When the kids were in 2nd and 4th grade, I felt the need to roam for longer than just a summer. I would have planned a trip longer than 6 months, but there was no way we could leave until Ms. C’s annual play was done. Unlike the world trip, Peru was planned before it was easy to find a place to live in advance, and the place I had booked turned out to be, well, not as advertised. So, we spent our first day at 11,000 feet searching for a place to live. The next day, we had our first visit to their school, Colegio Monteverde.
The first set of pics below is from their school at various times during our trip. Prior to leaving, it took months of applying and sending paperwork in to get accepted. Logan loved the school. She learned cursive. She made wonderful friends. Well, she did bolt out of lunch every day and hide so she wouldn’t have to eat the food. But mostly, she assimilated quite well. They both did great in class. They could take notes all in Spanish (it was expected that you write everything the teacher said and then learn it). They made perfect grades. But Ethan was in a bad mood. He didn’t want to leave his friends in the States, and he held a grudge. There were some rough incidents. Let’s just say that I ended up having an hour meeting with his teacher and the director in their downtown office. Luckily, they let him stay at the school, and he improved.
Hiking Group – On one of our first days in Larapa, while hiking in the mountains adjacent to our apartment, we bumped into a large group of kids and parents hiking. This was one of the best accidental meetings ever, as it gave us a group of friends to hang out with, and they led us on many hikes we would never have discovered on our own.
Around Larapa – We lived in Larapa, a suburb of Cusco. It was on the edge of the city. The kids walked through fields of crops on the way to school. Almost every house in the countryside had dogs that would run at you barking and could only be deterred by picking up a rock and pretending to throw (or to throw) it at them. There were packs of dogs in the piles of garbage, and pigs at times. The sidewalk was a death trap at night because it had gaping holes that could swallow a child. Our apartment was under construction, and freezing. We slept piled together in beds for warmth, with layer upon layer on. And I loved it. It was the perfect location. We could walk the kids to school, hike right up the mountain from our door, walk down the hill for cake in a cup, or walk over to the next town to go to the market. Everything was awesome. Except the dogs. We all would have preferred not to have the dogs.
Around Cusco – I went into town a few times a week for work (followed by the most amazing local vegetarian restaurant). The kids went in for tennis lessons twice a week. We’d venture in for an occasional festival. And Matthew ran a 10K up a mountain.
Natalie’s work – Somehow, I found a Peruvian doctor who agreed to be my mentor, and I obtained a license to work. I volunteered in a clinic for underserved patients three mornings a week, and we would go out to communities to provide care about every other week. It was more difficult than working in Guatemala because the Andean accent was challenging, especially at first. The other doctor in the clinic had an emergency and disappeared a few weeks in, so I was the only one for a while, leaving me without a peer to ask questions of. Luckily, the nurse was very helpful, and I muddled through. I’m sure I missed some of what the patients tried to tell me. I hope I didn’t miss any diagnoses.
Trip to Lake Titicaca – I think Logan had already learned about Lake Titicaca when we visited. Oddly, it seemed she learned about it in school for the five or six years after we visited as well. It is known as the largest high-altitude lake in the world and home to the floating islands of the Uros. Interestingly, she never admitted in class when she learned about it that she had actually been there.
Trip to Sacsayhuamán
PÃsac
Ollantaytambo
Moray, Salt Mines, and Chinchero
Machu Picchu
Matthew’s friend Carlos, who is Peruvian, and his son Quique came to visit us in Cusco. Then then headed off to Arequipa to climb Volcano Misti.
Wayqecha Lodge, Cloud Forest Biological Station, Cusco, Perú – We took a short vacation to the Cloud Forest. I almost didn’t plan the trip for fear of plummeting off the mountain roads (without guardrails, in poor repair, with trucks speeding head-on at you, with zero visibility due to the clouds). And it was appropriately terrifying to get there. But it turned out to be an awesome stay. No internet service (which wasn’t such a big deal, as we didn’t even have phones back then). I read “Wonder” out loud to the kids (and Matthew) at night. We hiked and played a lot of Tetherball. And Logan befriended Max, who was there with a group of students who were volunteering at the station. Let’s just say, they all looked like they would grow up to be successful scientists. In contrast, if he is not on a sex offender registry at this point, Matthew and I would be surprised.
Caro Arrives!! – We had not seen Caro in about 4 years and were thrilled she could visit us in Peru. Her visit included the kids second trip to Machu Picchu.
