Hi my name is Matteo and i’m going to tell you about my trip to Peru.
First,Life conditions- dogs are like mosquitoes nobody cares for them and they get hit a lot by cars. And the people wake up really early and stay up really late trying to sell the goodies.It was super shocking for me and I felt sorry for the people, when I had to say no.most of the dogs are super cute.
Next,Around the ocean fisherman catch octopus, fish and stonefish to sell it to the restaurant that the tourists go two. The restaurants have no ac so they keep the door open so then flies fly in
And bug you.
Last but not least, the rainforest there's so much to tell you about it’s animals like toucans, macaws, harpy eagles, sloth, Cayman, piranhas, river otters, Jaguars, bullet ants, leaf-cutter ants and army ants and much more. The lodge i stayed in was open to the jungle so we had mosquito nets and the pina coladas were so good i think you wood love it.
Going to Peru is over 1 day of plane rides and waiting in airports. On one of the plane rides I threw up. A lot. In Peru I learned about myself and the world. For example, comparing life in Canada to life in Peru. I learn that life in Canada is much better. I think. Peru is nice to visit.
While sand surfing on high dunes you go on your belly. On shorter dunes you can go on your but.
Sand surfing can be very scary. However once you get past the fear it can be very fun. I had a lot of fun.
Macau Picchu is a lost Incan city. The in the city you can only go one way.That was kind of disappointing. Although machu picchu had a very awesome view. Over all Machu Picchu was not what I thought it would be because I had high expectations for the lost Incan city.
The children are working. that is not good. Old women are working. That is not good. There Street vendors they are mostly nice.Lots of horn honking.I am glad I live in Canada, but disappointed in Peru’s living conditions.
I learned that living in Canada is much better that living in Peru. Also I learned that it is possible to have two emotions at the same time. Example like fear and fun or gratitude and disappointment. These are my own thoughts about Peru.
So, if you a re planning on doing some travel, here are some things I learned about what to pack:
Things we liked:
The MEC luggage with separate compartments built in was great for the kids. Kept them organized for the entire trip. AAAAMMMAZING.
The IKEA carry on luggage. Super useful. Stood up to our travels over the trip. The small detachable backpack was exactly the right size...will carry essentials, but won't let you over pack your daypack.
The disposible shower caps which we used as shoe covers for all of our shoes. Great idea which I stole from the Internet.
Sketchers and proper hiking boots kept our feet happy for the entire trip!
Having 2 paper copies of all of our reservations. I had to use the back up copies once. Life saver.
Having all the internal Peru travel organized ahead of time (hotels, domestic flights, bus rides, trains)
The 10-100 camera lens which I splurged on. It was great to not have to change camera lenses. The 10-100 did 95% of the job 100% well. A few times it would have been nice to have a longer zoom, but that was pretty much only in the rainforest. One camera lense with lots of range, good decision.
the converter box for plug ins AND the surge protection. Both were excellent. Great to have 2.
SD/lightening pin adapter for the iPad, made this blog possible.
Speaking of blogging, the app BlogPad Pro is GREAT. The only way (that I could find) to get photos from an iPad to a blog.
Things we lost:
Mateo's camera. no idea where it is.
the camera lens cover. Bought a made-do replacement one in Ica, but will need to replace.
2 pairs of swim trunks, left in Puerto Maldonado
1 pair of sunglasses
Things we blew up
The converter box. My fault. Mateo insisted I pack the broken box home wiht us so we can recycle it properly becasue otherwise it will be around forever. So it is coming home with us to Canada.
Flat iron. My fault.
4 (?) iPad charger cords. I packed a ton of these, and we only have 2 left. I was goign to buy a third one in Lima, but the cost here was 200 sol (76$CDN). So, that will wait until we get home.
Overall, not a bad loss list.
We are now back home safe in Canada. There are a few more blog posts left in us...a few videos to upload and embed AND some major spell checking that needs to be done...but we might take a day or two off before we get to the "greatest hits" posts.
Lima is a massive city. It is home to 10 million people. We have been in Lime twice before, as we passed through on our travels to elsewhere. Having lived in a big third world city before, I was not keen to spend much time in Lima. But I did want to spend a day or so here at the end for a few reasons: 1.) this is where the airport is to go home, and I wanted to be here at least one day before our flight; 2.) I wanted to boys to see the cosmopolitan side of Peru as well.
We are staying just outside of Miraflores, one of the most fancy sectors in Lima. Our hotel, as I mentioned, is first class--nicer than what most of us are used to staying in Canada. It was a treat to wake up this morning in that huge bed with fine linen and to sit in the jacuzzi tub last night, I must admit.
After arriving here last night, we headed out to Larcomar, a shopping centre located in the side of a cliff, overlooking the Pacific Ocean. It is the height of North American-ism in Lima. I knew that James and the boys needed a dose of North Americanism. We briefly saw the park above the mall called the Malecon. It was manicured and clean. I was surprised that it was not littered with garbage (the one in the Dominican Republic is covered with junk). We headed down (down!) into the mall. By this time Mateo was seriously hangry...so food was a priority. We had heard rumours that there was a MacDonald's in the plaza, for Diego that was akin to rumours of the lost city of El Dorado...it did not happen. We did run across KFC, Pizza Hut, Tony Roma's, Chills, and Friday's (where we ended up going). It was like eating at home, sort of. The menu full of familiar things, milkshakes like how they make them at home, chicken fingers, and ICED TEA (yes, Diego finally got his iced tea after 3 weeks of drinking only water!).
We had a meal and then headed to the movie theatre to watch TARZAN. The theatre was clean and huge. Really, really big screen. It looked the size of the screen in the Telus World of Science. The sound was clear, clean and loud. Amazing theatre. The mall also had many stores that are familiar to us - an iMac store, Aldo, Pandora, and many more.
We enjoyed the movie in our reserved seating (just like at home), ate popcorn and lost ourselves in the story. FUN FACT: the movie had a scene where Tarzan is being patched up with ants...the ants are walking down a tree carrying parts of leaves....leaf- cutter ants! We saw those in the rainforest. So, I leaned over and with barely contained enthusiasm tell the boys, "look, leaf cutter ants!" And they are like, "we know," totally nonplussed.
Malecon in Lima
Larcomar Mall - totally Americanized
In the theatre
Taxi ride home. Tuck into bed. Fall asleep.
P.s. I will post pictures of some of this stuff later...don't want to wake the kiddos to retrieve the SD Apple cord thing.
Hugs and kisses,
We woke up early in Paracas...It was my worst night of this trip. The hotel was exceptionally loud. I think the way it worked was that the family lived on the main floor and housed guests on the second and third levels. Now I usually consider myself a flexible person and open to most circumstances, but I think I snapped last night.
There was soooooo much noise coming from the first level. I couldn't quite make out through the the constant yelling, banging and screaming if the kid (2-5-ish?) was being bad or the woman in charge of the kid was being abusive. The ruckus went on for hours. followed by banging, clanging and knocking, and peppered with a battery of BLARING Spanish television. When I asked the owner if we could switch rooms, his reply: they are all like this and you are only here for one night, so it's not so bad. OK then.
So we got up and headed to the Marina to make our to visit the Ballena islands, part of the Paracas Reserve and home to sea lions, whales, Humboldt Penguins (the small ones), and more birds than I have ever seen in one place in my entire life. It was sort or beautiful and also a lot creepy (you know how I feel about being up close and personal with nature). I mean, all those winged creatures are the descendants of dinosaurs...so I am pretty sure if they could have, they would have snatched us out of the boat and eaten us up. Just saying.
The penguins were cute, we saw a Humpback whale (or at least it's tale) and cruised around the island. The Peruvian government collects the bird poop, called guano, every 7 years and sells it as fertilizer. I am not sure where they are in their 7 year cycle, but the island was very pungent. There was a lot of bird poo. In fact, the guide said that the parts of the Island that looked like sand, were actually covered in guano.
On the marina waiting to board the board. I bought the hats last minute to avoid any nasty bird-poop in the hair incidents.
Can you spot the 3 penguins?
Sea lions
So after a cruise around the islands in a speed boat (add that to our list of vehicles), we headed back to the "hotel" to pick up our luggage...which we now need 2 taxis to port about. So while James and the big luggage went to the bus station, the boys and I stayed at the hotel. Diego went to buy snacks (this has been an important part of our survival strategy--always having snacks available). So I have him the equivalent of $30 CDN and sent him to the store. He did not come back.
After a long-ish time, I sent Mateo to get him. Mateo returned saying Diego was not in the store. I started to get worried. I was pretty sure Diego was around, but the taxi was coming....we had a bus to catch and NO KID.
So I was wondering the streets of Paracas yelling "Diego, Diego." Still no kid. I overhear a cute American tourist in the streets say to her friend that it sounds like some one is calling their dog. I wanted to punch her in the face because by this time I was actually getting worried.
Of course, as these things go, Diego shows up a little while later. He went to a different store, they didn't understand him and he had to wait a very long time for change...so another crisis diverted. We head to the bus station and board the most LUXURIOUS bus I have ever been in. Ever. First class service, the seats reclined 160 degrees, leg supports, TV monitor with movies, games, etc and a waiter. When we took the "normal" bus to Ica I had been impressed with bus travel in Peru. Now I was blown away. I have never in my life seen that level of comfort in land (or any kind of) travel. Wow.
On the bus
We arrive in Lima by 3:30, find a taxi and head for our last hotel this trip. We had made the decision several days ago to upgrade from our pre booked economy class hotel to a more fancy hotel for our last days of this trip. That was a very good decision. I am writing this post sitting at a breakfast table that has been set with fancy plates and silver and is lighted with a crystal chandelier.
When the boys get up they are going to LOVE this breakfast- eggs (not going to be a hit), bacon and sausage (will be a hit), plain white bread (hit), American coffee (hit with James), yogurt, cornflakes (hit)...you get the picture.
Of course, the taxi driver had an exceptionally hard time locating out fancy hotel. He had to stop 4 times to ask the police for directions. Police are stationed at almost every 4-5 blocks on the streets in Lima--men and women. I have heard from several people that the police are all corrupt here. THe Peruvian government started to employ women police because they were thought to be less corrupt...that plan sort of worked, I hear. All though I heard some outrage in Ica from a taxi driver that even the women were corrupt. Anyhow, 4 policemen/police women later, we arrived at the fancy hotel.
Everything good. My only regret: not punching the American in the face.
We left from Ica early in the morning on a small minibus heading towards the small town of Paracas, one hour north. This is the last last leg of our journey.
Paracas is a small fishing village that sits at the edge of a huge national reserve. The lands are barren and were once the floor of an ocean, so you can still find small fish and she'll fossils on the ground. The landscape is all yellows and red...the yellow are sand adn the red is the rock left over from the time when this land was once volcanic.
This is also the place of the ancient Paracas people. There have been several tombs found in the are, including the somewhat famous mummies with elongated heads. The current theory is that the upper class purposely forced their babies heads into this shape (and that they are NOT aliens).
There is a museum begin developed in the area. It is still in building phase, but was very impressive, detailing the geologic history of the land and will soon have mummies form the areas as well. Clean bathrooms--always a plus.
A quick stop for some amazing sea food, a look at the birds...adn unfortunately a lot of Dead Sea lions washed up on the shore...then back to our hotel for the night. TOmorrow is a boat ride to the Ballena Isalnd to see penguins, then a bus ride to LIma....
We are two and a half sleeps away from home now. One night in Paracas, one in Lima and then another red eye back to Canada. We are all looking forward to sleeping in our bed, in our house. ..
