Huancayo (where did you go)?

Claire and I did the tourist circuit in Cusco and Macchu Picchu and returned to the location of my internship, the incomparable Huancayo. It´s good to be back in a town that isn´t completely oversaturated by white people asking ¨CUANTO CUESTO?¨. Last night we visited David and Pilar´s restaurant in Sapallanga and gave the both of them and their adorable daughter the shoes that Claire and her sister purchased in Oregon. It was very nice to give back to the family that was so hospitable during my first three weeks at the school in Miraflores. Claire and I head to the wedding celebration of David´s brother this evening and head back to Lima tomorrow afternoon to see her off at the airport.

The blog is close to retirement, I have been on the move so much over the past few weeks that updating ( i.e. finding a reliable internet connection) has become a challenge. I hope to catch a night bus either tomorrow or Sunday for Mancora a beach community about 2 hours south of Ecuador to sip Pisco Sours and soak up the sun during my last week here. Thanks everyone for following and I´ll do what I can to at least post a picture or a few more words about my trip. Also, don´t forget to follow the twitter feed in the top left corner, I´ve posted a few photos via tweetpic there.

Sad to leave Peru but excited to return and see friends and family back in the Pacific North BEST.

Before I got grumpy...

Because 2k tourists answering their cell phones kind of ruins ancient sanctuaries, natural beauty and the general solitude of one of the wonders of the world.

It was a good day

Breakfast in the park: an egg, coffee, toast and an english language newspaper. Lots of time spent in a taxi speaking Spanish while traveling about the city. Bought a snake skin belt and a custom pair of sunglasses. Saw a museum about the Spanish Inquisition in Peru and ate beef heart while listening to the roar of the ocean in Barranco. Now I'm leaving for the airport to pick up Claire. Do I really have to come back and work 40+ hours a week?

Whirlwind Tour

Greetings from Pisco, Peru. We are in a community of about 80,000 that is still recovering from a 7.1 earthquake in 2007 that left much of the city in ruins. We saw temporary housing as we came in and many buildings show obvious damage from the quake. I've been busy during my extended vacation, hitting the beaches north of Trujillo and riding down dunes face first next to the desert oasis of Huacachina. As much as I brag about how great Oregon is these dunes were easily twice the size of those in and around Florence. Tomorrow we leave at 7 a.m. for Paracas National Wildlife Refuge where if we are lucky and the waters are calm we will take a boat ride around Islas Ballestas. If I don't make it up to Ecuador on this trip at least I will get the chance to see Peru's version of the Galapagos Islands. More later. I pick Claire up from the airport in 2 days!


YES!

Lima:

Where the constant winter wetness and high pollutant levels make downtown one of my least favorite places in the world.

Where Becky and I finished data input and summaries and recommendations about our deployment locations, in turn completing our OLPC internship in Peru.

Where I ate Mexican food for the first time in 6 weeks and realized how its accessibility in the states is deeply rooted in the American sense of patriotism.

Where I sat at a computer and got rained on and wondered exactly why you would put a computer under a hole in the ceiling.

Where I meet Claire in just 4 days!

The XO meets microwave technology

Just bumming away our last few hours in Huanchaco before catching a returning bus to Lima this evening. I stumbled across this video on twitter. Not entirely sure what happens in it because without sound it seems like a crazy Afghan dude just microwaving a XO laptop for the heck of it. Or perhaps it is just that, a crazy Afghan dude microwaving a XO laptop for the heck of it. I hope in his next field test they attempt a game of Buzkashi with OLPC's original model. Or, maybe I just prefer they leave the computers in class for the kids to use....

Greetings from (cloudy) Huanchaco

We are in Huanchaco, next to Trujillo, in and around the surf capital of Peru. I've finally ate ceviche, and while my stomach has been bubbly since, it was delicous. Tomorrow we plan on visiting Chan Chan, a UNESCO World Heritage Site older than the ruins at Macchu Picchu. It's cloudy, but we're going to make the most of the waves today and head out for lessons in the surf. You have to wear a wetsuit here because it's a little chilly. So I'm surfing in Oregon like conditions?

My Peruvian teaching career is over. We return to Lima on Monday to work with the Ministry of Education and tie up all loose ends from our 5 weeks working in the classroom while in Peru.