Peru Christmas 2013 Day 6

As it was a Sunday and we had been up fairly late we again got a late start on the day and basically had no plans for what to do at all which I think was nice.  We really didn't have breakfast and eventually ordered another pizza from Papa John's as our lunch (along with some pepperoni rolls and chicken wings).  We got the TV working for displaying movies off a USB drive sort of and watched the movie Hero though I am sure Daniela didn't much care for it.  Unfortunately the TV wouldn't play several of the movie codec types I was hoping it would.  After that I was able to find the second half of the Patriots game on a live stream that was a fair bit choppy but at least I had an idea what was going on. I was happy to see they got the first round bye though I wish the Raiders could have at least put up a little bit of a fight.

After the football game was over we got cleaned up and dressed and took a bus out to a place that I wanted to take some pictures of the Christmas decorations. I think you will figure out what I mean if you look at the pictures from today. It happened there was a 4D heladaria across the street and we had some desserts and coffee or hot chocolate there.

We then got a cab to a movie theater and watched the movie Last Vegas which in Spanish was titled El Ultimo Viaje a Las Vegas (The Last Trip To Las Vegas). I think the joke gets lost a little in the translation.  It was cute and I laughed quite a few times through it.  Not typically a movie I would choose to watch but I did enjoy it.  We had popcorn and water to accompany the movie.

After the movie we walked back from the theater which is in San Isidro (one district off of Miraflores and where the olive tree park is) back to the apartment where we called it a night.

The pictures from today are located here.

Peru Christmas 2013 Day 5

We definitely had a late start to the day and didn't do much but hang around the apartment for most all of it but eventually we had to go to Daniela's office really quickly to get a couple things done towards the evening. That only took a few minutes and then we had dinner at La Trattoria de Mambrino which is just off Ave Larco near the big round about with Pardo.

Daniela had a salad then a stewed beef rib it over pasta and I had the gnocchi ala pesto. I forgot to take pictures of the food until we had the dessert. We split a bottle of Argentinian Malbec with the dinner. For dessert I had a grappa (it was listed as a pisco but was Italian which is a grappa) and an apple dessert that had calvados and vanilla ice cream and was really good.  Daniela had a cappuccino which came with some chocolate that she really liked. It was a very nice restaurant and the food was very good but it will apparently be moving to Larcomar by June or July because they feel they will get more foot traffic there even though the place has been where it is for 30 years or so.

After dinner we had to run quick to get a gift for Estef and we were able to just before the store closed.  We walked most of the way down Ave Larco and then picked up a taxi to Barranco where the club El Dragon del Sur was. That was where Estef was having her birthday party. We got in and got a water and juice and sat at the bar while Estef was waiting for all of her guests to arrive by midnight.  They were playing reggae music which I thought was odd. We stayed around for a while and talked to Estef for a few minutes but after a couple of nights of being up so late Daniela could see I was exhausted and we left. We walked down the streets of Barranco for a bit until their main square then got a taxi back to the hotel and called it a night.

The pictures from today can be found here.

Peru Christmas 2013 Day 4

When we got up I made French toast for breakfast using some Turtle Lane Maple Farms maple syrup (they're in North Andover just down the street from  me).  I think it came out decent enough but it does not appear to be Daniela's thing though she liked the maple syrup.

After breakfast we got cleaned up and walked over to Gabriel's office to finish up the wedding album.  He needed to take a picture of our rings to put in it and we finalized how it all looked. That didn't take too long. It was cool to see how quick he and his assistant Juliana can be.

From there we headed to Daniela's office where she had a bit of work to do. We spent a few hours there. I went for a quick shopping trip and helped out where I can.  She even had a walk up customer who found her because apparently the address also used to belong to a travel agency before hers.  In any event she sold him a hotel around Mancora where we stayed for our honeymoon.  He was driving there (good luck to him).

We had lunch at a Pardo's Chicken, having pollo ala brasa.  I had mine with a beer and Daniela had a lemonade. I forgot to take a picture but I have a few of Pardo's pollo and Cusquena by now anyway.  We had to head back to the office to finish out that sale after lunch then rush to the bank before it closed.  From there we tried to do some shopping for a birthday present from me for Daniela's mother. It was her birthday today. Not having much luck in Miraflores we took a very overstuffed bus ride to San Miguel and went to the mall where we bought her a dress from Ripley's.  We then ran to a bakery just down the street and bought a waybana cake for her at a small bakery named Gaby's I believe. Then it was on to Daniela's house to help out for the birthday party.

I think I mentioned before that birthday parties in Peru happen really late at night and the cake is supposed to happen at midnight.  So Donna was cooking anticuchos of beef heart and chicken plus some grilled beef intestine as well.  I helped peel some potatoes and set up a bit. We had wine and homemade chicha morada as well as the food.  Donna's boyfriend Edwin came over along with Daniela's aunt and great uncle (who is 93 years old).  We all sat in the car park area with the grill while Donna cooked.  The food was excellent but I probably could do without the intestine so much (too chewy).  There was a lot and I gave one of my beef heart anticuchos to Lucho.  Daniela's mom made the guys dance and I also danced with Daniela to various types of music.

A little bit after midnight we had the cake. I think the waybana fruit tasted a bit like green bananas but Daniela thinks I am crazy about that. I have no other comparison for it.  I had more cake than I needed though. I was stuffed. I danced a bit more then helped to clean up and Daniela washed the dishes while I helped as much as I could.  I think we finally were done about 1:30 to 1:45am where we immediately got outside and got very lucky catching an empty taxi right out of the gas station across Faucett from their house.  It was a quick ride back to the apartment as there was no traffic then immediately to bed as we were both totally exhausted from the day.

The pictures from today are located here.

Peru Christmas 2013 Day 3

We got going a bit late in the morning as we were up fairly late. We had our left over pizza and some tea and/or instant coffee for breakfast.

Our first thing to do was to travel far to the northern end of Lima where Daniela's mother's market stall was. She just ended her stay in the marketplace after many years and we had to help her pack up and move out.  I am sure it was a sad thing for her and it was involuntary as the owner of the market asked her to move out. We had to take a bus to the Metropolitano to a combi to get to the marketplace.  I think it took us an hour and a little bit.

When we arrived Donna and her mother were already starting to pack things up. Daniela and I went out in search of boxes first then we started to help pack also.  We probably spent the better part of 5 or 6 hours on packing. We had to disassemble a couple of shelving sets she had. They found a truck to carry all the stuff to storage in their old family house in Callao.  Daniela and I rode in the back during the trip. It was bouncy and a little uncomfortable. I think it took us about half an hour to get there. We then unloaded the truck and packed it into the rooms.  When all of that was done Daniela and I took a different combi than Donna and her mother.

We took the combi to just the edge of Miraflores then switched off to a bus which brought us to the Vivanda just down the road from our apartment. We did a quick bit of shopping for the apartment then immediately started getting cleaned up and ready for a nice dinner at La Rosa Nautica for our 2 month anniversary.  A guy from the apartment came in and replaced the missing TV that had been destroyed while we were getting ready. He finished just in time.  We caught a taxi to the restaurant and arrived probably a few minutes late.  It is not really far from the apartment but down on the beach obviously.

We were told we had to wait a couple minutes so went to the bar and ordered a couple of drinks. I had a Glenfiddich 12 year Daniela had a piskini which was a pisco based martini.  We actually didn't finish either of them. We had barely been served them by the time we were seated to our table. We ordered a starter of shrimp in deep fried Chinese noodles. They were good. Daniela ate more than I did.

I had a stewed rabbit dish which had potatoes, mushrooms, bacon, baby onions, leeks and rice.  It was extremely good.  Daniela had a steak with an egg based sauce over pasta.   It was cooked less than I think she asked for but it was really good she said.  We accompanied the meal with an Argentinian merlot which was very nicely flavored.

Daniela was too full for dessert which had me worried she had been replaced by an alien.  I had the cafe de popa which is what I had the first time we went there. It was coffee ice cream with coffee liqueur, whipped cream and chocolate covered espresso beans. It was very good. Daniela didn't want to try it.

From there it was back to the apartment by taxi and call it a night.

The pictures from today are located here.

Peru Christmas 2013 Day 2

Being on so little sleep from the day before I let myself stay in bed for a lot longer than I typically can. Of course I woke up a bunch of times and there were stretches where I was awake but wishing I was asleep but I think we managed to be in bed until 10:30 which is unheard of for me typically.

We got up and had a quick coffee for me and tea for Daniela. We really didn't do too terribly much during the day except relax and talk and such. Donna's boyfriend Edwin came over after a time and they were going to have lunch with us which was Chinese spaghetti made by Daniela's mother.  We tried to go out find some dessert for lunch after we showered unfortunately the places that were open didn't have anything worth buying and most places were closed. It ended up that Edwin and Donna brought some ice cream that they had at his apartment over for dessert as well.  After we ate we watched the movie the Lorax which is animated of course but was fortunately still subtitled rather than dubbed which is unusual for animated movies. It did however mean that all parties were able to enjoy it as I had not seen it before. It was cute and enjoyable but certainly I have seen better animated movies in my life. I think that it was better than Planes for what I saw of that though.

After lunch we eventually got packed up and headed over to Miraflores to our apartment on Varela which we have stayed in for some amount of time on each of my trips to Peru since I met Daniela. It was newly repainted and they do not appear to be replacing the big flat screen which a guest had broken before the last trip but still it is a nice place and has one of the best kitchens of any of the places we have stayed.  We got settled in and relaxed some more then eventually ordered pizza fro Papa John's for dinner. A pepperoni and hamburger pizza. I had a beer of the two we brought from Daniela's house. We also watched most of the movie Catch Me if You Can during the evening before settling in to sleep a bit after midnight.

Merry Christmas. Feliz Navidad.

Only 1 picture for today. No new pictures of the same apartment as I have taken enough of it by now.
Here it is.

Peru Christmas 2013 Day 1

I started out waking up at 3:00am and after a quick shower it was almost directly to the airport for a 6:30am departure to Newark. When I got to check-in however the woman at the desk said that flight was a bit late and asked if I would like to get on the 6am flight instead. I said sure. This was United.  The flight was only a couple minutes late which was still early compared to the other flight I should have been on. It was a 737-800 and I slept through almost the whole thing except for the couple minutes to drink my cup of cranberry juice. I think it had a few bumps but not that much.

After landing I had what was theoretically an 8:45am departure to Miami. I know, 2 stops? It was reasonable anyway especially compared to the pricing of other flights. I also do not have 2 stops on the way home making it easier. I said theoretically because the flight ended up being very slow to board and there was some person with ticket troubles that slowed it up an extra ten minutes besides.  The plane departed 45 minutes late which fortunately wasn't a problem with my 3 hour layover in Miami before heading on to Lima. The flight was mostly uneventful, a few small bumps. I watched Despicable Me 2 on the overhead CRT TVs of which the ones nearest me flaked out a few times.  I also had to hold the headphones into the jack in a specific way to get sound which I was able to do successfully for most all of the movie. It was cute but certainly the first one was better.  This plane was a 757-200 and we ended up with only a drink for free (they offered food at a price). I had coffee only.

We arrived to Miami about half an hour late. Of course the landing gate and the departure gate were on opposite sides of the airport and I even had to exit from concourse G to reenter into concourse J which meant rescreening security. For some reason I got a bit lucky here though and was sent through the TSA Pre check line so I didn't have to unload or undress.  I did get the double hand swab screening both before and after the metal detector though. The first might have been random. The second was really chosen by the machine.  After I got into my gate area I found the Corona Cafe and had a cheeseburger and a couple of Key West Ales which weren't bad. They were light and not too hoppy but not too sweet either.  The cheeseburger was reasonable since it was basically all I had eaten for the day.  I spoke to a guy living in Miami heading back home to Philly for the holidays and a guy from NYC of Puerto Rican descent heading to Colombia to be with his girlfriend for the holidays. Like me it was his first time not being home for the holidays.  That basically killed off the 2.5 hour layover and I headed to the gate right as they lined up to board and got on rather quickly actually.

This flight was on an Airbus 330 and was operated by Taca (Avianca) The flight did have a lot of bumps in it. I watched The World's End with Simon Pegg and Nick Frost to start out and thought it was funny enough and enjoyed it overall. I then turned on the movie Planes but almost immediately fell asleep to it (by the way it was in seat entertainment here). I did get woken up when the plane was in a serious bout of plane shaking turbulence and ended up watching it to the end though. The turbulence probably lasted about 20 minutes.  I was in the ass of the plane at the second from the back row which probably made it feel worse.  In any event after that bout it appeared to calm down enough.  They served a meal which I picked at and ate the snacks mostly. The actual meal was supposed to be some form of ravioli I think.  I had some red wine with that.

We arrived to Lima a bit early. Immigration processing had small lines and I found the one that was filing into 2 stations so I got through super quick. However my suitcase was among the last to come off the belt unfortunately.  I got outside and apparently Daniela had sent a text to the wrong number (my house number) to text her when I landed which of course I never got but I texted her when she was not out in the arrivals area.  No duplicating some of our wedding pictures I guess...  She and her brother arrived about half an hour later due to a couple of accidents along the way of the typically 10 minute drive (I know my curse affects this).  We got to their house probably at about 10pm.

I dropped my stuff into her room and said hello to the family including Forest.  I had to quickly wrap up all the Christmas presents (bags of course, real wrapping on short notice would have been tough).  Then we went out for a quick trip down to the market to pick up some fireworks we never ended up using. I don't think this was an issue because the rest of the city was setting off enough for 17 Fourth of July's in the US just in the 5 minutes prior to through the 5 minutes after midnight alone. We had champagne at midnight and there was a little prayer held by her mother before we ate. Their tradition is to put the baby Jesus into the manger at midnight and say the prayer.  We had a merlot with the dinner.  We opened up presents right after the champagne. Donna got me a running tech shirt and Daniela a dress shirt. Daniela had cooked a turkey for the traditional Christmas dinner, along with mashed potatoes and a bean salad of some sort. It was all very good. After the main course it was paneton which is a sweet bread with dried fruits in it for the traditional dessert. With that we had chocolate that was supposed to be hot but had cooled down.  This was all very good. I begged to get some sleep after that as it was 2am and I really hadn't had much sleep up until that point so we went to bed.  It was definitely interesting to experience Christmas in a completely different way than I have always done it and I enjoyed it very much.  I was exhausted by the end though. It was a very long day.

The pictures from today are located here.

Peru for Christmas

I just realized I never put together a slideshow from the last trip on the blog. I will have to get cracking and do it tonight because I am flying tomorrow to be with my beautiful wife for Christmas and New Years.

Peru Fall 2013 Pictures

All of my pictures have been posted to Shutterfly and the daily posts have been updated with the links for my pictures.

Peru Fall2013 Day 19

We woke up at 3:30am to get ready to go to the airport. Daniela had already arranged a taxi to pick us up and he was waiting outside by the time we were cleaned up and packed to go.  The drive to the airport had no traffic and check in was fairly quick.  Daniela waited for me and we had a coffee and donut from Dunkin Donuts (well she had a hot chocolate).  Then I did a small amount of gift shopping before heading into the security area after a sad goodbye.

The flight ticket said boarding started at 5:15am but of course it wasn’t boarding at 5:20 when I got in nor at 5:45 as I started writing this.  It did not say the flight was late however.  The airplane arrived at 5:45 so I hoped we would start boarding by 6:15 for a 7:03 departure.  That did actually happen and we were off the gate earlier than I expected. All the same we taxied for a long time and it was 7:15 before takeoff. 

The flight itself was very bumpy. One of the most bumpy flights I can recall being on. They played Pacific Rim but I was asleep for the start and the screen was tiny so I didn’t really decide to watch it for real. I was looking at the screen on occasion and I suppose I could explain the plot but I didn’t hear any of the dialogue or anything.  They served breakfast (which is what woke me up) which I chose pancakes. It also had fruit salad of papaya and watermelon, an apple cinnamon cereal bar and a roll. I had apple juice and coffee (though he barely gave me any coffee).   We landed at about 10:30 and I was off the plane by maybe 10:45.  They opened up the back door of the plane as we were waiting exit from the front and it was obvious how hot it was in Panama.  The next flight was already supposed to be boarding according to the boarding pass but of course after I raced over to the gate it was not yet doing so. 

They had a small security check at the gate where you had a metal detector and xray machine. I assume because US security requires it.  Still there was no line as the passengers were slowly trickling in. The flight crew arrived just a few minutes after I did.  We boarded not long after that and since this flight was probably only about 1/3 full we actually closed the door and departed early. For this flight I also had the whole row to myself.  This flight had only a couple small bumps. I watched a travel feature on Toronto. Listened to some music, ate only a little of the pasta they served and did actually watch Pacific Rim which is the movie they also showed on this flight too. I liked it and would like to watch it on a real TV rather than a slightly distant small screen with the woman in front of me opening the window and washing it out with glare every 15 minutes or so.  It was not anything high art but it was basically enjoyable. We landed in Boston a bit early. I used my global entry at the kiosk but it probably wasn’t necessary as we were the only international flight arriving at that time it appeared.  I texted David at the baggage claim and he was waiting at the cell phone lot. It probably took 15 minutes for the bags to get through then customs and out the door. The traffic home wasn’t even that bad. 

The cold that started in the early morning felt even worse by the time I got home so I ate dinner then basically went to bed without unpacking.

No pictures taken today.

I have to say that the wedding, which was the purpose of the trip, went off perfectly. I think that the weather was nice and the ceremony and party afterward were both great. I am so happy that I have married the beautiful Daniela. I only hope the process for getting her American residence goes as easily and we can really start to begin our lives together as a married couple soon.

The bad news of course is that it will still be some weeks before we have the official marriage certificate to begin that process.  I really love Peruvian bureaucracy… 

Peru Fall 2013 Day 18

We started out late again. This was our last full day together. We met Donna and Paquita for lunch at a place called Solari which is apparently part of Norky’s not too far from the Pardo’s Doubletree I stayed at during my trip here to teach.  I had the combo of pork ribs and pollo ala brasas along with papas fritas.  Daniela had the pollo with a pasta with a sauce made of Peruvian not spicy chilis. 

We ate and had dessert. I do not know what mine was called but it was 3 layers and had chocolate, cream and either another chocolate or mocha layer in between.  After dessert we stayed and talked for quite a while.  Eventually we separated from Donna and Paquita and did a couple errands before heading to the office for a few minutes to do a couple things on the computers.

After we left the office we walked for a bit and visited a store for a few minutes. Then checked that there were no movies playing I wished to watch before heading back to the hotel. I had brought a bunch of pictures from when I was a kid and showed them to her.  Since my flight as leaving so early and I had to get to the airport early though we really didn’t stay up too much longer and went to bed to try to get some sleep we could before the very early wakeup at 3:30am.

The pictures from today are located here.

Peru Fall 2013 Day 17

We woke up and got started a bit late but eventually got going towards moving apartments yet again (number 9 now) back to the apartment we stayed in when I was here in April.  It is a much nicer apartment all around than all of the other ones we stayed in and it was finally free for us. It is a bit further from the downtown area, but not by much.  The only significant change is that someone broke the big TV in the living room recently so there is only the smaller TV in the bedroom. That and it appears they added some newer silverware.

After we dropped off our stuff and got the key from the guy who was still cleaning it we walked downtown to get lunch. Daniela wanted carne so we went to a restaurant called Che Santiago which specializes in Argentinian beef. We both got mixed grills which had a steak (and yes she did cook my steak rare) and a spicy sausage and a blood sausage along with fries and salads. The yellow stuff is aji not mustard in the pics if you look. The beef was very tender and had excellent flavor. Peter will probably be mad at me we didn't go there while he was in town. It was just around the corner from the apartment they were all staying in. Still, it is a very tiny place so couldn't fit everyone that visited honestly.

After we ate we went somewhere Daniela had to pick up a check from a vendor then spent some significant amount of failed time trying to cash it.  In any event we moved on from there to her office and she did a couple tasks and we talked to Paquita. Paquita had a website where someone had posted pictures from the wedding and we looked at all of those.  There were some really nice and some really funny pictures.

After the office Daniela and I walked out to have dessert from the lunch/dinner we had. We went back to the dessert place we started the trip having dessert at called Dolce Capriccio. I had the strawberry roll and a coffee and Daniela had the chocolate with mint cream roll and a cappuccino.  We didn't rush through it.

After we were done we walked back to the apartment and watched a movie on TV that had Pierce Brosnan, Salma Hayek and Woody Harrelson in it where Pierce was a diamond thief. I am sure I should know the name of it but I don't. It was in English with Spanish subtitles.  Then that was pretty much it for the night.  The internet connections are still bad so posting pictures will be after I get back to the US.

The pictures for today are located here.

Peru Fall 2013 Day 16

We started a bit late but our first course of action was to change from the 3 bedroom apartment to a 1 bedroom apartment on Tarata which was just around the corner from Daniela's office.  We were told we could give the key to the guy cleaning our new apartment and take the key from him so we cleaned up and packed and walked over. It was maybe 3 blocks. When we got there he said he still needed about 2 hours to finish cleaning. We poked around and found the cooking equipment was less than stellar. I wanted a real coffee pot, something I hadn't had except the one night in the apartment with the family.  They didn't have one.  Also there was nothing like a chef's knife. He said he could get a knife and would see what he could do about a coffee maker.

We left him and headed over to have breakfast. We wanted to try the Lima Cafe but it appears it is permanently shut down for some reason. We ended up eating at a Cafe Cafe right next door. We both had the Desayuno Naturalismo. I had mine with a fruit filled crepe and she had hers with a fruit salad instead.  Both came with coffee and juice. The food was pretty good and we took our time eating and stayed there for a bit after.

We then went to the Wong supermarket just a block or two away to shop for something to make her family for dinner. I am sure we had promised I would and there were a few stories about how good a cook I am from different people on the trip, especially from Peter. I was happy to do it anyway.  I don't typically know what I am going to cook until I get to the market and that was the case this time as well.

At the market I saw some Serrano ham and decided maybe I could make something like a stuffed chicken breast. Daniela said she wanted pasta with pesto sauce to go along and I agreed to try to do that too.  So we bought some chicken breast and had the butcher at the market butterfly them (he did a poor job though). I also bought the ham and some mozzarella, bread crumbs, parmesan, eggs, basil, olive oil, some parsley, garlic, salt, butter and lemons for the meal. I also wanted some beer and bought some Cuscena Red. We also bought some stuff for the next day's breakfast too.

When we got back to the apartment with the stuff (the bag boy walked the cart over for us and helped us deliver it for a small tip) I found out we didn't have anything the right size for baking and had to fall to plan b.  Fortunately the blender worked so I started on the  chicken and the pesto right away. I minced the garlic with some salt and chiffonaded the basil and chopped a little bit of the parsley and pulsed it in the blender till it was ground then added the olive oil and emulsified it. Then I added some of the parmesan and a little bit more pulsing. Then it was scraped into a pan and put over low heat. I added more parmesan and half a lemon to it there.

For the chicken I decided to spit them for the damage caused by the butterflying and would pick the five best pieces and fold them in half. I did that and inserted some mozzarella and ham and then whipped 2 eggs and dunked the chicken and then breaded it with the crumbs that had been touched up with some pepper an oregano.  Then I let them sit for a bit while I heated some of the olive oil in a frying pan. I browned the chicken in the frying pan. Then we found one pie plate that would fit them all (surprisingly) and they rested in the low temperature oven until they were cooked and to keep warm until her family arrived. The water for the fresh fettucini was boiling when they arrived and I started it right away. They didn't bring the wine so Donna and Luis went out and bought 2 bottles of rose which gave me time to finish everything off.

I apologized for the quality of everything based on the limited cooking equipment. We only had 4 actual dishes and 2 knives for 5 people too. They either were very polite and ate everything out of niceness or they really did like it as they said. I am sure it would have been nicer to have more.  I thought things tasted reasonably good myself but still I know I could have done better with the right equipment.  We also had some cake Daniela's mother made and served it with some Turkey Hill black cherry ice cream.

After we were done eating we talked and looked at some of the pictures from the trip for a while. Eventually her mother was falling asleep so we walked them to the bus stop and waited for their bus to arrive before heading back and washing a lot of dishes.  After that we settled in for the night. She found The Lion King in Spanish on the Disney Channel. This time I fell asleep before it finished.

In the rush I didn't take any pictures of the food and even forgot the initial pictures of the apartment which I will have to remedy for day 17.  By the way I have been in 8 places for different nights in the course of the 16 nights so far.

The pictures from today can be located here.

Peru Fall 2013 Day 15

We woke up maybe a little bit late and then had a breakfast of basically what we had left in the bungalow. I made eggs for Daniela and ate the leftover pasta basically. We finished off the coffee and that was pretty much that.

Daniela spent some time sunning herself while I organized my pictures a bit and did a little bit of work on the computer then packed up my stuff. We took our showers and Daniela packed and then we called for the moto-taxi to bring us to the shop where our combi would pick us up. The moto-taxi took a longer time than usual and we arrived really only a couple minutes before the combi did.

The combi ride was again 3 hours to Piura. This time I slept a lot less during it as it was daytime. November 1 was a holiday (basically All Saints Day) and the police were out watching the cars and due to that we had 2 less people in the combi than there would have been on another weekend which meant we had a bit more room. The landscape really could be out of American westerns being all desert style with low bushes and a lot of brown sand.  We passed some oil derricks on the way. Some were actually drilling. Daniela wasn’t sure how much oil they have. We also passed an area where they were starting to build very large wind turbines which is neat. There unfortunately was a lot of trash along the way and there were a few points up and down hills with switchbacks that I was wondering if I was going to be sick. All in all the ride was almost exactly 3 hours to the bus station.

We took a few minutes to get a moto-taxi which took us to a seafood restaurant to have lunch. I had a fried filet of fish and Daniela had ceviche. It was a nice restaurant that was very busy when we arrived. We then took a taxi to the Plaza de Armas of Piura as we had several hours still before the flight which was at 8pm and our combi arrived at 12:30.  At the plaza we took some pictures and had coffee and dessert at a place called El Chalan. Daniela had lemon pie and I had coffee ice cream in a cone which I was able to get them to put some chocolate sauce on. The type of chocolate that hardens up.   We took a couple more pictures then picked up another taxi to the airport.

We checked in a couple hours before the flight was to start and also found out it was going to be a half an hour late. The Piura airport is tiny so we entered the gate area and just found seats and waited. There really isn’t even anywhere to shop there. The flight boarded half an hour late and was basically a little bit bumpy but uneventful overall.  We landed, disembarked, got a taxi to Daniela’s house and picked up some things, took the taxi to Miraflores and got the keys to an apartment we had for the night and then settled in.  It was a three bedroom apartment but the room we wanted wasn’t free that night.  So they gave us the big one for the same rate for the one night. It was on the 18^th floor and had a really nice view.

We ordered a pizza as I was still hungry and I am pretty much the only one who ate any then we went to bed for the evening.

The pictures from today can be found here.

Peru Fall 2013 Day 14

We woke up and had a quick breakfast. Our neighbors had finished theirs and were getting ready to go for a whale watch. They asked us if we wanted to go and we said yes. So we hurriedly got ready and a moto-taxi picked us up. We were driven to Punta Sal (I think it means Point Salt).  Where we met with our neighbors who had already taken a taxi there.  We bought me some sun block as I didn’t get to pack mine to the small bag for this trip.  Then we waited and eventually found out that the trip was canceled because we were the only four people on it.

They suggested we walk back from the point to our bungalows.  By the way the name of the place is Hoja de Palm which means Palm Leaves Bungalows.  They said it would take an hour. We agreed and started the walk back. They walked faster than we did, probably because we stopped and took pictures of a lot of things. We passed the pier and a residential area. There were a lot of birds and unfortunately a lot of garbage on the beach.  There were buzzards around as well as the sea birds which was strange at first but I guess the can eat there too.

We saw some dead animals including blow fish, turtles and sea lions. I hope they all died naturally and not by the fishermen.  The walk was probably a lot longer than an hour. I didn’t keep track of time, nor did Daniela. It turns out our neighbors turned inland and took a moto-taxi some portion of the way.

When we got back we tried to start the grill but had to get the guy who worked at the bungalows to do it because it was so windy. We used a whole box of matches trying. Eventually he got it lit using a candle and I made the chicken we bought with soy sauce, garlic, salt, pepper and oregano over the grill. I also made fried potatoes on the stove with salt, pepper and onions. We reheated the pasta.

After we ate we sort of ended up taking a nap for some time before waking up and going out to sort out our ride back to the airport the next day and buying some junk food for the night. It was a Nestles Crunch bar.  We ate the Crunch bar while watching Wallace and Grommit then The Muppets.  After that I tried to have her watch Crazyheart but it was too difficult for her to understand Jeff Bridges with his mumbling in character.

The pictures from today are located here.  

Peru Fall 2013 Day 13

I woke up a bit earlier than Daniela and walked along the beach for a little bit. By the time I got back to the room she was just waking up.  We took it easy for the day and really didn’t do that much during the morning hours. She reheated the leftover fish for breakfast and we had some coffee too.

We lay in the hammock for a short time.  After a while we met our neighbors who moved in next door. They had some lobsters that they bought down the street and he was starting to cook them for their lunch. I also started preparing our lunch/dinner not long after. I made a fresh tomato based sauce for some pasta. We ordered a bottle of wine from the hotel. Unfortunately for me they sent a very sweet wine and I added some to the sauce and it made it very sweet but it was still good anyway. I would have preferred a bit more balance anyway.

After we ate we went out closer to the water and built a sand castle.  Eventually it got dark and we came in and tried to watch The Lion King but Daniela fell asleep before it finished and we called it a night.

The pictures for today are located here.

Peru Fall 2013 Day 12

We went to bed late so we woke up late of course. This was also the first time we could get some real sleep in several days (the whole trip I think actually) so it was nice.  I started by taking pictures of the bungalow like I skipped the night before. Then we got cleaned up and ready for the day. It was very bright and sunny.  We had the owner call a moto-taxi for us, which is a taxi made by a motorcycle with a passenger attachment on the back. It has 3 wheels.

The moto-taxi took us shopping. First we visited a tiendita (or tiny market) and bought some basic stuff then we left the stuff there and he brought us to the local market (which was small) and we bought a couple more things like some chicken and spices for cooking. There are really no restaurants around the bungalow and we had a small kitchenette plus the owner said we could use the grill so we prepared to cook for the few days there.

The driver then took us to the pier and we picked out a fish just caught off the boat and had the old lady (who happened to be the taxi driver’s grandmother) clean it for us. We walked out and saw the actual pier and the current haul of fish that was being brought in.

We picked up the fish and the other stuff from the tiendita and then headed back to the bungalow. There we unpacked and started to put everything away.  I made some coffee and the attendant brought us the grill. We prepared the fish which was a white fish with garlic, salt, pepper, lemon and soy sauce and I cooked it on the grill with some foil under it so it wouldn’t fall in.  Daniela par-boiled some potatoes with garlic and I finished those off on the grill as well.  She also made herself a small tomato salad.  The whole cooking process took some time but I think everything came out very good.  There was a lot of fish but we ate almost all of it. 

We cleaned the dishes and put things away then walked around the beach for a while and played in the water a little bit. It was still hot and sunny out.  After that we lay down on the hammock for a while then eventually came back inside and watched the movie The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel on the computer before calling a night and going to bed.

The pictures from today are located here.

Peru Fall 2013 Day 11

We got to wake up a bit later than the previous two days but still it was not really late.  Daniela, her mom and I got out of the hotel at about 7:15 and walked to the Plaza de Armas to take a few pictures. We are also able to visit a church that was open that early on the way as well as sit in for a couple of minutes at the mass in the cathedral. We headed back to the hotel by 8:20 and had a quick breakfast and before you knew it the van was arriving for the transfer to the airport. 

This time the plane was only about an hour late which is certainly much better than my previous record for the trip but still it was late. In the airport everyone did a little of souvenir shopping and George and I had empanadas from the snack shop. Mine was accompanied by a coffee.  The moved our gate in the process but the domestic flight area is so tiny in Cusco it really didn’t matter.

The flight itself was short and easy. I sat next to Sara and Sue and we talked the whole time. They served a ham and cheese sandwich with a dulce de leche cookie as a snack for the flight.  Since no one checked luggage disembarking was easy.  Our transfer van was a few minutes late but not really by much. We drove to Daniela’s house and picked up everyone’s luggage then drove to the Hotel Arawi where everyone else would be staying for their last night in Peru.  At the hotel we had lunch. I had a hamburger which was a bit overcooked for my taste, but probably it was safer that way. Daniela snuck out and brought in a birthday cake while we waited and we had that before she and I had to rush out the door and into a taxi back to her house.

We rushed through a very quick repacking while the taxi waited then immediately raced to the airport. The driver was a champion at getting around and  through Lima traffic and every second helped.  Daniela raced in for check in while I dragged the luggage in. The security guard at the door followed me to Daniela who had my passport for check in to make sure I was really who I was. We ran through the airport to security and rushed through that as best we could. Fortunately the domestic lines were not long still.  Then I chased Daniela to the gate where we were sent to a wrong gate and then had to run back to board just at last call.  I do not know if we could have cut it any tighter.

I didn’t stop sweating from all the running and carrying baggage until probably half way through the flight. It probably didn’t help the air wasn’t blowing too hard at first. I was able to sleep a little bit and had tea for my service in the flight. The flight itself was uneventful with only a couple very small bumps. 

When we got to Piura we had to call the hotel for advice on how to get there. We took a taxi to a “bus stop” where we signed on for a combi ride to Mancora. The bus had to fill up before they would depart. When we signed on there were two more spaces after us to fill up. They did but the two guys were armed with a bag of beer. Daniela put up a small protest but fortunately they weren’t really drunk and obnoxious after all.  The drive was 3 hours long in a cramped van. Because my bag had the laptop I kept it on my lap the whole ride as there was nowhere else inside to fit it and we didn’t want to put it on top like the rest of the baggage. I was able to sleep some of the ride. I thought I was going to be a bit nauseous during a couple spans where the driver took some switchbacks very rapidly but I did survive it after all.

We made it to the hotel at about midnight or just a little after and the attendant checked us into our bungalow.  We did a quick unpacking and then it was immediately to bed.

The pictures from today are found here.

Peru Fall 2013 Day 10

We woke up again at a stupidly early hour and were out the door to our transfer van by 4am.  The ride to the train station at Ollantaytambo was probably an hour and a half or so and I slept through almost all of it.

The train was basically boarding when we got there and it departed at 6:10am I think. The train ride was slow but nice. I stayed awake for the whole ride. We were in a panoramic car which has windows at the top too so you could see more. They served a drink and a snack. I had a coca tea (though I suppose I shouldn’t have) and a muffin.  The ride took also probably about an hour and forty-five minutes.  We arrived in Aguas Calientes at a little bit before 8am.  We met our guide Patrick at the entrance to the train station.

Patrick loaded us onto a bus and we took the half hour ride to Machu Picchu directly after getting off the train.  The weather was nice at this point but with a bit of clouds around. Patrick was a good guide. He had a funny and dramatic way of saying everything. And everything was “the famous Machu Picchu” and “the famous Inkas” and “the famous whatever”.   It was really quite amusing. He explained about the general layout. We saw the Sun Temple, the Sun Dial, the Condor, the arena and pretty much everything. Where this was my second time through Machu Picchu I wrote all this up before and I don’t really have the time to go over it all again.  Please reference my earlier post from my trip in 2009 for the details.  Towards the end of the tour it started to rain a little bit and it picked up a bit more as we rode the bus back down to Aguas Calientes.

At Aguas Calientes most of us went to Indio Feliz which is a French and Peruvian fusion restaurant owned by a Frenchman.  I had a set menu which started with Creole soup, pepper chicken with a pisco sauce and an apple pie with custard and ice cream (I think the ice cream was actually grapefruit sorbet).

After lunch we got to the train and it was another hour and forty-five minute ride to Ollantaytambo. There we exchanged to our van for another hour and forty-five minute ride. We had to stop for a few minutes because George didn’t feel well.

By the time we got back to Cusco it was pouring rain out. Everyone got situated and then we bade them a farewell as we walked up to Plaza San Blas and had a coffee and soup before heading back to the room and getting some sleep for the night. I am not sure what time it stopped raining but the whole time we were out it as a solid cold rain and even with the umbrella we got soaked. The coffee and the soup were both very good.

The pictures from today are located here.

Peru Fall 2013 Day 9

We woke up at 4am to get ready for everyone to drop off their stuff at Daniela's house by 4:30 then we would catch a taxi and follow them to the airport for our 6am flight. We thought we were running tight but it turned out we had weather delays in Cusco so we weren't going to take off on time. We had breakfast in the airport. I had a ham and cheese sandwich and coffee.  Then we had to wait. Or flight was about 5 to 6 hours later.  We had plans to fly to Cusco get a transfer van to Ollantaytambo and ride the train to Aguas Calientes but those fell through with the flight delays because we missed the last train to Aguas Calientes even before we arrived in Cusco.

The flight itself was easy and had basically no bumps. It was a full 737-500.  Our transfer van was waiting for us outside and we were driven to Hotel El Portal where we were going to stay for the two nights since the change of plans.  We loaded in and unpacked and then slept for a couple hours before meeting in the lobby around 5pm for dinner. Not everyone came to dinner. Both George and Daniela's mother were too tired and stayed in their rooms.

We went to a restaurant Daniela was familiar with called  La Retama.  I had a beer and a Sopa de la Criolla followed by alpaca served with a potato and quinoa puree. The food was excellent. We stayed long enough to watch their show too, which was traditional highland Peruvian music and dance and was really nice.  After that it was back to the hotel and to crash for another early morning departure to catch the train to Machu Picchu.

Pictures are here.

Peru Fall 2013 Day 8

Today was the day. I woke up probably around 7:30 and had some toast and coffee for breakfast. I think I had about 4 or 5 cups. I did sleep reasonably well but I knew it was going to be a full day. We started getting ready probably around 11 because the photographer was supposed to come in and get some posed and candid shots of the preparation. We were to be picked up by a van at 12:30 and he was pretty close to on time. Daniela's friend Diana came just a few minutes before the pickup and was there to help out with getting us there and ready.  The ride there was easy and without any real traffic.

We had the invitations printed with 2:00pm for the start time knowing that most people would arrive by 2:30 and that was the official start time. I was a bit confused on a couple details but I spent a few minutes greeting people as they came in and then eventually it was time to start. Sue was the eldest representative female from our family so she walked me down the aisle. They don't just have the groom wait up front like we do.  Dad and Daniela's mom came after then the bridesmaids then the flower girl and ring bearer girl (who were Michelle and Sara respectively).  Then finally the beautiful bride. She looked incredible and her dress was beautiful. I could feel nothing but happiness.

The father was a Polish man who spoke Spanish and Polish but not English. The mass went off quite well. I will not explain all the details as there will be tons of pictures and video. We split up some of the time in English and some of the time in Spanish.  We exchanged our vows combining English and Spanish, for example.  I could understand a lot of the sermon though it was given in Spanish.  He spoke slowly and clearly and joked a lot.  I think the mass and Catholic wedding went of perfectly.

After the mass we ran over to the beach and took a few pictures before time ran out and we needed to be present at the restaurant for the civil wedding.  We were able get a lot of good pictures and a lot of people congratulated us as we or they passed by.

The civil wedding was a lot quicker but still had quite a few details for the municipal officer Senora Milagrito as Daniela called her.  There were vows and signatures and fingerprints to be done.  It was nice and she did a great job.   The restaurant was decorated wonderfully. There were more flowers than I could have imagined and they were all great.  We had a DJ for music and had a toast almost immediately. Then Daniela and I, Dad and Daniela's mom, Gary and Donna (Daniela's Sister) all gave speeches.  We were then able to escape again to take more pictures but our plans changed and we ended up on  a small dingy on the water just outside the restaurant with everyone watching.  That was a lot of fun and I think Gabriel, the photographer got a lot of great pictures.

When we got back in we had our meal quickly, it was roast pork with rice pilaf and a sweet potato.  Then they started the music for dance and I don't recall doing anything but dancing until we left the party. Daniela cried at our song. It was a lot of fun but also exhausting. La Hora Loca came in and made people dance even more. La Hora Loca is the The Crazy Hour. Entertainers come in with costumes and make people dance.  That was also a lot of fun.

We escaped the wedding a little bit early and had our pictures taken at the airport. We had some trouble getting parking but we managed it. Inside we did a scene like I was just arriving in my tux and she was waiting in her wedding dress. We met in the arrivals area and I picked her up and swung her around. The people waiting there cheered and applauded for us.  Then we went up to the food court and took a few more pictures among the clapping of people watching. It was strange I will say but I had fun doing it and i think Daniela did too.

After the airport it was back to Daniela's house where we went to bed for an early wake up to be on an airplane for 6am.

Pictures will be found here.

Peru Fall 2013 Day 7

We woke up rather early and got everyone entered into the Palomino Island trip which I had done on my trip when I first met Daniela. Even Daniela and I were going this time.  We had a bit of running around to get everything working and then took a transfer van from the apartment to the port in Callao where the transfer leaves.

The tour was supposed to start at 11:30 but we were probably 10 minutes late. All the same we boarded and were off fairly easily.  The tour was exactly the same. First a trip around the big island owned by the Peruvian navy then on to the island with all the sea lions.  Outside the shelter of the island the water was a bit rough and it was definitely cooler this trip than it was on the first time I did the tour. There was a fairly thick fog and a lot of clouds at first. The fog thinned out. Daniela was freezing so she borrowed a heavy shirt from my brother which she wore over the life vest.  The roughness of the sea did bother Daniela a bit.

The sea lions were in force and this time they started following the boat as soon as we got there. Daniela, Sue and I all decided to go in the water though it was probably only 14C or so.  We had wet suits for this.  The water was insanely cold at first but we got used to it. It was incredible how close the sea lions came to us, even touching us and jumping through us. I am glad I did it this time. Even though I am not a good swimmer but with the wet suit and the life vest I was ok. I think we were in the water for about 20 minutes to half an hour. Probably closer to 20 minutes.  Then we got out and changed and sailed back to the shore around the far end of the island.

When we got back we took a quick detour to the church in La Punta so some folks could use the rest rooms and then drove back to Miraflores. Fortunately we beat the traffic. We dropped Daniela off at the office and went to Don Bellasario which is a Pollo ala Brasa place just across from her office and the apartment. We had some gigantic sampler platters we couldn't finish and I had a beer.

We brought he leftovers to Daniela and she sorted out some stuff then she had to get on her way back home. We got back to the apartment and had a couple beers and watched the last episode of The IT Crowd then Wallace and Grommit: A Matter of Loaf and Death.  Then pretty much it was bedtime.

The pictures from today are found here.

Peru Fall 2013 Day 6

We had to get up very early and pick up George and Sue and bring them to the church in Brena where they could sign to be our witnesses for the church wedding. Of course the padre gave us a hard time about some of it but eventually he did all the paperwork we needed and we had a signed and stamped document. We sent George and Sue back to the apartments where we had arranged a city tour for them in the afternoon giving them the morning free.

We stayed and talked the priest that would be performing the wedding. Daniela's aunt Silvia came too and we planned out a lot of how the wedding was going to go and what was going to be read. It took a very long time to do all this.

We then took a cab to La Punta to the church there to drop off the paperwork that would allow us to use that church but the lady wouldn't take it saying it was missing one stamp so we had to run to another church to get the official stamp. Of course the priest that could stamp it wasn't there and wouldn't be there until 10am the next day. Daniela had a courier to take the document back to La Punta but arranged instead for him to do it for us after it was stamped.

We then walked to the Metropolitan. It was very sunny at this point. There was a small delay for some reason but we got back to the apartment eventually. We had to get dressed for a pre-wedding photo shoot.  After we hurriedly got ready we ran to El Bosque Olivar and met the photographer. He took our pictures walking around the park for about an hour and fifteen minutes. We then raced straight to Dad's apartment to meet them. Daniela did some quick paperwork for their tours and then we all piled in a van and sat in traffic for well over an hour, I think closer to two, on our way to La Punta for the rehearsal.  We went through the practice three of four times with Daniela's sister Donna leading the proceedings. After we were done in the church we walked to see the place where the reception would be.

From there we took the van to a restaurant called Roky's and had Pollo ala Braza with all the people from the rehearsal which was Daniela's family, my family and George and Daniela's friends Yanina, Pakita and Mechi and Mechi's daughter Michelle.  We had 3 chickens with salads and papas fritas. I had a couple Cusquenas.  The restaurant had a children's play area and Sara and Michelle ran around and played there for almost the whole time we were there. She was still playing until the end.  We were there until almost midnight when Peter finally arrived from his flying in.  We had him brought to the restaurant so we could all drive back to the apartments together and George and I rode with him while everyone else rode back in the van we took out to La Punta.

When we got back it was quick goodnights and then on to bed almost instantly.  I was exhausted.

The pictures from today are here.

Peru Fall 2013 Day 5

I made breakfast as soon as we woke up and then Daniela had to do some work for some passengers for a good portion of the morning.  We went and got the keys to one of the apartments for my family but the other wasn't ready when we tried so we couldn't pick them up yet. Then we had to head back out to La Punta to get some papers from the municipal office. While we were there we walked around the area a bit so she could show it to me in more detail than I had already seen because we were in such a rush most of the day.

After that we had to go to the choir leader to pick out the music for the church as we entered and left and during other parts of the ceremony.  We spent a few minutes there.  From there we headed back to Miraflores and I did some quick shopping for the family then we got the key to the second apartment and caught a cab towards the airport.

The traffic was incredibly bad so we didn't actually reach the airport before the transfer van picked up my family.  It took us an hour and five minutes to get to a meeting point still probably 10 to 15 minutes short of the airport. Fortunately everyone was very cool with it. It didn't help the cab driver didn't take a good route towards the airport.

Daniela met everyone and talked to the people at the front of the van while I sat in the back and talked to the others. They had good flights. George even got put in first class from Panama to Lima.  The explained it was a virus that killed the computer systems for Copa airlines the day I flew.  They said a few flights were canceled the day before but they had no problems whatsoever.

We first dropped of Gary and Sue and Sara to their apartment then brought Dad, David and George to theirs.  We got them settled in quickly and walked over to Gary's place and brought them back to the larger apartment. On the way we stopped in a market right next to the apartment and did a small amount of shopping more than I had already done. At the apartment we ordered pizza and had a couple beers then called it a night.  David walked Gary, Sue and Sara back to their apartment because they didn't understand the way at that point.  Daniela and I got back to the room and it wasn't long before we were in bed.

The pictures from today can be found here.

Peru Fall 2013 Day 4

Today we got to start a bit later than the day before but it was still an errand filled day. I made us some french toast and bacon to start for breakfast. Daniela hadn't had it before. She said she liked it.  Then after that it was off to La Punta to the municipal office again to finalize the paperwork for the legal portion of our wedding. That took us a couple of hours including the notary for some documents and having the town's lawyer finalize the papers with his signature.

We stopped off at Daniela's house and said hello to her mother and picked up some stuff she needed. She also had to do a little bit of work on the computer so we let her do that for a few minutes. I said hello to Forest also while we were there.  After Daniela finished her work up we took another ride back to the apartment where we started to get ready for some pre-wedding photos but it was a bit too late for the photographer so he asked us to try again on Thursday. We then changed clothes and took a walk around town and tried to go to a couple different restaurants before settling on Rigoletto which is an Italian restaurant not too far from our hotel. We were given a free bruschetta and ordered the appetizer of garlic shrimp which was actually more like a langoustine or small lobster. They were good. I had the Penne ala Siciliana and Daniela had the fettuccine frute di mare.  Both were good but the sausages slices in my meal were not Italian sausage which was a bit strange.

After dinner there we walked several blocks away to Dolce Capriccio which is a pastry place which Daniela really loves their stuff. I had a brownie mocha which was a thin layer of brownie with chocolate and coffee mousses on top and Daniela had tocino de cielo which is a coconut based custardy thing.  Hers was a bit sweet for me but good and the mocha thing was really good too. We each had a coffee to go along with that.

We then walked back to the apartment where Daniela had to do a tiny bit of work before we went to bed.

The pictures from today are here.

Peru Fall 2013 Day 3

We woke up early and rushed out the door and headed to San Borja to the medical clinic for our blood tests.  We got those started quickly then had a short breakfast of bread and cheese and coffee then went back and got our results. We visited Daniela's friend Yanina very quickly as works right next door to the clinic.

Next we took the Metropolitan to a Combi bus and out to La Punta where we visited the doctor's office to make the results official.  The combi bus was a very local thing. Stopped a lot and people got on and off all the time.

The doctor's office was quick then it was over to the notary and then to the municipal office. Unfortunately the woman handling the case had her purse robbed and was out of the office so we could only drop off paperwork and come back the next day.

After the municipal office we went back to Miraflores and I got fitted for my tuxedo. We had a empanada on the way. I had beef but forgot to take a picture of it. After the fitting we went to Brena and visited the priest and did more of the church paperwork and begged the father in charge of the records to not give us a hard time because 2 of my witnesses would be coming in for Thursday. He chose not to give us a hard time thankfully.

After the priests we went to the Plaza Real and had dinner at a Pardos Chicken. We didn't have traditional Pollo ala Braza but instead a grilled chicken with spicy sauce that wasn't too spicy. A tour of Chinese people came in while we were eating. The didn't really eat a lot of the food. I was wondering if they didn't like it or it was too much.

After dinner we took a taxi to the barber shop and I got my haircut and Daniela got a spa treatment a couple doors down.  Then we took a taxi to Miraflores and shopped for stuff for breakfast. We got back to the room and almost immediately went to bed after an exhausting day.

The pictures from today will be posted here.

Peru Fall 2013 Day 2

Late start and a lazy day after the nightmare travel to get to Lima.  Truthfully we arrived really early in the morning. So we basically stayed in the room an slept a lot later than I am normally used to then got up in time to get the later part of the mass the priest that is going to marry us performed. He is in a church in Brena which is very close to downtown Lima. He is Polish but mainly speaks Spanish. I think he was raised in Peru.  We spoke to him for a couple minutes about plans for the week.

We then walked to a mall not too far away, maybe 5 blocks and had lunch at a restaurant called Provence. We both had set menu items. Daniela had a beef with 4 cheeses and I had a fried fish dish with yellow chili sauces.  We had a ceviche dish to start that we shared.  We also had a bottle of Shiraz to go along with the meal. The waiter actually brought us Australian chardonnay at first but we were able to get that fixed. The food was really good and we shared both of our dinners.  We had a custard-like thing for dessert.  We sat and talked a long time while we slowly finished off the bottle of wine.  After that Daniela had made arrangements to meet her mother to go visit an uncle to give him the invitation to the wedding. We had a coffee at the Juan Valdez then she called us to say she had arrived at our meeting point and we met her.

Unfortunately the uncle was not available so we just walked to the Plaza de Armas for Lima and sat and talked for a while before walking her mother back to a place to get a ride home. We then walked back to the mall and got a metropolitan bus back to Miraflores. Stopped at the apartment rental place and got a spare towel then bought some water in the market before getting back to the apartment.

We spent a few minutes sorting things out then went to bed.

The pictures from today are located here.

Peru Fall 2013 Day 1

Peru Fall 2013 Day 1

Today started out with an early wakeup for a 9:36 flight to Panama on Copa Airlines where I would switch to a flight to Lima.  I got to the airport at 6:30 and check in and security were quick and easy if there was a little bit of a slowdown at security.  I got into the gate area and found The Earl of Sandwich to get a cranberry muffin and a coffee and made a quick visit to the newsstand to get some snack food for the trip.

The plane was to depart from gate E4.  Only a few minutes after reaching the gates they changed the departure time from 9:36 to 9:54. They started boarding us and it was obvious it was not a full flight. I was on an aisle seat but I had a nervous type guy who was doing the jittery leg thing and I asked if I could move to another empty aisle seat and the attendant said yes. It was the second part of an exit row, so no extra leg room but at least no one next to me.

Of course we were on the plane for about 15-20 minutes when they announced they had to have us all deplane because there was a systems failure in Panama and the entire Copa fleet was grounded. They had no ETA but we had to exit the plane with our belongings and wait at the gate.  They assured us since the whole fleet was grounded that any connecting flights would also be delayed so at least we shouldn’t need to rebook to a new flight.

I chose to start writing this during the wait as there was little else to do. After we were about 45 minutes late they reiterated that they had no idea how long the delay was going to be and they would keep us posted.

An hour and a half later we still had no updates other than there were no updates.  So I chose to go to Burger King and get lunch. I had just finished eating a BK double-stacker which was probably a bad idea they started calling the business class passengers to give them vouchers of some sort. Even though the reposted the flight info on the gate board they said they still had no information about when things were going to start moving and they had no information on what was going to happen to connecting flights.  The activity of course caused everyone, myself included, to think they were going to start boarding the flight.  By this point it was almost 2 and a half hours past original departure time.  Very frustrating to say the least.  Especially when there is perfect weather outside.

Of course after I bought the lunch they gave meal vouchers for the airport to the passengers.  I figured I would have to do something with it but not today.  I spoke to Daniela on the phone through Viber for a few minutes because it had been so frustrating.

At 1:20 they called all passengers to get their boarding passes back so they could reboard the plane properly. The person who gave me the pass said it would be boarding in about an hour and another attendant told me they were waiting for the crew. They said that flights would be going to Lima until about 9pm but all flights are delayed out of Panama.  I should be able to get there tonight but I would be arriving past midnight most likely.  I kept as vigilant an eye out for the crew as I could.  They told us we would probably start boarding at 2:30 to 2:40 but the flight crew didn’t even get back to the airplane until about 10 minutes to 3.  The of course didn’t start boarding right away. I wonder where the heck they sent the flight crew for the wait?  It is nuts that they could be hours away when they are supposed to be flying.  They still didn’t know if we would be able to make connections by the time we were boarding.

It was a reasonably quick boarding process and we weren’t on the tarmac for too long before they departed. Still, more than 6 hours late is fairly too much. In any event the flight entertainment was not individual seat style and they showed the new Star Trek film which I refuse to watch on principle so I skipped on that. They served either arroz con pollo or ravioli con carne and I chose the ravioli with some very rough Chilean red wine I sort of wish I skipped on.  The early parts of the flight were smooth with only a few bumps.  I chose to drag out the computer and watch a movie.  Well actually I chose to watch the final episode of the IT Crowd and I hope I didn’t disturb the people around me too much because I really laughed a lot.  From there I decided maybe I could sleep a bit but I wasn’t really able to so I turned on the various  music stations and cycled through the full set of songs on each.

Eventually we landed and sat on the tarmac for a bit before getting to a gate. We were basically told to go to customer service at gate 21 at our arrival gate which was like gate 2.  When I got to customer service there was a long line and no one working the desk. I started on my phone and on a hunch that I was reading the flight status correctly I was able to figure out that my scheduled departure from Panama to Lima still hadn’t left. I hurried over there and was met with a sign that was for Recife instead but the women at the gate said it would indeed be my flight to Lima. We needed to wait for the crew to arrive and be ready again but we would board as soon as they were.  I thought I had seen some crew come in when I arrived at the gate but I cannot be sure. They were loading in the catering when I got there anyway and that finished a few minutes later.

I took a few minutes to sit down and type this while I used my computer to charge my phone a bit. I didn’t have a charger with me, only the cable. The charger was in my suitcase. Unfortunately the battery on the laptop was also a bit low as I had used it a lot during the wait through the day and on the plane. Still if I could suck out a few % of battery for the phone it would be more helpful for giving Daniela updates and eventually for if and when I arrived in Lima.  I should point out that the weather in Panama was as to be expected. Wicked hot and wicked humid. The massive crowds in the airport beyond normal were not helping things at all. I was hoping the crew would arrive quickly so I could be in a climate controlled cabin soon.  It took probably another 40 minutes before they let us board.

After we boarded the air conditioning was awesome compared to the airport but we sat at the gate for over another hour and a half.  Eventually somewhere around 12:00am local time we were able to get off the ground and the flight was about 3 hours. I slept through almost all of it except the very beginning and landing.  I raced to the immigration line which was empty when I got there and got through as the 4th person so was first in line for 3 agents.  After that it was wait for the baggage at the claim. That took a few minutes. I went through customs and I thought it was going to be easy but the guy picked me out to go through a checking. I was very lucky in that when he asked me why I was visiting I said it was to get married and my fiancé was waiting outside.  He let me go without actually checking.

Daniela was waiting outside. We took a taxi to get the key to the apartment then straight to the apartment where we just went straight to bed. It was basically 4:30am by that point. A very long and frustrating day. But it was all just fine when I finally got here and saw and was with her.

The pictures of the apartment are located here.

South Caribbean Cruise Summer 2013 Day 10 & 11

We arrived to the hotel at around 2:30pm or later so we pretty went straight to bed and woke up sort of late and got going just at the very edge of check-out time. We did manage to get a few minutes in the Jacuzzi before we had to leave but we would have liked a bit longer than we got. Apparently someone had already booked the next day on us and we couldn’t do a late checkout though.

From the hotel we took a cab to Daniela’s house and met with her mother and sister. Her brother is traveling to India for vacation right now so he was not home. Oh and of course I got to see Forest again.  They took me to a local buffet restaurant that is apparently in the Guinness Book for having created the largest ceviche ever. At least the chef is anyway.  The food was good even if I am not really a fan of buffet.

After the lunch we went back to the house and watched Puss in Boots in Spanish on TV.  Or Gato en Botas if you wish.  They had not seen it before, but I had so it didn’t really matter that it wasn’t in English to me.  Then Daniela and I went to the mall and had a dessert at the Gelato factory and did some shopping for a couple small things including a pen to write on lock as we put it on a heart in front of the mall.

After the mall it was a taxi to Daniela’s house to pick up my bags and off to the airport.  Of course my flight was delayed and I had an extra hour to wait so fortunately Daniela waited with me until my plane was listed as landed and I knew I would have to get into security and the immigration line before I could board. While we were waiting we had a small pizza from Papa John’s. Oh and I asked her to marry me while we were waiting too.

She said yes.  We don’t fully know how everything is going to work out but it will be time to start all the plans as soon as we can.  Still we are both very happy for the future ahead of us.

I boarded the plane and barely found a place for my backpack. Planes with in seat entertainment have big boxes in the aisle seat foot areas. I would not have been able to fit the bag down there. Unfortunately the seat I had was the only one on the plane that had a two prong headphone jack and they didn’t have an adapter. Fortunately I mostly wanted to and was able to sleep anyway.  The flight did have some serious bumps on it, especially before we reached North America, but we landed uneventfully all the same.

Getting into Newark I was a bit concerned that I would not have enough time to get to my next flight. But surprise, that flight was delayed too. I should have figured it. 3 out of 4 flights being delayed. That’s what I get for a mileage purchased flight I guess.  At least it gave that small amount of buffer that the first flight’s delay had eaten up on me. 

The flight to Boston was quiet and I slept through most all of it. The rest is simple really. I disembarked, got my bag and was picked up by my father and back home by 1pm.

The pictures from day 10 can be found here.

South Caribbean Cruise Summer 2013 Day 9

We woke up late because we didn’t really have a ton to do except to get the room packed up which we did in pretty short order after getting cleanedup. Went to breakfast in the buffet and took our time there as we were expecting we would just go from breakfast to disembarking. However the ship was late to port and the disembarking process started late and was very slow.  We were picked up at around 3 rather than 1pm we expected to be off the ship.  This meant that the day we expected to have in Cartagena was mostly eaten up and we really only had about 2 hours before we needed to be to the airport for our flight out to Lima.

Our guides picked us up and took us to see the high point over the city which is at a convent but we didn’t enter as there would have been a charge and we were only going to be there for less than 15 minutes. Still we were able to see a good overlook of the city outside the convent. By the way Cartagena used to be loaded with convents back in the day.

 We were then taken to a park with a statue of a pair of shoes where we had to wait for a tour to clear out so  we could get the pictures we wanted. The park is just below the fortress of the walled city as well so there was a nice couple of pictures of that there as well.  Daniela bought a lemon flavored shaved ice there as well.   Then we were taken to a square with a Botero statue we were spent a few minutes and took a couple pictures there and also in the church nearby. On the way there we passed by the house of Gabriel Garcia Marquez  who is one of my all time favorite authors.  A nice unexpected surprise. 

After the square it was to the airport where we checked in and ate at a café hastily before we boarded the plane. We had a chicken and pork barbeque type thing with fries. Unfortunately they called us but we were told not to board for some reason then they called us by name over the intercom and we boarded anyway.  It was a bit confusing.   The flight itself was easy. But in Bogota which is a massive airport that is so terribly laid out that it only leads to confusion even if it was our 4^th time there. We had to take buses and checkin and checkin again until finally we boarded. That flight was easy too but I slept through most of it.

Daniela’s friend Marle picked us up with her husband. We dropped most of Daniela’s stuff off to her house then spent the night in a hostel not too far from airport.

The pictures from day 9 are found here.

South Caribbean Cruise Summer 2013 Day 8

Today we got up early and had breakfast as we entered the port city of Colon, Panama.  After breakfast we were to go to the city without using one of the ship excursions.  When we got to Colon it was very hot and humid and a rainstorm was brewing. It started to rain not long after we exited the ship.  For the next 4 hours it was shoe………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..shopping.  That is all I can describe.

After we were done we found a taxi to carry the gigantic bags back to the ship however we started talking to the driver who was a guy named Vivian Tugwell.  He offered to take us to the canal tourist area so we chose to do that before we returned to the ship.  We agreed and then we had a short bit of traffic before we were on our way to the canal.

At the canal tourist area we were able to climb up onto a platform and watch the locks as they opened and closed and the water levels changed so the boats could be raised or lowered 85 feet to or from a man made fresh water lake that would carry them to locks just before the other ocean. We were on the Atlantic side obviously and we were watching ships being lowered down. The  locks take about 10 minutes to equalize the water level. The large boats are moved from 7am to 4pm or something like that and the smaller boats are allowed to travel through after. The tourism guide person at the site explained the largest ships to go through are Carnival cruise ships.

After we watched the ships moved through it was 4pm and time for the canal tourist area to close so we packed back into the cab and were driven through a moderate amount of traffic back to the ship where we boarded immediately and then dropped off our stuff in the cabin and headed out to have a quick lunch a bit late in the buffet. From there we went back to the room and got cleaned up and dressed and headed out to show a little bit late. It was called Bon Voyage and was a series of sketches including the captain’s wife Greer (who is British) doing a dance routine. We talked to her later on and found out that was how she got started on cruise ships.

After the show we went to dinner. Daniela had the braised oxtail and I had the rabbit which both were excellent.  For started I had a lentil soup and Daniela had an artichoke salad.  The dessert was a selection of cheese for me and a lemon meringue for Daniela.  We chatted with the Colombians for a while then finished eating and headed over to the disco only to find it was dead.  We headed back to the piano bar (Fragata) and the pianist was playing along with a singer. We watched them until they were done then basically headed back to the room and packed our suitcases to be delivered to land and then we chose to call it a night. It was a very long and tiring day.

The pictures from day 8 are found here.

South Caribbean Cruise Summer 2013 Day 7

Today was a day at sea and we really didn’t get moving until around the afternoon. We spent a lazy morning in the room and then went to the only lunch area that was still open by the time we got out of the room which was the pizzeria up on deck 11.  We ran into Isa from the dolphin excursion and she sat with us and chatted for a while. Bjorn was playing poker and that left Isa wandering around a little bit. He did come by for a few minute while they were on break and had something quick to eat but had to head back to the game quickly.

After Isa left we went outside and sat in by the pool for a while then we headed to the bar with the piano and had a couple drinks until it was almost time for the evening’s show. We went back to the room and got changed and then headed to the Broadway Showroom. The theme was Rock Never Dies and it was all rock music performed by the ship’s entertainment team along with some dancing and a little bit of other performance.  It was a reasonably good show though I think they could have used one more male singer with a lower range than the guy they had for some of the songs.  They did songs from Dire Straits, Queen, Bon Jovi, Guns and Roses, Led Zeppelin and a bunch of others.

As we exited the show we found they had a mini performance right outside the Broadway Showroom with a singer and guitarist. This was in Spanish but was still rock songs.  They built up a large crowd in the lobby area and the singer was quite funny by inserting belching rock sounding versions of some of the dance songs I had heard a bunch of times on the cruise.

After that wrapped up we headed to dinner. We both had cornflake crusted chicken strips for an appetizer and I had the vegetarian dish which was gnocchi and Daniela had pork medallions.  For desser we both had the Torta Santiago. The food was good and I was looking for something light so it worked out.

After dinner we went to the bar with the piano and listened to the pianist play until he was done.  I had a grappa which was actually quite good and Daniela had another glass of wine. Then we headed out for a walk around the ship then we headed back to the room where Daniela almost immediately fell asleep so we called it a night.

The pictures from day 7 are located here.

South Caribbean Cruise Summer 2013 Day 6

Today we had our excursion starting at 10:15 so we went down to breakfast a little bit after 9am. I think we were late for the excursion meeting point by maybe 5 minutes and there were no announcements over the ships PA to say to be there at all. However when we got to the Broadway Showroom which is the meeting point for the excursions it was completely empty. We ran to reception and they called to the excursions people and fortunately they hadn’t yet left by the time we got outside so we were able to get our tickets and almost immediately board a taxi van to the Dolphin Academy where our excursion in Curacao was to be.  The ride to the facility was maybe half an hour long and we got a small idea of what the island looked like. It was cleaner than Venezuela was at least. We had really nice weather with a lot of sun and a little bit of cloud cover. While we were riding I put sunblock on my face. 

When we arrived they brought us into the Dolphin Academy where we sat in a theater until we signed some safety waiver forms and were separated into our individual types of excursions (encounter or swimming with dolphins).  We had chosen to swim with the dolphins so we got pink armbands to add to our collection.  They sent the various types of groups to individual briefing rooms where we were shown a brief video about dolphins. When that had just barely finished our video when one of the dolphin trainers came to get six people to do the first swim with the dolphins session and we managed to go with a bunch of people who didn’t speak Spanish as their main language.  She took us first to get our flippers and I took a life vest because I am not a strong swimmer.  Then she took us all the way around the entire facility it seemed before we got to a blue platform and a separated pool of the ocean with 2 dolphins in it.

In our group was a couple from the Netherlands who were a French woman and Dutch guy who boarded in Aruba after being there for a friend’s wedding. They didn’t speak any Spanish though apparently Bjorn could understand some.  Also we had a mother and daughter who were Brazilian from Brasilia. They didn’t speak Spanish either, only Portuguese.  We got a quick briefing about how to act in the water then it was in the water immediately and the dolphins came up to us.  We were to swim with our hands to our chest and to only touch the sides of the dolphins and not the face or the tail.  They came up to us and swam around and we got to touch them many times. They are very soft and have smooth skin.  They are gentle creatures also it was obvious, but they could get startled. After a couple minutes the trainer started having the dolphins do tricks with each of us. They can shake hands, kiss you and do spins with you. We would take turns having the dolphins do a trick with each of us then small swimming breaks. The final trick was a ride with the dolphins. Both would swim out to you with your hand signals as the trainer directed for each of the tricks and then you could grab onto each of their dorsal fins and ride them back to the platform.  For some reason the younger dolphin who was still training was afraid of my life vest and they steered in a different direction than they were supposed to for the pictures when I got my ride. They weren’t able to get good pictures so the trainer had me try it again. It took a few attempts and we had to do some extra swimming. The second ride had the same issue where they veered off to my left instead of going to the platform.  The trainer had me stay in the pool and everyone else get out and then I got one final ride that did go right to the platform. She said she wanted the dolphin to do it right so he understood that it was what he should do. She didn’t want him to not do it correctly for proper training.  So I was the fortunate guy who got 3 dolphin rides for the price of one.

After the swimming portion we were brought to some quick showers then into the briefing room where we saw another video about protecting endangered species and wildlife especially dolphins. Then we went into the photo shop and looked at our pictures and decided to buy the whole lot of pictures delivered on a USB drive.  We talked to the others and agreed to share the pictures and they could contribute what they would when we got back to the ship. The pictures are very good quality. I liked them better than the Seatrek pictures.

After the photo shop we also bought some souvenir stuff and then went and had a snack at the snack bar restaurant. I had a hot dog and Daniela had a tuna sandwich. By the time we were getting the food they were just getting ready to start the final dolphin show. We got our food and headed over to the show area right next to the snack bar.  They did a show of probably about 20-25 minutes of dolphins doing trick like flips and spins.  I was able to get a bunch of the tricks on video.  After the show we headed to the taxi and rode back to the ship. We really only had another hour on Curacao and ended up just boarding the ship then going back to the room and drop stuff off.

We went to the buffet and had a dessert for lunch since we already ate at the snack bar.  Then we sat outside near the pool for a while and I read. I had taken way too much sun because in all the rush of the rest of the day I had forgotten to put sunblock on anywhere but my face and my shoulders became really burned. So while Daniela wanted to stay in the sun I went to the room and showered and got dressed. We had arranged to meet the other people from the swim in the piano bar at 6 to swap the photos. I chose to get Daniela at the pool and bring her with me for this.  Fortunately Bjorn and Isa had a laptop and Raissa had bought a USB drive with only a couple pictures on it so we let Bjorn copy the pictures to his laptop then we copied them to Raissa’s drive.  We all stayed and talked for quite a while before we realized it was past 8 and Daniela still had to shower before we went to see the show in the Broadway Showroom.

So we went back to the room and Daniela got cleaned up then we rushed up to the show which was a comic show of mostly mime comedy so it didn’t matter if you understood Spanish or not. They did acrobatics and juggling. It was the first time I saw a guy do tricks on a pole like exotic dancers use. Fortunately it was not a sexual thing but just acrobatics. They pulled people from the audience for some of the sketches. 

After the show we went to dinner at our restaurant and I had a shish kebab with a bean ragout and Israeli couscous.  Daniela started with the Chicken Voldostana but since it had mushrooms she decided to get what I had. Both of us had the cream of cauliflower and blue cheese soup to start.  I had vanilla ice cream and she had a chocolate mousse cake for dessert.  We both had red wine.  The food was excellent and I am sure I would have liked her chicken dish since mushrooms don’t bother me but I am glad I got what I ordered. The meat was medium rare and very tasty.

After dinner we walked around deck 7 to front of the ship and just stayed out there in the dark watching the stars for a long while. The front of the ship was not lit up much and it made for spectacular viewing of the stars in the ocean darkness.

After that we went back to the piano bar and Daniela had a tea and I had a hot chocolate then we headed back to the room and called it a night.

I will say the dolphins swim was the best excursion we’ve done the cruise by far and I would recommend it to anyone. It was spectacular.

My pictures from day 6 are located here.

The Dolpin Academy pictures are here.