Category: Travel

The Things We See: Wanderings in Peru

In my move to Peru, I did not expect to see the same kind of things I have seen while traveling around the world. I knew that there would be many new and exciting things that I would get to experience while roaming around the sixth continent I have been to, and it was during this Spring Break that I really got to go out and see them. Of course, the first thing I had to put on the list was an alpaca, either that or a llama. I wouldn’t really be in Peru if I had never come across one of these.

And of course, I came along a lot of them. This is nothing unusual for me because there were many a farm in both Oregon and Colorado where I got to see them running around, but the amount of them is greatly increased in Peru. There are many different kinds of them as well from domesticated ones to ones out in the wild roaming free.

No matter which ones I came across, they were pretty tame, and the domesticated ones will even allow you to come up to them and pet them. There is always the chance that you will anger one of them and they will spit at you, but then again, you can say that about any other domesticated animal.

The biggest difference is the landscape that comes with animals. It is high dessert, and once again, both Oregon and Colorado boast that they are also the same kind of environment. However, there is a lot more sand in the high desert locations of Peru, and it is feels a little more desolate. This might be because the Andes are much higher than anything that can be found in North America. I went on a long road trip from Arequipa to Colca Canyon, and the highest point I reached was well over 16,000 feet and there were still mountains and volcanoes around us that reached even higher. I had to keep an active eye on some of the volcanoes because there were times when smoke would billow out of the top of them because they are still active though none are threatening to explode anytime soon.

All of this comes in a land steeped in history and tradition. In the mountains, I could imagine the people traveling across the vast plains to get from one location to another while carrying all of their good on llamas or alpacas. They would arrive in places in time for the market, and to join in the celebrations that take place annually. These celebrations still take place today. I stumbled upon one of these in my travels as I could to see a whole parade of people preparing to show off the local traditional dance, and it wasn’t just the older generation that did this. There were dancers from the age of five all the way up to the mid-fifties, and each one of them impressed me with their ability to dance.

This is not to say that new traditions are not being formed as well. Peru has built a craft beer scene that could rival any other country. It is seen wherever you travel to as there are a variety of beers and ciders to experience. They are also very proud of the beers that they have crafted as they should because they are great. It is a great way to enjoy an evening after one has wandered around to see all the crazy things that this country has to offer.

It just means that each night I get to crawl into bed to dream about what new and exciting things I will get to see tomorrow. It has been fun moving to this part of the world, and I cannot wait to see what else it has to offer. I have only scratched the surface so far, so I hope you join me over the next couple of years as I explore it further.

Thanks for reading, and until next time, get out there and see what your part of the world has to offer.

Santa Catalina Monastery – Arequipa, Peru

Sitting on a whole city block in the middle of the old part of the city of Arequipa sits the winding streets and bright walls of one of the oldest European claims in South America, the Santa Catalina Monastery. This is a must-see sight if ever visiting Arequipa, and when you do, plan to take a couple hours to explore all that it has to offer. I would also recommend that you make it one of the first things you do in the morning to avoid the heat of the day and the large crowds that eventually make their way to this place. It is nice to be one of the first people of the day to walk through the location because it will make you feel as if you have the place to yourself.

The monastery is a nunnery that is still in use today even though it no longer boasts the number of nuns that it held during colonial times, and it is a rare sight to see the nuns who live in the corner of this historic sight. At its height, there were about 500 people living on the grounds. Some of the women that lived here were given their own rooms if they came from a wealthy enough family to pay for this luxury; whereas, many of the other women found themselves to be a part of the big dormitory that sits in the middle of the monastery. Even with all of these people in this place, it would still feel rather large and it has easily enough space to accommodate all of them.

Not every woman that ended up in the monastery ended up becoming a nun. Many of them arrived when they were as young as twelve years old, and they were brought here to learn from the nuns, and prepare for a life outside of the monastery. They would live beside the nuns, and learn from them. As I was walking around the grounds, I found hints of this lifestyle in many of the corners, and the place itself reminded me of a large campus where I could imagine students, and nuns alike moving from place to place as they completed what needed to be done.

One of the most interesting spots on the grounds is the place where they did laundry. It was based upon an irrigation design that was brought over from Africa. Water would constantly flow down this little groove in a wall, and when someone wanted to divert it into the basin that they were using, they would place a rock in the path of the flow to have it go through the pipe that would lead to their basin. These basins were made out of old wine pots that were used to ferment the beverage. They could no longer be used for wine, but they made the perfect sink for washing clothes.

There are also magnificent gardens on the grounds that they could tend to so there could be some beauty added to the place. This is even more impressive due to the fact that the monastery sits in the middle of a high desert where a patch of green is hard to come by. Still, the nuns were able to create this zen paradise in the middle of this kind of environment.

If that was not the place where they wanted to spend their time, there was also the fountain which could be found in the middle of everything. I was told that it was the place where they would go to get their water, but I did not think that the green water that was found in the fountain while I was there would be worth drinking. Despite that, if you look closely enough into the water, you can find small koi fish swimming around in it. They are not as large as some of the koi ponds I have come across in my travels in Asia, but it was a nice addition to this little spot on the grounds.

Santa Catalina Monastery is a great place to visit, nestled in the heart of the old part of the city. It is easy to spend a morning there after breakfast, and you will have explored it thoroughly enough just in time for a great lunch in the neighborhood. It is worth walking through with a tour guide and they are only ten soles, or two and a-half dollars per person for an hour guided tour. They do have both English, and Spanish guided tours, and I think that I even heard French while I was being guided around. They have the ability to point out the nuances that would be missed if you went by yourself.

Otherwise, until next time, keep getting out there and see what the world has to offer.

A Walk Around Arequipa, Peru

It has been a strange year. I have not done as much traveling as I have in the past, and when I had time off from my work, I would spend that time coming home to be their with my family during some rough times. I have had the opportunity to take short weekend trips but it has almost been a year since I have gone on a vacation that lasted for a week, but life has a way of shifting perspective, and I have been given the opportunity to go explore a different part of the world, Latin America, as I have made the move to Lima, Peru. As my first trip in this part of the world, I took a quick flight into the Andes to the second biggest city of Peru, Arequipa.

Arequipa is a colonial city that has been around since the sixteenth century. The old part of the city has some of the oldest buildings in the Americas, and it has the feeling of walking around the heart of a Spanish city. There are many impressive sights to go and see, but for my first day in the city, I decided it would be best to just wander around the older part of the city and see what it had to offer. It was fun looking at the facade of these buildings, and peeking my head into the various places where I could eventually learn more about what this city had to offer.

Of course, Arequipa being in Peru, one of the things that it boasts is the food that this country is known for. There are so many fusion restaurants to choose from and it is hard to pick just one. I found a udon place called Yama Wok for lunch that was the perfect start to what will be a bounty of great eating. It was a tiny place with only five seats available but the noodles were made fresh and they cooked the meal right in front of you. It wasn’t only a fun experience, but it was also delicious.

It gave me the energy I needed to explore more of the old city. No matter where I went, I kept roaming back to the center of the city where a beautiful plaza is. The garden in the center of this square is an inviting place where you can find a shady spot underneath a tree to enjoy some cheese ice-cream, play a card game, or just relax with a good book. It is where most of the people come to meet up with each other, and I have also witnessed moments where it explodes with life as parades walk through or people who have gotten married or received the first communion get the perfect picture to capture the moment.

And of course there are many a roof top bar where you can look out over the city and watch the sunset. They serve the great drinks that you come to expect from Peru such as good wine, or pisco sours, but they also have a surprising beer culture that they can boast about. We went to our favorite brew-pub, Sierra Andina which has great IPAs, stouts, and a really good porter.

Even though the day was not filled by learning about the culture from this part of the world, it was still a fun day of traveling again. It was the perfect way to ease into a great traveling experience, and I cannot wait to see what the rest of this week has to offer for me.

Until next time, enjoy getting out there and experiencing the world.

Moving a Dog to Peru

Meet Zoey. I have talked about her before. She is my puppers. We rescued her while living in Jordan, and though she drives me crazy from time to time, I love her to death, and would do anything for her. When I found a new job across the world in Peru, I was definitely going to take her with me, but the logistics of taking a dog from one part of the world to another is a crazy endeavor of paperwork, muscle and stress. In the end though, it is worth the effort to know that she will be with me on this new adventure in a new country.

Let’s get one thing straight, Zoey has a pretty easy life even though she might tell you differently. She was picked up on the side of the road in the dessert on the way to the Dead Sea from Amman. Afterwards, she was given a home where she had all the toys she could want, never had to hunt for her food, or look for a fluffy place to rest her head when she was tired. Despite all this, she has still only know a dessert world where there are few trees, hot sun beating down, and a city landscape. Going across the world has been an eye-opening experience for her. For the first time in her life, she has seen big bodies of water, squirrels, horses, and deer, and trees so numerous that they cover a whole area that the humans call forests.

All of these new experiences have been a little stressful for her. She does not always know what to make of them, and as soon as she starts to feel comfortable in a place, we uproot and get her on the move again. You see, we couldn’t make a direct flight from Jordan to Peru. We had about a month lay-over in the United States, and to get her into this country was a little bit of a challenge. The United States currently has ban on dogs coming from Jordan because of a couple of cases of rabies a few years back. Basically it takes about six months to collect all the paperwork necessary to fly a dog into the United States from Jordan, and then you have to schedule an appointment with the CDC to get another health check before they officially allow the dog into the country.

Airlines are also fun to work with. They each have their own requirements and weight allowance. It requires just as much wrangling to get a dog into the cargo hold and even then, it is not always a given they will get to go. They will have to be there during a certain time of the year because they will not allow the dog to fly if it is too hot or too cold outside. In each case, it might cause the dog severe discomfort while sitting on the tarmac because they will not be able to turn on the climate control until they are up in the air. Luckily this was never a problem for us as we found the perfect time to get her into the plane, and the plane into the air.

We tried to limit the amount of time that Zoey had to spend in the air, and we definitely wanted to limit the amount of layovers that she might have to endure. The best way to do this was to fly in and out of L.A. even though she would be staying in Oregon the whole time she was in the United States. In order to make this happen, we had to take the long drive between the two states twice. It wasn’t ideal, but it was easier for Zoey to understand what was going on rather than having her trapped in a dark tiny crate for many long hours without us being able to explain why she was in it.

It also gave us the added bonus of being able to see a little more of the United States on a road trip. It has been a long time since I have been on an American road trip, and I enjoy the feel of the open road. This is not necessarily the same for a dog who has to find themselves cramped in the back seat with a collection of all of our stuff that we are bringing with us to Lima on our move there. Still, I was amazed at well Zoey did on the trip. She chilled out in the back seat and got up to watch the scenery as it passed by. It helped that we did the drive through California which offers a lot to look at.

But after a couple of nights in hotels that we fancier than what we usually stayed in because we wanted to make sure that there was enough space for Zoey, it was tine to pack everything up and head to the airport. That final jump over to our new life was exciting for us, but trying to explain to Zoey how much she would love the new experience was still difficult for us to do. I always wondered what was going through her mind at this moment. Did she think that she was heading back to Jordan to her home, or was she still confused as to what actually was going on?

Whatever she was thinking, the reality is she eventually got on that flight, and made it all the way to her new life in Peru. It was stressful for her and us, and there was quite an adventure along the way, but we are safe and sound now. She has taken the last week exploring her new surroundings and getting comfortable as so have we. I can’t wait to see where it leads all of us, and I am sure that Zoey agrees.

Thanks for reading, and I look forward to keeping you updated with our new adventure.

Enchanted Grounds – Littleton’s Board Game Cafe

In an old strip mall that has a bunch of dying shops that I have driven by numerous times during my fifty years of stomping around Littleton, there is a shop that has opened in the last ten years called Enchanted Grounds. I have known about it, but its non-descript sign and the closed blinds made me think that it was a dump that was biding its time until it would close down and another business would take its place. This was until I needed to find a place to finish up my Dungeons and Dragons campaign and somebody suggested that I check out this place. So I took a walk down the street to see if it would be a great place to finish up the campaign.

What I found there was one of those places that I had been looking for ever since I have gotten back into the board game hobby. It was a cozy little cafe with large tables where you could set up games for up to ten people if needed. There were plenty of tables too and when I asked if I would need a reservation for a table, they chuckled and said that this was not usually necessary. They also sold a fair amount of good games, books for various role playing games, miniatures for these games as well as the paint to make them your own.

What made it perfect was the coffee and small bites served by a delightful staff. I wouldn’t want to indulge in these during the nighttime, but during the day, it was the perfect way to jumpstart me on my way. There were many people there that were enjoying a coffee drink while playing a game, browsing for a new one, or just hanging out with their friends. It just showed me that I shouldn’t judge a place by its outside because when I walked inside, I instantly fell in love with the place. It will be a long time before I am able to make my way back there, but it is nice to know that it is there and has a big enough clientele that they will still be in business by the time I make my way back to the United States to enjoy it again.

Casa Bonita

I was watching an episode of South Park a few years ago with my wife. It was the episode where Cartman convinced Butters that he had travelled in time to a post-apocalyptic world just so he could take his spot to go to a birthday party at Casa Bonita. My wife could not believe how much I was laughing, and she could not understand what was so funny. I pointed at the screen, and told her that Casa Bonita was exactly like that. She looked at me and stated, “That place is real!”

Yes, Casa Bonita is a real place, and it holds a special place for many people who grew up in Denver. There have been many birthday parties that I went to at this place, and my memories of it are fond, even though the food was never any good. It had been a staple of Denver for many years, and the legend grew because of the South Park episode. Still, the old building started to fall apart, and fewer people came, and eventually they had to close down. It laid abandoned for many years.

This was until Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the creators of South Park, saw an opportunity to refurbish the building, and return Casa Bonita back to its glory days. They came in and put back together the crumbling infrastructure of the building. They added a real kitchen that could actually cook more than two items. They hired a chef to make the food worth the visit. And they kept the magic that made Casa Bonita the place it was, it is, and as it should be.

They obviously kept the arcade that was a part of all childhood memories of any location that we went to while children. They kept a few of the games that we loved so much. I was able to find Centipede, Ms. Pac Man, and Galaga. They have also updated many of the games, and there are some more modern ones to appeal to the younger generation. And if you are into useless crap, you can still try your hand at Skeeball to get a bunch of tickets to buy that crap.

Of course, they could not get rid of Moco, the gorilla that walks around with its handler where you can your picture with it. It is odd to see when you first witness it walking around, but in a place as strange as Casa Bonita, it somehow seems to fit.

There are also many other forms of entertainment to keep you in the building and enjoying yourself. You can sit through one of the puppet shows where a talking taco will make you laugh with all the food pun jokes that it can come up with. If that is not your cup of tea, you can get your fortune read, watch an illusionists, or watch a mariachi band. It is all a little schticky but if you lean into the schtick, it makes it a lot of fun and you no longer notice the schtick.

And of course, they kept the thing that made Casa Bonita the legend that it is in Denver, the cliff divers. Of course they have not kept the original cliff divers, but the replacements they have found are still skilled in the abilities to dive and entertain. Parker and Stone have also made the diving safer for those entertaining the crowds. Rumor has it that the old place where the divers came out of the pool was the electrical room for the restaurant. The new place is free from accidents happening that would cause quite the stir in the newspapers if they happened.

Casa Bonita has returned back to its glory days, and has become a tourist destination in Denver. If you are thinking about going while visiting the city, keep in mind that at this time, it is hard to get a reservation. I had to get mine four months in advance, and it happened because the person that made the reservation had special status with the restaurant. It is a little pricey now, but it is a lot of fun and worth the visit. I’m just glad to know that the pink building in Lakewood is not sitting there empty, and laughter and joy still ring out from its halls. It might be another thirty years before I go back again, but I am glad that I was able to sneak in this one time while visiting home.

Thanks for reading.

Back from a Break

I know that I have gone quiet on my blog for a little while. It has been almost five years where I have had a break like this. I usually try to post at least once a week while working and as often as I can while I am on vacation, but things got a little busy for me over the last month. I have been taking a class so that I can renew my educator’s license, and I had some family matters that came up. The combination of the two made my leaving Jordan rather quick, and I was not able to write posts during that time. Well, things have calmed down, I’ve found myself back in America for a bit before making the final move to Peru, and I now can write again. I look forward to connecting with all of you again, and in the meantime, here is a picture of wild turkeys that I took recently while I was out walking. I hope to bring you more exciting things in the coming days, and thank you for being patient with me.

The Start of the Last Hurrah – Jordan

I have known for quite some time now that this would be my last year in Jordan, and though I have taken some of the necessary steps to move on to my next adventure, it really has not hit me yet that I will be moving on. It was not until a couple of friends came into town that I started to realize that my time in the country was starting to become limited, and as I showed them around to some of my favorite spots, I started to realize that this was the beginning of my last hurrah tour of the country I have lived in for the last four years.

Of course, some of this last tour took me to the major sights of the country. I had to take them to the Roman ruins in Jerash, and the marvels of the buildings carved into the sides of mountains in Petra. I have been to both of these places on numerous occassions, but it felt a little different this time around because I knew that it would be the last time I would be seeing them. It wasn’t like the wonder I had felt during the first time I had witnessed these places, but a meloncholy kind of sadness that went along with the fact that I could no longer take these places for granted just because they would soon no longer be right in my backyard.

When I do visit them now, I see them with a fresh set of eyes, looking for those details that I missed the other times I have been here. It helps that I am going to these places with people who have not been before because they spend their time marveling at all of the things that I have already witnessed. They point and gawk and tell me about how fascinating it all is. I have to play tour guide a bit, telling the little nuggets of information that I can glean from what I have heard the previous times I have been here.

And then there are the new things that I missed the first time around, or the way that life will make some unpredictable changes to add a new flavor to something old. It is the donkey standing in the perfect place so I can take the perfect picture. It is the kids placing their stuffed animals in the carved alcoves of the cliffs so they can take pictures of them as if they are a part of the landscape. It is the people dotting the cracked earth on their way to the salt flats of the Dead Sea. These are the things that I didn’t notice the other times I had visited these place, but they seemed more important now.

I am noticing the country again just like I had when I first arrived, but it is different this time around. I am not looking on the sights with awe and wonder because I already know the stories behind them. Now, I look upon them like an enjoyable book whose pages are running out, and already know how it is going to end. I am still enjoying the experience, but soon I am going to have to close that book and place it on my shelf to remember the story I once enjoyed.

But as every reader knows, there are many great books out there. All you have to do is to look over the horizon to find that next great story. I may be leaving Jordan behind, but I do have that next great adventure just around the corner. I have really enjoyed my time out here, and I am glad that I am getting the opportunity to have my last hurrah before I go, but I am also excited for the next stop in my life.

I want to thank those people that made me go and take this last tour of Jordan before I left, but I also want to thank Jordan for four great years with the ability to experience a part of the world that not many people get to see. I will miss you when I am gone, but I will still enjoy those last pages before I leave.

The Last 100 Days

It started off with a simple picture. I took it while walking to my classroom one morning. It was of the little garden I pass by every morning on the side of the school, something that I would usually take for granted, but today I actually paid attention to it. The reason being that I only had 100 days left in Jordan, and I had never taken a picture of it before. I do remember the first time I saw this walkway and the way that I thought that it was a nice addition to any school, and it added to the aesthetics. After a awhile, I took it for granted and then eventually did not even pay attention it anymore. But on that day, I decided I wanted to take a picture so I could remember it.

This made me start to realize that there were many little corners of Jordan that I have enjoyed, but I don’t have pictures of. Considering that I took the first picture on a day where there was only 100 days left, it was the perfect time to start taking a single picture every day and to share it on Facebook, so I could collect those small little corners that have become a part of collective memory. Facebook would remind me of them years later, and I could reminisce of my time spent in this country.

At least that was the idea, but something strange happened along the way. People started talking to me about the project. I’ll be honest. This was more for me than it was for people to pay attention, but they started to get excited about the picture I would bring them everyday. It was something simple to share with the world, something that did not have political implications behind it, something that wasn’t about showing off to a crowd of people about how great of a life I can pretend to have. Instead, it was just a simple picture that was shared with people, a snapshot of what life was actually about, sometimes simple, and sometimes something that was more exciting, in other words, the way that life is lived.

At first I couldn’t figure out why these pictures connected so much with people, but then they told me what was that they liked about them. The pictures returned them back to a time when things were simpler, and social media was not a way push our political views, or pretend we were part of a television show that we thought everybody should watch. It was just a way to share our lives with the people we find important. It took away the vitriol and FOMO and made it about the simplicity of life.

I am not going to say that these things have not disappeared from social media, but it has been nice to add something that is different to the sights. It makes me wonder that if more people would return to these kinds of posts that we can retrain the algorithm to go back to that time where social media is something that you are excited to look at and not something that brings us grief. I know it started off as just a project to take pictures for one hundred days, but now that I am half way through the experiment, I am glad to discover that it was actually something a little more.

Coptic Cairo

Cairo is one of the oldest cities in the world. It is surprising that what is considered the oldest part of town is still pretty modern in its overall history; this is just the part of the city that has survived the longest. Despite its age, it is one of the places that brings in tourists, pilgrims and curious because it is the Christian part of town, and boasts some impressive old Coptic churches that have their own history that adds more to a city that already has a lot to offer.

The most visited of these churches is the Church of St. George. It is a Greek Orthodox church that looms over the whole neighborhood, and its history emanates from the site. This is the place where St. George was held, and tortured for seven years as they tried to have him denounce his faith in the Catholic church.

The church holds many of the torture devices that were used to convince St. George of the conversion to no avail. They are housed in the same cell where he lived for the seven years, and even include the chain that was used to keep him captive. The chain is the main attraction for visitors here. It is said that if you hold the chain, and say a prayer that God will hear and grant this request. There is always a line of people waiting for their chance to hold the chain.

The history of this part of Cairo goes back even further than St. George. Another church that gathers a lot of people is Saint Sergius and Bacchus Church. It is told that in a cave underneath the altar there is a cave where the Holy Family stayed when they had escaped King Herod’s reign and voyaged into this region. Many people come to this church as well to hop into the line that allows them to walk through the cave and take quick pictures of what their lives might have looked like back then.

The hanging church also brings in many visitors. On the outside, it does not look like much, a plain church that sits on top of many steps in the middle of town. What many people do not realize when they first enter the church is that there in no bottom floor. Underneath the church is another street with a whole group of visitors passing by without ever knowing that there is a church above them. It is an interesting architectural marvel that once you are inside you can see why it has earned the name the hanging church.

The courtyard of the church also has some beautiful mosaics to look at. Though they have been a recent addition to the area, they still add to the feel of the place. Even though they feel a little out of place in Egypt, it is interesting to know that there are so many of them in the Coptic part of the city.

It is interesting to see how much of Jesus’s story is present in the streets of Old Cairo. It is as much a part of the cultural of Egypt as the pharaohs, and adds another layer to this country. It makes traveling to the Coptic churches in Cairo just as much of a tourist destination as to the pyramids. Make sure that you spend at least part of your time in this historic part of Cairo.