Maddie's birthday and Lunahuana.

Celebrating Madeline's 11th birthday with Auntie Ana Maria and a bit of the "rent a crowd"  to assist on the happy birthday at
the Puro Peru buffet restaurant in Barranco  run by my childhood mate Hardy Angeles, awesome  food
and magnificent service. Thank you Hardy.

Maddie and I could not believe the passion shown  by the waiters and even the cooks during the happy birthday singing.

Madeline impressing the locals with her bubbles making skills .

Louise and Madeline arriving at her birthday party at Joaquin and Tania's  house in Chorrillos.
Thank you so much guys for lending us your house and your effort .

Maddie enjoying her birthday party.

Playing the chocolate game. Controlling these kids was much harder than what i expected .

Louise doing the mummy  model game.

Happy Birthday Princess.

The day after Maddie's 11th birthday she was allowed to do her first pole dancing at the Barranco's  Grau
fire station.

What can i say!

Fruit market at Canete south of Lima.

Sopa Seca.
Madeline reckons that it was better than spaghetti bolognese  and so do I.
Sopa seca  it's originally from Chincha which was near the town of Lunahuana south of Lima .
Chincha it's probably one of the most cosmopolitan places in Peru where the black africans, indigenous Peruvians,
Italians, Chinese and Spanish mix not only their races but their cuisine and this is just the evidence.

Tamales and pan frances for breakfast for everyone.
Tamales are made of ground corn mix with pork, spices and egg wrap in banana leaves and steamed.
It's served with bread and  red onions marinated in oil, lime juices ,salt and pepper.

Pacay
It's a fruit originally from the central coasts of Peru and some parts of Bolivia. Looks like a giant Green bean
but it tastes like guava, it's texture it's cotton like, moist with sweet nectar.

At Lunahuana with the party crew.

At the entrance of Reyna de Lunahuana vineyard where they make pisco and wine since 1863.

 

Stepping on the grapes to make wine the old way. I tasted the wine not a bad drop but just hoping they washed
their feet well before it.

Making Pisco.
Pisco it's a colourless or yellowish to amber coloured  grape brandy it  has been made in this region since the 16th century from local grapes by the Spanish settlers .

Wooden wine barrels if you were in Europe, North America or Australia.
But it's probably the local clay that gives it that distinctive aroma.
 

Time goes really slow around here..................

Same as above.

Do you need any more proof!!!!!............

The remains of an old church. We asked the locals about who build it but nobody knows the history of this old church.

Maddy was blown away that nobody knew the history of this old church.

They do white water rafting for the tourists. So we didn`t do it cause we are travellers not tourists.

Coming home from the fields

These guys ride around the streets selling fresh baked bread.

That evening happened to be the celebration day of San Jose. San Jose is the patron saint of the Town. There was a procession and band travelling past outside our accommodation. We made a small donation so they hung around, played some music and gave us their blessing. 

It was Milly`s birthday Celebration on Sunday. Jaime spent hours looking for the perfect bunch of flowers.  The only place he could buy them was from the local cemetery.  The least we could do was supply a little music from a challenged IPOD.

This Peruvian Scorpion was found in Madeline`s bed when she turned down the sheets.  She slept in my bed that night.

Almost more churches than pubs !

Having Lunch at a restaurant that used to be a chapel .
We were actually sitting were the altar once stood. Freakie!!!!

The interiors of Lima's Cathedral.
The Cathedral was build on the same block of land that was assigned by Francisco Pizarro (the founder of Lima) in 1535.
It was at first a small chapel and it was inaugurated in 1540.

Near the main alter . Amazing woodwork!

More amazing woodwork and marvel floors.
Where did these people got so much money?
Oh let me think ......... Yes i almost forgot they stole tons and tons of gold
from the Incas and call themselves religious people. 

OMG there is lots of dead dudes!
These are the Catacombs of the cathedral right underneath the main alter. 

Closer look.  
In the beginning people were buried in the churches. It  was until 1808 when the first cemetery in Lima was built  

The cathedral of Lima it's also a Museum in itself.  Here it's the table where Peru's
Act of Independence was signed in 1821 by the Argentinean General Jose De San Martin.

Lima's cathedral was built as a seismic building rather than an anti-seismic. It works by allowing the structure
of the building to flex during the event of an earthquake by using timber and cane as frames. 

Madeline at the cathedral taking  door knocking to a new level.

The plaque reads; In memory of Jose Olaya martyr  of patriotism Executed in  this place on the 29th of June 1823.

The place was a side street off the Main Plaza . Jose Olaya was a fisherman from Chorrillos (my old neighbourhood)

He worked as a messenger  for the patriots during the war for independence by swimming  for 15 kms each way

between Lima and the port of Callao through heavily patrolled waters. When caught by the Spanish royalist he was

whipped 200 times, his finger nails pulled off  and hanged by his thumbs still he did not reveal his sources.

   He was sentence to a firing squad.  Before his execution he said.                                                                                                         ......"If I have one thousand lives to live I would gladly give them all for my country".

                       This cathedral it's the third cathedral built in the same block of land.
The first was only a chapel , the second was almost completely destroy by the earthquake of 1746 of which only
the front wall stayed standing the same front wall still remains .

Madeline buying her favourite drink. 

Louise took this photo of me whilst taking to a taxi driver , she reckons i was laughing so much.
Well he was telling me the story about his craziest taxi ride the one which he agreed to take a coffin
with a dead body inside on an overnight 10 hour trip and how when he was going up a very steep hill
the coffin  started sliding forwards. Since then I've been asking all taxi drivers to tell me their craziest stories.

Pisco Sour.
Pisco it's a Peruvian spirit made from grapes since the sixteen century. Pisco it's also the name of the port
where this spirit was  first made and sold to passing pirates and  merchant ships.
If you mix Pisco, lime juice, egg white and sugar you get Pisco Sour, the perfect balance of a creamy, frothy and limey
alcoholic drink.

La Marinera.

NICE!!!!

special edition!! It's in the blood.

This video is at my cousin's  birthday party , the little kid dancing

is his son Dieter and what a dancer he is.

settling in like a local

So I've been in Peru now for 3 months and the girls for two, we had the usual stomach bug, the Peruvian flu and we have also learn that if you combine the two of them at once you get the shakes,
I've never made so much chicken soup in my life and the girls dread of the thought of me making another one ( it's funny to see their faces when i say that i may), we are making some friends,  we are still learning about public transport that means we either catch the wrong bus or  we miss our stop , we do our shopping at the mercado(markets) rather than the supermarkets , we only party once or twice a week and Madeline and  Louise are getting better at long distance education.

Lazy Sunday morning.

At my cousin's Joel birthday party in Barranco.
You can see the boys at the back bringing more beers, Madeline playing with her cousins ,
my untie Maritza in the pink playing with her grandchildren , the men drinking beers, the oldie
watching the day go by and me showing my bold head talking to my cousin Joel.

Madeline playing ball with her cousins.

The Mercado.
This is the markets in Lima, Surquillo .  Here in Peru if you want to buy your groceries, fruit and vegetables you
can either go to the supermarkets or you can go to the mercado, I preferred the colourful  mercado and their
vendors trying to sell you everything.

Maiz Morado.
Or purple corn it's use for the making of chicha morada a nice and refreshing purple drink  that
it's made by boiling the crap out of the corn. mixed with sugar, cinnamon and lime.

You can ask for any part of the chicken and this guys will cut that for you
straight away, feet, blood and guts included if you desire.

Digital or analogue ?

Breakfast at the mercado.
I had a Maca drink(it's an Andean cereal) , Madeline had emoliente and Louise had a drink of quinua
which is another Andean cereal. We all had two bread rolls each with Cheese, egg or hot dogs  all for
8 soles or  3.50 dollars.

You can either choose your groceries yourself or you can just tell this bloke what you will be making and for how many
people and he'll get all that for you plus some cooking tips

There were 3 types of avocados there, some were almost as big as Madeline's head

Fruit stall

Cheeky dog 

Some how i don't think he like it when Louise took a picture of him, maybe he was a wanted dog.
Or maybe he thought hey look at me (I am the king of the world)

The Express way in Miraflores , Lima.

La Ermita y el puente de los Suspiros. Barranco
In early 1800's The church at the top of the picture was originally only a cross, where the local                                                peasants and fisherman used to go for a prayer before carrying out their duties. Then in the mid 1800's
the town 's bread maker build a chapel in response to his prayers been answered  when his wife suddenly
recovered from a serious illness. Then in the late 1800's was rebuild after it was burned during the war.
It's now under major renovations .

My lovely wife.

My lovely daughter wearing her favourite pants complete with battle scars.

 

Getting flogged by Javier. What can i say it was Sunday morning i was tired and hangover
after partying with my wife. that's my excused and i'm sticking to it.

"Peruvian Baywatch"
One of Louise's favourite pictures . The live savers here in Peru are part of the police force.

Madeline getting her hair braided.

Friends Javier and Ivett. They put on an awesome BBQ.
Thank you guys.