Food, Glorious Food!

One of the great things about Caleb is that he is not a picky eater. He eats almost anything put in front of him and these days, more often than not, without any help. He doesn't always make it through a meal without getting messy, but that is all part of the fun of learning. Below are some recent photos of Caleb enjoying one of his favorite things...FOOD.

the kitchen stairs are one of his favorite places for enjoying a snack

pizza, yum!

so many choices and all good

on the stairs again with a banana in each hand

spaghetti and choclo (Peruvian corn)

Nerds candy (no idea why he is eating them this way)

pesto, delicious!

First Haircut

Probably waiting longer than we should have, we finally decided that Caleb needed a haircut. Within a 6 block radius of our house there are no less than 6 hair salons, but only one boasting the haircutting car. As you can see from the "before" picture Caleb's hair was embarrassingly long (no curl for this little guy) around the ears. I don't think the barber cut as much hair as he would have liked because despite the fun noises and steering wheel on the car Caleb's window for sitting still was about 7 minutes. The barber did his best and the end result was a dramatic improvement. We dutifully saved the cuttings for Caleb's baby book though I think everyone in the salon thought we were absolutely crazy!

Before...

...during...

...after.

Partying Like He's Never Partied Before

A couple of weeks ago, our next door neighbor, whom we know through Caleb, invited Caleb to a birthday party for her 1 year-old grand-daughter Marianita. The invitation was written on stationery from the kids show "Lazy Town" (a show about the importance of eating healthy food and exercising - the main character's name is Sportacus, really) and listed the party start time as 3:00pm. We rifled through our gift drawer for something appropriate for a 1 year-old and set off at the, we thought, fashionably late hour of 3:45pm. The party was next door, so we didn't have far to walk and upon arrival we, or rather Caleb, were very warmly received. Frankly, I think they were surprised that we showed up at all and without a maid/nanny in tow to boot. In typical Peruvian and probably Latin fashion, we were among the first guests at what proved to be the most over the top, unbelievable, crazy birthday party we have ever attended...never mind the fact that the guest of honor could neither walk nor speak! There were easily 50 kids under the age of 7, at least 3 adults for every child, and a whole brigade of nannies - seriously, it was amazing.

Up to this point Caleb has had very limited interaction with other children. For lots of reasons we are not regulars on the playgroup/playdate circuit. I once asked my Mom about play dates and if she had ever participated in such things - her response "we didn't have play dates, we had more kids and you all played together". That concept has become passe and apparently play dates are all the rage. Because of his limited interaction with other children, Caleb is fascinated by them, particularly babies. He is very gentle, but loves to touch them as if they were pets. We are working on the concept that babies are not toys or pets but people just like him. Anyway, this party was a child's paradise and there were lots of children to appreciate that. Caleb in particular was in heaven!! They had set up an enormous tent in their backyard equipped with a sound system, an old-fashioned popcorn maker, balloons galore, a table full of goodies generally not suitable for the under 3 crowd - but Caleb tried them all, cotton candy, soda, jell-0 (the one semi-nod to healthy eating), and waiters circulating with food for the adults. The day of the party, Peru was playing in the Copa Americana and so at the other end of the house there was a large, flat screen tv set up for the adults as well.

About an hour after we arrived, "Stephanie" from "Lazy Town" appeared to begin the entertainment portion of the show. She was joined over the next hour by "Sportacus", "Robbie Rotten" (the villain of Lazy Town) and "Stingy". They danced, sang (actually the voices were recorded) and led the children in all sorts of sporty games. Caleb was in heaven and couldn't contain himself. He ran around in circles and grabbed balloons and balls and popcorn and candy and anything he could find. After 2 hours we decided it was time to go home. Our host told us we had to stay longer or we would miss so much, but we graciously thanked her for the invitation and all of the fun and took an exhausted Caleb home for a long overdue nap. We heard party sounds for most of the rest of the evening.

Caleb discovering the fun of helium balloons

Stephanie from Lazy Town - Love the wig!
(Marianita is to the left with her mother)

Kids, kids and more kids

Caleb playing "sporty games" from the back...

...and the front

Crazy party antics

This view does not do justice to the insanity that was this party,
but it gives some idea of the fun that was had

Machu Picchu

We've been to a lot of places up to this point in our lives. We've had the privilege to travel all over the United States (just 4 more States to visit), visit 30+ countries and counting, tour some of the World's most exquisite museums, churches and landmarks, and watch the sun rise and set in both hemispheres. In our travels we have seen some truly spectacular sites. Despite all of this, we were unprepared for the magnitude and majesty of Machu Picchu. There is nothing underwhelming about Machu Picchu. It is enormous and surprising and astonishing. Machu Picchu rises up from what the locals refer to as the "eyebrow of the Amazon." Not quite jungle or rain forest and certainly not arid plain, Machu Picchu sits amongst several Andean peaks, like a floating island. When Machu Picchu was discovered, or rather stumbled upon, by the archaeologist Hiram Bingham in 1911, it had been untouched for nearly half a century. Vigilant preservation and accommodating visitors have ensured that the flawlessness of the buildings, terraces and walls remains intact for all to appreciate. Our first glimpse of this extraordinary city, whose origin and purpose remain a mystery, was from a bus as we drove up the switchback road to the top of the peak. Pictures of this city are recognizable all over the world and we expected the famous terraces and stone temples. But, what we didn't expect, was the seemingly gravity-defying construction of these structures. Our guide led us on a jam-packed tour through the fountains, the palace, the prisons, the cemetery, several temples, the guards' quarters, the main square, the caretaker's hut and finally the section of the Inca trail used to enter Machu Picchu. We took more than a hundred pictures (only a few of which are included below and none of which do it justice) and spent long moments surveying this amazing monument to Inca ingenuity. If Machu Picchu is on your list, and it should be, move mountains to get there. You will not be disappointed.

Easter at the Embassy

The Embassy hosted a massive Easter Egg Hunt for all children under 11. They divided the children into 3 groups (0-3, 4-7 & 8-11) and let them loose on over 1300 plastic, candy-filled eggs. In the 0-3 division the "Hunt" was more of a "sit down in the middle of several brightly colored objects my parents keep calling eggs and very carefully NOT put them in the thing they keep thrusting in my face and referring to as an easter basket." As you'll see from the pictures, Caleb was very much committed to the second definition. The Easter Bunny came as well and there was face painting and a trampoline and other diversions for all ages (including a huge delivery of Dunkin Donuts). Caleb seemed to enjoy himself and we certainly enjoyed the candy he collected. We had an Easter celebration of our own as well, but our camera, after being coaxed along for the last 4 months, finally died and so there are no pictures from that occasion. Not to worry, our new camera is en route and all will soon be right with our universe. Please note, we tried to get a picture of Caleb hunting for eggs and looking at the camera, but he was so overcome by all the egg-citement we simply could not break his focus.

Mahjong

We recently celebrated the birthday of one of the women with whom I play Mahjong. Pictures were taken (not by me of course since I rarely take pictures of anything that isn't Caleb themed) and sent around and upon receipt it occurred to me that I have not yet blogged about Mahjong. The actual origin of Mahjong (which means "sparrow" in Chinese) is unknown, though most accounts agree that it first appeared in China sometime in the mid 19th century. There is also a fair amount of evidence to suggest that Mahjong is based on a card game called Madiao created early in the Ming Dynasty. Mahjong became popular in the West in the 1920s and over the years has waxed and waned in its appeal. In the East, Japan and Hong Kong especially, there are grand tournaments with huge cash prizes and bragging rights. Today there are several versions of the game with scores of books written about the origins and rules of the game. The Western version of Mahjong is played with 144 tiles representing the four winds, three suits (bamboo, circles and characters) and three dragons (red, green and white). Broadly speaking, Mahjong is sort of an expanded form of gin rummy, but it is very fast-paced and generally involves betting.


I play Mahjong nearly every Friday with a group of women from all over the world (Austria, Bosnia, Belgium, Trinidad and Tobago, Paraguay, Sweden, Peru and the US). It's a nice opportunity to speak English, chat about whatever and have fun -- we do not play for money. I first learned to play while growing up in Hawaii and at some point my parents even acquired a Mahjong set for the family. It has been years since anyone has removed this set from the games closet in my parents' home, but with my renewed interest in the game it will shortly be winging its way to me in Peru. The women I play with have lived all over the world and have always been able to find other Mahjong lovers. I'm sure this is a new hobby that will travel with me as well.

Caleb, Caleb, Caleb

The subject of this post is...Caleb! Below are some photos we have not previously shared and, based on the following, clearly should have. We are a little biased, but we think this little one is just cute, cute, cute!

Siesta time!

With Ambassador Struble

Proof that every so often Caleb does get mad...

...but it is always short-lived

Starbucks Hot Chocolate - YUM!!

Who doesn't love to read?

The Sherpani Meets Lima Take Two

Our second outing in Lima with the Sherpani took us to the famed Plaza San Martin named for Jose San Martin who, in 1821, entered Lima and formally declared independence. After being educated in Spain, San Martin rose to prominence in his home country of Argentina when he returned to lend his efforts to South America's fight for independence from Spain. He helped liberate both Argentina and Chile before seizing power in Peru. Eventually he was appointed Protector of Peru and ultimately became the country's first President. Early in his presidency, San Martin met with the great liberator of the North, Simon Bolivar. As a result of this meeting, San Martin mysteriously resigned his positions in the government and the army and sailed for France where he died in 1850. Bolivar finished the complete liberation of Peru and eventually the Congress voted to name part of Peru in his honor (i.e. Bolivia).




There are numerous monuments to Bolivar throughout Peru, but the Plaza San Martin is rightfully dedicated to the man who first fought to wrest Peru from Spain. In the center of the plaza is a large bronze statue of San Martin erected on the hundredth anniversary of Martin's arrival in Peru. On the base of the monument is a statue of Madre Patria, the symbolic mother of Peru. Notice on her head sits a llama. The original commission called for her to have a crown of flames. The Spanish word for flame is llama and clearly something was lost in the translation. The plaza is surrounded on 3 sides by large french-style buildings. One of the more famous of these is the Gran Hotel Bolivar -- famous mostly not for its beautiful architecture but for its luxurious bar and pisco sours (a uniquely Peruvian drink). Before leaving the plaza, we ate lunch at El Estadio Futbol Club -- a delightfully cool (it was a very hot day), soccer-themed restaurant. The food was also good and reasonably priced even though the restaurant was clearly a tourist trap. From the plaza we walked down the pedestrian street Jiron de la Union that connects the Plaza San Martin with the better known Plaza de Armas.



Along the way we passed Iglesia de la Merced, the first house of worship built in Lima. It was built by Hernando Pizarro (brother of Francisco Pizarro, the Spanish explorer who conquered the Incas and founded Lima in 1535) on the site where religious services were first held. The current structure was finished in 1704 and the facade was built in the baroque style. The interior of the church is equally intricate but too dark for our camera to do it justice. After the church, we visited the Correo Central (the post office). The exterior is surprisingly intricate and reminded us of the Old Post Office in Washington, DC which I have always thought looked more like a Gothic cathedral than a place to buy stamps. There is a small museum in the building, but it was underwhelming at best.

And...we're back!

When we last left our heroes they were tramping around Lima, Peru, teaching their child the joys of riding high in the Sherpina. Since then they have at last visited the famed and truly spectacular Machu Picchu, hit some more of the lovely, yet limited, highlights of Lima, fished for Piranhas, played with monkeys, and sailed the mighty Amazon. On the horizon is a trip to Lake Titicaca, the highest (12,500 ft.+), navigable Lake in the world. Clearly we have much about which to blog. Suffice it to say we have officially and finally come up for air and are apparently now drowning in cliches. More to come...both cliches and posts...