Lima, The Last Chapter

If they say that going from a small, impoverished town to a large, urban big city is cultural shock, their wrong. Going from Cajamarca to Lima was  pretty similar to hoping on the highway and coming home from the cabin, leaving farm land and large open areas to go to the skyscrapers and busy streets. 

Leaving to go to Lima was quite an adventure. As we arrived to the airport we were greeted by a two man wall thick of fully armed national police out side the airport, along with about 30 more of these machine gun laden men inside a building on the inside of the compound. Now many of you might be wondering why there was such a fuss around the airport. Well, the city of Cajamarca is a mining town, home base to many mining companies that have mines in the surrounding hills. A new mine is scheduled to be opened soon called Conga, this mine has been approved by the government and set to start shortly. The problem is that many people in Cajamarca do not want this mine to be made due to "environment" issues. What they don't understand is that the mining company making the new mine is one of the top environmentally safe companies and is going to create new reservoirs to make up for the lakes they are destroying. Regardless of everything their doing to make it safe and healthy people in the city don't see it that way. They have been planning a strike against the mine that was supposed to start the day we left Cajamarca. They have had another strike this past November about the same issue, the strike lasted 5 weeks and all the ExPats had to be evacuated due to the resulting violence that happened.

Once we left Cajamarca we kept a close eye on what was happening. This was just the first day of the strike, the day after we had left.



In Lima, Amy and I did everything we possibly could in under two days. the first full day that we were there we went to the Inca market, which was just like a typical flea market in the United States, vendors were selling pretty much the same things at every booth and you had to pick and choose things you wanted. That same day we went on a bus tour of Lima. We were very excited to be full tourists and were sad that we didn't remember to bring our fanny packs. We enjoyed some of the most lovely sites in Lima from atop of the two decker bus and had fun touring the catacombs in a church and meeting some nice people from Prague.

The second day we were in Lima, we went and visited of the small parks the line the cost line, I liked the Parque del Amor because of all the fun colors! We then went on a 4+ mile journey of the city, walking way more then our feet could handle. We stopped for lunch and then made our way back to the hotel to wait for Eric to get done with work. Before Eric and I got on the plane I wanted to go see the magic fountains. They were amazing. These fountains (all 13 of them) were massive structures that spanned two different sides of the street. One was longer then a football field and some you could walk through. It was a very perfect way to end our time in Peru.

Now I must say that Lima is a very nice city, if you want to stay there for two days. If you want to stay there for more, you are insane. The weather in Lima is constantly the same, grey and cloudy and very humid. The traffic is the worst part of the city. Cabbies are in love with their horns and use them at every possible moment of the day as they whip through the traffic and almost get hit every thirty seconds or so. Ridding in them can almost give you a heart attack if you aren't already having a coughing fit from the smog that is attacking you through the window. That is all I have to vent about right now I should say. Now its time to go home to Minnesota!

It's Been to Long

Well I'm going to be very honest, I have bee quite lazy about blogging the past couple of days. There I said it, I won't be ashamed. Here is what I have missed updating you on.

1. On Saturday, all of the gang (dogs and Eric included) went to do a little hiking in Cumbemayo. Cumbemayo is this amazing set of well rocks, that was the site of a pre-incan civilization. The coolest part of the whole hike was seeing the canals that they carved out of the rocks to draw water from. The canals were cut in right angles at some points and I was amazed that they did this around 1500 B.C

We climbed through the hills for a couple hours and had ourselves a very good time. The dogs were in heaven and decided it was best to sleep the rest of the day.

 *NEWS UPDATE!*

I have just been told to hurry up and finish this blog post because we need to rush to the airport. Today they found some bomb type things near the airport and they closed it down. They didn't know if they could get us out of Cajamarca into Lima because of riots that were happening in the city today.

Any ways, yesterday was the only other big day. Amy and I went to the house of Maria, the maid who comes Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Her family prepared a traditional Peruvian lunch for us, which included probably 10 plates and a 1.5 liter of Inca Cola, the drink of choice down here. Barb you will be very proud of me, I tried everything including the seviche. This was just half of the food they brought out for us, just Amy and I.

This is all I can say right now! Updates will be coming soon about my adventures in Lima!

En el Marcado

The weather is finally turning around here in now sunny Cajamarca! Today and yesterday it has been warm and sunny, perfect days for roaming the city and going on daily excursions. Yesterday, Amy and I went to visit her friend who makes all of her pottery dishes and what not. We got a couple of things for friends and family and I'm having him make a couple of things for Amy to being to me when she comes to Minnesota in a couple weeks. After visiting the pottery guy we went into the city to experience the "Friday market". On Fridays some of the streets in downtown Cajamarca are closed off to allow for the extreme amount of people trying to sell their goods. People were selling things from fruits, nuts, bags, clothes, all kinds of meats and things like chip bag clips and shoes. It was crazy trying to walk through the streets not looking like you were getting whiplash from looking at all the vender's. One thing that did surprise me was the smell, with all of the wonderful things being sold the smell was something close to wet dog mixed with fish and three day old garbage. 

Eric joined us for lunch over looking the main plaza in Cajamarca (there are about 4 or 5 different plazas around the city that people will gather at). We ate at a hotel and had a great time catching up during his lunch break. 

After making a dinner of spaghetti with turkey meatballs, we went to see  Men in Black 3, or Hombres de Negro 3. We had hoped to catch a lucky break and to have subtitles in English for the movie. We were not so lucky and ended up watching the movie in Spanish. At the end I asked if Amy and Eric understood most of the movie, they did and they were very happy that their level of comprehension was  so good. 

Zoológico Incompletos

Today, or yesterday we visited the valley town of Grandja Porcon. It is like a traditional Amish community in the states, that everyone works and does everything for the benefit of the community and all the wealth is shared among everyone. This little community is most well known for a couple things, one thing are the woven goods that you can see above, wood furniture and their cheese. Another thing they are specifically known for is their Manjar Blanco which is like a carmel spread that you would put in pastries. We didn't end up trying this because what we really came to see was the sketchiest zoo I have ever seen in my entire life. There were all sorts of animals including birds, monkeys, bears, lions, pumas, llamas and jaguars. The paths allowed you to be very close to all of the animal cages and I got some really good bird pictures for Mrs. Raasch, but all that was dividing me and the animals was a simple chain-link fence and in the case of some of the birds some chicken wire. It was a very fun time going up there, but it was the shadiest place I have ever gone to with large animals.

This lion was in an enclosure about 30 feet by 40 feet, he had worn a path into the dirt from constantly pacing back and forth.

This jaguar was in a similar situation, all he had for a house or cover is the small hut he is laying on.

Agujeros en la Roca

Today was an exciting day, behind me you can see the Ventanillas de Otuzco. They are holes in the side of a mountain that were put there by the Incan civilization, they have been said to be the holding place of peoples ashes once they have been cremated or for drying grains due to the openings facing the wind.

Lluvia, Lluvia Desaparece

This is the photo of the day! We went to visit the Plaza today in Cajamarca and started to look around for different things that I would like to bring home to everyone! Amy found some cute little toys for mini cousin Isaiah. After we looked around for awhile and decided to visit a church that was up this huge hill. past the little church was the Sillias del Inca, as we climbed up the steps it started to drizzle a little bit, but we kept going. Once we got to the top it was pouring, like full torrential rain. We made a run for it and eventually made it to our car after about an hour, it was quite an adventure and we had a lot of fun in the process.

Primer Dia

Hello friends!


It is officially my first day in Cajamarca, Peru! I'm going to be trying to upload at least one picture a day just to show you what is going on! This is a picture of where we ate lunch today (we being Amy, Eric and I). It is a beautiful little hotel and spa with a great little restaurant. 

 I survived my 16+ hours of air travel and I am officially in Cajamarca! The last 24 hours have been a whirlwind of events. I flew from Minnesota to Atlanta and from there I took the 6-hour flight into Lima. Once I got there I passed through customs with great ease and went to go find Amy. Once I found her we went looking for the taxi she had gotten for us earlier that day. After about 40 minutes of searching the airport we decided to find another taxi and go to our hotel*.  Going to the hotel was a bit of a jaunt into Lima, but it was worth it. The hotel was BEAUTIFUL, absolutely stunning in every regard and Amy and I slept like babies. In the morning we took a quick little 1-hour flight to Cajamarca and met up with Eric.

From there they took me to the restaurant I mentioned above. Amy and I also took the dogs for a walk. she has two dogs, Moby and Lola, they have very distinct personalities and love to be around people. Moby is the the one on the right and Lola is the one on the left. 

*One thing you should know about the Lima airport, there are people asking if you need a taxi every five feet, I’m not making this up, and they are for sure the most obnoxious people you have ever seen in the world constantly asking “Taxi? Taxi?” even if they just saw you say no to the 16 different men in front of them.  Amy is a pro at avoiding them so I took her lead and just pushed my way past them.

Beginnings

Hello good folk of Edina and beyond,


Today marks the day that I finally start this lovely blog after a couple of attempts at starting this thing (thank you Thea Zerbe for kicking my butt and making me start this). Anyways, in about four days and a couple hours I will be boarding a large airplane to head to the Atlanta, Georgia airport from there I will be heading to Lima, Peru. As you can see from the map to your right, Lima is no where near my  final destination of Cajamarca, so I will be taking a small airplane to my final destination so I don't have to hitchhike the many hundred miles in between.


For those of you who don't know why I'm making this journey I will tell you. At Edina High School we are given the opportunity to do May Term. May Term is during the last two weeks of school after AP testing, if we so choose we can do a project or an internship and get out of school or we can stay in school and have our heads bored off. As you can imagine I choose to do May Term. More specifically a cultural study in Peru. Why Peru you may ask? Well my cousin Amy Colby and her husband Eric have been living in Cajamarca for about 2 years now so, one Skype call and a couple family meetings later and I was writing my May Term application: destination Peru. 

Me, Eric and Amy about 3 years ago.


So until I get to say goodbye to my high school years for the last time I have to do a few things. One of those major things is to pack my suitcase, which to you men out there might not seem like a big deal or anything, but for us girls its like deciding who were going to marry, what kind of dog we want and the names of a first four children every single time we go on a trip, BIG DEAL. Other then taking probably close to three or four hours packing, I still need to get through my last four days of high school, saying goodbye to teachers and friends that I won't see until graduation (shout out to my GOPE girls! gonna miss the sisterhood). These last couple days will be bitter sweet end to a couple of years building bonds and the education to start new and fresh during the upcoming fall. I can't wait to set my feet in a new direction and explore the world ahead of me!


T-minus: 4 days, 19 hours and 14 minutes and counting!


Besos y Abrazos!


Julia