Peru Trip 2009: June 2009

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Introduction

Hi, I'm Camille. My mom and I recently got to go to Peru after we took a year of Spanish classes. This blog documents our trip so you can see what we got to do. Our first week we stayed in Cusco. Then we stayed a week in Taray, which is about 45 minutes away from Cusco in the Sacred Valley. Next we returned to Cusco for another week, and finally we went on a 4-day trek from Lares to Machu Picchu. The whole time (with the exception of the trek) we took Spanish classes for 4 hours each day. While in Cusco we lived with a Peruvian family and communicated with them in Spanish. I hope you enjoy our blog.

(Check out our previous trip to Peru here.)

Saturday, June 13, 2009

More pictures we like

Cows herded down the main street of Pisac. See the ancient Incan drainage channel.

Variety of dried corn at market

More pictures we like

Llama skins drying on porch

More pictures we liked

Drying fava beans

Cactus walls at adobe house

Basketball court with terraced seating

More picture we like

Cute baby at the market being watched by his brother

Interesting doorway

Pretty building

Other pictures we like

Rock pattern in courtyard of Incan Museum

Many buildings in Cusco are built right on top of the ancient Incan foundations

The Plaza de Armas and the cathedral

More differences

Fruits for sale around the corner from our house (chirimoya is the green one front right)

A cambio loaded up

16. Every morning when we walk to school we pass the fruit and vegetable market, the butcher, the place where they are plucking and cutting up chickens, bakers, etc. The people shop every day or two and always eat fresh, like in Europe.

17. People walk everywhere. There are also cambios which are like large minivans, where for 20c you can hop in and get off wherever. Apparently they have set routes. After school they are completely packed with 20+ people. We saw a compact car with 9 children in it coming out of school, too. We usually walk to and from school (25 minutes or so) but if we do take a cab it only costs $1.

More differences

Girl in uniform walking home from school

Boys in their school sports uniform on steep steps

The Colegio Garcilaso uniform. They were parading to celebrate the Incan history published by Garcilaso.

10. The kids all wear uniforms to school. The girls wear skirts and blazers. The boys wear long pants with vests and long-sleeve button-up shirts. The schools seem to all have uniforms and to be all single-sex.

11. The kids in our house go to private school so they are learning English and have music lessons at school. Both children play instruments.

12. There are internet cafes on every corner, partially for tourists, but most people do not have access in their house. La Senora explained that is expensive, but also she doesn’t want her kids on the computer all the time (Stuart, are you reading this?) Some of the internet cafes also have videogame consoles.

13. Dogs wander around loose. They are strays but don’t always look like it as they are well-fed and not mangy-looking. They are very traffic-savvy. People chip in to help them. We have seen people buy food to feed strays, lift them up to get them out of the way of traffic, and try to train them.

14. Most of the people here are very small, even shorter than me. Many people have marvelled at how tall Camille is (at 5-4) and I have to duck in certain entranceways.

15. They eat very healthfully. Everything is fresh from the market or homemade. There is very little junk food for sale or places like McDonalds. Even the street vendors sell things like fresh fruit, juice, skewers of meat, corn, or bread. Dessert is usually fruit.

More differences

Kids practicing sports in the school courtyard

The narrow street we passed everyday on our way to school. Note the van mirror.

Cobbled streets

6. Many of the streets are very narrow and cobbled with rounded rocks that look like river rocks. The sidewalks on some are about a foot wide and the cars zip by. It is a game of chicken when two people meet on the sidewalk and there are cars. You have to wait until there is a slight gap in the traffic and hop around the other person.

7. The cars are pretty crazy, don’t use signals, and don’t stop for pedestrians. Everyone jaywalks (at a run!)

8. The families seem very close-knit and spend a lot of time socializing. They laugh a lot and spend a lot of time chatting. Everyone is very friendly. Dancing is very popular even with the small kids.

9. Everyone seems to love sports. All of the kids play sports at school. Our kids stay late several nights to play basketball and volleyball, and even La Senora plays volleyball several times a week. Each school has an Adidas sports uniform that looks like Stuart’s Blackhawks suit but matches the school colors and their regular uniform. In this house the radio is tuned to soccer matches constantly. At the clothing shops, the Adidas and Nike apparel is about four times more expensive than normal clothes.

Some difference we noticed between Peru and the US

1. The main meal of the day is lunch but it is eaten late, around 2-3. The children have breakfast, take a snack to school, and eat their meal at 3 when school is out. For dinner they have a very light meal or a snack such as hot milk, hot chocolate, or tea and some toast or leftovers. El Senor comes home from work for a couple of hours 1-3 or so to have his main meal and a little rest. Some of the museums are closed 12-13.

2. We were not in a single building the entire time that had hot water through the tap. The shower in our house has an electrical attachment that heats water but it isn’t super warm or very much water. Many homes have no hot water at all.

3. No one drinks the tap water. The families keep a large thermos on the table full of boiled, hot water and use it for tea, etc. When they make their fresh juice in the morning they also use boiled water.

4. They are very energy efficient, using compact fluorescent bulbs, turning off lights, not driving much, and hanging out their laundry in their enclosed courtyard. We hang out our bath towels when we are done showering.

5. The kids have a lot of freedom to go around the city. They walk everywhere, play on the streets, buy their own snacks from street vendors, and hop on buses alone. They also work very hard. Many help with their parents’ work, or play/do homework in the back of their parents’ store while the parents are working. The kids in our family have lots of homework.

Plants in Peru

Like Hechtia montana

Opuntia ficus-indica

Another Opuntia - cholla

Giant agave

We have seen many plants here in Peru that we know from our desert landscaping class. It is surprising since this is such a different environment. Here we are between 9,000 and 12,000 feet above sea level, it is much colder, and they get more rain. We have seen a type of Parkinsonia (similar to Palo Brea), agaves, aloe (similar to Aloe ferox), a plant simiar to Hechtia montana, and an Eschscholzia californica variation that is much larger. There are also many cacti. We have seen many types of Opuntia – cholla, prickly pear and Opuntia ficus-indica. And we are sure we have seen many Cereus hildmannianus – and then we remembered that the common name is “Peruvian Apple Cactus”. We brought our family prickly pear candies as an Arizona treat, but found that prickly pear fruits, called tuna, are common in the marketplace here.