We've had round three of our Spring Break visitors, with more expected in April.
This year in particular, the Spnng Break season has offered Lima at its best. Our summer, which normally begins in December, was very much delayed, and it's only recently that we've had the glorious days of blue skies and 70-80 degrees that typically characterize the Lima summer.
Unfortunately, I accidentally erased the photos I'd taken of our wanderings with friends, Sasha, Leslie, and Alenka - including the before/after shots of our walk along the beach, which ended with our being soaked by an unexpectedly large wave.
So, instead I offer all of you this to a travel video from the past, which features Lima (including the fancy Hotel Club Real by our apartment - our favorite place for pisco sours) and other Peruvian destinations:
http://www.livinginperu.com/blogs/travel/1280
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Busy part 2
We followed up on the weekend getaway to Paracas with another weekend trip to the Amazon, via Iquitos.
Iquitos is interesting. It is only accessible by air or by boat. It's heyday was during the rubber baron era. Today, it has the feel of a frontier town. It's just a little bit wild, and you sort of expect Fitcaraldo to come walking down the street.
These photos are from a sort of petting zoo. The sloths were the favorites, hands down, especially the baby one.
These Boro Indians were displaced from their original communities. The regional government of Iquitos invited them to settle here. They perform traditional songs and dances for tourists and sell their hand-made crafts in a very large hut. Their real village is further into the jungle. Though it all feels very staged and artificial, the argument is that this is a way for them to preserve and share their traditions, not to mention a way to make some money off one of the main local industries, namely tourism.
These photos are from a walk in the jungle, where our guide pointed out interesting plants and their uses. It was raining pretty hard, so we were quickly soaked. Some parts of the trail were muckier than they appeared. at one point Britt ended up in mud up to his thigh, so high in fact that it filled his wellies.
This is Valerie climbing a giant ficus tree, known as the anaconda for it's huge roots.
Trying out blowpipes with another group of displaced indigenous people. These were originally from Ecuador. 
The chickens were remarkable for their long, strong legs. And this one really reminded us of the cartoon character Foghorn Leghorn. 
These are views of the pool and one of the rooms in the lodge where we stayed. 
These fish were in a sort of farm in a village along the Amazon river. There were also giant Victoria lilypads, caimans, and a big litter of very small puppies.
From our boat on the actual Amazon, we were able to see severl gray river dolphins. There were also some pink dolphins, known for being quite shy of boats and people, normally. Some people on the boat saw them, but I only saw this one painted on the side of a little shop.
Dinner in Iquitos, sampling the local river fish and the local brew.
The mighty Amazon.
Iquitos is interesting. It is only accessible by air or by boat. It's heyday was during the rubber baron era. Today, it has the feel of a frontier town. It's just a little bit wild, and you sort of expect Fitcaraldo to come walking down the street.
These photos are from a sort of petting zoo. The sloths were the favorites, hands down, especially the baby one.
These Boro Indians were displaced from their original communities. The regional government of Iquitos invited them to settle here. They perform traditional songs and dances for tourists and sell their hand-made crafts in a very large hut. Their real village is further into the jungle. Though it all feels very staged and artificial, the argument is that this is a way for them to preserve and share their traditions, not to mention a way to make some money off one of the main local industries, namely tourism.
These photos are from a walk in the jungle, where our guide pointed out interesting plants and their uses. It was raining pretty hard, so we were quickly soaked. Some parts of the trail were muckier than they appeared. at one point Britt ended up in mud up to his thigh, so high in fact that it filled his wellies.
This is Valerie climbing a giant ficus tree, known as the anaconda for it's huge roots.
Trying out blowpipes with another group of displaced indigenous people. These were originally from Ecuador. 
The chickens were remarkable for their long, strong legs. And this one really reminded us of the cartoon character Foghorn Leghorn. 
These are views of the pool and one of the rooms in the lodge where we stayed. 
These fish were in a sort of farm in a village along the Amazon river. There were also giant Victoria lilypads, caimans, and a big litter of very small puppies.
From our boat on the actual Amazon, we were able to see severl gray river dolphins. There were also some pink dolphins, known for being quite shy of boats and people, normally. Some people on the boat saw them, but I only saw this one painted on the side of a little shop.
Dinner in Iquitos, sampling the local river fish and the local brew.
The mighty Amazon. Busy - part 1
It's Spring Break in North America, which turns out to be an excellent time for people to come visit us.
We love having visitors. We have plenty of room for them, and it's a great excuse to take off on travel adventures.
The only down side is that we still have to go to school and work. But we do the best we can with the weekends - and then send our guests off to other parts during the week.
These photos are from our visit to Paracas and the Islas Ballestas with visiting family - always a favorite destination for a weekend getaway.
The colors of the desert are spectacular, the weather is very reliable, and there's just lots of fun to be had...
These were taken in the Paracas Natural Reserve, which goes on for miles and miles. Much of it is empty, but there is one little cove, more protected from the wind than most, where there are several charming fish restaurants. The fish is so fresh they practically pluck it out of the water in front of you.
These photos are from Tambo Colorado, an Inca governor's palace, located in a very pretty, green valley not too far from Pisco. It's a lovely spot, though mostly ignored by visitors. We've been there twice, and each time the only other people were a guard and a young shepherd tending his goats.
These are from our sunset dune buggy ride in Ica. We also tried some sandboarding. The dunes are steeper than you can tell from these photos, and the rides are quite a blast.
These are from our boat ride out to the Islas Ballestas, which were covered in seabirds of various types (cormorants, boobies, terns, pelicans, penguins, and more). There were lots of sea lions as well, with many pups.
More sandboarding above the hotel Las Dunas.
Las Dunas also has horses, pools, a climbing wall, and a mini golf course covered in turkies, peacocks, and fancy chickens.
More dune buggy fun.
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