GODPARENTS AGAIN You may be wondering what happened to the GOD CAR we wrote about in an early blog. We’re afraid the news hasn’t been good- right off the bat, the young fellow who drove the car for its blessing in the mountains and who was to be the taxi's driver, became drunk one night, had his driver's license stolen, and quit answering his cell phone. So, Bad News #1- No driver! Bad News #2- the car was then out of commission waiting for an expensive part. Eventually two new drivers, including a first cousin, were lined up and the taxi was back on the road -thankfully, because without revenue the parking and loan interest costs were painful. However, the first cousin's assurances that he was a competent driver were ill-founded...hence... Bad News #3- He ... read more

OLYMPICS...what Olympics! Peru is not exactly a sporting nation of note...and even lesser interest is had in winter sports; so when we mention excitedly that the Olympics are occurring in Vancouver, the typical response from Peruvians is...the what! (Could it be our Spanish?) On the other hand, however, the interest level is much much higher amongst the many students from Holland who are following their speed skating team with great enthusiasm. And so as loyal Canadians in a foreign land, we try to balance ourselves on the cultural fence and enjoy your e-mails telling us about the excitement of the games, catch what we can of the sporting events through news and sports websites, and then head out and take part in more Peruvian-style passions such as fiestas! Let the FIESTAS begin! Actually, let's start with ... read more

We hadn't planned to blog before next weekend but interesting events have occurred that pushed this ahead a bit...nothing as dramatic as what has occurred in Haiti, but certainly noteworthy for us and the region of Cusco where we hang out these days...here's our story... In the past week or 10 days here, the rains have become more incessant and certainly the volume of water falling is becoming of great concern to local residents. Given that this is rainy season high in the Andean mountains everyone, including us, is expecting a certain amount of moisture most days...but the look of surprise on the faces of locals tells us that this year is exceptional. A little rain followed by a little sun usually keeps the moisture balance in check. In the past few days, we are hearing...and ... read more

23 hours of flights and sitting in airports in Los Angeles and Lima, Peru, and now we are here in downtown Cusco, set up in our own little room based in the Amauta Spanish School. We have a cute room with creaky wood plank flooring, big wooden shutter windows looking out on the street one storey below, two twin beds with three heavy wool blankets each, and a washroom all our own (which we weren't expecting). There is a quaint kitchen and dining alley right outside the door to our room and a whole bank of woodframed squares of window highlighting the sights below us in ancient Cusco, a sea of red-tiled roofs and massive cathedrals. The first few days of anything new are a whirlwind of input- sounds, smells, impressions. Day 2 in Cusco for ... read more