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| Puno produce market |
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| Look at those papayas |
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| Bulk popcorn |
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| Fish in Puno |
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| Choclo - corn on the cob |
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| Puno construction construction fail #1 |
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| Puno construction construction fail #2 |
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| Puno Naval base |
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| The Johnson's at work |
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| Andean Flamingoes |
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| Andean Flamingoes |
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| Store cat in Pukara |
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| Broken leg |
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Our old street in imitation of Dresden 1945 |
We left last Saturday morning for Puno. We have traveled this same route dozens of times and it still takes our breath away. The altiplano is truly vast and spectacular, we love it. The big travel bus was comfortable but we still arrived seven hours later pretty exhausted. We had dinner at a pizza place that is owned by some church members in Puno. The pizza is actually quite good, especially for Peru. We were starving so it tasted extra delicious.
Sunday morning we met the Johnson’s who had spent the week in Puno doing their Family History work. We caught the local bus to Juli and had a pleasant trip around Lake Titicaca. Julie learned about Lake Titicaca in the fourth grade and it always fascinated her. She never dreamed that she would visit it at least a dozen times.
Rich had a meeting with the district president in Juli so we spent Sunday with the Juli district watching the special Stake Conference via satellite from Salt Lake City. It was broadcast to Peru and Bolivia. We marveled that we were in Juli, this little town on the shores of Lake Titicaca watching this broadcast from Salt Lake City, with perfect clarity and sound. What a marvel.
We left Puno Monday morning along with the Johnson’s for the trip back to Cusco. We arrived home about 3:30pm with just enough time to unpack, rest a bit and head to our district meeting at 5:30pm. Needless to say, bed was very welcome Monday night.
On Wednesday, Rich went with the other counselor, Segundo Reátegui to Abancay for some district business. They got back to Cusco at 10am on Thursday. The drive was nothing less than spectacular and Rich took an abusive number of panoramic photos on the way.
Rich’s companion from his mission in Italy, Lyle Poulsen and his wife Nancy have received their call to serve here in Cusco, Peru. This is positively amazing and if you think it is just coincidence, you are not paying attention. We are excited to have them arrive. We spoke with them for a half hour or so on Thursday night. They will be taking over the Johnson’s responsibilities so they have communicated a lot more with them. The Poulsens arrive the day the Johnsons leave…
Julie had her English class with the woman who works in the archives next to us. She promised to bring some “real” honey to us. According to her, some of what we see on the streets has sugar added. Anyway, she went on to extoll the virtues of pure honey, among which is its application in curing back pain. She told her that you smear honey warmed by the sun (very important detail) over your back and then put a paper covering over it. Then you leave it for three days and voilá, no back pain. Now, she did not explain whether or not it is the… “hey my back pain is nowhere near as annoying as the nasty mess smeared all over my back,” affect or not.
We were able to work the rest of the week without strikes or interruptions so we were happy about that. Friday night we met the Johnson’s in the San Blas plaza and tried out a new Mexican restaurant there. The Rhoades had invited us all and at the last minute they were tied up with missionaries and couldn’t make it. We tried their nachos, enchiladas and burritos. It was pretty good, not anywhere near the likes of the Red Iguana or Los Cuates, but for Peru, not too bad.
Saturday we met the Johnson’s at the Baratillo and had fun walking through the masses of people. The roads are still torn up and the vendors have to sit on top of and around the piles of dirt, sand and concrete. What a mess…
On Saturday night, about 9:45, Julie had gone to bed. Rich was up messing around with a painting activity though he had been largely ready for bed. A loud knock came at the door. It sounded urgent so he got up, threw on and partially buttoned his jeans and shirt. His hair would have been disheveled had he had any.
When he opened the door, shirt mostly unbuttoned, pants not belted and zipper to the floor, the sister missionaries from up stairs shouted “trick or treat!” He milled around and found a cookie for each. He was actually uninjured but they may have suffered a trauma that they will not quickly overcome…
Sister missionaries are 'tricky'. It was fun to vicariously go through the food vending venue. Most of it looked delish. Poor broken-legged dog. I've been seeing quite a lot of explanation lately on TV about the dogs in Cusco having their daily routes and their freedom to wander. It seems they know where to meet their cronies and when to go home. Fascinating stuff.
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