Back in the USA

We made it back in one piece.  With all 4 checked bags and 3 carry-ons.  And miraculously without excess baggage fees.

It’s been a strange transition for us.  We had strategically booked our tickets so that we would not have to deal with winter, but Mother Nature had other plans for us.  We left weather like this…

sunset in Huancayo the evening we left (I kept thinking to myself, “red at night, sailor’s delight…”)

and the sunset in Lima the day before we flew home

and arrived to this…

5 inches of snow the day after we landed

and then, less than a week later, we had another few inches of snow (which incidentally made for pretty snowy beach photos)

We’re hanging in there though and slowly getting back into the swing of things.  We’re enjoying all the things we’ve been without for the last several months (sharp cheddar cheese!  dark beer!  raw veggies!) and settling into new routines (I found a temporary position at my old organization and Chris will start writing his dissertation).  I think it’s going to be awhile before we both really feel like we’re both physically and emotionally adjusted to being back.  But I would really be amiss not to thank the family members who have helped us out so far with this transition–THANK YOU!  And to all those other family members and friends whose faces we haven’t seen yet, we will do so as soon as possible!

So, this brings to a conclusion the end of my Peru blogging experience. I’ve really appreciated everyone who has visited the site, posted comments or emailed to let me know that they’ve been reading the posts.  It’s been so wonderful to be able to share our experience with everyone.  And I enjoyed putting together the posts so much that I’ve decided to launch another blog to talk about one of my favorite things–knitting!  I’m sure you’ve noticed a theme of knitting and hunting for yarns throughout our time in Peru, and this new blog will be a place for me to share my knitting adventures.  If you’re interested, check it out at 2littlesticks.wordpress.com!

Thanks again everyone!  As they say in Peru, que le vaya bien!

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Hasta luego, Peru!

Today is our last full day in Huancayo!  It’s so hard to believe that our time here is over.  We’ve made so many amazing memories during the last 14 months, even up through our last week here.

To start off, we participated in our second cortamonte celebration with our host family.  The celebration this year was even bigger than last year, with 6 montes (trees), a big stage for performers, and a crew from a local TV station.  We skipped the costumes this time around, hoping to avoid drawing too much attention to ourselves, but we didn’t manage to escape getting doused with baby powder, ribbons, and confetti!  We stayed late into the evening, chatting with our host family, while passing around a bottle of beer, pouring a bit into the cup, toasting those around us, and then pouring out a little bit for Pacha Mama (Mother Earth).

We took a trip to the towns of San Jerónimo and Hualhuas for once last round of jewelry shopping and yarn stashing, respectively.  We decided to walk from one to the other this time, about a 4.5 km, hour-long jaunt through the countryside.  We took in the corn fields lined by eucalyptus trees, while a thunderstorm rolled in overhead and produced the most beautiful rainbow over the valley.  Little yellow birds flitted back and forth between plots of land.  Cows, sheep, and pigs grazed, and roosters strutted their stuff.  We passed families harvesting potatoes and children playing on the dirt road yelling “buenas tardes!” (good afternoon!) to us as we passed by.

Then, the grand finale, was a big pachamanca feast.  We helped our host dad get the pit ready (and by that I mean we kept him company while he did all the work) and took fastidious notes of all the steps so that we might attempt to recreate it ourselves one day in the US.  We stuffed ourselves silly on heaping plates of chicken, pork and lamb, with potatoes, beans, and humitas (sweet tamales). We sat around the pachamanca, heat still rising off the stones, and visited with our host family.  We shared stories from the last year, and also learned new things, like how to properly wrap a traditional blanket around yourself to carry a baby or goods from the market, or how to wear it to dance.

Now we set ourselves to finishing stuffing all our clothes and souvenirs (and yarn!) into our suitcases and prepare for the last 8-hour bus trek (at least time around) from Huancayo to Lima.  We’re both excited and nervous about heading home.  We’re worrying about the counter culture shock awaiting us, but also looking forward to seeing the friendly faces of our loved ones!

Though our time here is closing out, this will not be my last blog post (more on that from the USA!).  For now I’ll say hasta luego, Peru!

Two weeks!

Two weeks from today we’ll be flying home.   It’s so hard to believe that our time here in Peru is coming to a close so soon.  The time has passed both so slowly and extremely quickly.  Only a daily basis the hours seem to stretch on and on, passing so much slower than they do back home in the fast-paced city.  Yet, at the same time, we’ve been able to do so many things and have so many crazy adventures that it feels like the weeks and months have gone by fast.

We do have a few must-dos before we leave, including:

• Stock up on the natural, undyed, handspun yarns of Hualhuas
• Do a little shopping for silver and stone jewelry in San Jerónimo
• Eat more pollo a la brasa at our favorite place
• Drink one more calientito
• Make one more pachamancha with our host family

It’s also now carnaval time again and the big cortamonte festival is happening this weekend!  The party will be even bigger this year than last year, with three days of dancing and cutting down trees to celebrate the coming harvest.  I think this year Chris and I may opt out of the costumes, but we’ll definitely join in for parts of the celebration with our host family as our host sister is a padrina (sponsor) this year!

The blog may be a little quiet over the next few weeks as we endeavor to soak up as much as we can during our remaining time here!

Huancahuasi

Huancahuasi is our new favorite restaurant in Huancayo!  It’s a restaurante turístico (tourist restaurant) that serves up delicious local and regional dishes and drinks, with a backdrop of truly huancan (Huancayan) decor.

corn with husks braided together, a very traditional decoration, hanging from the ceilings…and a not so traditional Santa dressed in local clothing 🙂

We have been back three times since we discovered the restaurant in December, have tried many different things on the menu, and have loved them all.  Our favorites include the rocoto relleno (kind of like a stuffed bell pepper, but the rocoto pepper is native to this area of the world (and decidedly spicer) and is stuffed with ground beef and spices and covered with Andean cheese), quinoa tamale (a traditional tamale, but the masa (dough) is mixed with quinoa), and conejo picante (spicey rabbit).

To wash it down, Huancahuasi has a variety of drinks like chica morada (a sweet juice made from purple corn) and chica de jora (a fermented corn drink). They also serve up cocktails with regional influences, like a coca pisco sour (your traditional Peruvian pisco sour with a bit of coca leaf tea infused into it).  Yummy.

rocoto relleno with accordion potatoes

arroz con pato (rice with duck) and a pitcher of chica de jora in the background

We recommend going on a Saturday or Sunday when there are even more choices on the menu, including the super delicious regional specialty pachamanca (we made one with our host family in the backyard last year during Semana Santa).  We’re going to try to go to Huancahuasi as many times as possible to try as many dishes as possible before we leave!

Now we’re off for a couple weeks to travel around Peru, and we plan to try as many regional specialties as possible!  Check back in a couple weeks for the full report.

San Jerónimo

A town known for its beautiful handmade jewelry?  Sign me up!

San Jerónimo is a small town about a half-hour trek from Huancayo.  Its main street is lined with little jewelry shops that are filled with a variety of styles from traditional motifs to modern designs.  The shops have display rooms in the front and workrooms are often visible in the back.

San Jerónimo’s main plaza, complete with statue of an Avelino dancer!

The shops were doing a brisk business on the Saturday morning that we stopped by.  There were locals flipping through catalogs and ordering wedding bands and other custom jewelry, as well as tourists filtering in and out.  After stopping in a few shops, it became clear that we were most drawn to the silver and stone work, usually done with local influences.  From condors to llamas to replicas of Nazca lines to scenes from Machu Picchu, the designs really run the gamut of Peru’s most well-known symbols.  I picked out a lovely turquoise ring reminiscent of a coca leaf and a couple pairs of earrings with geometric shapes (not to mention a few gifts that will remain a secret!).

Beautiful silver and stone jewelry

The town is also beautifully decorated with murals on the buildings that line the main street and surround the central plaza.  The murals look very similar to those done by Josué Sánchez inside one of the rooms at Santa Rosa de Ocopa, with flowers, birds, and other typical designs from the region.  There were also a few traditional dancing scenes depicting costumes like those we had seen in Hualhuas (the next town over) during the Festival San Roque.

Chonguinada and Avelino dancers!

What a lovely little town.  I can’t believe it’s taken nearly 10 months for me to get there for a visit, and I have a sneaking suspicion we will be back again before our time here in Peru is up!  I definitely recommend making the trip over to San Jerónimo if you’re nearby!

 

It’s not Christmas in Peru without panettone

Imagine our surprise when there was not only a huge Christmas tree erected in the mall downtown at the beginning of November, but that it was also completely decked out in panettones?!  Panettone is everywhere here this time of year.  According to the local newspaper, Peru is the second largest consumer of panettone after Italy.  Who would’ve guessed?!

Now that’s a BIG panettone tree.

There are about a dozen or more different makers of panettone, stacked in huge piles all over the grocery stores. (According to our host family, D’Anafrio is the best.)  You can get it in a tin (most expensive), a box (middle expensive), or a bag (least expensive).

Stacks of panettone at Casa Sueldo

We counted 11 different brands of panettone at Plaza Vea!

We had our first panettone experience over the weekend when our host family celebrated the first weekend of Advent.  We lit a candle, said a prayer, and then feasted on huge slices of panettone, as well as chocolate chip cookies and blueberry bread that I had baked (full post on the blueberry bread, including recipe, coming shortly!).

We tried the traditional panettone with little dried fruits baked inside, which was definitely sweet with a slight hint of rum or some other spirit baked into it.  We’ve seen that there are also panettones filled with bits of chocolate, which I think I might like a little better than the traditional one!

Yes, the napkin holder is a guinea pig. 🙂

Now that we’ve had our first panettone, it’s officially Christmas season.  Because, it’s not Christmas without panettone in Peru!

I’ve been bitten by the winter accessory knitting bug…

…and I mean really bitten by it.  I took advantage of the extra time this past Thanksgiving holiday weekend (which we observed while the rest of Peru continued about its normal business) to whip up a few new winter accessories (some to keep, some to give).  So far I’ve knit one scarf, one shawl, and five hats, with at least three more hats in the queue and possibly a pair of fingerless mitts if I can find the time!  I love that these smaller projects knit up so quickly; you can knit a whole hat in an afternoon! I’ve used exclusively yarns that I’ve purchased here in Peru and also from our quick trip to Cuenca, Ecuador. Here’s a few sneak peeks until I get all the way through my queue and take proper photographs!  (P.S. Those are Peruvian lilies that we got at the weekly market, aren’t they so cheery?)

And, if I wasn’t already deeply entrenched in small project knitting lately, I decided to participate in November’s NaKniSweMo (National Knit a Sweater Month!).  I started a little bit late, but I did manage to get about half of the body of another Fort sweater done for Chris!  The yarn is lovely, slightly silvery gray undyed alpaca from Hualhuas, Peru.  It’s the same type of yarn that I used the last time, except that it was brown and the quality of the fiber was not nearly as nice as the gray is.  I can’t wait to see how the sweater will knit up!

Winding up a pile of alpaca goodness by hand

Stay tuned for proper finished object photos once I’m all done!