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!