes, put together with brick and tin mostly, do not have running water or electricity.

In this subdivision most of the houses do not have electricity & the only water source are taps in the street.  

The city of Arequipa, is about the same size as Vancouver but I don't think you would see in any canadian city sheep grazing in a field next to a subdivision, cattle being hearded down the same street followed by a mercedes benz!

Tianna & I joined Ruth at the Market which was so cultural that I was buzzing and wanted to take pictures of everything but Tianna was being cautious and did not want me pulling out the camera with so many people around.  A visual treat is watching the local women in their below the knee traditional skirts, thick tights, embroidered vests, hats, and long braids and I managed to sneak a few shots but not nearly enough.

By the way, eggs do not need to be refrigerated, but if you do then they must stay cold.  All the eggs we've seen in Central and South America have not been in refrigeration.

Just a small sample of the more than 500 varieties of potatoes!

Cheese Pleeeez

None of the meat is refrigerated and just before this picture was taken Tianna & I saw a whole pig including the head being wheeled through the market and it looked like it had been skinned.......I'm thinking it's time I go back to being a vegetarian!

The moment we've all been waiting for.....The Hunger Games movie was showing in Arequipa and it was in ENGLISH!!  We all agreed though that the book is better than the movie.

We were able to be part of a team setting up for a sale they had at Ruth & Dennis's church which raised some money to buy craft supplies for the Ladies Ministry.  

JC & Dennis taking a break

Landon and his new friend Alex

We set up on Friday and returned for the sale on Saturday.  The church was packed with people all day purchasing used clothing, shoes, toys and household items.  We met so many wonderful Peruvians on this day.

Dennis and his mom!  Tianna thinks she is so lucky!!

PAMELA & TIANNA

Linda, the Irish import!

I know I've mentioned this before but God's timing is remarkable.  The other day JC & Tianna went to the store to buy soup for lunch because for some reason (unexplainable, God moment?) I only bought one pkg. of noodles when we were grocery shopping.  But because of this they met a Peruvian lady Giannina with her 3 children.  She and her husband Joel along with their children Diago, Joey, & Gabby are from Minnesota but just moved to Peru for 3 years to do missions with Kids Alive.  Our families connected immediately and we've done many outings together including having their 3 kids over for a sleep-over complete with a Netflix movie and popcorn, just like home!

Our kids attended a kid's club similar to VAC kids and learned a very cool way to remember the 10 commandments using actions.  The spanish services for us have been a challenge, at least the music is familiar but it's hard to remember the english words when everyone around you is singing in spanish.  Fortunately for us we have VAC services we can listen to online!! Definitely missing Pastor Stuarts sermons. 

Down time!

JC & I even had some adult time when we left all 5 kids at Joel & Giannina's place to attend a professional soccer match between Arequipa & Lima.  With the view of Volcano Misti in the background the four of us watched and cheered while Arequipa beat Lima 3 - 0.

One of the Lima players had most of the back his jersey ripped right off by an Arequipa player, he left the game and then removed his jersey while walking back to his teams bench.  oh and we think the Referee’s favourite colour was yellow since he flashed his yellow card almost every time he blew his whistle!

Another beautiful sunny day was spent in the mountains at 10,000 feet elevation almost at the base of Misti.  There we walked around the familiar town square, which every community in Peru seems to have one.  They call it the Plaza and after the 2001 earthquake in Arequipa it was the first thing rebuilt.  This the one place where everyone in the community can meet so it is very important to the Peru people to keep it looking nice.  

1914

 Not far from the Plaza we came upon a meadow with a creek, sheep grazing, wild flowers to pick, which was the perfect spot to eat our picnic lunch that Ruth and Linda prepared.  Linda is a lovely, energetic lady with a heart for God from Ireland also here on a 2 year missions trip (we love her accent!).  

A perfect spot for a picnic!

Landon makes 'friends' wherever we go!

On the way down we parked next to a rock quarry where Ruth lead us into a cave that had water falling on the rock wall which was bright orange from the minerals (we think copper although it smelled like sulphur).

The Zoo was one attraction I wish we would not have done.  It was just way too sad seeing all the animals who should be in the wild trapped in cages.  Watching the monkeys swinging in a cage was hard to see since we got to witness what free monkeys look like in Costa Rica.  I was face to face with a lion who seemed so sad and was looking directly at me with his big eyes saying 'get me outta here'.....I had to leave.


All day there was a contest (ice cream to the winner) to see who could spot the oldest building which was 1914.  It's questionable who the winner actually was so we all got ice cream:-)


While playing at the park behind where we are staying our kids along with the Posner kids went exploring and found Eucalyptus and onions growing next to a field, lot's of them, we brought them home and made a yummy french onion soup.  

Tianna, Landon and Ruth made cookies to take to the kids at the orpanage

of course the kids had to 'test' them first:-)

We just spent the past couple days at an orphanage in Peru with 26 children, including 2 babies.  

These kids which range from 6 months to 15 years old are starving for affection and although we did not speak the same language and couldn't communicate there was no mistaking our 'love hugs'.  Some of the girls just wanted to hold my hand and even the boys would come up to me for a long hug.
 15 kids and I walked to the park and one was in a wheelchair but they are all so good with helping her.  We played soccer and various other games and they just seemed happy to have someone pay attention to them, even though it was only for a short time.  One little 3yr. old boy Pedro fell off the swing hitting his head on the cement(at the orphanage, not the park Thank God) and he got a huge bump on the back of his head.  He cried for about 30 minutes and all I could do was sit with him holding ice on his head.  Then suddenly he stopped crying, took his jacket off, wiped his nose with it and got up. Later he even came to the park with the rest of us.  For the time I was sitting with him I kept thinking only his mom or dad could comfort him and take away his pain but of course they weren't there!  

There are also two babies, Mateo (which means Mathew) lives there with his 12 year old mom!!  YES, 12 years old and when she got pregnant was 10....let’s just say the pregnancy was not her fault by someone too closely related....this is hard to even write about and my heart aches even sharing it.  The other baby Alexandro was sold (or given away) by his mom to two university students in Lima so they could sell him.  They were caught and the baby is now living in this orphanage in Arequipa.  Landon, Tianna & I could not get enough of holding these babies.

Also at the orphanage they needed some repair work done to the playground equipment and JC stepped up to do it.  He and two other men from the USA, Joel & Alex who are living here doing missions, managed to do the re-roofing required.  Landon not only helped with the construction but also paid for the building materials from the money he earned snow shoveling before we left Canada!  I am so proud of my boys!!

Thanks to Becki Ott from Vernon we were able to share the Salvation Story in spanish.  The children loved coloring and reading from the booklets we brought along.  Please remember these children in your prayers!

Gianna along with her sister cooked us all a fabulous Peruvian meal which we enjoyed after spending the day at the orphanage.  It was similar to scalloped potatoes and there were two sauces, one not spicy and the other extremely hot!  Also a tuna dish with onions and tomatoes in it.  yummm!  Oh and Inca Kola of course:-)

So the best surprise we enjoyed this trip came from our kids on our 12th Anniversary.  When JC & I returned home from the celebrations downtown the kids had the apartment dark, flicked on the lights, yelled surprise and presented us with signs, flowers and a candle on the table, served us cookies and wine (which Tianna included a lime wedge) then a spaghetti dinner!  They even had music playing from the touch phones.  After we ate we all danced to Tianna's song 'I hope you dance'.  It was the BEST anniversary ever! 

One discovery we made during our anniversary celebration was if you squeeze lime into very sweet wine it makes it taste much better!  REALLY!!

On our last Sunday in Arequipa Landon was invited to join the worship band at Church, he was thrilled to play the drums in the band!!

Tianna & I purchased some Easter chocolates for all the children from the orphanage at church and handed them out after the 2.5hr. service!!  

Landon made his famous pancakes for the last breakfast

Tianna making freshly squeezed orange juice......

.....to serve with breakfast at the Colvin Cafe

Farewell Ruth and Dennis, we loved staying with you, getting to know you, serving with you, and having you part of our family for 2 weeks!