Springtime

Happy Spring!

So last week was the first week of Spring here, and guess what happened......the sun actually came out for a few hours. Oh my goodness, I soaked it all up. I do have to admit that I miss the sun, I know who I inherited this complex from (Mom). So when the sun was out I stood near the coastline overlooking the water and all the people enjoying the warm rays. It was fabulous.

Today I woke up to the lovely and annoying wimpering sounds of a little kitty in the living room. Somebody threw the poor little kitty over the wall and Jorge found him. My first thought was to put him back outside (fleas, diseases, who knows), but the look on Jorge's face made me realize that I was having a moment of heartlessness and that we would have to keep the little guy. His name is Panda and he is sleeping in a little shoe box. We gave him some milk and some warm towels for his bed, along with a loud ticking clock (Jorge says the clock is supposed to remind him of his mom's heartbeat) and now he seems to be as energetic as any little kitty would be. Jorge promises to find a home for him before we go to Iquitos...we will keep you informed of his journey...

Last weekend after church Jorge took me for a drive out of the city and we went to the ruins of an ancient city called Pachacamac. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pachacamac) It is located right on the edge of the coast and a few different cultures occupied the city throughout the ages. It was used as a religious and adminstrative center. Supposedly it was brightly colored with red and gold paint and was a beautiful city in it's time. I can only imagine what it looked like then...

The view of the ocean from Pachacamac shows two rocks poking out of the horizon. Supposedly the legend is that a beautiful princess lived in this city and she was wanted by all the gods. She never wanted anything to do with any of them, but one particular god chose to make her the mother of his child without her knowledge (similar to how Mary became pregnant I guess?). The princess went to a meeting of the gods demanding to know which god was the father of her son. When a poor man (the god in disguise) outside the walls of the meeting place said he was the father, the princess took her son and ran away into the sea. The little rock is the son, the big rock is the princess mother.

My tour guide.....

The handprint of a slave who worked on the bricks.

The virgins' sleeping quarters. Supposedly it was an honor to be a beautiful virgin and "chosen one" that was sacrificed for the gods. Yikes.

Okay moving on to a lighter subject. Jorge had been raving about the hamburgers at a chain restaraunt called Bembos. Last night we finally went....and much to Jorge's embarassment I took alot of pictures. I did enjoy the hamburgers alot, but I am obviously not truly Peruvian because I still am partial to In n' Out. But Bembos wins in the decor department for sure. I felt like I was walking into a big piece of cheese, and the walls were covered with paintings that had a lovely resemblence to Roy Lichtenstein's art. It was a yummy experience for sure.

On Saturday we were supposed to go to a soccer match but Jorge ended up having duty for the day. He had duty in the flight control tower and at his lunch break he picked me up and took me back to duty with him. So I got to go up into the flight tower! But this is top secret and I was informed by Lieutenant Jorge that I could not post these pictures on facebook because they could be very compromising (for the Lieutenant). So here are the exclusive photos of the tower and the runway. But.....SHHHHH! Don't tell the Peruvian Air Force.

Jorge cooked causa again the other day. It was so delicious I decided that I needed to let you all in on the experience. So how about a cooking lesson?

Jorge’s Causa
Ingredients:
-Limes (10-12) (you gotta be generous with the lime, that's the whole point)
-Aji Molido sauce (yellow pepper sauce)
- ¼ red bell pepper (chopped into little tiny cubes)
-1 can of tuna
-mayonnaise
-salt
-pepper
-yellow potatoes (8)
-avacado (1)

Preparation
1. Microwave potatoes in plastic bag (4 min/4 potatoes) (careful of the steam, very dangerous). I can’t say I have ever used a plastic bag before, but I have to say I was pretty impressed with the technique.
2. Peel potatoes.
3. Mash potatoes with hands, adding lime, salt, pepper, and aji. Mash until dough like consistency. This is some good messy fun.
4. Make tuna with mayonnaise, add lime, bell pepper, salt and pepper.
5. Cut avacodo into thin slices, add lime and salt onto the slices.
6. Stack the causa cake. You can use a small cylinder like Tupperware to be a causa mold. First put in a layer of potatoe, then tuna, then avacodo, then one more layer of potato. Then flip cylinder over on a plate. Make a pretty little decorative expression on top…(according to the chef, its all about presentation)…and then, enjoy!

One night we took a walk through "Friendship Park." It was a beautiful place and it had a grand arch that reminded me so much of the Alhambra in Granada, Spain. That's when my tour guide informed me that the statue was given to Peru by the Spanish government as a friendly gift. Well it was great and so was the lucuma ice cream we ate.

Jorge took me to the zoo here in Lima. I saw alot of animals I had never seen before, and the landscape of the zoo was beauiful. Amidst all the exhibits there were ruins and beautiful rivers and bridges. In some cases I felt like we were allowed to get a little "too close" to the animals. I felt like I could have reached in and poked a few of them, or let them bite me finger off. Well, it was great and we had alot of fun there.

After the zoo we went to an area of Lima that Jorge referred to as "the port," and now sitting here I can't remember the name of the actual place. But it was a place where there were beautiful homes on the water, some old, some new. There were boats, brightly colored buildings, a boardwalk, and tons of ceviche restaraunts. It was a really charming place. It might be called "Chucuito" because that's the word I see in some of these pictures. Haha, I don't really know.

After the port we went to a restaraunt called "La Rosa Nautica" on the water right next to a favored surfing spot. (http://www.larosanautica.com/) It was a beautiful old restaraunt and it felt like being on an old ship. Every once in a while you could feel a large wave pass underneath and the whole place would shake just a tiny bit. I was just waiting for a wave to crash up onto the window, but it never did thankfully. Everything was delicious.








I usually don't do much of the ordering at restaraunts because I don't really understand the menu. So as usual, I let Jorge order dinner. He made some good choices. It didn't take the waiter long to figure out that I spoke English. So for dessert he brought me a menu in English, just one less opportunity to learn Spanish. Well anyways I thought some of the translations were kind of interesting. My favorite was, "Wet chocolate cake with lots of chocolate and more." Wow. Okay.

We went for another drive out of the city, this time to see some "countryside." I have no idea where we were but I know we headed north of Lima. We drove through alot of desolate dessert land to eventually end up in some winding hills with green farmland and mountains all around. I thought Oakhurst was a small town, but these were reeeeeaaallly small towns. And it was one of the only places where the sun acually comes out this time of year. Yay! Sun!









So Sunday we leave for Iquitos, supposedly. I think you should never really plan anything when dealing with the Air Force. So I'll believe it when we get on the plane. So I've got alot of laundry and packing to do. I am really excited to move there but I know that also means I will need to kick myself into gear and get out of vacation mode. My search will be on as soon as we arrive for a job, a place to live, a church, the grocery store, etc....Well I can't wait. I love you all and I hope you are doing well. You are all in my thoughts and prayers.