My Favorite Things....Perú

Today's blog is all about some of my favorite things in Perú.  I am amazed at the traffic, the people, and the workers that make our life so much better

Enjoy!

From a tour bus

Going around a corner

The roads are always very crowded, but you get a very different perspective from up high.
There were times when we couldn't believe he actually made it without knocking off something on another car and on the bus.  If you think it is crowded outside, wait until you get inside a bus and they keep adding just 5 more people and you are too tall to stand up straight...

Room for 5 more?

This is a street scene from downtown Lima on Good Friday.  What an experience.  There are seven cathedrals close by and people come downtown to make a pilgrimage to all seven.  It resembles a little street fair with venders selling food, balloons for the kids, religious symbols and just about anything else you might want.  Forget about getting a taxi.  I am so glad we did it, if for nothing else than saying we had the experience.  One of the main cathedrals has the requisite huge flocks of pigeons that rise up in mass and fly above your head.  Watch out for falling objects.

How about I walk to the store

One day, Val decided to take the little cart and walk to the grocery store. "It's not that far!...
But when he got all loaded down, it really did seem like an awfully long way back home. That's what I call sacrifice.

Wow, that's looks really painful........ Mostly we either ride the bus to the market and then take a taxi home, or we just take a taxi both ways.  It is just too difficult to try and get everything on a bus to go home.  There is a little store just up the street from the Area Office called Vivanda.  It reminds us a little of Trader Joe's in its appearance and decoration. Sometimes we eat lunch at the deli there or take something home for dinner.  There is a large chain of grocery stores here called Wongs. There are two fairly close to the office.  We affectionately call them the right Wongs (large store) and the wrong Wongs (small store but close to Don Momino's Bakery that has the most delicious bread). One day we were able get something at the wrong Wongs and not at the right Wongs so all of a sudden the right Wongs became the wrong Wongs.  Got that?



And here are some of the people we see around the neighborhood.  The street cleaners that sweep and pick up in all kinds of weather, the street vendors selling all sorts of things, the recyclers who rummage through garbage and pick out the plastic and carry it in huge bags on their backs,  and a mother sitting down to rest with her daughter on her back.      

The woman to the right has two large bags she is carrying filled with plastic bottles that she "rescued" from the trash left on the curb to be picked up.  The bags are so big you can't even see her among them. Trash is collected every day except Sunday even on holidays.  They bang two pieces of metal together to announce they are coming.  We use grocery bags as trash bags and put it out everyday. At least it makes use of all those bags.

The street cleaners work every day.  They dress in long pants and long-sleeved shirts with their faces covered with handkerchiefs.  I can't imagine how horribly hot it must be during the summer months.  They walk along the busy streets with their brooms and trash cans and put out little yellow cones to alert drivers to their presence.  It's amazing they don't get hit by some of the crazy drivers here.  Sorry these two pictures are so blurry.  I took them from a distance.

 

Couldn't resist this picture of a mother with her child on her back wrapped in her colorful shawl.  No baby carrying backpacks here.  They use these shawls to carry everything.  You can see the same thing on the back of this woman selling bread.  She has a traditional hat and the skirt with long leggings and this is summer with 80 degree heat and humidity.

Our vigilantes guard our street night and day in 12 hour shifts.  They have a very small hut without water or lights.  This is Guillermo.  For the longest time I could not understand what he was trying to say to me, but it is getting better.     I am so grateful for his tireless service.  He makes me feel safe.



This is a selfie of me and my friend, Maria.  Isn't it wonderful when your apartment owner is also your wonderful friend.

For my birthday, she brought me the best chocolate cake ever and a chocolate bunny.  She is so thoughtful.  I love spending time with her.  We always find something to laugh about.