Peru: Part I

Finally! Pictures from Peru! But there are a ton of them (3,000 I think!), so I'll have to post the highlights in stages.

Enjoy!

Lima - my birthday! And a beautiful day at that. Lima is usually foggy, but we were blessed with wonderful sunshine and a great view of the ocean from the park. We spent an easy first day around the city and then caught a flight to Tarapoto that night.

We had many modes of transportation: truck...

...airplane...

(Bekah made a great co-pilot!)

...boat...(fun at the beginning, not so fun after 17 hours)

...and moto - my favorite!

We spent one night in Tarapoto, and then drove across the Andes to Yurimaguas. The trip started at 4am, but the sun rising in the misty mountains was well worth the early rise.

The market in Yurimaguas was an experience for sure - interesting smells and sights, and some foods I'd never even heard of! Fish, meats I couldn't identify, vegetables, foreign fruits and everything else you could possibly imagine made for an eye-opening stroll. And you're right - there are no refrigerators!

I'll spare you the pictures of the meat market, but let's just say the cow trachea is something we didn't try! The gargantuan snails, however, were pretty cool!

More to come! I wonder how many pictures I can post on this blog in a week... We'll find out! Up next: Bellavista and the baby jaguar!

Spring Gardening

May first my lilacs looked like this:














I guess that's spring in Denver!

Last week was much warmer and today it was in the 60's. Jessica and Bob and I planted our container garden this afternoon- we decided not to dig up the whole back yard just yet.














Strawberries, green peppers, zucchini, cucumbers, carrots, rhubarb, beets and a LOT of tomatoes - all in pots and window boxes to give us yummy vegetables all summer!



























And I thought Inu had destroyed my raspberries in the back, but they seem to be popping up quite nicely. Bob built some chicken wire cages and that seems to be keeping the dog from digging up all the new shoots.














Of course, it's supposed to rain all night and maybe snow tomorrow. So for now, the garden lives in the garage while my car stays in the driveway. Oh well, Colorado has taught me that the weather will probably change by tomorrow anyway!















Benjamin wasn't very happy today, but he did well watching the History Channel with Justin and playing with the kitties while we did our gardening. He isn't talking much yet, but I love it when he blows me kisses!