Nazca

One of the top things on my Peru bucket list was to see the Nazca lines, so when Anny and I were deciding where to go for New Years, we compromised on a visit to see her family in Marcona with a stop in Nazca to see the lines.

The best way to see the lines is from the air.  You have a choice of two routes-one over Nazca and one over Pulpa on a variety of carriers.  We chose to do the normal Nazca route, with AeroParacas.

I'm smiling here because we haven't left the ground yet.

Our tour included a circuit of 13 figures in a 30 minute flight.

The whale

The astronaut

Not looking so happy here.  I wanted to take a motion sickness pill before the flight, but when we arrived at the airport they were rushing us onto the plane and we didn't have time to look for any.  Almost from the moment we took off, I knew it was a mistake not taking one.  The plane banks and turn frequently (so all passengers can get a good look at each figure) resulting in a very uncomfortable flight.

The hummingbird

The spider (in the upper right hand corner)

The condor

On the left is the tree and the right is the hands.

Even on the ground it took some time to feel stable again!

Anny told me that I should really see the aqueducts in Nazca as well, so we added it to our itinerary.   Because this area of the country is very dry, the Nazcas had to dig very deep underground to find enough water to sustain themselves.

The curves of the aqueduct and the small fish living within help purify the water

These walls have held up through many strong earthquakes through the years

They used this spiral shape in order to make it easier to carry water from the aqueducts

And before heading home, I had a chance to try a new exotic fruit-pacae!

Looks like a vegetable but tastes a bit like watermelon when you pull back the husks to expose the white flesh inside.

Ringing in 2016

After spending Christmas in Lima, I was itching to do some travelling.  I headed south, with my friend Anny, to spend New Years at the beaches in Marcona.

Here in Peru, yellow is the color for New Years.  All week, companies have been putting their yellow clothes in the windows and small booths selling yellow items have been cropping up everywhere:

Note that the booth on the left is selling panetone (of course) and grapes-as you will have good luck throughout the year if you eat 12 grapes in the first minute after midnight.

Another tradition here is to wear yellow underwear for New Years, yellow and red if you want to have luck in love in the new year or yellow and green for money.  I saw ones with the Peru symbol, which I interpreted as meaning I'd be lucky and be able to stay in Peru, but, unfortunately, they didn't have my size.

I, of course, threw myself into the spirit of the holiday-celebrating by wearing yellow underwear, sucking down 12 grapes, and putting a mixture of dry rice, seeds & lentils into my pocket (this you move to a visible place so that it acts as a reminder to pursue your goals for the year)...all while watching the fireworks exploding all over the beach.

Happy New Year!

So this is Christmas

I was a little apprehensive about staying in Peru for the holidays, this year, but it really worked out as I was lucky enough to be able to celebrate Christmas in both the Peruvian and the American way.

Here in Peru, the Christmas celebrations occur at midnight on Christmas Eve, December 24th.  I was very honored to be invited to celebrate with my friend Katty's family-especially when I learned what a close family affair these celebrations usually are.  Typically you wouldn't celebrate Christmas with even your significant other (girlfriend/boyfriend) unless you were engaged, married, or had children together.  So, I felt very fortunate to be invited to celebrate with them.

The celebrations commence with a countdown to midnight, exploding into a cacophony of hugging, kissing and toasting with firecrackers exploding in the background.  (More like our New Year's celebrations!)  Baby Jesus is uncovered (or replaced) in the manger scenes, presents are exchanged and everyone sits down to feast on Christmas dinner.  At Katty's family's house, we had chicken, rice, arroz árabe [which literally translates to arabic rice, though, interestingly enough, it's made with bacon], potato salad, and macaroni salad.  The potato & macaroni salad made me think of the 4th of July and summer picnics...which is maybe weird when you think of Christmas...but not so weird when you remember that it is summer here.

After some time spent socializing, everyone heads home to sleep late into Christmas day.  I, on the other hand, had to wake up on the early side to make myself presentable to celebrate Christmas Day American-style.  My new friend (and fellow Kiski alum) Katie invited me to Christmas dinner with several of her teacher friends.  It was great to meet new people and be able to really catch up with her sister Sarah (a Kiski alum from my graduating class!).  And, of course, I must rave about the food.  There were all the fixins' -ham, turkey, sweet potato casserole (with marshmallows!) and, best of all,  CHERRY PIE!

It was an amazing holiday and I felt very blessed to be surrounded by my adopted family!

Zorritos

When Shannon came this time, I wanted her to experience a new part of Peru, so I decided to take her to the North Coast.  Since I've already seen Piura, Vichayito and El Ñuro, I decided we should head further north-to Zorritos Beach.  We decided to be adventurous and stay in an eco-hotel, and it turned out to be a great decision.  It was rustic, yet idyllic-pristine beach, comfortable accommodations that take you back to your days at summer camp, and lots of hammocks inviting you to lay about.

The owner also breeds Peruvian hairless dogs, so there was a bunch of them running around all the time.

One of the things to do in Zorritos is to visit the hervideros, or mud baths.  After a long, rough ride in a mototaxi, we finally arrived at the site.  The three pools are each reputed to have healing properties-one for stress relief, one for the skin, and one for the blood circulation.  We took a dip in each to take full advantage of the curative effects.

This is the one for the skin.  You put it all over and then let it dry.

The pool for stress relief

Relaxing the stress away: this one was warm (in spots!)

One thing that everyone said we must do was visit the manglares (mangroves) in Tumbes.  Eagerly we took a tour from our hotel...only to have one of the most boring travel experiences ever!  The manglares are unique in that they grow spending half the time covered by water and half the time dry.  When we arrived in Puerto Pizarro, the channel was dry, so we had lunch and waited for it to fill up enough to head out on the boats for a tour of the islands.

The dry channel

Here you can see the water line on the manglares-it's not quite full yet

Our tour also took us to a crocodile farm, where we saw crocodiles in various life stages.

By the time we had done our circuit of the islands, the water level had risen noticeably.

One of the main reasons I wanted to go to the North Coast was to see the humpback whales.  Unfortunately, our hotel wasn't able to arrange a whale-watching tour this late in the season.  Instead, I took Shannon to swim with the turtles.  (Also hoping she would forgive me for the disappointing manglares tour!)  This time the waves were much rougher, but there were more turtles swimming with us.