Girls night out

Johanna had a girls night out with a few of her cousins. She invited them to her moms house and they cooked a little something to snack on and drank Pisco sours. They had a great time catching up on old times.

Our trip to Trujillo

Chan Chan

Temple of the Moon

Huanchaco beach with boats used by local fisherman

Marinera dance

Huanchaco Beach

We arrived on Monday afternoon and decided to stay in a small beach town outside of Trujillo called Huanchaco. This town was on all of the tourist maps to visit and people we talked to said it was a very nice place so why not stay there instead of the big city. When we arrived we got our hotel room and just walked up and down the beach, it really was beautiful.

Day 1 (Tuesday)
We took a 20 minute bus ride ($0.50 each) to Trujillo and did a nice walking tour of the main plaza. It was nice but nothing spectacular because it was very typical, a lot of big churches. Johanna and I like to see the churches but they all start to look alike so we move pretty quickly through them. Even still, it was a beautiful day and the police shut the plaza streets so there were no cars or horns and it was a very peaceful afternoon. After the tour we took a short taxi ride to a Peruvian Paso Fino horse stable just outside of town to watch a horse show. Everyday day at 1:30pm this stable has a show were they perform the national dance of Peru, Marinera, with a paso fino. After the show Johanna was talking to the announcer and he went on and on about how much he loved Peru and what he did and they both started to get a little choked up. The show was that amazing. After that we headed back to Huanchaco and spent the afternoon and evening on the beach. We ate dinner, drank a few beers and went to bed.

Day 2 (Wednesday)
We went back to Trujillo and took a tour of the two main archeological sites in the area, Temple of the Moon and Chan Chan. The Temple of the Moon was a temple that was used for sacrifices to the mountain gods by the Moche people who lived from about 100AD to 800AD and their demise is said to be from floods caused by El Niño. They built 5 different temples over the years, one on top of another, and you can see all of the layers with the original colors used to decorate the walls. We were able to watch some of the archeologists work as they were cleaning the old clay stuck to a wall to reveal the colors used for decorations. With the size of this humungous wall my first tool of choice for this job would have been a pressure washer but they took a different approach. They were using a syringes with needles and injecting a chemical that would slowly break away the clay while preserving the color underneath. It was really amazing. The next place was Chan Chan which was the capital of the Chimu Empire which lasted from about 800AD to 1470AD when the Incas conquered them. Every time a new king came into power they would build a new palace so there are many different palaces in this city. There is only one that has been excavated and that is only half true. The archeologists have been excavating this one palace for over 40 years and they have only completed half, just to give you an idea of the size of this place. It was very damaged due to the rains caused by El Niño and the archeologist doing an amazing job preserving the site. As amazing as Chan Chan sounded in the books we are very glad we went to the Temple of the Moon because it was far more interesting. After the tours we were exhausted and head for the hotel.

Day 3 (Thursday)
The worst day ever, not just on this trip but I think in my entire life. I got sick from some food that I ate but luckily I had Johanna to take care of me because I do not think I would have made it. It was a very long day and night but we pulled through together and made it through with very little sleep. Luckily our only plans for this day were to walk around Huanchaco and enjoy the town and since we had down this a little bit each day we did not miss much.

Day 4 (Friday)
We rolled out of bed at 4am to catch our flight home and after a few complications we finally made it back to Lima. Our first stop was the hospital where I got some good drugs.

It is Sunday now and I am finally getting back to normal. Overall all we had a great time and have a lot of good memories.

Trujillo Update

I found a computer in the hotel and wanted to give a quick update. We are here and having a great time. Trujillo is nice but we decided to stay in a small beach town called Huanchaco. It is a 20 minute bus ride to the city. Anyway things are good and I will have more when we return to Lima.

Another Adventure

I did not posted much last week becasue we did not do much, but this week will be different. I am still not going to post anything but we will be doing a lot becasue we are going to Trujillo. We just bought our tickets this morning and we are leaving tomorrow and comming back on Friday. Who says plane tickets are more expensive if you buy at the last minute. We got such a good deal we could not pass it up. Trujillo is a 1 hour plane flight north of Lima and it is on the coast. The food is supposed to be different but wonderful. We will take a lot of pictures and post them when we return.

Drink Lesson

This is a lesson in drinking beer in Peru. When you are at a party and you are drinking beer these are a few tips that will help you blend in and not look so white. I had to learn this the hard way and even though I am getting used to people staring at me it is nice to blend in sometimes.

First of all never drink from the bottle unless it is a 12 ouncer. I have found that at parties you will usually be drinking from a liter bottle and you share with others. Depending on the number of people you may have one or more bottles being passed around at any given time. Someone will have the bottle and a small glass and they will pour some in the glass, pass the bottle to the right with their right hand and say salud (cheers). You take the bottle, with your right hand, say salud also, and they drink the beer they poured in the glass. The person then passes you the glass with their right hand and you receive it with your right. You pour your beer and pass to the right. Now if the person to my right is a woman I would pour the beer in the glass (after I have finished my glass) and pass the glass to her. She drinks and gives you the beer back and you then continue to the next person. Men always pour for the women.

One last rule. When the bottle is empty the person who empties it should get another bottle and they must drink the first sip from this bottle. So even if you filled your glass to the top to empty the bottle you will need to take a little more from the new bottle and then continue the process. The reason for this is a story from a war between Peru and Chile. During this war when the Peruvian soldiers wanted to drink the women would pour the beer and mysteriously the soldier would be dead the next morning because the women would poison the beer. So it is customary to take the first sip from the bottle to show that it is safe.

I hope this helps so the next time you are drinking beer in Peru you will blend in. Your skin color is another thing, maybe a tanning salon for a few weeks before you travel.

A cooking experiment

Like I have said in the past chorros a la chalaca (clams) have become one of my favorite dishes here in Peru. I searched the internet and I found a recipe so I gave it a shot. I chopped, squeezed, boiled, and shucked and I did it, chorros a la chalaca. They turned out good. I took them to Sr. Juan and Sra. Sonia's house for lunch with Tia Chela and Tia Esther and they were a hit. The only thing I needed to add was more salt but that was an easy fix. The best thing about doing this myself was the price. In a restaurant in Tampa one dozen of these little gems is about $15.00 and here in a restaurant they are about S/.12.00 ($3.80) but if you buy them in the store they cost me S/.2.00 ($0.65). Now that is a deal.

On that same topic, price, Johanna and I had lunch today at a restaurant that the locals frequent. We had a three course meal and could barely walk when we were finished because we were so full. The bill came to a whopping S/.10.00, which is about $1.50 each. The waitress was surprised when we left a tip because tipping is almost unheard of here, but we had to because the service was excellent. Our waitress was literally running around the restaurant to help her customers. It was a great lunch not just because the food was good but because the total was less than the smallest value meal at McDonald’s. Peru is awesome.