Surfing update

Surfing is big here in Peru.

In fact, the world champion female surfer is Peruvian, though you might not guess that from her name, Sophia Malenovich.

Though he grew up in California, Britt never surfed as a kid. However, it was one of the first new things he wanted to try when he got here. So he signed us up for surfing classes.
Unfortunately, the adult classes started at 6 am. And getting there via taxi (since we didn't have a car for the longest time) was fairly complicated. So that limited the number of times we adults went out. Still, Britt really liked it, especially for the major workout it entails. Valerie had mixed results. She started out feeling very positive about surfing, but lost her enthusiasm for the sport one morning when the waves were especially tough. It's kind of like learning to ski; very exhilerating when you have a good run, but frustrating and exhausting when you don't. Plus, there's the risk of drowning. he he

For Addison, the set-up was easier. The kids' classes started later, and they provided a minibus pickup service. He was also able to take classes on Wednesday afternoon, when school lets out early, as well as on Saturday mornings. So he's by far the best surfer in the family.

Now, the Gwinners are a determined lot. Especially some of them. So, Britt and Addison went out and bought themselves wet suits and surf boards. And what about Valerie aka Roxy, the surfing chick of the family? Well, let's just say, she's waiting for warmer weather and less sinusitis.

So, on Saturday, we headed south along the coast to a beach town called San Bartholo. It's about a 45 minute drive south of Lima, and it is a favorite among surfers. Indeed, even though it's mid-winter here, there were plenty of other surfers there. The weather was very gray. The water was clearer and cleaner than in Lima (I guess that's not saying THAT much). And with a wetsuit it was bearable. The waves were pretty choppy, and there were lots of rocks and sea urchins. But, that did not deter our guys, including friend Dale who was still in town visiting and had tried surfing several years ago in Hawaii.

The results? Well, it was pretty rough out there. The guys gave it a good try. They felt pretty pumped and exhausted, if not triumphant about the outing. Still, it gave them a taste for more. So stay tuned...

Pretty choppy
Addison and Dale head into the water

Britt is pretty happy about all this, note: this was taken BEFORE he went into the water

Dale giving it a go

Addison has the messy-hair-dude look down

Not a water dog, our Bacchus

random lunch experience

It's been a slow week, not nearly as eventful as our trips to the Amazon and southern desert. We're back in Lima. Britt is working. Addison is on winter break from school for the month. Dale is visiting, but goes back to Qatar this weekend. And Valerie negotiated an August 3 start date for her new job, so she's still laying low.

Since we did a lot of running around these past few weeks, the guys have been perfectly content to do what teen boys do best, hang around in their pjs, eat, and rely largely on electronic entertainment. Once in a while, Valerie pushes them out of the apartment and forces them to do something.

Yesterday, she talked them into visiting the national archeology and anthropology museum. It's a pretty cool place, really, situated in a former colonial mansion in which two famous liberators once lived, San Martin and Simon Bolivar. It's in a neighborhood of Lima called Pueblo Libre, an interesting middle-class area full of small side streets, pretty gardens, and brightly colored houses.

The museum presents artifacts ranging from prehistoric times, through multiple pre-Columbian cultures, the Spanish conquest and colonialism, to modern times. We'd gotten through about half of the pre-Columbian exhibits, when we saw a sign for the cafeteria, noting that it featured both Peruvian and international specialties. Since teen guys are pretty much always hungry, we figured we'd give it a try for lunch.

Well, though the museum cafeteria is clearly open to the general public, it mainly seems to serve the local staff. The menu, written on a white board by the entrance, consisted of a choice of two first courses (soup or salad), two second courses (2 chicken alternatives), dessert, and a drink.

The waitress began by bringing us dessert. The guys thought this was a great way to present a meal, guaranteed to please the younger set. Dessert was maza morada. If you click on and enlarge the photo, you can see it. It's purple and gelatinous and served in the clear glass bowls. This is a Peruvian favorite, made from blue corn juice and set as a gelatin, often with some kind of fruit, and cinnamon. It sounds disgusting, but can be really good. Our landlady made the best one we've had so far, but the guys thought the museum version was acceptable - especially as a starter course. This was followed by a mysterious green soup, which the guys said was really good. I had a salad, which consisted of very fresh veggies, cut in tiny bits, and dressed with only a hint of lime juice. It was surprisingly satisfying.

Addison's main course involved spaghetti, bits of chicken, and maybe sweet peppers in a sauce. Dale and I had the other chicken dish, which included a piece of chicken, some camote slices (sweet potato) and rice (Peruvians do love their starches for lunch), all with a sort of BBQ sauce. To drink, we were served a sweet tea made from a local herb called mouna. It's sort of minty. The guys were very good sports, giving everthing a fair try. No one walked away hungry. And the bill for 3 of us? 18 soles, or the equivalent of $2 per person. So, it wasn't Astrid and Gaston (current King and Queen of Peruvian cooking). But it was a fine cultural/culinary experience/experiment.

Above: one of many pre-Columbian ceramic figures displayed in the museum, representing an owl on the back of a Peruvian hairless dog. The dogs are considered an endangered species here, now. Each historical site is supposed to have a pair of them.

Below are two local spots, situated on the Plaza Bolivar, right by the museum of archeology and anthropology.

Trips with Vicky and Dale, part IV

The last leg of our trip included a visit to the Paracas National Reserve and the Islas Ballestas. The beaches and desert here are empty, beautiful, and full of color. From about 2,500 to 2,000 years ago, the Paracas people were settled here, developing spectacular textiles and ceramics. The area is much less visited than the beaches further north (and closer to Lima), though it's far prettier and more interesting. We stayed at a fancy hotel that has just been completed.

It was lovely, and we were not at all sad to extend our stay by a day when we heard the road to Lima might be blocked due to national protest strikes. Here are some highlights: This glyph is known as the candelabra. It's sort of like the Nasca figures, described in a previous posting, but actually uses a different technique. Unlike those figures, this one was clearly designed to be visible. Some say it was meant to serve as a beacon to sailors or pirates, but no one knows, really.

These storks are on the beach ready to greet all the people waiting in line for a boat ride to the Islas Ballestas.

The Islas Ballestas are famous for their diversity of marine wildlife, including these Humboldt Penguins. This is the northernmost spot in which you will find any kind of penguin, and they come here following the cold waters of the Humboldt current off the coast of Peru and Chile.

The last time we visited here, there were hundreds of sea lions. This time there were only a few, including this baby who was calling for his mother. She was close by, taking in the sun.

These fishermen had caught two large tunas. They were glad, because the wind had been strong for several days, keeping away the fish and many of the birds.

These black cormorants are bathing, trying to rid themselves of bugs.

This is a pair of rare, red-footed cormorants. They were hunted to near extinction (apparently they taste good, like chicken) and are now on the endangered species list.

These are mostly cormorants, although there is one Humboldt Penguin, hunched in the middle of the group.

The gang hanging out by the boats

Our hotel pool. Though the air was warm, the water was freezing. It's winter here, after all.

We all enjoyed the hotel bathrobes. The guys liked them so much they wore them to dinner.

Boy with pink flamingos

Our Rav-4, feeling like it was in a car commercial

Addison thinks he's in a car commercial, too

It's sort of like being on the edge of the world

Sunset on the beach

On the drive back to Lima, we drove through the town of Pisco, which is very poor and was devasted by a major earthquake in 2007. Similar to events regarding Hurricane Katrina, there was much money and volunteer relief effort following the earthquake to help rebuild housing for the thousands of people left homeless. But little of that effort has bourn fruit, and many of the people live in a vast shantytown.

Somewhat inland from Pisco is an Inca site called Tambo Colorado. This was a sort of outpost, situated along a trade route between the coast and Cusco. It's in a very pretty valley that is very green thanks to a river and underground water. The site was originally covered in painted designs, you can see a few remnants of the red, yellow, and white pigments that once covered the whole structure. There is a large palace, ceremonial square, religious buildings, and other buildings.

trips with Vicky and Dale, part III

Having thoroughly enjoyed our first taste of desert and sand dunes, we plunged further into the rainless terrain, making our way south and east to the great plain of Nasca. This area is one of the driest places on the planet. The word "stark" only begins to convey the feeling of expansive emptyness that surrounds you here.

For some reason, thousands of years ago, the Nasca people decided to etch huge geoglyphs into the desert plain. Because the area is so dry and there is no windblown sand to erase them, these figures are still very visible (presuming you are in the right viewing spot). The oldest are thought to have been made around 200 BC, and estimates are that the tradition continued until about 700 AD. The Nasca lines, as they are usually called, include a variety of figures. Some display abstract depictions of plants or animals. Others are geometric shapes or patterns. Nearly all of them can only be seen from the air. And they can be very large, the size of multiple football fields in some cases.

On our last trip to Nasca, we only managed to see a few of the Nasca figures; those visible from a hillside near a village called Palpa, and the two you can see from a viewing tower erected along the Panamerican highway. By the way, the highway was actually built right on one of the figures, a lizard, partially obliterating it. This was before the figures were known or identified.

This time we booked spots on a small plane to see the Nasca lines. The planes take off from the Nasca airfield and fly above more than a dozen shapes and figures. The flight lasts about 30 minutes, generally in mid morning to avoid early morning haze and the risk of a more windy ride later in the day.

The travel agent who helped us book hotels and such tried to tell us that we only needed to spend one night in Nasca, claiming that other than viewing the lines, there was nothing to see. Luckily, we knew better, thanks to our first trip and multiple guidebooks, so we stayed longer.

The truth is that the area around the town of Nasca is full of sites from the Nasca, Paracas, and Inca cultures. For example:



Just outside of Nasca is the Cantalloc Aqueduct, a system of underground canals designed by the Nasca people to irrigate their fields and bring easier access to water. All along the canals are holes, with spiral access ramps, which are lined with stones and allow the water to flow smoothly. The aqueducts are still in use today, carefully maintained and cleaned by local experts. We visited the site in the late afternoon. The light was especially pretty, and it was clearly the time of day when the shepherds bring their goats and cows back in from the fields.

Thanks to the water supplied by the aqueducts, the valley by Nasca is very green and fertile.

This was our Cantalloc shadow puppet show

These shots were taken at a spot called Paradones, which was an Inca administrative center. It provided great views, interesting ruins, and the chance to goof off.

Here you see us boarding the small plane for our tour of the Nasca lines. At this point we were all excited and cheerful. No one had started barfing yet. That came later. Of the five of us, only Britt and Vicky managed to keep their breakfasts down. There was another woman with us, who also got sick. Vicky was all the more amazing, because not only did she not get sick, she managed to keep passing the plastic bags and tissues around to help the rest of us. Britt was in front with the pilot and managed to stay out of trouble by keeping his eyes firmly planted forward. The pilot was unfazed. He never flinched and just passed back bags and tissues.

Barfing aside, the ride was fascinating. You have to look carefully to see the figures. Many of the plants and animals are covered by subsequent lines - including the alien landing strips... Whale

Astronaut

Parrot

Hummingbird

Condor

Viewing platform on the Panamerican, from which you can see the tree and the hands figures

After recovering from the bumpy flight, we took off across the desert to visit a lesser known site called Cahuachi. Getting there was interesting in and of itself, because it is not well indicated and involves crossing numerous kilometers of dirt roads. Visitors are rare, though there is a team of archeologists from Italy working on the site with students from numerous countries. They had not started their digging season yet, so we were all alone with the one guard, who took us around. Cahuachi was a city and important ceremonial center, apparently, built around 2000 years ago by the Nasca people. It includes some 37 or so pyramids and structures covering a wide area. Only a tiny portion has been excavated. The current dig is expected to end in 2 years, so it's not clear how much more will be done there. The pottery, textiles, and other findings from the site are kept in a small museum in Nasca (located across from the slaughterhouse, in case you're looking for it).

Main pyramid, Cahuachi

The area is covered in hills, under which are non-excavated pyramids and structures.

We also visited the Chauchilla Cemetery. This is an eerie spot, which until recently was a flat plain just littered with bones and other human remains. The Nasca buried their dead here. They were placed in a fetal position, prepared for mummification, and wrapped in multiple layers of cloths, including outer layers of beautifully woven textiles. They were buried with ceramics and other offerings. Many of these have been looted over time, though there are examples of them in various museums. Some of the tombs have been reconstructed more or less, with spooky looking mummies and random bones. The ceramics and textiles have been removed. Even Britt, who usually likes visiting cemeteries, finds this place creepy. The landscape is interesting. The hills contain iron and other minerals, lending them various colors. There is also a huge, white sand dune, called Cerro Blanco, which is visible from here. It's said to be the biggest in the world. It's the height of a small mountain (2,000 meters).