September and October in Peru!

It's spring here, because Peru is South of the equator, yet it is really cold here. To be fair, the above photo was taken of me in Quiruvilca, Peru, about 4000 meters (13,000) feet in altitude. I am all bundled up in assorted woolens and a coat that various kind people have loaned me. 

So much has happened since I first arrived on the airplane from Santo Domingo to Lima it is hard to know where to start. I am a real expert on Lima, having been here for over a month. I hope my dear hosts are not getting too weary of me! Below I am shown with Yoli, my hostesss:

And below is Yoli's husband, Dimas, at the beachfront with me in Miraflores. 

I am a proud owner of several maps. I know my way around the city pretty well by this time, and really enjoy Lima's public transportation system. Below are photographs taken in buses.

I've been to the various tourist attractions of Miraflores and Barranco, yet have spent most of my time in the working class neighborhoods of Lince and Jesús María. Lima has parks and universities and people throw their trash in garbage receptacles. Life in this country is infinitely more civilized than the Dominican Republic, at least the part I lived in, which was not the best part. I love the restaurants here! Food served in restaurants is varied and it is inexpensive. There is so much I am enjoying about Peru. Below is a photo of the many varieties of potatoes for sale at the local grocery:

After a few weeks in Lima I took the Cruz del Sur bus to Trujillo, where I stayed for a glorious week. Trujillo is a gorgeous city and it is sunny, too. I love Trujillo. I could never live in Lima, with it's enormous population and overcast skies,  but could easily live in Trujillo. I stayed at the beautiful Residencial Vanini, which I would recommend to all visitors.

Trujillo's Plaza de Armas is breathtakingly beautiful. Trujillo has very fine Universities. The people are educationally minded and cultured. The week was among the best of my life.

The weekend I was in Trujillo, the city was hosting its annual Primavera (Spring) Celebration. Youth were giving exhibitions of archeological history, which is extensive in the surrounding areas.

Some of the most famous archeological sites in Peru are located near Trujillo, and I took tours visiting ruins at locations including Chan Chan, and "Huaca del Sol" (Sun Temple) and "Huaca de la Luna" (Moon Temple). These sites reveal the peak and decline of one of the most surprising societies of pre-Incan Peru.

I took so many photos of the archeological sites and cannot do them justice in this blog. I must add that I loved Trujillo's Museum of Archeology and would recommend a visit there to anyone:

I had lunch with a group of others the day of my tour at a restaurant featuring entertainment by an exuberant couple enacting the joyous courtship dance of the Marinera, which originated in Trujillo: 

The above photo was taken at Huanchaco, a beach town 20 minutes from Trujillo known for its fishing boats made out of reeds, or Caballitos. Below are two German women I befriended on our group tour. They were in Trujillo to visit a special exhibit about the life of Maria Reiche, a German woman from the same town as they came from. I saw the exhibit as well. Maria Reiche was a famed archeologist and her work centered on the Nazca Lines in Nazsca, Peru (south of Lima).

Trujillo has wonderful, inexpensive restaurants! I enjoyed ceviche in Trujillo at one of the best     restaurants in town, as far as I was concerned:

I also enjoyed  Trujillo's Central Market. I loved the florists there.

I thought so much about my mother during the week I was while I was in this beautiful city. She always loved Trujillo. What made the experience of Trujillo all the more remarkable is that I visited the mine at Quiruvilca, about 4 hours into the Andes from Trujillo, where my father worked as a Mining Engineer when I was a child. I spent a night in Shorey, right next to the house I lived in with my parents for 3 years over 60 years ago! What a dream come true.  

I was extremely fortunate that the CEO of Southern Peaks Mining, the company that recently bought the mine, was so supportive of my wish to visit Quiruvilca, and provided the services of his company chauffer for the steep ascent up the Andes to the mine. For really fine photos of the drive from Trujillo, as well as the Quiruvilca Mine and Shorey, I recommend the blog posted by Ray McDougall, http://www.mcdougallminerals.com/blog/into-the-andes-quiruvilca-peru/

I took a few good photos of the Andes on the way to Quiruvilca myself. Here are some of them.

 Below is the company Chauffer, Anterio, without whom I might never have made it!

Below are crosses by the side of the road to commemorate the deaths of sixty passengers, who died last year when their bus careened off the road and fell into the valley below.  We kept seeing stalled out and broken trucks and buses on the drive to Quiruvilca. And I am told recent repairs to the road have made it much better than it was in the past.

 Below I am seen with the nurses at the infirmary, who checked my blood pressure and oxygen level upon arrival at the mining headquarters, 3800 meters altitude. I passed the tests with flying colors.

 This photo was taken at the entrance of the mine headquarters in Shorey, just below Quiruvilca.

Alonso Cordoba, Mining Engineer and Chief of Mining Operations at the Mine is seen below. Mr. Cordoba pulled files of some of the old veins of ore that were being excavated during the 1950's. He was able to locate actual reports filed by my father, a Mining Engineer at Quiruvilca, from April, 1953. He was delighted to read these reports from the Quiruvilca Mine during the 1950's, and seemed impressed with the high levels of silver and copper that were mined at this earlier time.

I am told that Mr. Cordoba is a very well known Mining Engineer in Peru. He sure was wonderful to me. He really listened to what I had to say, and complimented me on my Spanish. He said my Spanish was much better than most Americans he had contact with. I felt great, as though my 2 years investment learning Spanish in the Dominican Republic really made a difference and I was doing well, after all!

Above is Luis Castillo, who rescued me the evening I had trouble with the lock on the door of the house in which I was spending the night. Below are photos of the psychologist and social workers at the company offices in Shorey.

Marina Sanchez prepared my room and made scrambled eggs for me in the morning. I stayed in the home of Mr. Adolfo Vera, Southern Peaks Mining Company's CEO. His home is right next to the one in which I lived  with my family as a child!

My one regret over the trip to Quiruvilca and Shorey is that I did not take photos of the houses in the circle of homes in which I had lived with my family. Southern Peaks Mining CEO Adolfo Vera kindly promised me he would have photos taken and sent to me!

The next 3 photos are of the recreation rooms at Shorey. Many Quiruvilca Mine Employees work schedules in which they are at the mine 14 days and then have 7 days off, when they return to their families. I can only imagine how lonely those 14 days at the mine might be for some.

The next photo is of the company cafeteria, where I had several meals along with mine employees.

 The photo above is taken of Quruvilca, and the following is a photo of the mine itself. For more photos I suggest you open http://www.mcdougallminerals.com/blog/into-the-andes-quiruvilca-peru/