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.