MUNGO EATS Latin America

This  morning, Betty, our hostess, was also our tour guide.  She took us into central Lima to see the sites.  It’s a very busy city, but there is a lot to see in the centre and as long as you don’t get run  over by one of the “millions” of cars, it’s quite nice.  The centre of Lima is the oldest section of the city, and there are many  beautiful old buildings. 

The presidential palace was open to the public today.  There were two exhibitions present.  One was of Peruvian gold artifacts and the other was a display of nativity scenes from different areas in Peru.  My favourite piece in the gold display, was this ceremonial mask.  I just really liked the BIG nose.   

The nativity scenes were pretty cool.  I think they were from current artists, but some of them were traditional and some were a little less traditional.  In some of the scenes, the characters were modeled after indigenous peoples, wearing traditional clothing.

One scene had characters with extra long necks.  I am not sure why. 

This was my favourite scene, very crowded…just like Lima!!

We visited the San Francisco Monastery with it’s catacombs today.  You can never see enough old bones, Sean says.  Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take any pictures here.  There is a great painting in the museum, of the last supper, Peruvian style.  Instead of the traditional long table, the apostles are all seated around a large round table.  The supper served is a little unexpected as well.  The main dish in the painting is “cuy”, or roasted guinea pig, a traditional food in Peru.  As well, you can find peppers on the table.  Yep, not the run of the mill “Last Supper” painting. 

Somehow, we also ended up in the Museum of the Inquisition.  I am not sure why we always go see items of torture, but  here is the best photo of this gruesome place.

Oh, hey!  I forgot to tell you that I bought a new camera.  Actually, I finally replaced the one that was stolen way back in Mexico.  I had bought a camera, shortly before starting on the BIG trip, and I really loved it.  Ever since Mexico, I have been looking for the same camera, hoping to replace it, and I finally found it here in Lima (paid less for it here, than in Canada).  The pictures I took today are with my NEW camera.  I still love it!

This has nothing to do with Christmas or cameras, but this is my favourite picture I took today. 

Patiently waiting for the riot to start!

We left the sleepy little town of Huanchaco this morning, trying to cut the road to Lima down to one day’s drive.  We did not really have a destination in mind, just about “halfway”.  The drive was relatively uneventful.  We were stopped twice by the police.  Both times, the officers were quite pleasant.  The first fellow that stopped us was a chatty guy.  When we stopped, he initially peered in the side windows at the kids.    He then suddenly appeared at my window, causing me to start.  He was laughing at me when all of a sudden Mungo’s head appeared in the front seat.  This caused the cop to jump.  Then it was my turn to laugh.  What goes around comes around! 

He wanted to know the usual, where you from, where you going.  He then asked what we had seen so far in Peru and after we told him, he gave us his opinion about what we ought to see.  Finally, he started chattering quite quickly, asked me where I got my sunglasses from, etc.  Most of what he said went over our heads.  Eventually, he let us get back on our way.  Both Kevin and I had the distinct feeling that he was kind of fishing for a ‘bribe”, but never got around to actually asking for it.  We both kind of got the feeling that he thought we should give him our dog?!  Whatever.  He never checked any of our paperwork at all.  Just stopped us for a chat, I guess. 

As we drove we saw lots of sand dunes.  Some were quite huge!!  As we were thinking it was about time to stop for the day, we passed a beautiful little sheltered bay.  We decided to try to find a way into it.  We didn’t quite get into the bay, because there were large drifts of sand preventing us from driving in, but we did find an almost perfect camping spot!!  Tonight we are perched on the cliff overlooking the perfect bay.  There is a small fishing village in the next bay, but the one we look down over is deserted.      See the van perched WAY up there on the rocks?

We walked down into the bay, and it was amazing.  You had to “foot ski” down the dunes.  Once at the bottom, we were greeted by hundreds of red crabs.  They were big enough to see from quite a distance and the ground looked like a wave of red as they scurried about.  Mungo had a blast chasing crab after crab.

We found a cave in the rocks, that could not be seen from up above.  There was a large opening into the cave from the ocean side. 

Once inside, there was a smaller “escape hatch” to scramble out of.

Pretty cool! 

There were a lot of big rocks to climb around on as well.

A very, very nice place.  The ONLY bad thing, is that we seem to have sand EVERYWHERE!!  It will take a little cleaning to get rid of it all.

Tomorrow…Lima, to Betty’s house, to get ready for Christmas!

We are camped in a desert.  The end.

Anyone still reading this is rewarded with the actual blog about the desert that we are camped in.  Did you think I was serious?  

The desert is a desert-ish desert.  It has lots of sand dunes and isn’t 100% flat, it’s 75% flat.  The other 25% is vegetation, mountains, and dunes.  I actually like the general flatness, but I hate the spots that have been irrigated.  I don’t like that emerald green plants are forced to grow in the desert by desperate farmers(I almost wrote “faeries” there).  The biggest irrigation ditches are lined with concrete and carry lots of muddy water in them.  You can drive over the next hill and all that is under it is a desert and an irrigation ditch parallel to the road.  And, of course, the road that is running parallel to the irrigation ditch. 

Sometimes the dunes have plants growing on top of them.  When this happens, all the dunes in that area have plants on top of them.  Then you pass into flat, flat, flat, flat, flat, flat, flat, flat, flat, flat, flat, flat, flat, flat, flat, flat, flat, flat, flat desert with absolutely no dunes in the picture at all.  Then you reach a spot called “dune zone”.  There was an official sign on the road once that said “zona de dunas”.  And sometime in all of these different areas, you can see ocean waves breaking on the nearby shore.  It looks like there is no water to be found for miles, but in reality, it is right there.  It’s just undrinkable to any living thing, plant or animal.  It doesn’t matter to the dead animals that are busy being pecked out of their bones, though. 

Now we are safely parked off the dirt road that leads off the highway to the little fishing town.  The road continues past the town off to who knows where.  We are camped on a circular bit of land that juts off the road.  In easy reach is a perfect beach, a tall sand dune, and a cave that you really wouldn’t want to be stuck in at high tide.  It’s very rocky and all the trash piles at an invisible line tell you that the tide obviously makes it up there sometimes and the rough sand beneath your feet shows how hard it crashes into the cave walls when it does.  The trash line isn’t very far in to the cave so you can tell that once you reach a section where a wall almost blocks all passage, the water hardly ever reaches.  Here, there is no garbage and barely enough light to let you see where you lower your foot.  Actually, it’s a bit spooky.

Now we are covered in sand that has been blown all over us.  Once we get to Lima we will need to rid ourselves and the van of sand.          

Remember when this trip started…how one of my first posts described WHY hounds dogs cannot be allowed on the bed?  Can someone remind me, because lately, everything has changed.  I will give you one thing.  This dog has stamina, lasting power, the ability to SLOWLY wear you down and twist things so that he finally gets his way.  At first, you don’t even realize it is happening, by the time you realize what has happened, it’s too late!!

The initial rule was NO HOUNDS ON THE BED.  Somewhere along the way, this got switched to NO HOUNDS ON THE BED, except in the morning for a quick snuggle, to say good morning and all.  Then it became, NO HOUNDS ON THE BED, except in the morning for a quick snuggle, and maybe just before bed, for a little goodnight snuggle.  Then came, NO HOUNDS ON THE BED, except for a quick snuggle in the morning and a goodnight snuggle just before bed, and man, how about a little in the middle of the night snuggle, when you may be fast asleep, and you won’t notice little old me sneaking into that cozy corner.

Now the rule seems to be, NO DOGS ON MY SIDE OF THE BED, go hog up Kevin’s side!!

Is he ever in for a rude awakening when we get back home and he isn’t even allowed to sleep on the same FLOOR as us!!!  Enjoy it while you can hound dog, the end is nearer than you think!

We are spending a few days in Huanchaco, a fishing, come resort, town north of Trujillo.  It’s a cute little town, lots of hostals, lots of restaurants, lots of tourists.  A lot of people come here to try to surf or learn to surf, although it is not THE best surfing beach in Peru.

The town’s real claim to fame is that the fisherman still use reed boats to go out onto the ocean.  Everywhere in the town there are paintings, statues, and souvenirs of these little boats. 

The fisherman does not sit in the hollow, that is where his net goes.  He just kneels on the reeds ahead of the hollow.  Then he uses a split pole of bamboo to paddle himself out.

If he is lucky, fresh fish for breakfast!