Our Family Adventures 2018 / 2019

For the last leg of our time here in Peru we will be in the town of Zorritos, we are around 1.5 hours from the border with Ecuador. It really pays to have connections, my mother found us a nice little house to stay in around 5 mins from the beach. It is clean, nice, with comfy beds, and a lot of moto taxis near by. If you are ever in Zorritos try to find a place with the Sanchez Family (no relation to my nieces and nephews), they are such accommodating, and nice people.  Maija playing at the beach by our house

My Mom lives in a VERY small town here in Peru called Suarez...maybe it is more of a hamlet?! cluster of homes? ...5 houses semi close together? anyway, everyone here refers to her place as "El Campo" or the country....also the google car has not made it here! It is a cute little home, and the vegetation around it looks like what I think Africa might look like. Every morning we wake up to the sound of donkeys, chickens, and goats. I keep telling Wyatt that out time here in the north of Peru is the most "authentically Peruvian." ...aka...100% Legit! I am so very grateful for the chance to see my Mother's land, she talks about it all the time back in Canada, and I never thought I would get the opportunity to see it with my very own eyes! ...enjoy the photos, I make no apology for all the goat pictures..... A sunset from my Mom's home

This leg of our long bus trip felt a lot faster (even though it was just as long as our last crazy bus trip). I guess the awesome seats (180 degree reclining seats on Oltursa buses come highly recommend!), personal TVs, view of the Ocean, and more importantly no traffic jams made it a really nice ride. On Tuesday late morning we arrived in Zorritos, a small town located in the North end of Peru. One of the best parts of this town is this friendly face. My Mother enjoying some yummy fried fish in "El Brujo" restaurant in Zorritos.

So last time we were in Lima our experience was not great. We arrived a day late after missing our flight, we were jet lagged,  our taxi driver,in hopes of showing us Lima, ended up taking us all over (specially very shifty places), and telling us a lot of sad tales about life in Lima, plus we spend only a day there before heading to Cusco. This time due to our crazy experience on the bus to Lima, and bus availability we ended up staying 2 nights, and one day there, and boy did it feel different to me! Our first night we just made a quick Air BnB reservation in order to have somewhere to stay as soon as we arrived. Our bus that was supposed to arrive at 11:30 in Lima, arrived at 20:30 instead. We stayed in a couple of rooms in Miraflores with a great view, check it out!

We left Arequipa at 18:30 assuming that most of our trip would be over night. We were scheduled to arrive in Lima at around 11:30 were we would wait around until 15:30 to take out next bus portion to Zorritos….well….a mudslide changed our plans a little….

So today was our last day in Arequipa. Wyatt and I both decided that if we ever decided to move to Peru, Arequipa would be a great city to live in. Perfect weather, between 15 and 20 degrees everyday, with great modern apartments, good internet, well stocked grocery stores. Maija told me Arequipa was her favourite city, she said it was because it was closest to home….oh my kids, they like the trip, but they do miss home. One last time at the Plaza de Armas

So Peru boasts of it's amazing food, and rightly so. Each region has a number of yummy, and different typical dishes. I wish I could tell you that we have greatly expanded our palate during our stay in Peru, but I'll be honest, as a family we are pretty picky eaters....even though we did all try Guinea Pig in Tipon... Having said that, here are some of the best dishes we have tried in Arequipa, and where to find them. 1. Yakuza Sushi (Cayma) and El Buda Profano (Centro Historico). Peru has the second largest ethnic Japanese population in South America (Brazil  has the largest) and this community has made a significant cultural impact on the country since the Japanese first began to immigrate in the late 19th century. One of the most evident manifestations of their influence is of course Nikkei, the Japanese-Peruvian fusion food. Yakuza Restaurant had a nice base sushi with a lot of sauces to choose from, it was of course the sauces that made the difference. We can't wai

So this post is a just a series of pictures of a few selected art projects that the kids have completed during out trip. We are attempting to travel light, and so at each place we have to put our masterpieces in the recycling bin. So I will occasionally keep a post to remember what we have done/made. Although I am somewhat artsy doing a lot of projects has proven a bit difficult since I don't want to buy too many supplies, that we will then have to throw out, lucky for me, Maija and Terran are very resourceful, and use every scrap of cardboard they can get a hold of. Terran's favorite Christmas gift this year was scotch tape, and scissors. Today he told me he would be happy to get masking tape, scotch tape, and cardboard as gifts, I better remember that bit of info for the future! A watercolor by Terran of the LDS Arequipa Temple with "El Misti" in the background" We have a great view of the Arequipa temple from our apartment

For our last Saturday here in Arequipa we decided to visit the Santa Catalina Convent. The convent is located in the historic center of Arequipa and it is considered the most important and impressive colonial structure in the city. Constructed from Sillar, a white volcanic stone quarried locally, the convent was founded in 1579, and is truly a city within a city. The nuns constructed private cells within the convent where they could lead isolated lives, protected by high walls sheltering them from the surrounding city. Most museums, or tourist sites here in Peru encourage you to have a guide, normally we prefer to do it without one, but this structure was so large, and with so much history, that I am glad we opted to have a guide show us the place. One of the many alleys within the Convent. Each street within the convent is named after a Spanish city, I think this one might have been Malaga.

Our "Vacaciones Utiles" or day camp just down the street from our apartment So, today was my first day in ABBA, a day camp for kids. I was the oldest one there (LOL) and also, from what I saw, the most experienced. My schedule for today was the following:

On Saturday we visited the Arequipa Cathedral and museum. We had previously tried visiting the Cathedral as entrance to the church is free, but they do have a dress code, so we made sure to wear appropriate clothing this time ;) The security guards will not allow entrance if you are wearing shorts, tanks tops, or hats. The museum is at an extra cost of 10 Soles per adult and 5 soles per kid, plus extra for the guide (a guide is mandatory in this museum). View from Plaza de Armas of the Cathedral of Arequipa La Catedral de Arequipa- The tented area is a big nativity display that also plays music all day long. 

 New Years day the streets of Arequipa were pretty empty, I think most of the city was resting after an explosive night of partying. We walked down to the Plaza to see if anything was going on. The first thing we saw after arriving at Plaza de Armas was a protest. We have seen a lot of protests here in Peru (we saw one in Lima, and at least 3 or 4 in Cusco maybe more). I did not snap a picture as I am not sure what the rules are about taking photos when police are around. A lady at the plaza we were chatting with explained that Peru is having a lot of issues with a corrupt congress, and that was the reason of the protest. After the protesters passed, we walked over to the mercado San Camilo. Arequipa is such a big, and modern city that shopping here does not feel a lot different than going over to Safeway or Superstore. We were missing the colors, and maybe not so much the smells of the Mercados we saw in Cusco, and San Camilo was a lot like Mercado San Pedro in Cusco. In a way, I