The Lake Effect

This is a long overdue entry, but in my apparent efforts to bolster tourism to and around Peru (or at least to provide incentive for more visitors to us), I thought posting it now was definitely better than never.

Shortly after our adventures on the chocolate ribbon that is the Amazon, we took a weekend jaunt to the city of Puno on the banks of Lake Titicaca. As my readers should expect by now, the following are some facts about the lake for those interested. At more than 12,500 ft elevation, Lake Titicaca is the highest navigable lake in the world. And, if you are measuring by volume, it is also the largest lake in South America (though, as you might have learned from previous posts, Lake Maracaibo in Venezuela is traditionally considered the largest lake on the continent). It is located on the borders of Peru and Bolivia and at its deepest point is more than 930 feet deep.

After flying into Puno (the airport is actually in a town called Juliaca) several things are immediately evident. 1) 12,500 ft above sea-level is VERY, VERY, VERY high and the change in altitude is more than noticeable. You can take altitude sickness pills to counteract the effects, but the shortness of breath, sleeplessness and dull headache usually persist in spite of the medication. 2) Puno is ugly and apart from its proximity to the lake, forgettable. 3) Lake Titicaca is an indescribably beautiful shade of blue and overwhelmingly vast.

Various islands dot the surface of the lake including Taquile, which we visited. Roughly 2000 people live and work on the island. We reached it by speedboat and then climbed, really slowly, to the top of the island and the main square where the residents congregate each day awaiting the arrival of tourists and supplies.

The most interesting part of our visit was the Uros islands, a series of literally floating islands constructed of reeds. The reeds are tamped down to form a solid base that must be replenished every 3 weeks. These same reeds are also used in the construction of all houses, communal structures and boats. These islands and the people who continue to live on them were fascinating. There are over 20 unique islands in the group and because they are floating can be moved throughout the lake if a change of location is desired or required.









Finally, we crossed the border into the town of Copacabana in Bolivia which feels a lot like Tijuana. While in Copacabana we did some shopping, sampled the local "popcorn" and visited a few historical sites.

One Final Halloween Hurrah

These are my parents Lou Ann and Jesse dressed for work on Halloween. They did not go to any parties or host any parties or participate in a costume contest or anything requiring a costume. They are just really fun folks who felt inspired to celebrate in style by dressing up for work. My parents have always had lots of great ideas for celebrating, among other things we got green milk in our cereal on St. Patrick's day, pink heart-shaped pancakes for Valentine's Day and my Mom was the scariest witch in town on Halloween. And my Dad, who is a college professor, often takes themed treats to school for his class (homemade by my Mom). Of course, he didn't have to extend himself very far outside his normal attire to pull off this costume, but he did wear the hat and carry the club with him most of the day - even to class, I can only imagine what his students must have thought.

Lines In The Sand

This weekend we visited the regions of Ica and Nazca in Southern Peru. You might have heard of Nazca as it is famous for the mysterious lines drawn on the desert floor. The Nazca culture existed between 200 BC and 700 AD during which time they "drew" hundreds of figures throughout their region. Some of the figures are fairly complex and only really visible from the air thus prompting scientists to wonder why and how the lines were constructed with such accuracy. Because of the weather conditions in this region, the lines do not suffer from erosion and continue to be highly visible today. To view the lines we, with our friends who were in town and Caleb, took a 6-seater airplane up and over the lines. The plane dips to nearly a 45 degree angle as it crosses the larger and more prominent figures causing most passengers to vomit, something some of our party experienced as well, so we have few pictures of this particular adventure. Despite this, the general consensus was that the trip was completely worth it and that the lines really are amazing - considering that they are only at most 30 cm deep and have existed for at least 1500 years. And, like many of the places we have been in Peru, the Nazca lines are also a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Caleb pointing to an airplane taking off, a word he learned while waiting for our flight

On the plane just before take-off

Not our photo, but we did see this figure called "the hands"

the monkey

the spider

Back on the ground

In addition, we visited the city of Ica, which was very near the epicenter of the 8.0 earthquake Peru had in July of this year. On our trip down we passed through small towns still in the throes of cleaning up the remnants of houses, shops, schools and churches. There were Coleman tents all over the region where residents live while their houses are reconstructed. Unfortunately, this region of Peru is so poor it is/was hard to tell what was earthquake damage and what was just the result of no resources and poverty.

In Ica we stayed at the Las Dunas Resort which backs into the most enormous sand dunes we have ever seen. The resort was very nice and we took full advantage of the pool, grounds and dining facilities.

Playing in the Pool at the hotel

Playing in the fountains outside our hotel room

Las Dunas by day...
and at sunset

We also went for a dune buggy ride through the dunes. Because I am "very" pregnant, our ride was apparently not as death-defying as it could have been, which worries me a little since it was pretty exciting and precarious. Caleb wasn't quite sure if he was having a good time or not, but there was no actual crying so we decided he was more happy than not. Kenny and one of our friends also went sandboarding on the dunes - our other friend, who is also pregnant, and I were not able to participate, but I'm not sure I would have anyway. Much like snowboarding, sandboarding looked like a lot of fun with a lot of potential for real pain if something went awry.

An oasis amidst the dunes

Raring to go on our dune buggy adventure

Sand boards at the ready

Kenny sand boarding

Another successful and fun family outing

Jungle Fever

Earlier this year our travels took us to Iquitos, in the Amazon Jungle. As you might imagine, the jungle climate was hot and humid. The town of Iquitos is small, but bustling and overrun with motorcycles and mototaxis (something like a rickshaw with a motorcycle up front). There are few cars and buses because the only way to get there is by air or boat. From the airport we went directly to our speedboat and took a 45 minute ride on the Amazon river to our jungle lodge.

Because I'm sure you're curious (probably not, but I can't help it) here are a few facts about the Amazon River and Jungle/Rainforest: Though not the longest, the Amazon is the largest river in the world in terms of volume and accounts for 1/5 of the world's available fresh water. During the dry season the widest point of the river is 7 miles, but in the rainy season it has reached a width of 28 miles. Because of the vast difference between the dry and rainy seasons, the Amazon has no bridges. The Amazon Rainforest is the largest rainforest in the world and produces 50% of the world's oxygen. More than 1/3 of all species in the world live in the Amazon including more than 3000 varieties of fish alone.

We spent 5 days in the Jungle fishing for piranha, hiking/walking through the Jungle, watching pink and gray dolphins, feeding parrots and macaws, playing with monkeys, birdwatching, eating food we'd never heard of including fresh fish caught daily in the river, walking across the rainforest canopy (some 100 feet above the ground), hunting tarantulas, swimming, becoming acquainted with anacondas and centipedes and admiring a Capybara (world's largest rodent - I like to think of him as an ROUS - rodent of unusual size) named Charlie - he was as big as a Labrador. It was an unforgettable experience and we recommend a visit. Plus, you could stay with us on the way there and back - we're fun, I promise, even if Lima is kind of a bust.

Starting Young

Yesterday I took Caleb with me on some errands. Foolishly I took him to a store that was floor to ceiling full of small and breakable pieces. I told him repeatedly not to touch anything which he then repeated back to me the whole time we were in the store, whilst touching everything in sight. Cute, but not exactly what I had in mind. Luckily, we are in Peru and his blond hair and blue eyes win over all Latinos so the shopkeeper was totally unconcerned by his lack of discipline. After leaving the store we needed to cross the street and when I grabbed his hand I realized he was keeping it in a very tight fist. I opened his fist and found a very small ceramic sheep that clearly had come from the store and that we had most definitely not paid for. My 21 month old child had officially become a shoplifter! We went back to the store to return the sheep and I tried explaining to Caleb the problem with what he had done. But, I don't think it registered since he smiled the whole time and said over and over again, "no touch, no touch, no touch"!

And No, He Is Not A Cow

Halloween in Peru is a non-starter so we have already done all of our celebrating. In fact, the idea of Halloween is only beginning to catch on here and last year we had kids coming to our house, not a costume in sight and shouting "HALLOWEEN" instead of "trick of treat" - it just doesn't have the same effect. And maybe I'm old-fashioned or just plain mean but I don't give out candy when there are no costumes (even to really poor kids - looks like I am just mean).

We carved our pumpkin last week for Family Home Evening and because of the humidity it became moldy so quickly it has already been thrown away.




The last Friday in October was last week so the Embassy Halloween party was then and thus the only costume donning occasion for Caleb has come and gone. And for the record, in spite of all claims to the contrary, Caleb is dressed as a Giraffe, not a COW! A Giraffe with special powers no less - see here: Sebastian's Crazy Peruvian Life



And, though I spent all last week and especially most of last Thursday and Friday shopping and cutting and taping and planning and setting up the Political and Economic sections combined table for the Embassy party (each section puts together a table or something for the kids to come and trick or treat to - ours was pretty low key though I did create a 7 foot witch using a ladder, oodles of black garbage bags, a whole roll of duct tape, string, cardboard and dowels spray painted black), the one thing I failed to do was capture any of my preparations or final product on film. But, the table did win first place (better than our third place finish last year) in our category and I have a picture of our victory - note, I am including this picture because it is all I have despite the fact that I looked haggard and less than my, well not stellar, but at least better looking self.

They're There, Just Dormant

I used to cook/bake a lot, okay, maybe not a lot, but definitely more than I do now. Now, we have a maid and she does most of the cooking, despite the fact that for a long time her cooking was bad, actually more like terrible. But, as bad as it was, having her do it still meant that I didn't have to. After we had lived in Peru for a few months our friends starting asking us for our weight loss secrets. Neither of us being on a diet, we thought this curious, until we realized that we had kind of stopped eating. The food served at our house was so bad that we were only eating enough to keep from feeling hungry, but the days of overeating or heaping portions or seconds were long gone.

After some consideration we concluded that the problem was not the ingredients we were buying, but the horrible things happening to the ingredients after leaving the store. Meat was marinated (yes, that's right) in soy sauce and then cooked for HOURS. Vegetables were soaked in salt and oil and then seasoned again with something called Sillao which is Peruvian soy sauce and truly disgusting. Perfectly happy rice and pasta were cooked with whole cloves of garlic and more salt than anyone should eat ever to the point that we consumed half a glass of liquid with every bite. At first I thought it was just that Peruvian food is bad, but we had some solid evidence that such a generalization really couldn't be true. Then, I bought cookbooks in Spanish which I think were looked at, but I'm pretty sure our maid had never learned to follow a recipe (and trust me, I now know this is a skill) so this did nothing to help our cause. Finally, I tried teaching her to make recipes for things we like to eat, Enchiladas, Spaghetti and Meatballs, Chili, but the results were dismal failure. Clearly, something had to be done. We hired a woman from our church congregation to come to our rescue. And did she ever! The food in our house has transformed (back to food). Vegetables and meat are recognizable AND edible! Rice tastes like rice, not garlic, and we are starting to get less Peruvian cuisine and more international variety. SUCCESS!

Ironically, through all of this, mostly because of a language barrier, I spent less and less time in the kitchen - short of doing everything myself I couldn't solve the problem and watching the process was like watching a train wreck knowing you were powerless to intervene. Now, with our food problems on the mend I have returned and rediscovered that when I say I hate to cook, what I actually mean is, I hate to clean up afterwards. My cooking and baking skills have had a rebirth and the proof is in the pudding, or rather cake. I recently make a double chocolate rum cake with raspberry rum glaze and shiny chocolate sauce from SCRATCH!! I dirtied 3 sauce pans, 2 mixing bowls, my kitchenaid and countless utensils and measuring devices but is was DELICIOUS! It was a new recipe for me, and I think the beginning of new culinary adventures...maybe.

Culinary skills dormant no more - and it looks pretty too!

Location, Location, Location

We have just learned this week where the State Department is sending us next. After an anxious and excited wait, we have received our assignment and expect to begin our tenure there sometime in late Summer 2008. Just for fun, we are letting our faithful readership test their divination and geography skills with only the facts below as a guide. The first correct answer will be appropriately recognized (be first and you'll find out exactly what that means...).

Our next country post:

1. Is Spanish speaking

2. Borders a major body of water

3. Has some of the happiest citizens in the world (according to the "World Values Survey" - whatever that is)

4. Has a tri-colored flag (think primary)

5. Is home to one of the largest lakes in the world

6. Contains part of the Amazon Jungle/Rainforest

7. Claims the cuatro as its national musical instrument

8. Has more than 25 million people

9. Has occasional food shortages - we're really looking forward to that

10. Lists baseball as the most popular sport

Any guesses?

Need a hint?
It's one of the countries on this map

That Used to be My Line

Yesterday I was setting up for an Embassy Halloween event with a woman/girl who works in the Economic Section of the Embassy (I don't remember her name). Anyway, as we were setting up, the DJs were getting their system ready and playing some music in the interim. At one point she said to me "is that Alanis Morisette? Don't they have anything more current or at least more Halloween themed to play?" She's new to the Embassy so I told her that Alanis Morisette is about as current as these particular DJs get and at least it wasn't the sountrack to Grease. A few minutes later another song came on and I said, "see, like this for example, I'm pretty sure this is early Debbie Gibson." To which she replied, "Debbie who? Never heard of her, she must be before my time."


BEFORE MY TIME!!! I was stunned into silence, noteworthy in and of itself. My jaw hit the ground, well almost since my 6 months pregnant self got in the way. I couldn't believe it, I thought "when did I become so old that anything wasn't before my time?" Granted, Debbie Gibson was definitely a short-lived phenom (something she knows too having since reinvented herself as Deborah Gibson and shifted her focus to live theater) but, come on, in her heyday she was big, you remember, "Lost In Your Eyes", "Electric Blue, "Only In My Dreams" (I know some of you are humming these right now!).


I was reminded of when I worked in the US Senate and a colleague asked me what year I was born. When I told him 1976 he visibly paled and said "You mean, Nixon resigned before you were born? How old does that make me?" I realize now that this conversation took place almost a decade ago (that I graduated from college a decade ago, and HS, well, let's not even talk about that). So now I'm the one shocked, pale and having to accept the fact that at 31 I am apparently and officially...old? Or at least, I have been replaced by whatever comes after Generations X and Y. I suppose at this point my only recourse is to spend all of my time with Baby Boomers. (Speaking of which, who comes up with these generational monikers anyway? - Can I have that job?)