Since life happens faster than the speed of the internet, we’ll pretend this post is for Wordless Wednesday. Enjoy the peek! (P.S. You’ll also find few new snippets up at our Daily Travel Journal.)
Flowers & Coffee. Life couldn’t be better.
For more pictures… Continue Reading…
After an uneventful flight to Lima, Peru and a quick first night’s stay in a guest house in San Miguel we awoke to explore the city and by that evening found ourselves pleasantly situated in San Isidro, just to the north of Miraflores District. We’ve been mostly without wi-fi, and we’ve left the computer in the bag for the past 48 hours in favor of leaping head first into the new surroundings. Rather than re-create the wheel, for tonight I’ll simply share a copy of Ted’s recent email update to our parents.
Happy eavesdropping…
Hello Dads and Moms,
We are having a great time in Lima. Through the SERVAS network, we were connected with a woman named Anna who invited us to her home for three nights. She lives in a very nice upper-middle class neighborhood. She is elderly but extremely well educated, traveled, and spunky. She is German by birth, lived in New Orleans for 25 years, and retired here in Lima. What a great person! Even though well off, she and her sister, who lives in a neighboring unit, are very aware of the slums. Anna’s maid (Dadi) has invited us to her home tomorrow on the hill. It will be a very different experience from this. Two hours travel by bus. Somewhat sketch, but we’ll be safe with her as we are her guests and she has been Anna’s maid (and friend) for years.
So far, amazing to see God’s perfect connections for us. Were treated to drinks by a father and son from Spain today. We met them during a stressful moment on a bus. All of us bought tickets to the top of a mountain, but instead, the company announced after departure that the lookout was closed and tried to take us on the tour of the city instead. There was near revolt. Everyone yelling and trying to get their money back. The guys from Spain stayed with us until we got our refund, took us to beers, shared stories, and have shared their contact info for while we’re in Spain (very near them actually). Good times.
The Peruvian people are SO gracious, very helpful. We accidentally got into a bad area of town today, and within 5 minutes, 2 Peruvians had come to our aid, one telling us to put our camera away quickly, the other helping us flag down a taxi to get our of the neighborhood. Very good folks watching out for us.
We are already sunburned and sore, but happy as clams. Monday we leave for a 21 hour bus ride to Cuzco before starting the hike to Machu Picchu on Friday. Can’t wait.
Love you all! Feel free to share…
Ted (and Bethany)
A true kid of the Americas, I grew up with Disney influences woven through my imagination.
In fact, now that I think about it, “It’s A Small World” was indeed my very first RTW trip.
(Thank you, mom and dad, for taking a three year old on such a grand adventure!)
Quick to write off most newer Disney features in adulthood, I found a surprise treat for my grown up tastes in the form of a random Netflix moment. We were searching for South America documentaries and inspirations and stumbled across Walt and El Grupo.
The fascinating 2008 documentary follows the politically motivated 1941 Goodwill Tour made by Walt and a number of company associates and artists. The film features interesting observations about the relationship of art and politics as well as beautiful glimpses into the cityscapes and social scenes of 1940s Argentina, Brazil, and Chile and their surrounds.
My great grandmother, an artist in her own right, trained with the Disney Studios back in her day… There is a charm and flavor to the old sketches and cartoons, a human touch that seems missing from mainstream modern entertainment.
The beauty of the documentary is the blending of old video, photos and sketches (including footage from Walt’s own 16mm camera) along with modern day glimpses of the region.
Ethnic caricatures and political messages provide food for thought, as do the tales of group travel and outings and business meetings and of long, handwritten letters home before the time of digital updates and instant communication.
I’m spending time this week sorting out our Brazilian visas and Servas applications, glad for the fanciful glimpse of the South American past.
Our own mini-goodwill tour is unaffiliated with film studios or departments of homeland security and (thankfully!) quite without political motivation, but I’m anticipating an equally beautiful season of touring the regions, connecting with people and place, growing from the encounters, and eventually returning home with inspirations from art and culture woven through my imagination for the rest of life…
