Day 2-Part 2: June 18

So we hung out in the plaza, watching the festival and the locals. Temp's cousin Ben had told us a regret he had when he went to Peru (different area, same country...) Ben said a little kid asked him to shine his shoes for a small price, and Ben had refused. More out of the inconvenience...but when looking back, he said he should have because that money could have paid for food or something for the family. So Temp and I remembered that story when along came a little boy with a shoe shining kit. We wanted his services, but only had a big bill. The kid suggested getting change a little down the way of the street, but we were relaxing and didn't want to go thru the hassle. The kid got really mad and said, in english, "you are bad people, you mother f*&k*ers!" We were shocked and laughed!
Pizzerias were really big in Peru. Would have never guessed. We had pizza, Temp said it tasted like European pizza. It was pretty good, and a nice break from Peruvian food. And Inca Cola is the local favorite drink made by Coca-Cola, so we had some of that too!

I had mentioned to the manager of our hotel that our anniversary was that day, and so she made reservations at a local restaurant for us to celebrate. Buffet meal, local dancing and musicians. The food wasn't really good, but the dancing and music made up for it.

Day 1 & 1/2 of Day 2: June 17 & 18

Day 1:
About 10 hours of traveling, Norfolk to Newark, Newark to Lima, we arrive around 10:00pm. We got picked up by the hotel's taxi guy named Leo. He was very friendly, but Lima was icky. Very industrial, dirty, and the driving was absolutely crazy. Our hotel was very dingy. We were a little concerned that this was what all hotels were like, but for one night, we could survive.


Photo of our Lima hotel's street from our window.

Day 2: Happy Anniversary to us!
We had our first breakfast in Peru: toast, jam and OJ. That was the Peruvian Continental Breakfast!! A little concerned I couldn't survive off that, but I managed. Leo drove us to the airport, (in order to go anywhere in the country, you have to fly into Lima first).
The commute to the airport-Lima

We took StarPeru to Cuzco (which is really a province in Peru). The view was beautiful, we really got to see the landscape, the Andes, it was awesome.view from our plane to Cuzco

The manager of our Cuzco hotel picked us up at the airport, and the hotel was beautiful. So much nicer than the Lima one. We were immediately welcomed with Cocoa Tea to help altitude sickness. We hadn't felt it yet, but they knew it was coming. We were at 11,000 feet. (Average of Colorado Rockies is 6,800 feet.
When it hit us, was when we went up only 3 flights of steps, the quick incline knocked us for a loop. Temp got a weird headache, and I got dizzy and lightheaded. We took a nap then hit the streets of Cuzco. There was a festival at the time, all of the high schools in a parade, locals dancing in the streets--all at the main plaza.

our hotel-Antares


A story about a special little boy and our anniversary to follow tomorrow.

Diary of Peru

Each day, for the next 10 days I will blog about our days in Peru corresponding to that day we were there. There were so many pictures and stories, that I have had to spread out everything. Artsy photos on flickr, all photos will be on kodak shortly, and storytelling photos will be here....

Off to Peru

Machu Picchu, where we'll be 20 & 21st of June.

I'm a little nervous, very excited. I am expecting the trip to change me....

Goals:
-paint, draw the landscapes. No drawing from photos, I want to sit there and draw and capture the moment
-I want to educate myself on the rain forest. A goal of mine is to bring that knowledge into my classroom and dedicate the year to nature and our impact on it.
-lots of interaction with locals
-take sweet photos
-see a sloth
-not get sick
-have an awesome 2nd anniversary on Wednesday
-bring back some cool stuff

Sniffin' kitten

sal was sniffing my sandals after i was wearing them outside...he was going crazy. i get his attention--and....




sorry so pixelated...taken with cell phone video and ran thru a couple of programs

A weekend of catching up

This is Temp and his cousin Ben. He was sailing in the area on the Spirit of Charleston. We got to spend Friday evening on the ship with him. Then dinner on Saturday...it was great times.
This is almost a college reunion! Andrew, Temp, me, Jessica and Lily (only non-ODU), Olaf, Brendan and Rachel. A little dinner, conversation and memories made for a nice time. Good luck to Olaf's fam down in Charleston!