Making New Friends

2 years ago when Sanj told me that we would be moving to Peru I was so excited about the new adventure, and then panic struck. I was worried that I would have alone in a new country and would never make any friends. Little did I know that there are many people just like me living in Peru. The area where I live (the Malecon) it is easy to spot the Expats living here. I have met so many other expats just walking or at the parks, and each person has shown me such kindness. Then I started realizing that all of my friends are American, which is great but the whole point of Olmstead is to branch out and meet local people, so I decided I am going to start meeting local people. Yesterday Sanj and I took Arjun to his favorite park and we noticed we were the only expats there. We took advantage of that situation and started to scope the park to see who we could befriend and we found the people. These two women were sitting there with their sons who are 6 and 8 months old, they were the perfect age for Arjun to play with. We began talking to them and turns out they are Peruvian moms, went to college together, sang in the US together and now have play dates together. They were so kind to me and patient with me because I wasn't speaking Spanish that well. They have invited me back next Monday to join their small play group. Also this week Sanj and I met another couple in the same building as ours who have twin boys who are 11 months old. They were so kind and I think (and hope) that this friendship blossoms! I have been overwhelmed with the kindness that has been shown to me. I can only hope that my Spanish improves with my new friends! 

Happy Travels!

Paracas, Peru + The Marzettwalas

The family and I finally were able to take our trip to Paracas, so far it has been my favorite place to visit. I think this place was my favorite because Arjun and Sanj did not get sick and it was so relaxing. We stayed at the DoubleTree Hilton Resort which was absolutely beautiful! We were able to hang out around the pool and beach and spend time together as a family before Sanj started classes (which would be the following week). While we were in Paracas we took a boat ride to Isle Ballastas, it was incredible. It is this little island about 10-15 minutes away, it is only accessible by boat, with lots of birds, penguins and sea lions. As we were on the boat approaching the Isle we saw what had to of been thousands of birds, I was terrified. Those who know me know that I don't like birds at all, but it wasn't too bad and with that many birds someone was bound to get pooped on, luckily nobody did! We only saw two penguins and lots and lots of sea lions. It was a magnificent sight to see, there must of been thousands of sea lions along with their new born pups. Arjun did not see much of anything because he slept the whole time but the couple of minutes that he was awake he seemed to be enjoying the sight! Paracas was a great place to visit because it only took 3 hours to get there by bus or car, there is no airport there because it is so close to Lima. It was the first place that I had been where it is all desert surrounded by the ocean, it was beautiful. I think we will be going back at least a few more times before we leave Peru.

For Easter break the Marzett's came to Peru with Carter and Sacha, it was great to see them! We saw all the sites of Lima, ate at some new restaurants and enjoyed some tasty desserts. It is always fun having family come visit us, they bring a little piece of home with them. Arjun enjoyed the kids company because had people to play with, now that they are gone he only has us and its sad to say but he is bored! We can't wait to have the Marzettwala's back to visit us!

Here are some pictures of Paracas!

SeaLions

The one penguin we saw!

Arjun and I enjoying the scenery

Arjun's first time in the pool!

Happy Travels!

Caral, Peru- Ancient Civilization

I was reading back on my past posts and it occurred to me that I did not even write about our trip to Caral! Not many people will know what this place is because it is a relatively new discovery of an ancient town. It is known to be one of the oldest civilizations in the America's and it was incredible. It was really strange how we got there, we took a private taxi because my parents were here for a week so it just made sense to take someone we knew and trusted. It was about 3 hours away from Miraflores and when we got close to Caral it was incredible because it was in the middle of nowhere. We had to go through little villages, chicken farms and then finally we reached the ruins. From a distance it really didn't look like much but as we walked around it was amazing to see how many things were built. There were multiple pyramids, a place where the heads of government gathered and even some houses that we saw. As I was looking at these magnificent ruins I couldn't believe how they built the civilizations, its so difficult to get a decent road built in the US! Looking out at the ruins I was thankful and reminded again about this amazing opportunity to be in South America and witness so much history. Here is a link about Caral if you are interested in knowing more:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caral

It was great with my parents here, I hadn't seen them in so long that it was nice to have family here. It was a short visit but a very nice one.

Sundial used to tell the time

I hope this has intrigued you all to come and visit!

Happy Travels!

Things have been pretty uneventful the past couple of weeks, but I think they may start picking back up! Instead of going to Patagonia like we had hoped we are going to be going to Paracas, Peru next week for my birthday. We hear it is beautiful there, it is a dessert with lots of things to do. We are going to be staying at this beautiful hotel (which we normally wouldn't do but it's my birthday and Sanj wanted to do something nice), we are going to be visiting the Ballesta's Islands to see some Seals, hopefully some dolphins and some birds, Paracas National Reserve and then just walking up and down the Malecon. The more research I do on Peru the more fun and new things I discover. Each part of Peru is incredibly different in the way people live, the food and their cultural history. We hope to see more of Peru than any other country in South America because it is important to me and Sanj to learn and see as much as we can about our host country.

Sanj will be starting his classes in March and then things will really be getting into a pattern, he is going to be so busy with school that Arjun and I are going to have to start coming up with some things to do so we stay busy as well. Our friends the Marzettwala's are going to be coming with their two kids mid March for a visit which is going to be awesome! It is always great having friends come because they bring a little piece of home with them.

Everyday my Spanish improves and Lidia's English is getting better as well! We practice with her everyday and give her quizzes to see how much she has learned. Through teaching her I am now understanding just how difficult it really is to learn English, there are so many different sounds in English than there are in Spanish. It has been a challenge but she is a fast learner. 

Happy Travels!

Today Arjun turned 7 months and I can't believe how fast time has gone by. This morning Sanj and I were reminiscing about all of our travels and things we have experienced throughout the time we have been together. Being in Peru we have both realized how precious our time is with each other. It is very rare that military families are able to spend a couple of years together so we are taking full advantage of this opportunity. Arjun has learned so much in the past 7 months, he has learned how to roll over, low crawl, sit up on his own, ate his first solids and now we are trying to get him to sleep in his crib by himself! It has been such a great time being able to go through these milestones with Sanj, he has been such a great help throughout this whole process.

Lidia (our empleada) has been such a great help since being in Peru and she is becoming apart of our small family here. She is great with Arjun and is a lot of fun to have around. We are teaching her English and in return she is teaching me Spanish, I have to say my Spanish is improving! We want her to learn English with us so she can find a better job after we leave, she also understands that knowing another language is a powerful tool to have. We are learning so much about her life and Peru, its great to have a local person in our house.

As many people know Peru is a Catholic country like most of South America. Sanj and I talked about being apart of something that is important for Catholics so we have decided to give up something for Lent this year. While we are not Catholic I think it is important to embrace someone else culture and religion so I gave up ice cream, Sanj gave up sweets and Lidia gave up "carne"(beef) for Lent, which starts today! This is going to be tough for all of us! Wish us luck!

Happy Travels!

Long Awaited Post!

It has been weeks since I have blogged and now I have so much to write about!

From my last post a lot has happened, we have taken our second trip, moved into our home, hired our Empleada (housekeeper), Arjun turned 6 months and is now learning to crawl! Needless to say life has been busy, busy, busy.

Our trip to Arequipa was interesting. We went with another couple who also has a baby and we realized it is much more fun traveling with other people. It was great to spend time with one another and also see the city together. We took a bus tour throughout Arequipa and it was beautiful to see all of the different sites and wonder that the city had to offer. The streets were mostly cobblestone and most of the buildings were white. The buildings were built from white stone left by volcanic ash, it was so beautiful. We were only there for a few days and had to come home a day early because I was sick because of the altitude. This time Sanj had to take care of me, luckily I wasn't as sick as Arjun and Sanj were in Cusco which was a good thing. Overall it was a great trip, Sanj really enjoyed Arequipa I personally don't know if I would go back but it was really pretty.

Before we left for Arequipa we moved into our permanent home which was incredibly stressful! It took me a few weeks adjusting to our new house but now I am in love with this place. Sanj and I love sitting outside to eat breakfast and watch the sunset. The sunset here is amazing, it is setting as I am typing this, it looks as though the ocean is devouring the sun. From our balcony we have the view of all of the parks and the ocean, I am going to miss this view when I have to go back to the states!

After moving into our house we decided to hire an Empleada. We found an agency pretty close to our house and decided to check it out and see what they had to offer. We decided to take Arjun with us so we could see who he would be comfortable with, while we were talking to the man who owns the agency Arjun spotted a girl and just jumped out of our hands and right into her arms, guess who we hired! Lidia (our empleada) started work the following week and the whole family has fallen in love with her. She is such a great person with an incredible story. She is hardworking, loves Arjun but above all is very honest. Lidia lives in one of the poorest parts of Lima and commutes 2 hours to work every morning. She is from Cusco (literally the mountains) and her parents still live in Cusco. Sanj and I always talk about how much we appreciate everything that we have since being in Peru. It is such an experience to peek into someone else's life and learn about their life.

Last but not least Arjun is finally starting to crawl, kind of. It is more like flapping around like a fish but he is almost there, I think he will be crawling in a couple of weeks which will be loads of fun!

I will be updating my blog with photos very soon until then...

Happy Travels!

Our Andean Experience

We are back from Cuzco and had such a great time! The trip began with a rough start but ended on a very good note. The first night we were in Cuzco we decided to take things really slow so we walked to the Plaza de Armas and walked around and just took it all in. We ate at wonderful pizza place where we made a new friend, she was incredibly nice! What we thought was a easy first day turned into a horrible evening. Arjun was incredibly fussy, he was crying constantly and then threw up, when he threw up we knew something was wrong. The hotel staff called us a doctor and turned out he was experience altitude sickness, while the doctor was checking him out Sanj started getting very sick with the same symptoms as Arjun (minus the crying), turned out he had altitude sickness as well! I knew then I better buck up, suck up the headache I had and start taking care of both of my guys. I was very happy when both of them finally fell asleep and woke up restful. Sanj was much better the rest of the trip but Arjun was still very fussy in the evening and wasn't really sleeping, but he was such a good sport throughout the day!

The second day we were in Cuzco was Christmas Eve. We really wanted to be in Cuzco for Christmas Eve because the Plaza de Armas turns into a huge market full of just stuff. The market is called, Santuranticuy Market which means "Buying of the Saints". This market started when the Spanish conquered Peru, I am sure it was much different then. When we went we spent only 10 minutes because there were thousands of people and hundreds of different stands set up not to mention the people sitting on the floor selling things. It was incredible and also exhausting at the same time, but very rich in color and culture. I learned that people who live high in the mountains come down just for this day to sell the herbs that they grow or things that they make. It was amazing to see the diversity in Cuzco amongst the people.

On Christmas day we decided to take a tour of the Sacred Valley, it was breathtaking! We saw many Incan ruins but the most fascinating thing that I saw or thought about was how the Incans created such an empire without technology. Our guide told us that in order to build their Citadel on this town called Pisac they had to carry bricks for miles on their backs. The Incans were a small tribe and then began conquering different areas and built their empire, granted they only ruled for about 100 years but still it was amazing to see how much they built in that amount of time. There was one part of the Incan ruins that we saw where they built water ways, they channeled water from the mountain for people to drink from, the same water from the river was still running through the channels today! It BLEW MY MIND! The Sacred Valley was incredible and I can't wait to go back and visit it again.

Overall the trip was amazing. We are going to go back to see Macchu Picchu but I think we're going to reserve that trip for when Arjun is a few more months older. It was miserable seeing him in that much pain and him not being able to tell us what was wrong!

We hope everyone had a great Christmas!

*Family picture with Llamas!*

**These are rocks placed by the Incans**

*These are farming terraces built by the Incans in Pisac**

They were still being used until the 40's until the Peruvian government put a stop to it

*This is a fountain that has been in existence since Incan times*

** The Incan legend is that a man with a white beard, rose out of Lake Titicaca and walked to the Incan Valley where he taught the people farming techniques which was the foundation of the Incan Civilization. The carving of the face against mountain is a depiction of the white beard man, an Incan carved the face.**

Happy Travels!