Holidays in the Southern Hemisphere

So, how'd you spend your Christmas Eve?

David and I spent it in the sky, en route to see his parents. I meant to watch out the windows of the airplane for Santa, but I fell asleep and must have missed him.

David's parents are mission president in Piura, Peru, so we took a trip down so spend some QT with them (and some of David's sibs) - and really, it's one of the first times I've gotten to hang out with them at all! It was delightful. I had a grand time with everyone, from the moment they picked us up on Christmas morning. Much of the time we spent traipsing from place to place in their mission, just seeing the incredibly diverse landscapes and meeting the people they get to associate with all the time.

We spent some incredibly relaxing time at Punta Sal - a perfect way to unwind after the insanity of working in financial services at the end of the year. It also offered the best food I ate in Peru. Besides Yolanda's.



A few of the sights from our excursions...


There were at least a dozen churches like this between Piura and Chiclayo. Each has its own individual flair.

We actually got kicked off this playground in Chiclayo shortly after we captured this moment...


We spent New Years in Piura. A word about some interesting New Years Peruano traditions. Of course, there are the fireworks all over town - which we watched from the roof of the casa del Presidente.

But they also run up and down the streets with their suitcases. It's for luck in travels over the next year! So, of course, we did it too.

And here's my favorite. Observe: the muñecos.

Here's the deal. You get yourself a muñeco (they're sold everywhere). You think of something you want to put in your past. It could be a person you don't like, or a class you failed, or a bad experience...or, as we saw, it could be Michael Jackson, or a politician. You write this person or thing on the muñeco. Then, at midnight on New Years, you light it on fire in the street.

You may be asking yourself, do they ever explode? As a matter of fact, they do - when people put fireworks inside them! Which is probably what led to the practice becoming illegal. As you can see, that doesn't seem to stop anybody. I was itching to burn my own New Years Peruano muñeco effigy (not necessarily because I had anything to put in my past...I just really wanted to light a muñeco on fire!), but I abstained. Since it's illegal and all. Figured I could do smarter things than break the law on my vacation with the Presidente.

Part 2 of the vacation: the mountainous south. Words will not do justice to the majestic beauty I saw of the Andes and the Sacred Valley. So I'll just share a few stories and let the pics and vids do the rest of the talking.

We learned on our drive from Cusco to Ollantaytambo that every town was swearing in their mayor that day, which meant every town was having a big fiesta in their Plaza de Armas - the center of town. It basically meant that we got to see everyone in their traditional garb and watch the celebrations.

From Ollantaytambo, we took a train to Aguas Calientes, at the base of Machu Picchu. Unbeknownst to us, our train ride came fully equipped with entertainment. We got some crazy dancing creature, and they even modeled some alpaca sweaters for us.

We had been concerned that our hotel in Aguas Calientes was too close to the train station and would wake us up at odd hours. Turns out, we needn't worry:

And finally, the moment we've all been waiting for (I know I certainly had) - hiking up to see the wonder that is Machu Picchu - in particular, the world-renowned view of the Inka ruins in the shadow of towering Huayna Picchu. Behold, our amazing first view:

Wait...where is it?

Well, maybe if we hike around for a bit and go on a little tour, it will get better. And so we did. And it did.


Please move, little clouds...


Thank you. :)


I waited a long time to see that. Now that I've gone with David, I'm glad I waited.

We capped off our trip by using our 7-hour layover in Lima to do a session at the temple - in Spanish! Right before we met up with Emily again at the airport. I can't think of a better finale.