Blogs from Lambayeque, Peru, South America - page 4

Rose and Ray on R&R in Peru August 2 - 6, 2008 Rose’s sister, Valeria, owns a fishing boat here in Peru. They fish for anchovies, so the next time you get one of those stinky little dudes on your pizza, I can tell you where it came from. The boat (Alaska 1) was docked in Chimbote, and the captain told us that it was somewhat of a minor miracle that they were just arriving and off-loading their catch at the time they were there. They normally arrive in the wee hours of the night, off-load, clean up, load with ice and take off again. That night we spent at the hotel El Brujo in Trujillo. The hotel was quite nice, well staffed with really nice help, and they had hot water. Don’t laugh. Hot water ... read more

Today was a do-nothing day. Well, not exactly. We walked, and walked, and walked some more. We heard an independence day parade going by, so we stopped a little while for that. Peruvian Independence day is July 28. We took a LOT of pictures today and I will post as many as I can. We walked all over Pimentel looking for a decent place to eat that was not on the beach. We finally abandoned that line of thinking and went back to the beach restaurants. Sometimes when you see the behind the scenes of these places, it makes you wonder how any of us survive. Hint: If you want to enjoy your lunch, don't check out the kitchen area. Anyway, we wound up having fish. Rose had hers sudado and I had mine chicharon style; ... read more

We felt Chiclayo had somewhat of a European feel to it apart from the fact that people were really staring at us wherever we went. The main thing we did here was to visit the famous market, Mercado Modelo and its Witch Market section. The market itself was pretty noisy, lots of things happening all over the place. It took us a while to find the Witch section, but we managed to get there in the end. Here Brujos/Shamans (witch doctors) sell all kinds of things such as hallucinogenic beverages of the San Pedro Cactus, aromatic herbs, amulets etc. They were also selling all kinds of herbs and remedies for different health conditions and Voodoo dolls, Buddhas etc etc. Most things that we picked up seemed to be for "suerte" which means luck. At least that ... read more

Yesterday I went into the moutains for the first time. One of my students (Betty) has family there in a town called Chongoyape, just into the foothills on the western slope of the Andes. About ten minutes outside of the city things started to change. Bicycle carts turned into people carts then into donkey/cow carts. When we got to Chongoyape the grandpa quickly showed me his best donkey and his garden and fruit trees...it was pretty cool. One of Betty´s uncles took us around to all the sights in and near town. We saw ancient petroglyphs, a massive lake, a vineyard and giant cacti and all sorts of interesting people. Most of the areas outside of town here appear to be third world, no electricity, bathing in the river and a cow in every yard. After ... read more

Uma peregrinacao longa e silenciosa - os pes descalcos - sobre pedras e areia, lado a lado com a falesia. O sol amarelo. O vento a castigar-nos a pele e a dizer-nos para voltar. Sempre ao lado o mar a produzir um espectaculo raro. No final do caminho estas pronto.E entras. .Es tu, bicho pensante, a solo com o Tempo e a calma, a penetrar em mais uma das esculturas perfeitas da mae natureza Chicama, a onda mais comprida do mundo. e simbolicamente o ponto final da viagem. ( Engracado como tudo parece tao perto agora...)... read more