Christmas Day and Boxing Day

Only one present counter for any thing.

Spiderman in action!!

Later that day we went to our friend Sadako's home for a late lunch.

The three older women, Sadako, Tamiko and Olga have been friends since they were very young. Tamiko lives in Caracas.We have another Peruvian friend who lives in Caracas. She is a Chavista but Tamiko is not.

The next day we took a tour of Callao harbour. Callao, where Olga was born, is the port for Lima. It is now known as Callao World so I guess it is now leased to the Emmirates shipping group that has leases on so many ports around the world. Callao World is now the largest port on the west coast of South America.

In addition to lots of container ships there is a sizable fishing fleet that harbours in Callao

We headed out to some islands off shore. This photo is of the coat of arms of the Peruvian navy. Bewlow them is a Presidential Guesthouse where the president can get away for the weekend. I wonder if it has access to the Internet.

The seas were not too bad. People hung out on deck

and then some of us stayed below decks and snoozed.

We didn't come to see this island but rather these.

It is hard to see exactly why these are called sea lions until you see a male up close.

Some of us were not impressed by the sea lions

Others couldn't wait to get nearer.

Those are Ali and Josh off to the left. No one seemed phased by the visitor who seemed to like sea lion for lunch.

There was a very strong smell near the sea lions but it wasn't something Alison and I remembered from the Galapagos Islands 15 years earlier. It was guano. 

These penguins are Humbolt Penguins. This is a close-up of the above rock.

Finally Aiden woke up and joined us. he had a nice boat ride.

Back to the dock. Everyone really tired.

Callao really is a big port.

A Pre-Christmas and a Christmas Party

On the 22nd we went to Beto and Naty's home to have dinner.  During the day Patrick and Aiko took the boys to a MacDonald's. They felt at home.

Later in the day went to the Minka market to buy a frozen turkey and a fresh pork shoulder. These were for Chrismas Eve dinner. Afterwards we ate at Naty's. We went for lunch but they were ready for a party.

That sign behind us says "Happy 38th Anniversary, Andy and Olga". A better view.

So here we are on our 38th wedding anniversary.

The next picture is a recreation of one Marlis Momber took of us at Julia Silberger's wedding.

Finally here is a picture of the four of us - ourselves, Beto and Naty.

We had drinks before we ate. Peru is famous for the Pisco Sour cocktail. Equally good or perhaps even better, is Chilcano. Chilcano is made with pisco and ginger-ale with a dash of bitters. What makes it really special is that it is made with infused pisco. Beto does this by putting a cinnamon stick, clove and raisins in the pisco some months in advance. You can make infusions with almost anything. More about that later.

The meal was great, as usual at Naty's house. 

A few days later we went back for Christmas Eve dinner. 

Our official Christmas Eve photo. Our family is growing.

Most of Beto and Naty's family. Another son is missing. It turns out that their oldest son, Tonio, married the proverbial girl next door so while we crowded into one living room, Tonio and his family were 20 feet away in his in-laws living room. 

Again we ate well. You would recognize most of the dishes but one in particular was new to me. It was a potato salad combined with a fruit salad. Quite nice and fresh.

So at midnight we all went into the street and people lit fireworks. The kids were asleep so we hope they will stay awake for New Years Eve. Around 1:30 AM our drive arrived to take us back to the apartment. Atthat point I realized that all 7 adults had walked out of our apartment with no key. As we drove home we called the apartment owner a number of times (around 2 AM) but could only leave a message. We didn't know exactly what we were to do. I envisaged a very expensive night in a hotel. Luckily the doorman has a spare key for the person who cleans between guests. I wish the owner had told us that at check-in. 

We got to bed about 2:30 AM and woke the next morning to chocolate y panneton; a typical Christmas breakfast in Peru and in our family since we were a family. 

Merry Christmas everyone.

An Eco market

Our first day together, waiting for the rest of the crew, we went to an eco street market on Sunday. We started in a kids playground and Andre played well with a little boy. His name was Kevin.

Aiden too showed he was up for adventure..

After spending an hour here we went on to the fair. There are street fairs everywhere but not so many that would be perfectly comfortable with New Paltz and visa versa.

At this stall they sold some kind of wafer. A  base made with onion, fax and cumin and other seeds on top. It is labeled RAW. Claudia Salas would be delighted.

This is a game called saca yunya.  You draw a circle and put different coloured beans in the middle. You stand outside the circle and using a flat stone like a skipping stone you try to knock beans out of the circle. The rarer beans are worth more. The game has traditional origins.

Aiden had great fun with chalk and the asphault.

After the fair we walked along a malecon in search of a restaurant.

 These are called campana trees. They are beautiful but very toxic.

Odds and Ends

Last week I went to the oldest university in Peru (and hence the Americas) to listen to a talk by a professor from Purdue. The "Decano de America" in the photo refers to the fact that San Marcos is the Dean of universities in the Americas.

We also went out to eat sushi with friends. It didn't occur to me to take a photo until we were almost done eating. no one asked us if we didn't like the food just because we hadn't taken any photos.

Finally Aiko and her family have arrived. The boys were tired but recovered quickly

Museo Larco

Today, the 14th, we went to the Museo Larco to see pre-Incan ceramics both erotic and non-erotic. We also had lunch, our most expensive meal in Peru so far.

The museum itself is in a remarkably beautiful setting. Here is the entrance

Those are buganvilia growing up the wall. As you'll see there are a lot more.
And cactus. Someone is having fun gardening.

Years ago Olga and I saw an Picasso Erotica exhibit in Montreal. Many of Picasso's works were if vaginas with teeth. I thought at the time, "What a mind!" Well, he wasn't so original.

This stone stela from 1500 years ago Peru can be seen to have what they call a vagina dentata.

Here are some really nice ceramics.

I saw a painting of all the Inca and Spanish rulers of Peru. Curiously they spelled Inka either Inga or Ynga. The word Inca refers to just the leader more than the follwers of the leader even though we often use it both ways. 

Referring to the population as Incans is like referring to Brits as Queeners because the follow the Queen of England.


Half way through the mesum we decided to go out into the garden and have lunch.

I didn't put any  pictures of ceramica erotica in the blog. There is a separate room where it is on display.  Picasso had nothing to teach them.

There was also some gold in the exhibit. This is  funeral attire.