Hola, Peru!

Peru has always been on my travel bucket list, mainly because I've longed to tour the Incan ruins at Machu Picchu. Since this location didn't interest the husband, I asked my travel-loving friend Robin to join me for a nine day jaunt down to South America. We upgraded to business class and so the 6.5 hour flight wasn't too stressful or butt-numbing.

Since our nonstop from Texas arrived at 11 pm, we chose to stay in the airport hotel and transfer to our official tour company's hotel in a tonier part of town the next morning. Since our itinerary with the tour company didn't kick off until the following morning, we opted to arrange a tours by locals trek through the historic old town of Lima (total population about 10 million now) with Alfredo that first full afternoon. 

It was a lock your taxi doors, keep your purse across your body and your mobile phone in your hands at all times sort of location, and yet it was really interesting. Lima is a contrasting mix of everything from millionaires to middle class to shantytown dwellers. And the traffic... Lord have mercy! All road signs and traffic rules appear to be merely suggestions in Peru. There is lots of horn honking and straddling lanes and way too many cars clogging a roadway system whose only concession to the large population is a bus system. No subways or light rail systems. Just you, taking your life into your own hands when you're driving or riding in an automobile.

The oldest buildings in the heart of the city had these beautiful original wooden balconies. Many of them had very busy and detailed fretwork. This was not only ornamental, but also purposeful because it allowed modest women of centuries past to view passersby on the streets without being seen. 

We visited a city park near the old university where they had a pretty large cat population. Our tender-hearted daughters would have had a fit if they had witnessed the homeless cats and dogs we saw all over Peru.

The post office was interesting, as now its open arcade areas serve as a little market. I thought the old bronze lion letter drop on the facade of the post office was eye-catching.

Like all good predominantly Catholic countries, you're apt to find a church on every corner and Peru didn't disappoint. 

After a hair-rising taxi ride back to the hotel, where it appeared we went through some sort of commercial area with pothole-filled streets that rattled our teeth, I arrived back to hotel WIFI to receive news of the 17-yr-old's first college acceptance for Decision 2019. That's one down and another six to go!

Alpaca suitcase today for my trip

Today is the day I'm scrambling, getting all of the last minute stuff done before I fly to Peru tomorrow. Machu Picchu has been on my bucket list for years since I'm a huge fan of the ancient cultures and their ruins. 

I've got my anti-diarrhea pills, motion sickness pills and hand sanitizer. This is one of those don't-drink-the-water sort of countries. That coupled with the possibility of altitude sickness has me cautiously optimistic about my chances of feeling 100% the entire ten days I'm out of the country, but I think it will be a memorable trip. 

Life's better at the lake

I've been at the lake for the past few days with a friend of mine. Me and my girls have traveled with her and her girls for at least seven summers now. We've taken the girls on a Caribbean cruise, to Disney, the beaches and now the lake.

 This year we were missing my oldest since she had to take some prereq classes for her new masters program in North Carolina, so that was disappointing. Since she didn't have her older sister, I let my youngest bring her best friend from school. But this year we've also added something new into the mix... boyfriends! My friend's youngest and my youngest daughter, ages 18 and 17, both have boyfriends and so we let the guys join us for a day of boating and tubing. I was a tad nervous about driving the 18-wheeler of the lake, a pontoon boat. But I called it a great success since I didn't run over any of our teens, tangle the tow rope in the propeller or smash into any of those pesky folks on jet skis that are zipping around everywhere.

We always have fun with these friends because the girls get along, so it's all good times and wonderful memories.

We're already thinking next year we have to get all of us together for one more moms and daughters trip since the youngest of the group will have just graduated high school and we'll officially be entering the next stage in our lives as moms with empty nests. 

Fur baby

My mother-in-law Rose said after she retired from teaching that she'd get a cute little dog to keep her and my father-in-law company once they got old. We've finally decided at ages 81 and 82 that the day has come. So the older daughter going to grad school in NC found them a yorkiepoo puppy breeder in the Charlotte area. Right now the little guy is about 2.5 lbs, but is predicted to max out at 5-7 lbs when grown. Rose named him Brutus. Our daughter has to keep Brutus one month until she flies home for the summer/fall semester break to hand him off to her grandparents. 

I've enjoyed the puppy drama from afar. Suffice it to say that she's not ready to handle her own puppy, let alone a baby, anytime soon. He follows her around, wanting her to play. He wants all of her attention. He cries when she puts him in his crate to sleep. He likes to try and chew on her flip flops. She's always cleaning up after him. 

He's a cutie pie, but she'll be more than happy to hand off the little time and attention drain to the grandparents ASAP so she can get back to focusing on school.

Worm Up

Thanks to all of this wet stuff we've been getting for the past several days...

about a dozen of these inch worms have crawled out of the very soggy landscaping beds and up onto our front porch. It's a somewhat icky and wriggly price to pay for several inches of glorious precipitation since our water bill for last month - trying to keep our 24 pallets of sod and 85 new landscaping plants alive with no measurable rain for over three weeks - was a blow to the bank account.

Then there are these kinda scary things, cicada shells that I've spied hanging on the fence, iris stalks, tree bark and this random one laid out on the front porch. Every night, it's a cicada symphony around our house. I don't know about the rest of the US, but I've always considered it a distinctly southern summer thing.

242 years young

It was hot and humid, but it's the 4th of July and so ya gotta get out for at least a bit to watch the kids, no matter their age, have some fun in the blazing sun. So we whipped up some potato salad and lemon pound cake to haul ourselves to the brother-in-law's river house for burgers and dogs. Happy 242nd birthday, 'murica!

Our 17 yr old and her friend Inaara