Market Day

Every Saturday in Huánuco, the market came to ME.  Hundreds of mostly Quechua-speaking vendors traveled to the city, to the street I lived on, the Alameda, bringing their fresh (and sometimes organic) produce to sell.  Most of these fruits and vegetables I'd never seen before I moved to Perú.  A dozen or so of the 3,000 varieties of potatoes (including the fermented potato "delicacy", togosh).  The enormous sweet corn called choclo.  And my favorite flower, the calla lily--a handful of these cost about 17 cents here.  


I took pictures this time around, since I may never shop at the Alameda Saturday Market again.

Shepherding in 2010

Location: Huánuco, Perú

Food, Glorious Food!

No one can convince me that I suffer much as a missionary, because I really enjoy a lot about Latin American life and culture! As you move into another culture, one of the first things you might notice is the food, so I'll start there! I feel I need to point out that I believe I have successfully executed my duty as Nathan's auntie to introduce him to classic foods by bring Cheetos into his life! You can't get those in Peru, so there were several bags of Cheetos at my goodbye party at the airport. You can tell that Nathan enjoys them as much as I do if you check out his orange-y, cheesy fingers and smile!


My travel from Portland to Peru took 24 hours, and part of that was a 5-hour layover in San Jose, Costa Rica. Yes, I was heading to Costa Rica the subsequent week to start language shchool, but my cheaptickets.com itinerary just happened to take me through San Jose on the way to Peru! I landed in the international airport in Costa Rica at 5am, bleary-eyed from the all-night flight. I dragged my bags into the tiny food court where I found...Burger King! I'm not a fan of fast food, but this was a fun introduction to Costa Rican food. If you want breakfast at Burger King in Costa Rica you get: gallo pinto (rice & beans), egg, and coffee. It can also come with tortillas for a little extra. Yummy!


Once in Lima, Peru (for 4 full days), I managed to indulge in a few Peruvian classics. Those are "chifles" on the left: thin, crispy, salty banana chips, and that's "cancha" on the right, which is toasted corn (think really natural corn nuts).


As a special treat, my friend Deborah and I met at Mangos, which has a lot of my favorite Peruvian dishes, and is perched inside a cliff overlooking the Pacific ocean. God does a good job of taking care of His loved ones, doesn't He?

Ruins! Finally!

Pretty much since I arrived in Huánuco, I've been hoping to visit the Incan ruins at Huánuco Pampa, and so I took the trip up the hill for part of one afternoon while in La Unión. The taxi driver ended up being my companion, despite offers from everyone else in the car. I was glad for a second guide, one that you have to tip, who showed up at the ruins. Wandering around a high plain exploring ruins is better with two strangers than one.

Huánuco Viejo is a temple-fortress on the Incan "royal highway" between Cusco and Quito. Mmm, don't have many of those in Eugene, Oregon, do we? At every ancient site I've visited in Peru, there is evidence of how closely the culture is tied with astronomy. Usually angles are lined up so the sun shines through just so on winter solstice. I thought that was the case here, but actually this is just a small viewer in the temple that lines up with each of the doorways through which the Inca would have walk to reach the temple from his home.

Peru's natural, rugged beauty is complemented by its fascinating cultures, including those that we only know about through their ruins. I feel privileged to have the chance to visit such culturally important sites when I can. Even more importantly, I'm glad to hear that so many of my Peruvian friends have visited these sites, at least those nearby, as well. They have an incredible heritage!





The puma design marked a lot of the corners and tops of buildings and doorways here. You can see how closely the stones fit together. Sacsayhuaman's stones (in Cusco) have an even tighter fit so maybe they were just learning at Huánuco Viejo, hee hee.



This puma is perched at top corner of a staircase.

All of my Peruvian friends really chuckle at the picture below, but I LOVE these little huts that folks build in their fields to house them as they guard their crops, usually their family's main income. I want one! To go with my cow (long story).

¿Qué tal Lima?

Although it seems I spend a little of each month in Lima, our capital city, I'm not usually site-seeing and don't take many pictures. But I'd love to share some of the sites with you, so here is a little tour I took with some friends I babysat for a weekend with my friend Clare.

After visiting the catacombs under the San Francisco church (a must-do in Lima), we walked the few blocks to the main plaza, or Plaza de Armas. I like the ornate brown "boxes" which extending off many buildings, designed to give a cloistered nun, or any woman, a view of the street's activity without revealing herself.

Every city is designed around the main plaza. I forget how gorgeous this one is. It still has the feel of a plaza, being bordered on all four sides by important buildings. A number of the streets leading to it are pedestrian only, so there's a lot less traffic than you'd expect. Maybe the amoured cars and machine-gun-carrying troops help discourage lollygagging as well.

Of course our tour included a stop at an ice cream shop, and then we walked down a beautiful street that used to be under a canopy made of glass. After it shattered in an earthquake, they left the framing in place so the street still feels unique. They call this Postcard Alley because that's pretty much all you can buy here.