Housewarming, Christening & Blessing!

Christmas Eve on the Balcony

Larry's Last Adventure

He always seemed to be up for an adventure - and for making new friends. He was communicating actively with us long before we ever met. As soon as he became involved with my good friend Madelle, I became his friend. It really was that simple.
Many people are shocked and saddened today to hear of Larry's unexpected death. He had many friends in many locations. He was our most active commenter on the blog (often anonymously) and often offered facts or insight that was helpful or amusing.
When I received the email from Madelle titled "Larry's Last Adventure," I knew is couldn't be good news. But I thought it was a great way to look at the passing of such a cool and adventurous guy.
Farewell, my friend. I'm glad we got to know you.

Happy People - Thoughts for the Day

Friends, family, personal goals, acts of kindness, emotional health. A well balanced, happy life  seems to me to require these. Paula Davis-Laack agrees, and has some factual research to support her analysis.

So far this week ...

some things have gone better than others.

The Lighting of the Tree - Magdalena del Mar

There was a great children's choir, a speech by the wife of the mayor, who says we in Magdalena are all one big family, and of course, fabulous fireworks! The park was filled with adorable little kids and lots of big people, too. A fabulous evening!

And finally - by popular request - Photos of the New Place!

Sure looks better than it did on this day!

Cost of Living, Inflation & Exchange Rate

Source: tradingeconomics.com When we first visited Peru in December 2008, the Peruvian Sol to US Dollar exchange rate was about 3.3. For the most part, the cost of things seemed reasonable, if not downright cheap in some cases. Fast forward

Photos of the New Apartment

Art has been hung. A couple of accent walls have been painted. The place is generally put together and looking great. Tomorrow I am going to take photos and post them. I swear. I really am.

Life of the Online Worker!

Oh, my God! This cartoon story is hilarious - long, but anyone who works online has to relate to this!

"Relaxing" at Home

We certainly weren't thinking clearly when we received the call about Uncle Nello and left the next day.  If we had been, we surely would have allowed more than a week upon our return to prepare for the move to our new apartment. Although we have some photos of the move, and of the kitchen disaster, and a few other things (all of which were posted on Facebook at various times) we still don't have

Family - Final Night in Florida

Our final night in Florida was spent with my son Mark, his amazing wife Debbie and my awesome grandchildren Megan and Austin. After a fabulous evening feasting

Friends in Florida

I am sure that Uncle Nello would have enjoyed hearing that we had some fun while in Florida.

After finishing up with Uncle Nello's affairs

It was Tuesday morning, October 16, when we received the call. Gene's wonderful Uncle Nello had died an hour ago . He was a great guy, nearly 99 years old, and had been planning a trip to France to celebrate his 100th birthday. Sadly, he didn't make it.

Why I Don't Blog Much Anymore

I sometimes ask myself why I don't write blog posts more often. I mean, I would like to make at least a post a week on some topic or experience that I find

We're Homeowners!

Drum roll here please! It's finished, ready to move in, and we have the keys! We won't actually move until close to the end of the month, so you'll have to wait until then to see any much more significant photos, since most of you have been watching the progress all along as I've posted regular photos here and on Facebook. But here's just one more, to show you that the kitchen, one of the things that we totally re-designed, turned out really great!

Medical Care in the Amazonian Jungle

This is really important! If you live in Lima, you should attend this event and learn more about this amazing organization which is bringing basic health care to the jungle and training the people to care for themselves. Even if you don't live here, you should read about their work and consider making a donation.

Do you know what this is?

Another Great Peruvian Food Discovery

Some call it the world's "Superfood," and for good reason. I've been learning a whole lot about quinoa lately, but the best surprise was how absolutely delicious it is! You can read more about my latest adventures with Peruvian food here.

Help Somebody Who Really Needs It

My best friend Gail is a real, live walking hero in my book. The things that she does, the things that most people would avoid, continue to amaze me. As she got out of her car at the drug store, she saw a man, clearly a homeless guy, trip and fall, breaking the strap on one of his flip flops. What would a "normal" person do in this situation?  I'm just guessing that most people would either pretend they hadn't seen him, or would quickly ask if he was ok and go on their way. My hero went to him, made sure he was ok, helped him get up, and took him inside the drug store. After buying him a new pair of flip flops and something to eat, she sent him on his way, wishing him luck. She didn't mention it, but knowing Gail, she probably also told him where the nearest homeless shelter was, just in case he didn't know. What an inspiration this woman is. She doesn't just flippantly say to friends, "let me know if there's anything I can do." She actually finds someone who really needs help - and does it. Although she is my best friend, and we talk almost every day, Gail didn't tell me about this. It was probably just another thing in another day to her. Somebody else told me about it, and I said, "Yup! That's Gail!" I swear to God, I'm going to write a book about this woman some day!

Do Something that Hasn't Been Done Before

“That’s the problem with a lot of people; they don’t try to do stuff that’s never been done before, so they never do anything, but if they try to do it, they find out there’s lots of things they can do that have never been done before.”  
In his "Blog of Impossible Things, Joel Runyon says he got an unexpected ass-kicking in a conversation with an "elderly gentleman" who interrupted his work flow in the coffee shop. Joel says he learned something from the old guy about doing the impossible. Looks to me like there's a lesson there about paying attention to the "old guy" or "old woman" who obviously doesn't know anything. 

My Latest Project - Writing

So I'm trying to get into doing some writing. Been having fun on Squidoo. It's an online site where you can write about anything that interests you - and make money doing it, too - from ads and other things on the site. It's pretty slick. They also do contests and such to get you thinking. I did one in which we were supposed to write about one of our favorite photos. It has made the front page of Squidoo every day recently. It's about a photo I took on my first time in a Peruvian market.

Slept through Another One!

So I guess we had an earthquake this morning - about 5:30. It was only a 5.4 so I don't think we usually feel those anyhow. Although they say that if you're on a high floor, you will feel them. Hmmm...this is interesting to think about. Vamos a ver!

Happy Independence Day!

¡Felices Fiestas Patrias!

Kids Working the Streets

The government this week announced a program to help rescue children begging or working on the streets. I hope the program succeeds. Everywhere I've been in the world (including Seattle, Washington) I've seen this happening. I see very little of it now compared to when we first visited Lima 4 years ago. But that may just be my area, not all of Lima. In Guatemala it was horrible - little kids, not more than 4 years old - begging or selling trinkets in the streets at 10 o'clock at night.

Lunch with Girl Friends at Dorothee's!

Great food, great conversation, good friends!

On Edging Further South...

On Edging Further South....If we continue edging South we will begin Edging North and end  up in INDIA. Interesting thought...

Peru Feeds the World

What food was being cultivated in Peru 7,000 years ago and fed most of Europe in the 18th century? Peruvian food may only just now becoming the "in" food in many countries, but it has been hugely important to the world for centuries!
I've been learning a lot more about this important Peruvian crop. It seems that the more I learn about Peru, the more I realize what a huge impact the country has had on the rest of the world.

By Popular Request

Arrow points to our balcony - next to the last floor

Progress on Apartment

Feb 14-This looks interesting

Cupola-Only 2 blocks away

Mar 26-It's Ours!

May 22-Balcony View

Jul 17-Getting Close

This will be our Nite View from the Balcony

It's All the Librarian's Fault

Over the years, many have wondered about my seemingly insatiable urge to move on. Like many personality traits, I don't think it is necessarily a good thing or a bad thing. It's just the way I am. After a certain amount of reflection, I've decided it may all have started with long-ago Tuesday evening visits with a woman named Barbara.

Apartment Prices up 20%

Holy Crap! 20%! Glad we already bought one. But this can't go on forever!

The Real Estate Boom Continues

And this is why we would no longer be able to afford to buy in Miraflores. Happily, we've discovered that we like Magdalena del Mar even more - and the prices there are about where the Miraflores prices were when we were first looking 2 1/2 years ago!

El Kapallaq

El Kapallaq! Probably still my favorite restaurant in town. Too bad they moved. When we discovered them, they were four blocks from our apartment. Today we went and checked out their new location on the other side of Miraflores. Still the same impeccable service, incredible food, lots of attention from owner/chef Luis Cordero (who remembered us from the old neighborhood and treated us to pisco sours!) The new place is beautiful, has twice as much space as the old place, a separate (small) bar, a totally open kitchen. In short, we totally love the new place. On the other hand, we really miss the old place, with its  old style charm, its intimacy, its feeling that it was your own secret hideaway. We had a wonderful lunch with new friends Carol and Roger, along with the unstoppable Dorothee! Great Saturday afternoon!
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Another new project

I've been having fun writing articles on Squidoo. The fun thing is that I can write about anything that enters my mind - kind of like blogging but with a bigger audience! My latest article: Peru - Best Country for Foodies!  I hope you'll check out my articles and tell me what else you'd like to read about. I'm having fun with this.

Seeing a Need & Doing Something about It

It was ten years ago. She didn't speak much Spanish and she was only a tourist in Peru, but she recognized a need and knew she could find a way to help. Diana Bowie tells me that her first river trip in the Amazon was not a fun experience. On a boat all night with a cook who spoke no English, but offered her a sandwich, she arrived on the bank of a village at day break. A couple of hours later, the person who was to meet her showed up. The return trip was no better. But along the way, Diana learned that the people in the villages had no access to health care or information. As a registered nurse with an MBA and a great deal of experience in health care, she was determined to help. After a year working in various clinics in the Amazon region, she traveled with a guide she had met to several villages along the Napo River, talking with the villagers about their needs. The focus of Diana's future efforts was determined from that trip:

To bring as much basic care to the villages as possible and train the people to care for themselves.

In areas where the nearest clinic may be 8 to 16 hours away by canoe, helping to bring health care to the people makes a huge difference in their lives. Since 2002, Diana and her friend  Renzo Peña have made more than 45 trips to the jungle, carrying medicine, supplies, doctors and other medical volunteers, radios, solar panels. They have done medical and dental exams and treatment, pap smears. They have done health fairs and seminars, women's projects. They have often carried severely injured or desperately ill patients on their boat to a hospital. Their many special projects, like a scholarship program and building a school add to their achievements.
Diana's NGO, DB Peru, welcomes volunteers to assist with their work in the jungle. Unlike many such organizations, there is no charge to volunteer, although of course participants do pay their own expenses. For the first time, this year the organization, with the support of other groups and sponsors, will do some fund raising events, including a gala at the home of the Australian ambassador to Peru in October. I have been asked to assist the organization as a member of the local advisory board. Since I have a huge amount of respect for Diana and am overwhelmed by her achievements, I am very happy to work with the group. But what, I wonder, can I really do to help. 

Cleaning a Machete Cut

Last night I attended another meeting of the board. The members are extremely knowledgeable and experienced. The seem to know all the ins and outs of Peru and Lima society, the people, the other organizations. They clearly have experience with marketing, promotion, NGO's, fund-raising, the jungle, world health issues. An amazing group of people. So what, I ask, do I have to offer? My financial training and experience is so out of date, it's rusting like metal in Lima. I have no background in promotion, etc and not being a particularly social person, I know almost no one. Yet I would very much like to help Diana's group somehow. So I will hang in there, hoping to learn from this impressive group of people and hoping to ultimately find a way to help in a real way. Meanwhile, dear readers, your suggestions are always welcome.
Photos by permission of DB Peru

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Cocktails at the Ambassador's Residence

We were invited Saturday evening to the 90th birthday party of the American Women's Literary Club. It was quite an affair, held at the residence of the US ambassador to Peru. The building itself is amazing. Met some fascinating people. Pretty impressive that this group has been in existence for all those years, through all that the country has been through during that time. What amazing people I keep meeting here in Peru. Peruvians, long-time expats, newcomers. All have interesting stories.

Anticuchos - One of My Favorite Street Foods in the Whole World

Grilled beef heart on a stick. Marinated in some kind of fabulous concoction which makes it taste totally fabulous. Best when found on the side of a little street somewhere. The more people lined up to buy a serving, the better it will be. Crowds, smoke, happy people, great food - and sometimes even tv to watch while you wait! What more could you ask for!

The Bus Trip that Was - Finally

Yup! I really finally got to Chile - and the trip down only took 21 hours (as compared to the 19 hours advertised by the bus company). Leaving at 2 pm on Saturday, we arrived in Tacna (Peru) at 11 am the next day (Happy Mothers' Day!). But of course, arriving at Tacna doesn't mean you're there yet.

La Noche en Blanco

Again I will miss one of Lima's premier cultural events. La Noche en Blanco is an annual event of art, music and entertainment. It sounds like it will be a fantastic night and I had plans to go, since it's in easy walking distance from our house. That was when I was supposed to leave for Chile earlier this week. Now, since the miners demonstrating along the road have delayed my bus trip til the weekend, I will miss all the excitement. And it looks like there will be some fascinating art. Sometimes my timing is messed up even when I plan it.

The Bus Trip that Wasn't - Cont'd

Still no bus trip. Maybe tomorrow.

More on the story here

The trip that wasn't: All dressed up and nowhere to go. My little day pack appropriately filled with my best alpaca shawl, fresh empanadas, Aleve, change of clothes, Samsung tablet. Arrive at bus station ready for the 19 hour bus trip to Chile in order to renew my visa. The informal miners still have the roads closed. Maybe tomorrow. Maybe not. It's always an adventure.

Lunch at the Cordon Bleu

It's Friday - Lunch with the BMW's (Beautiful Mature Women)

Did you know that the Cordon Bleu school in Lima has a restaurant? Reservations are required and it's a bit pricier than a menu on the corner place, but what a fun experience! Amazingly innovative dishes. I will go again!

Rincon Chami

Lunch today at one of my favorite restaurants - down a little side street called Esperanza (Hope) in the center of Miraflores, this little gem has tables on the sidewalk, friendly service, and a wide selection of fabulous Peruvian food. Gene had fish. I had goat, one of my favorites. Oh, and there are usually a couple of musicians stopping by to play for tips.

Museum Day

One of the goals I set for myself a while ago was to visit every museum in Lima! I don't know if that's even possible considering how many there are. I'm always accidentally discovering one that I'd never heard of before, so it may be an open-ended project, but that's just fine. How amazing to live in a city with so much history and so many museums that you can never see them all! My project got a huge boost recently when one of the BMW's (more on them later), the amazing archaeologist Dorothee Rivka Rago, took my friends and me on a private tour of the Amano Museum here in Miraflores. The museum is home to an amazing collection of ceramics, textiles and various objects from all pre-columbian cultures, with an emphasis on the Chancay culture. The visit was so fascinating, and I ended up with so many amazing photographs, that I came home and put together a photo collection for the friends who had been with me on the visit. You can see my collection of photos over at Morning at Amano with Dorothee.

Family for Christmas Week

The most exciting event of 2011, for me, was the visit for the week before Christmas by son Mark, daughter-in-law Debbie, and the fabulous dancing duo grandchildren, Megan and Austin! Their first visit to Peru, the kids' first trip outside the US, and my first experience having the family visit me since we left the US nearly 10 years ago (Mark visited for a few days when we were in Costa Rica, but this was a first for the whole family to come). Of course by the time they arrived here, I was a basket case from trying to have everything ready and perfect and planning how I was going to fit in everything that I needed to show them in just five short days!

Day two of the kids' visit was awesome, busy, fun.
I am already worrying about missing them when they leave.
Having them here is so incredible.
Today we toured Huaco Pucllana, the pre-inca ruins two blocks from our house, had a great lunch at Mangos so everybody could have the opportunity to try a huge variety of Peruvian dishes from the buffet, walked around Mall Larco Mar to have the kids' pictures taken with Santa. Well, actually Santa wasn't on duty at the time we were there, but at least they got their photo taken at the Santa chair place at a mall in Lima! Some of the other activities for the day involved playing charades with an especially funny display by the father of my grandchildren, and a couple of beginner lessons on using my awesome new Samsung tablet. The lessons were given free by my grandchildren. The tablet was a gift from my grandchildren and their awesome Dad (my amazing elder son!)
Oh, and of course, there is always dance!