Sigh . . and some random photos

We're back in the land of excellent peanut butter, whole wheat bread, brown rice, kale, friends and family, easy communication, innate cultural and satirical understanding, easy humor . . .  home.  We've seen a few good friends so far (yay! more to come!), have had family phone conversations (without  the conversations freezing!), have been eating well and are thoroughly enjoying our time, looking forward to our full dance card of friends while we're here.  And we've not been paying attention to the stuff that's fully occupied our lives for the past 6 months -- making plans and reservations, updating, communicating.  Life's current is strong here, and we're happily floating down stream for awhile.

Our day of Paracas-Chicago travel was a 40 hour one -- bus from Paracas to Lima, flights Lima to Houston and Houston to Chicago, complicated by the United worldwide computer glitch.  The "day" underlined how much easier and more comfortable it is to travel in Peru (Ecuador, too) than in the US; TSA is a pain with its disorganization and inefficiencies, the planes and airport travel/transfers are more complicated here, and staff is less helpful, more stressed.  But we're here, safely, with all luggage intact - truly feels like a miracle.

Now that we're back in the states for 3 months or so, we're not sure how to approach the blog.  There were some outstanding places in Peru that didn't get shared because of sketchy internet, and because they required too much thought/time to do well, and some random stuff, too, that was entertaining.  Those will get posted as time allows over the next few months, but I don't expect this blog to be very active until we're out of the country again, likely in March.  Some of you have signed up for email notification of this blog, and that's probably the easiest way to know if anything's been posted, because we'll be intermittent for a while.  The email notification option just feeds a new entry to your email; nothing else. 

We've had a few people ask us to write reflectively, about personal adjustments, challenges (including what it's like to travel with a spouse so constantly joined at the hip), delights, observations on cultural stuff.  I can't decide if there's really value to putting that in this blog . . . any thoughts?  We'll see.
 
It's our plan to be in the Chicago area until early December, when we'll fly to Seattle to hang out with John.  Just before Christmas Ross and Gen will join us and we'll all drive to Ashland OR for Christmas with my sister.  After that Steve and I will settle in a furnished apartment in Portland for a couple of months, to check out the city fit and decompress.  Then we'll take off to Cambodia? Vietnam? Portugal? New Zealand? England?  Scotland? Wales?. . . not sure, but somewhere for more adventures. 

Here are a few random photos from Peru.

A truck full of egg-sized ball bearings.

This was actually posted on the Yavari, the B&B ship on Lake Titicaca.  With a woman captain.  Argh.

Views from our Puno hotel balcony. Hard times in Puno.

This, and the three photos below -- lines of "old people" waiting for their social security money.  They line up at the first of the month, and wait in hours-long lines to get their 200 soles, $80 for the month. 

 

Common sight anywhere in Ecuador or Peru, folks standing by a newspaper stand, reading newspapers they can't afford to buy, to get the news.  Probably 10 different editions available in most bigger cities. 

Typical Puno (Lake Titicaca area) lady, in a cotton skirt and the typical bowler hat.

Giant condor overlooking the city of Puno.

This sign in the bus station.  Don't get the ambulatory services part. 

School kids field tripping to see the arch, below.  Getting a nice talk from their teacher about local history. 

Colonial arch into the city of Puno.

National flower of Peru, the cantuta.  Hummingbirds love it.