Peru, week one – Goldin Migration

First, an update on the political crisis, which has settled down a bit since my last blog post. As I mentioned last week, on September 30 President Martín Vizcarra dissolved Congress. Initially, Congress decreed itself still in existence, and swore in the Vice President, Mercedes Aráoz, as Peru’s new President, despite that Vizcarra still considered himself to be in power and despite that Congress was, ostensibly, dissolved. With security forces and the military backing Vizcarra, the standoff dissolved, at least for now. Aráoz resigned, Vizcarra named a new cabinet, a 27-member “permanent committee” of congress will remain in place as a check on executive power, and elections are scheduled for January 26, 2020.

Though Peter and I waited for the dust to settle a bit on the political crisis before heading to Lima’s historic center, the center of the Plaza de Armas (aka Plaza Mayor), which includes the government palace and other important buildings, remained closed to the public when we visited on Friday October 4.

Throughout the week, our focus was again on Spanish study, this time at the Peruwayna school in the Miraflores area of Lima. A few notches above the four schools we attended in Ecuador, Peruwayna had more students, more qualified teachers, and a more professional feel. I was taught by Fabricio, a lawyer turned teacher who introduced me to new and wonderful nuances in the Spanish language.

We took advantage of several of the school’s programs, including a homestay, salsa dancing lessons, and a tour of the Ballestas Islands and Huacachina. As we did in Cuenca, we separated for the homestay in hopes of increasing our Spanish exposure, but in the end this goal was once again thwarted. Each of our homestays had other American students, so we may as well have been together!

My host family’s daughter introduced me to coach Lenyn (from Venezuela), who provides personal training in a park next to the oceanfront in Lima.

Peter with his homestay “mother” Ana and two other foreign students staying in the home. Interestingly, the other student in my homestay (Caroline) was also from Boulder, but I neglected to snap a photo.

By contrast, in salsa dance class, our decision to separate (though this time only across the room) worked out perfectly. We were each able to try out the new steps without having our missteps create any relationship issues at all. Brilliant!

Saturday’s Ballestas Islands/Huacachina tour, which was booked by the school, took us to some incredible sites, but our primary takeaway was in the form of “lessons learned.” Don’t go with an overly-cheap tour. If it seems like a tour is cramming in more than is possible in one day, it is probably so. And screaming on scary rides may encourage drivers to take still more risks!

During the 17-hour tour, our guide continually prodded us to go faster. At one point, I saw him duck into the women’s room, apparently to yell at some tour participants who were taking too long to take care of business. But between really long stints on the bus, we saw some incredible sites. First stop: A boat tour around the Paracas Peninsula and Ballestas Islands, which lack flora but are rich in fauna.

The dark dusting across this Ballestas Island hill consists entirely of birds!

This sea lion was nursing her baby daughter. The word for sea lion in Spanish is *lobo de mar*, or “sea wolf.” And the word for nursing is “*mamando*” – derived from mammary glands no doubt, but I prefer to think of it as “mommying!”

Nearby on the Paracas Peninsula at Pisco Bay sits the Paracas Candelabra, a prehistoric geoglyph thought to be well over 2000 years old.

People are not allowed to swim in the area nor to climb on the islands, so our tour was confined to the bone-rattling boat ride around the peninsula and islands. The driver repeatedly assured that his crazy driving was not his fault, that he was not trying to scare us, and that any problems were caused by the wind. I’m not entirely convinced that the crazy driving wasn’t also caused by the need for speed in order to cram in as many tours as possible. The whole thing felt like a thrilling roller coaster ride without the safety features! Despite the jolts and the frightening moments, it was fun and, along with our new buddies, we laughed and screamed our way through the ride!

Two of the other Peruwayna students on the tour, Brian and Sloan, are also from Denver. Even these twenty-somethings felt the impact of the boat ride on their backs!

Brian and Sloan on the boat (seated and hanging on). Brian and Sloan sold all their belongings and are traveling the world for the next year plus. You can read all about their adventures here. Coincidentally, Brian’s younger sister was in Peter’s class at East High and was a friend of our son Eli. Six degrees of separation.

After surviving the boat tour and eating lunch, we climbed back into the bus and headed for Huacachina, a tiny village featuring an oasis surrounded by enormous sand dunes.

The Huacachina Lagoon, an oasis in the desert

We loaded into big dune buggies. Turned out to be yet another roller-coaster type ride, again without the safety features! One of our schoolmates hit her head on a metal bar on the way back, but otherwise we were unscathed!

With my tour-mate Lorena (from Lima) before the ride. Lorena’s melodramatic screams and peels of laughter added to the fun throughout the day!

Once we were released from the vehicles, we had great fun playing in the dunes!

The tour provided sand boards, but encouraged us to ride prone or sitting up if we were inexperienced in the sport. We complied!

As the sun began to set, Peter stood atop the dune and while Lorena checked on her pictures

Back in the city, we found plenty of adventure and intrigue. Even after the homestay was over, we stayed in Miraflores near our school, an upscale area in the Lima metropolitan area with beautiful public art along its stunning waterfront.

“You on this side and I on the other like two oars.” (Or, if you like, “como dos remos” can also mean “like two limbs”)

Another highlight in Miraflores: Huaca Pucllana, ancient ruins dating in their origin back to the fifth century, located in the middle of the urban center.

Bricks were hand-made and varied in size and shape. The vertical placement was intended to mitigate damage from earthquakes.

The world history teacher was enthralled (as was I).

Sadly much of the site was demolished to build the white buildings in the background.

Next to Miraflores is colorful and vibrant city, Barranca. Though also part of the metropolitan sprawl that is the Lima area, Barranca has retained more of its prior small-town charm.

Children playing in Barranca’s playground. Per the sign, this is for children ages 5 to 10.

Sitting in Barranca along the water. Miraflores is the area on the horizon with the tall buildings.

I will close with a few more images from Lima’s historic center.

Though it is located on the Plaza Mayor (which, as noted above, was largely closed to the public), we were still able to access the Cathedral of Lima, a beautiful church with fascinating displays including the near-complete skeletal remains of conquistador Francisco Pizzara. I was again intrigued by skulls, this time in the Cathedral’s basement crypt.

Birds flock above another church, the Iglesia de San Francisco, in Lima’s historic center.

A shopping street in the historic center

In addition to planned stops to view churches and other famous sites, we happened upon the Casa de la Literatura Peruana, a delightful museum of Peruvian literature housed in a former train station.

This room’s ceiling and walls were covered by authors’ answers to the question: “Why do you write?”

We also encountered by chance a small museum featuring the art and biography of Peruvian artist, Julia Codesido. I could not stop staring at the photographs of her development from child to older woman.

As we explored Lima’s historic center, Peter snapped the below picture of me in flagrante delicto—that is, caught in the act of distraction.

The picture of distraction! Or maybe I was just looking at the map?

But the truth is that I have found myself to be increasingly present and “in the moment” during these months of travel. Since leaving our home over two months ago, we have slept in some twenty beds, stumbled toward twenty bathrooms in the middle of the night, packed and unpacked, and hit repeat. Yet somehow I feel at “home” and at ease at each stop. Because of the blank spaces and flexibility we left in our itinerary, we have to take time to arrange logistics and decide on next steps. Despite this, I find myself letting go of thoughts of the past and the future. Perhaps more than ever, I feel I am living in the now!

A moment in the “now” on the sand dunes surrounding Huacachina

But for those of you wondering about our next steps, I will report that we have twelve relatively unplanned days until our five-day Inca Trail trek to Machu Pichu, which begins October 20. Today we head to Trujillo to explore ancient ruins and see northern Peru. Until next time!