Bienvenidos!

Hola de Lima, Peru a todos mis amigos! It has now been four days since I touched down at Jorge Chavez international airport. Already each day has been full of adventure and great, new experiences. I have endless thoughts about what I have seen and done so far and hope to provide some reflection on these things. For now, however, we'll have to make do with a more cut and dry review of the itinerary.

Sunday: I flew with Kathleen on a Lan (great first experience with this airline) flight that touched down around 4:30am. We cleared customs without incident and found our driver waiting outside with a nice Davidson sign. Sergio was a friendly guy and was my first introduction to Limenos. When we got to the hotel we crashed in our rooms for a few hours of snooze time. Around 10am, when everyone had arrived, we convened in the lobby and boarded a bus bound for our first destination, Lunahuana. To get there we travelled down the coast through the desert for about 60km before turning east and heading into the foothills. Lunahuana is a town at the far end of a valley of the same name. When we got into Lunahuana we stopped for lunch at an incredible garden and restaurant called Refugio de Santiago. The owner, Huerto Andino, prides himself on the research he has done into the spices and ingredients of pre-Incan societies. The tables of his were set up under tents and awnings amidst the plants of the botanical garden. It is here that he grows the many spices that are mixed into the food. Before long we got to try many different varieties of fruit juices, starters, and entrees. Highlights were bright pink tuna (cactus fruit) juice, trout cebiche, Andean sashimi (again with trout), duck with a purple corn glaze and sauce, river shrimp, and deep fried CUY (that's guinea pig for you non-Peruvians. The meal was not only delicious but also very artistic. A few examples: After eating we went for a turn about the garden to work down the feast that was now filling our insides. As expected we looked around at different trees, fruits, and plants. What I did not anticipate was the opportunity that came next to scramble partway up the mountainside that rose up out of the valley behind us. This was my first mountaineering in Peru and I loved it. Be sure to check out the pictures at my Picasa site. http://picasaweb.google.com/davidsbaker3 . Full of lunch and a bit of excitement we drove on up the road to Rio Alto, the hotel where we would spend the next two nights. The rest of the afternoon passed with some orientation, learning about Peru and the program, and exploring the Canete river at the bottom of the hill. Later in the evening we ate in the hotel restaurant (grilled chicken breast and a beef and noodle soup accompanied by plenty of avocado) and went down the hill to the fire ring for some s'mores and a little sangria. It didn't take long at all for us to start heading back to our rooms, exhausted but deeply content.

That is a DETAILED review of day one and I feel that I still have plenty to share, but sadly (and perhaps fortunately for you) time marches on. Thus I’ll be brief from here.

Monday: Whitewater rafting on Canete, lunch in the centro of Lunahuana, afternoon orientation, exploration of the river and hike up one of the mountains with Felix to check out a little chapel.

Tuesday: Left Lunahuana at 5:45 in the morning and booked it back to Lima where we ate breakfast in the hotel, which has great chow by the way. During the day Tuesday we went first to an exhibit on the Peruvian Truth and Reconciliation Commission and then to the American embassy where we met, among others, the ambassador and a political officer who graduated from Davidson. Later in the day we met with an executive for a firm called APOYO. For dinner we went to a restaurant by the famous Peruvian chef Gaston named Tanta and had delicious food and wine.

Wednesday: City tour in the morning took us to the Plaza de Armas, Convento de San Fransisco, a private collection of pre-Incan gold and pottery, and streets with enclosed balconies typical of the 18th century. Enjoyed a lunch out on our own and sometime to walk around before having a meeting with ILD. Instituto de Libertad y Democracia (institute from freedom and democracy) is a Peruvian think/action tank that works to reform legal systems. We returned to the hotel and I went for a great hour long run along the Pacific. At 8 we went to a restaurant in a cliffside mall where again we feasted on a buffet of typical Peruvian food and saw demonstrations of 6 or 7 Peruvian dances. At different times both Kate and I got pulled up to participate. Fantastic. Alright, that was a lot to get through; I hope that future ones won't be so long. Thanks, I hope all is well. Peace.