Our trip to Peru Part 1
Part one
Well we made it to Peru and back and are home safe and sound with lots
of memories and pictures. A little sad knowing it will be a while before
we get to see this part of our family again.
The trip was a fun and also eye opening and of course went way too fast.
I thought I might try to break up the trip a little into several posts so any
one who is interested won't go blind trying to look at too many photos all at once.
Mary is the picture taker for our group (4500 pictures) but I got a few good ones too.
Well there is always the flying. I love take offs and I hate landings.
The looking out the windows is probably my favorite if there is something
worth looking at. The clouds were giving a nice show for us.
 
Here was the greeting party for us at the airport in Trujillo.
A wonderful sight for sore eyes and tired bodies.
We first flew from Portland to LA to Mexico City to Lima and then to Trujillo.
A whole lot more flying than I like but the end was worth it.
Man those kids sure have grown since I last saw them.
The airport was pretty small but what a great group awaiting us !
Here we are in the compound inside where they live.
Lots of walls and security and more brick
than you can imagine every where you look.
More about that impression on me to follow. The weather is close
to the same year around because they live near the equator. Mild .
It is a good neigborhood they live in with a park about a block away.
Looking down from an upstairs window.
Security every where is a must here. Very sharp wall below.
Here you pay also for security person. A small fee from everyone in
the neighborhood keeps this guy around. If you don't pay you probably
get robbed by the security man or his friends.
If you don't protect stuff it will get stolen. Sad , but a fact of life here.
We are finally more or less settled in and attempting to love on the grandkids.
The little ones probably wondering who these new people are.
These are the new pets that the two oldest boys bought on the last visit
to the jungle trip they went on about a week before we got there.
Unfortunate, they both died before we left.
They were probably too much out of their element ?
They still have their dog Sam which is a golden retriever. He is a lover !
He reminds me of my last dog a lot.
Here is a view from the kids house from the roof looking at the Andes mountain range.
We will post later about a trip up into the Andes which was amazing.
Across the street on the roof is a very common security feature.
A ratty dog but they bark and bite. Also notice the nice wiring job.
Pig tails going everywhere. It was amazing to see.
These folks do what I would call a slow build.
They always are prepped for the next layer going up.
Another dog on roof.
Some times on the edges of walls they have broken shards of glass.
Barbed wire or other sharp posts etc. to keep all out.
Here is a guy whose dog is in a different category. It looks like a pet.
I would guess in most situations we saw dogs they were almost wild
or at least not cared for and mostly for security reasons if anything.
If I had had a way it might have been good to put a few of the
dogs out of what looked like total misery.
From our window we saw the vendors passing by every day with there items.
Usually they would have a whistle or a call.
Settling in for the night with what this grandma loves to do.
Being surrounded by grandkids and read. What a fun bunch of kids they were.
They made us laugh and amazed us with all the things they shared
and what is happening in there lives.Their Mom is home schooling and the kids
are curious and bright and wondering just like all kids that age.Very fun !
Just a foot note in this part one of post was how the people of Peru impressed me.
These photos show the building of a home across the street and we
were able to watch the place going up for our time there. These people are hard
working and over come the lack of power tools with brute strength.
Look at the ladder and the support beams that looked like sticks to me.
They carried up all the bricks by hand up to the roof of this place
either by stairs inside or the ladder out side.
It just keep forming and they worked hard
The mixer gets going and up the ramp a bucket at a time for the flooring go these labors.
We would have called in a truck with a pump and had this done in no time.
Here they mix each batch and up they go. All I could think was back breaking !
Another view to better see the foot ramp they climbed with the buckets of cement
More or less finished . Hard to believe. I hardly saw any heavy equipment
the whole time I was there traveling back and around in Peru.
Boy these people were working very hard .
 Probably the biggest thing that made an impression on me was how much most of these people are just like you and I except in most cases a lot poorer. They seemed like they were happy and friendly even though I didn't understand a word in most cases. The first post we were mostly in the city which they seem much better off than in the country or out of town. Some of the poverty we saw makes your heart ache.I hope I didn't make a bad impression on them !
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