Reminiscing and Reunions

Yeah, this time it has been a while, but I have a valid excuse.  The hotel in Lima would not let me type in the blog box, so now I will update you about my life since Thursday.


Thursday, I left Huancayo... and it wasn't so much willingly.  After all my bags were packed, my send off lunch of lomo saltado (so yummy) and handing in my white coat I as to the bus station and climbed into my oh so comfortable seat situated on the top level of the bus in front of a panoramic windows.  As the bus lumbered through the narrow streets of Huancayo and out of its boundaries towards Sicaya, I started to reminisce.  This place had been my home for over five weeks of tremendous growth, and now I was barreling on to a new destination, leaving a trail of dust and memories.  


Now, I promised honesty on this blog, so here it is... and I started to cry.  For those of you who know me quite well (and probably those of you who don't know me very well at all), know that I, Kathryn Mae Janda, am not known for my grace, and when I cry, normally it is quite a blotchy skin-filled scene with a rather loud soundtrack of sniffles.  Luckily this time (I thought), I was being pretty discrete about the whole thing, yet I was still being stared at by several Peruvian little old ladies, the European giant sitting across the aisle from me and the bus attendant who would alternate between checking-up on me, ask me continuously if I wanted his handkerchief and asking me whether I had time for a coffee in Lima (which I legitimately didn't).  As we weaved from the desert-like mountains surrounding Huancayo to the switchbacks of some of the snow-covered Andes, it truly hit me how much I love Peru, it's stunningly unique and rugged beauty, volunteering and my tie to this place.  Sure, I'll be back in the states in about two weeks and Bucknell in less than a month.  However, I left a different person than when I arrived, and that was precisely what I was hoping for.


After 8 hours of switchbacks and a wide array of scenery, I arrived at the bus station in Lima and was taken to the hotel to prepare for the arrival of my family and get ourselves ready for the tour to start on Saturday.  As I walked into the hotel, I stared at the chandelier and gold leaf crown molding and the following was my train of thought:  1).  I bet they have hot water here.  2).  WHAT the heck am I wearing?  3).  My pants are so baggy (air-drying your clothes doesn't shrink jeans like a dryer) that all of these people could probably tell I'm from Detroit, what a hood rat.  Once in the room I laid out all of my little goodies for Mom, Dad and Allison and put out quite a little buffet of Peruvian goodies.  When they finally arrived it was a great reunion and we were excited to have the day on Friday to explore on our own. 


Friday we enjoyed ourselves and each other's company just wandering around the district of Miraflores in Lima, checking out the Larco Mar, an outdoor mall near our hotel and strolling through parks and random streets in the area.  Now, my spidey sense of bargain hunting was definitely not triggered (there was an alpaca sweater that was over 20 times the price that I paid for an alpaca sweater for Dad that was nicer) but my other freakish sense was triggered, my sense of direction.  Even though I was only in Lima for about 12 hours (including sleep time), just by wandering around I ended up finding the hostel that I stayed at over a month ago, so crazy!  


Then for lunch I finally got to have one of my favorite Peruvian cuisine staples, ceviche.  Ceviche is a dish with fresh ocean fish (and other seafood goodies for the more adventurous eaters) that is marinated in lime juice and refrigerated for several hours.  The lime juice actually cooks the fish and is mixed with veggies and fresh herbs and spices.  The ceviche, causa, everything else at the restaurant Pez Amigo was absolutely to die for.  But the culinary goodies weren't done there.  That night for dinner we went to a classic Limeño establishment, Rosa Nautica.  I seriously had one of the best meals of my life including chupé, a seafood soup that I'm going to desperately try to recreate when I get home.  All in all a great first day for the fam in Lima.  The revelation of the day:  in Peru, I'm the boss, since I'm the only person that can actually order food and bail my mischievous Father out of trouble (a very important task since in Peru you are guilty until proven innocent).


Saturday we met up with the rest of the group, and started our official tour of Lima.  After some great stops in the colonial district, visiting an old cathedral, touring a monastery, worming through their catacombs, going to a museum to see pre-Incan pottery and other artifacts our Peruvian and Bolivian adventure had actually began.  Sunday we went to an amazing art museum in exhibition park, an art gallery (which no joke housed a LOT of robot statues), and my personal favorite district in Lima, Barranco.  Barranco is the "bohemian" section of Lima, has gorgeous ocean front vistas and is home to some pretty big names in Latin American literature, including the one of the latest winners of the Nobel Prize in Literature, Mario Vargas Llosa.  


Today we got on the road early and flew to Cuzco in the Andean Highlands.  From the airport we had an incredibly drive through the Andes to a llama and alpaca farm.  Now, when I first read about this on the itinerary, I was less than amused.  I mean, come on, how much more cliché can you get?  But actually, it was really fun!  We got to feed alpacas and llamas and my personal highlight, got to see a llama chase Allison at least 10 feet, ha ha ha!  Afterwards we had a FEAST of a meal at a Paso Horses ranch and headed to our hotel in Urubamba.  The whole Janda family is having a marvelous time and more updates to follow!!