The Long Road Home

Our bus trip from Lima to Arequipa was quite the adventure. What was supposed to be a 15 hour overnight trip took 29 hours! About eight hours outside of Arequipa a river had risen up over a bridge and we had to wait for the water level to go down before crossing it.

About three hours from Arequipa we encountered a washed out bridge and had to wait half the night for bulldozers to make safe the river crossing. Trucks, buses and cars were backed up for miles.

Even though we were stuck along the scenic coastal desert, waiting around with little to do got kind of old.

The bus did not have enough food for a 30 hour trip and we did not bring any extra supplies. If it was not for the kindness of strangers we would have ended up like this poor dog.....

It was a long trip but we got home safe and sound. We found out that two of our friends had similar bus experiences and that there was a state of emergency in southern Peru due to the worst rains in 40 years. Some of the resulting problems facing poor folk, especially in rural communities, make our bus delay seem pretty insignificant.

Despite the state of emergency, city officials decided to continue with the planned carnaval parade which celebrates the culture of the Arequipa region.  We got to see hundreds of dancers, musicians and floats, 90% of which were playing the same song "Carnaval de Arequipa."

The parade was also a chance for young and old, performers and audience, Peruvians and Gringos, to spray each other with water, white foam and other liquids. Everyone got into the action and had a great time at this very interactive parade. The girls were attacked by a man on stilts and Jeff was ambushed by an old lady (the retaliation was fierce).

After recovering from our trip and the parade, we started looking for ways to keep busy before school starts on March 5. Aileen has a fair amount to do to get the girls ready for school and Jeff is back to work. Hannah started violin lessons (and resumed gymnastics).  Emma continues with guitar and took her first step on a long road toward straight teeth.  Though we have plenty to do, Mom and Dad are counting down the days until summer vacation is finally over.

We are a bit burned out on traveling but are taking the time to visit some of the famous cultural sites in Arequipa. We recently toured the beautiful Convent of Santa Catalina which is like a city within a city.

We have also been reconnecting with friends. The girls have enjoyed play dates and sleepovers and we recently celebrated Mama Techi's birthday with a big plate of guinea pig.

One of the best things about Arequipa is the weather and we were bummed to come back to very cold temperatures, grey skies and rain.  However, after about ten days of that mess the sun came back out.  Our beloved mountains are now covered in snow and just walking outside is once again a treat.

Here are some final thoughts on our travels and subsequent return to Arequipa.

Well, when I went to America I really had fun. I loved Trujillo because the hotel had a swimming pool we could go to after the beach. I was excited to come back to Arequipa to see Picachu and Bunny (stuffed animals) and my friends. I had a sleepover at my friends' house and we stayed up until almost midnight.  That was fun. I am happy school starts soon.

I was a bit surprised about how good it felt to be back in Arequipa even though this has only been our home for a few months. On the other hand, because we were back in the USA for so long I am really missing our friends and family. I am looking forward to getting back into a regular routine, especially having the kids off at school five days a week.

It is wonderful to be back home after five weeks of travel (about 1 week too long I think). I missed Arequipa but being away helped me better understand Peru, including some of the more negative aspects.  Upon our return I really started to notice a certain type of racism/classism that exists in this country (more on that in a future post). During our trip I also realized how much I miss our friends and family in the USA. Living overseas has been an amazing experience and we still have much to see and do. Sometimes the idea of coming home seems horrifying to me (especially after watching the Republican debates).  However, when July rolls around I think that we will all be anxious to return to the motherland (but if Rick Santorum wins the nomination all bets are off).

I had a really good time in the United States, especially because we got to see our friends and family.  Still, I was happy to come back to Peru because I missed my friends, my school and also my apartment.  I loved going to carnaval in Arequipa, that was really fun. Our vacation in Peru was fun too. I liked Huanchaco because we made nice friends there.  Still, I am excited about moving home to San Francisco in a few months.

Back in Peru

After an enjoyable but exhausting 3 weeks in the USA, we were very happy to return to Peru.  We arrived late at night and made it through immigrations/customs with no trouble (despite my irrational fear of being arrested by some activist government bureaucrat with a chip on her shoulder).  The driver from the ever-reliable Hotel Aleman was waiting for us at the airport and whisked us away to our favorite hotel room in Lima (it has two attached rooms for the price of one).  We were thrilled to be back in the warm weather and even happier to not have any places to go, people to see or things to do for the next few weeks.

Lima
After a good night's sleep, we decided to buy bus tickets for Trujillo a city in northern Peru that is close to a well-known beach town.  The hotel offered to get the bus tickets so we decided to hit the busy streets of Lima with grand plans to visit some historical sites.  After visiting one church and having lunch, it was clear we were exhausted from our travels.  Emma and Hannah were both whining (which is very uncharacteristic of them) so we went back to the hotel and relaxed before heading to the bus terminal.

Huanchaco

We took an overnight bus and were met at the Trujillo bus terminal by a driver from the Hotel Bracamonte.  He got us to the hotel in short order and before we knew it, we were on the beaches of Huanchaco.  Huanchaco is a fishing village near Trujillo and a popular vacation spot for Peruvians.  It is known for reed boats, the second oldest church in Peru and one of the longest left breaks in the world.  It was great to relax for a few days, have some amazing seafood and recuperate from our travels. We all felt rejuvenated and ready for some more adventurous travel.

Cajamarca
We took a day bus into the mountains, and after 8 hours or so, we arrived in the city of Cajamarca. We decided to stay a few miles out of town so we could enjoy the countryside and made reservations at a hacienda/hostel in the nearby hills.  However, when we arrived there was nobody at the hacienda; I walked around the grounds in the pouring rain, fell down in the mud a few times and finally gave into the idea that we had been forgotten.  Fortunately the taxi driver waited for us but unfortunately he got stuck in the mud and Aileen and I got filthy pushing him out.  He told us the Hacienda Portada del Sol was owned by the area's congressman and he was not at all surprised that this happened to us.  We found a decent hotel in the historic district of the city and crashed out for the night.

Cajamarca is in the northern highlands of Peru and is the capital of the region.  It is located at 8,900 feet and has a population of about 250,000 people.  The city is known for its dairy products, protests against the foreign mining companies, and eally cool hats. It is also known for its churches and hot springs, both of which we really enjoyed.  Historically, Cajamarca is remembered as the place where the Inca Empire came to an end with the capture, abuse and murder of emperor Atahualpa.

I loved visiting this part of Peru.  The city and surrounding countryside were beautiful and we saw some amazing pre-Inca ruins (including an ancient aqueduct that was an engineering marvel).  The northern highlands are very different from Arequipa and the other places we have traveled.  There is much more of an indigenous presence and unfortunately much more poverty.  We heard a great deal about how the mining companies and corrupt local government officials have gotten rich while local communities have barely benefited from the billions of dollars worth of minerals extracted from their lands.  Despite the many hardships, people in Cajamarca are friendly and spirited.  They are also politically active, having shut the city down for over a week to successfully delay the opening of new mine.  Things have been calm since December but I expect there will be further disruptions once the government tries to move the project forward. There was much to see and learn about in Cajamarca and we only scratched the surface.  Though we wanted to stay longer, our time was running out and we had other places to visit.

Trujillo

We back tracked (via bus) to Trujillo.  Our main purpose in returning was to see some of the pre-Inca ruins in the area (it is also the safest way to travel back to Arequipa).  During our stay we visited the Temples of the Sun and Moon which were built by the Moche people.  One of the sites consisted of five different temples built on top of one another.  The other place we visited was Chan Chan, the largest adobe city in the world built by the Chimur.  Both of these sites were amazing to behold and our photos do not do them justice.

Lima Part 2
We returned to Lima mainly to catch the bus back to Arequipa.  However, we decided to spend some time exploring this city which has a  bad (and undeserved) reputation.  We enjoyed some great food, cool street performers and diverse neighborhoods.  We also visited some religious sites that the girls had studied about at school, including a church housing the skulls of Santa Rosa de Lima and the first black saint, Martin de Porres.  The highlight was visiting the monastery of San Francisco de Lima that contained catacombs full of bones.  Emma and Hannah were pretty freaked out by the place and (literally) jumped for joy when they escaped the spooky place.  We finished up the day visiting the famous Parque del Amor where Aileen and I engaged in some rare PDA.  Onlookers cracked up while the girls tried to get a photo of us making out.  We would kiss for a while, stop and then they would say "should we take it now?"  Was this an accident or where they messing with us?

We left Lima around 5:30pm on a luxury overnight bus for Arequipa that was supposed to take about 15 hours.  The bus was equipped with seats that became beds, videos, food and even internet access so we were not too worried about the journey.  Boy were we wrong!  Read the next post for the stunning conclusion to our travels.