Our first week in Peru

After stuffing all of our belongings into our car we were off to Philadelphia airport where Layla dropped us off and then went on to visit Meadow and give her the car that we have bequeathed to her.  7 boxes take a lot of time to check in, but all was well and we were off.  However, once we were in Lima we waited and waited and waited for the boxes to come off the conveyor until we were the last ones standing and still no boxes.  When I went to an official looking person and showed her the claim checks, she said basically, "Oh yeah.  They are over there"  Over there proved to be 2 carousels away where they all were, stacked up neatly.  However, we missed our flight to Arequipa and had to wait about 3 hours for the next one  Meanwhile two worker type guys came over and asked me what was in the case and when I explained as best I could since they did not speak English, that it was a banjo, they looked confused.  So I took it out and they insisted on taking pictures with me holding the banjo for their Facebook page.

Meanwhile, we had now way to contact Roberto, who was going to pick us up, so David and I each got into separate taxis with half the luggage each and hoped we would meet up at the hotel.  All was well and we were reunited.  However, we had booked our favorite room which was on the roof and had to bring up 3 of the 7 boxes which had things we needed.  At 7200 feet, that was a chore.

Our real estate agent turned out to be less than helpful and we were stuck!  We certainly were in no mood to sight see, so after waiting two days for her to arrange a viewing, only to be told that nothing was available, we bought the Sunday paper in the hope that we could help ourselves.  Well, that was useless..even though we could sort of decipher the real estate ads, we had no idea where they were and no ability to make calls to find out about the apartments and make appointments to go see them.  So there we were, sitting in the little lobby, utterly helpless, when Erika, a young woman who worked in the hotel and another young woman took us in hand.  Erika took the whole day off, made all the necessary calls, hauled us from one cab to another and found us a great apartment!  Then the owner of the hotel took the following morning off to go with us and the landlord to the notary to sign the lease and then to the apartment where he went over it room by room to make sure everything was just fine!

What a wonderful introduction to Arequipa.  We are in the Omocollo section of Yanuaharra, right in front of a railroad track on which runs infrequent little freight trains.  The unusual thing about our little train is that it crosses a major street without any crossing guard, flashing lights or any other safety precautions but a hoot of the horn!  There is also a flock of sheep that graze next to the train tracks!

We went from a dry cabin in Fairbanks, with no running water and an outhouse to a 7th floor apartment with 4 bathrooms, 2 TV's a doorman and a cleaning lady.  What a hoot!  However, El Misti looms out our kitchen window and the lights of the city twinkle all around us!  Here is a view from the living room And this is a view from the kitchen.  Because the weather is so great, we have an outdoor laundry room with a washing machine and drying rack.and a very fancy bedroom with a blue light over the bed.     Our living room has white furniture which makes me nervous, but also a massage chair which helps me relax!.  Our kitchen is quite functional with a breakfast bar and stools and lovely appliances. And here is our lovely building from the street. 

I take a bus every day to my Spanish lessons and this is high entertainment.  I stand any place along the route and flap my hand when I see my bus.  It slows down, the guy who collects the fare and yells the destination swings down, I swing up and squash myself into the crowd, barely fitting in the door and off we go.  Luckily, I can usually get off fairly soon after I get on and walk the rest of the way to school. because the drivers are maniacs.  There are not lanes, no turn signals, few lights and no rules!

Weather is sublime...sunny, warm, breezy...but very dry since we are in an absolutely high desert.  It gets cool at night.  The folks here have a different sense of warm and cold than do the folks in AK, plus everyone is afraid of the sun.  The result is that everyone wears long sleeves, and light jackets, in the morning and warmer jackets and scarves in evening.  I try to blend in and as a result I sweat! Here is a photo of sunset from our kitchen window

Unfortunately David's office in Arequipa was supposed to be ready around the first week in September, but now won't be ready until October 30 which means that he is in Lima during the week and home on the weekend.  Not fun!

One Step Closer to Peru

We left Niagara Falls and started to feel the pull of PA. But first we went to Watkins Glen, having been there years ago and loved it. And on the way we went through wine and cheese country visiting the grapes that made the wine we drank and the cows that gave the milk to make the cheese that we ate with the wine.

Then on to Ithica and a really nice university museum and Moosewood Restaurant, whose cookbooks we have enjoyed for years.

Our last stop was a camping trip in Syracuse with Joel plus a visit to his studio and the enormous NY State Fair. Just our luck, however, that all the animal events took place during the day and we visited at night. Oh well. It was good seeing where Joel lives and to get a chance to go camping with him.

Then on to PA and Layla and one step closer to Peru. We were lucky enough to be there on Labor Day for the Batejan party and then got a chance to take Meadow to Millersville and see her dorm and her campus. What a treat to see her so grown up!

A week in Philly running around packing and repacking, visiting and packing and repacking and then David, Ellen and 7 boxes and suitcases went off to our new home!!!!!

Moving On Closer to Philly

We took some back roads from Milwaukee and found the most amazing store that we found because it had most eye-catching animals out front. The store was on a farm with a series of outbuildings each filled with goods imported from Turkey, Mexico, etc. What a fun place.

We were lucky enough to make contact with a great couple, Ellen and Ascher, that we had met 4 years ago in Bryce National Park. Originally we were going to meet them for dinner in Chicago but when they found out that we had no place to camp they invited us to their apartment. Then, when we found out that David had to wait a few days to get a visa, they invited us to stay for the whole time we were in Chicago. What nice folks and what a beautiful apartment.

The first thing we did in Chicago was to walk around some very distinct ethnic neighborhoods and then into Millennium Park that is quite the architectural wonder. The kidney bean is a major tourist attraction that reflects everything around it,        and the fountains with two-story LCD display of faces that, from time to time, spout water into a wading pool is always entertaining.   David's" love" of ketchup comes through loud and clear in thisphoto taken at a hot dog vendor's in Millennium Park. 

On whole day we watched an airshow on the beach of Lake Michigan that was much better than I thought. For the two days before, the jets were whizzing around the sky practicing and making a huge amount of noise in the downtown areas. We took the train into town because of the crowds and David saw his favorite image advertising donuts! The amazing thing, aside from the great airshow, was the size of Lake Michigan…they should call it a fresh water ocean!

David took me out to a wonderful restaurant for my birthday and then we went to a great jazz club where we heard the Heath Brothers quartet. Please note that the Heath brothers are in their eighties and still going strong. A great birthday!

In Chicago there is a wonderful month-long music festival called Ravina and Ellen and Ascher were kind enough to give us their tickets for Arlo Guthrie and family and Mary Chapin Carpenter in a tribute to Woody Guthrie. The concert was a bit disappointing, but the ambience was worth the whole evening. Folks get their hours before the concert and set up picnics that are s-o-o elaborate; candles in candelabras, flowers, table clothes, silverware and real china.

From the sublime to the ridiculous...we went to a very famous hot dog spot (that had been featured on one of those Best of cooking shows) where we waited in line for an hour for two hot dogs that were quite OK and fabulous french fries cooked in duck fat!  But the whole experience was great fun!

After a great 4 days in Chicago we left for Michigan, figuring we would spend one day in Dearborn at The Henry Ford    that has a museum, a tour of the factory that builds the Ford F150 and a village that had actual representations of many famous buildings. We expected to do the whole thing in one afternoon and ended up spending three days touring the place; one day camping and one day at a motel.

The tour of the Ford 150 factory was just amazing. We got to see the production line from start to finish; I decided I would have to kill myself after one day putting on windshield wipers all day long, day after day! There is a walkway above the factory and visitors get to see all the stages.

The museum is a major collection of old cars, including Henry Ford’s first model and other old cars;      Rosa Park's bus, artifacts from each decade like princess telephones; the Oscar Meyers car, a wonderful interactive display of folks watching the old fashioned wing walkers , old trains , presidential limos, and our favorite, a photograph from the 50’s of a car top tent just like ours. Just goes to show that absolutely nothing is new. David's favorite was the Buckminster Fuller designed geodesic house, the Dimaxion.

The Greenfield Village was a day in itself. Ford brought the entire Edison lab from Menlo Park to Dearfield, including the soil under the building so it was standing on NY soil; the house of Webster (of Webster’s dictionary) was there as was Heinz’s house where he developed many of his 57 varieties. And the Wright Brother’s actual bicycle shop! And through the village, model T’s and horse drawn carriages trundled along carrying those tourists who wished to pay extra for the experience.

After we left Dearfield we crossed into Ontario and went looked for a public campground. Not finding any, we closed our eyes, held our nose and pulled into Casey’s Campground that was basically for trailers. What a great experience. This was a campground not for big rigs, but for little, old trailers full of folks who had been camping their for years. It was like pulling into a little town where everyone knew one another. Folks were so friendly, stopping by to talk and visit. Some old guys behind us had gathered to listen to country music and the owner decided it was bothering us so he went by and told them to tone it down! I was actually enjoying myself!  A most pleasant surprise.

Then onto the big city, Toronto. We went to the Busker’s Festival which was just great! A full day of wandering a specific area full of street performers (buskers) vendors and general good times.                                                                            

Our first night we spent in a city park that was right outside of Toronto. However, it was between a highway and a railroad track and in the flight path of the airport. The only thing missing were steamships. When we explained to the office folks that we were leaving because of the noise they were so nice and refunded our money (camping in Canada is VERY expensive) and told us of another city park that was a bit further out of the city. We had trouble finding the place, and when we got there were told it was almost full because of some kind of extreme mud race going on. Nevertheless, we got a campsite, set up our chairs, left our cooler and water jug and left for the Busker’s festival. When we came back were missing our chairs, cooler and water jug. YIKES!

The only two times we have every had anything stolen was in Canada in Inuvik and now in Toronto. And to make matters worse, the campground was full of drunken party-ers the whole night. The next day I had to have a big fight with the manager to, at least, get our camping money refunded since he would not reimburse us for the items stolen. Very annoying.

However, Toronto was great.  It has many ethnic neighborhoods and we had dinner at a wonderful pakastani dinner in a partly outdoors restaurant.

Aside from the Buskers we took a trip on a ferry to Ward’s island which has an amusement park, a beach and a great walkway. It is also a year-round residence for some lucky folks. Then we went to the Art Museum to see a great Picasso retrospective. David also had a good visit in the Golder office in Mississauga. All in all, Toronto was great! We left for Niagara Falls, American side, having had enough of Canda’s campgrounds. Niagara Falls is great and the pictures say it all.    This doesn't look like Niagara Falls !   But this does!