Blogs from Lambayeque, Peru, South America - page 5

Ça fait déjà un mois que nous sommes à Huanchaco! Et il ne nous reste qu'une semaine et demie ici... En fin de semaine passée, comme nous n'avions que le dimanche de congé en commun, nous avons opté pour une sortie pas trop éloignée: à Chiclayo, quatre heures au nord d'ici. La ville en soit n'a pas tant d'attraits mais c'est un bon point de départ pour visiter les sites des environs. Nous n'avons pu visiter que le Museo de los Tumbes Reales à Lambayeque, un musée récent où l'on retrouve plusieurs objets provenant du site de Sipán, culture mochica des années 200 av JC à 850. Le musée présente des reproductions des tombes découvertes sur ce site et plusieurs pièces en or dont s'ornait le seigneur de Sipán, dans les années 300. On se demande ... read more

There aren’t enough hours in the day to talk with everyone who stopped me or yelled “gringo” on the street. I sat down to watch some kids play soccer today. As soon as they saw me they ambushed me, throwing what I assume were questions at me, as fast as racecars. I gathered that they were all family, brothers, sisters, cousins and when I looked up the adults were standing in the door waving, inviting me in. It must be a custom here, that when your invited into somebody’s home they automatically give you food and drink, in this case, fried duck and beer. A great, friendly family, the parents of the kids outside. Yesterday I had what I call “The revenge of the Incas”…violent diarrhea. I stayed pretty close to the house most of the ... read more

(I'm tired and will not have a chance to proofread this for a bit...read only if that doesn{t scare you) That´s what has become of us, it seems that is all we are now. Where once there were two thinking, sentient, human beings with emotions and feelings to share, there are now just two gastroenterological wrecks. For me this is hardly a problem, as a fellow for whom the word 'civilized' has hardly been used as a description, I had little to lose. Lycia, on the other hand, as previous to now well mannered young lady, has fallen quite far. The ravages of Bolivian/Peruvian cuisines are merciless. The four day Salar de Uyuni trip (a month ago, blog forthcoming, eventually) was where we were blinsided first, and by an enemy we never suspected...a pizza. It looked ... read more

2nd day of observation at the military school today- got to see a social studies class and a chemistry class. Very interesting experience in the chem class- the students had a quiz on the periodic table of elements. The teacher would say the name of an element, and the students would have to write down formula that represents each element. The students were talking through the entire quiz, cheating visibly, and one student even had a cheat sheet! The teacher caught him though, and without a word took his quiz and cheat sheet. I am not sure why the difference in behavior during this particular class- at the military academy the students have all been very well-behaved and respectful. This teacher happened to be the only female teacher I observed here, so I do not ... read more

Oy, lots to share and it´s already 11:00pm... can´t get to sleep too late tonight either. Long day ahead tomorrow! Here we go! Day 17 started with a busride (in our tour bus) to an archaelogical museum, Museo Arqueologico Nacional Bruning, which offered a collection of ancient Peruvian artifacts from the pre-Incan period through the Incan period. As we were leaving the museum, we had another opportunity to see the local protestors, marching in the streets and escorted by the local police. For more information on the current strike in Perú, visit Peruprotests Off to lunch at El Rincón del Pato, where I had my first and last taste of tortilla de raya, or stingray tortilla. A little fishy for me. I did, however, enjoy the Cocktail de Algarrobina, a drink made from carob. For the ... read more