Estamos Full

Not surprisingly, our blog writing fell off as soon as the whole family arrived in Peru. We have been here together for 4 months, and our time has been very full.

Here are some highlights for you all: 

• Eloise and August have been doing well at their school. The school keeps all of us very busy with presentations, celebrations and other school activities. I am a much more involved parent here than I was in the U.S. 

• Eloise joined a local basketball team and has an amazing coach. She recently participated in a tournament in Lima and her team got 3rd place overall.

• August has made some buddies in our condominium community and happily plays outside with them in the evening. He has also been to 4 birthday parties, all of which included clowns. Not surprisingly, his Spanish has improved greatly. 

• Zinnia has been a diligent home-schooling student. Her and Chris have focused mainly on reading, and her reading skills have made a huge improvement. She is working her way through Bob books and even likes to read to me at bedtime now. 

• Zinnia unfortunately got bit by a street dog in July. This meant she had to get a series of 5 rabies shots. Since we have been traveling a lot, she had to do one of her shots in Trujillo and one in Arequipa. I am very relieved to be finished with the shots now. Navigating the various public hospitals in Peru was challenging. 

• Chris has been practicing Spanish and is getting more confident. Unfortunately his Spanish teacher just moved to a far away city, but now they are continuing their studies virtually.

• I (Johanna) finished my first semester at the university at the end of July and started my second semester in the beginning of September. Since there was no university work in the month of August, my work switched to travelling around Peru to do workshops. The whole family joined me for three of the four work trips so they could see more of Peru too.

• 1st work trip: Panama! This trip actually happened in early July and was for all of the Western hemisphere English language fellows as a mid-year check-in. We also participated in the Panama TESOL conference. Our family went a few days earlier so we could explore the tropical Blas Islands. While I worked, Chris and the kids got to go on a monkey tour, Panama canal tour and spent a few more days at the beach.

• 2nd work trip: Trujillo! Trujillo is on the North coast of Peru. It is home to the famous Chan Chan ruins of the Chimu kingdom. The whole family was able to visit the ruins, and again, Chris and the kids got to see more of Trujillo while I participated in the Peru TESOL conference.

• 3rd work trip: Puno! The family joined me on my trip to Puno, which is home to Lake Titicaca, the highest navigable lake in the world. Puno as a city is also quite high, at 12,556 feet, so altitude sickness was a reality for us in the first few days. Again, we went there a few days early to acclimate and explore the area. We did a tour of lake Titicaca which included visiting floating communities and the beautiful Tequile island. And again, Chris and the kids explored many other archaeological sites while I provided training to the local English teachers of the Puno region. After this trip, we met up with family friends in the Colca Canyon region, where we got to enjoy breathtaking scenery, watch the Andean condors and relax in natural hot springs. We also visited Arequipa, which is known as the “white city” since many of its historic buildings are made from sillar, a white volcanic rock. In Arequipa we learned about Incan mummies, made our own chocolate and enjoyed the Arequipian cuisine.

• 4th work trip: Iquitos! I did this trip on my own as the family was feeling travelled-out and we plan to visit Iquitos again in December. Iquitos is the biggest city in the Peruvian Amazon and it is also the biggest city in the world that is not accessible by road. Again, I provided training to local English teachers but also had a little free time to explore the city. I decided to tour the Belen market, where I tried a variety of tropical fruits, hard-boiled turtle eggs, roasted suri (insect larvae) and grilled caiman (small alligator species). I also got to see the floating/stilted homes along the river. It was interesting but sad to see the lack of infrastructure in this community. 

So that sums up our “summer” in Peru (we are now starting Spring over here). I am excited to return to our routines now that I am back to working at the university. We are looking forward to having grandpa Dan visit in October when we will all visit Machu Picchu and some final travelling in December and January before returning to winter in Minnesota!