Perusing: Lima and Nazca

While my recent accelerated updates have been a long overdue effort to get ready for my year-long absence from the U.S., I'm also quite excited about updating MD&R regarding my recent trip to Peru.

So, let me start with Lima. I had such a fabulous time in Lima. Staying with Meg's lovely family was great, and even though my (lack of) Spanish limited communication, we still managed to have a wonderful time, make friends, and have several lively conversations about vegetarianism.

Meg, Lauren, Mallory, Cici, Tessy, and myself bebopped around the city a lot. We actually went to Lima twice, both coming and going.

We toured a monastery, complete with catacombs; visited a fountain park with what boasted the world's tallest fountain; followed Violetta to the oldest bar in Lima for pisco; and generally just enjoyed everyone's company. It was nice to see Lauren and Meg after so long. It was also really nice to meet up with Meg's family and friends (who I adore). Here are some pictures from Lima:

The Pacific Ocean

A Franciscan Monastery

In front of the Peruvian flag, flying in the capital

BUT. Moving on. You're probably much more interested in Nazca and the famous Nazca lines. The Nazca people were an advanced civilization that lived in pre-Incan Peru. They were all wiped out presumably by some horrible weather that killed them because of an ecosystem imbalance caused by cutting down too many trees. Huh. Sounds familiar. But the Nazca people left behind these great mysterious lines in the desert. The lines have several figures drawn in them and can be seen from airplanes. No one is really sure what purpose these giant desert pictures serve, but theories abound ranging from astrology to olympic-style competitions to calendars.

Regardless, people flock from all over to look at these amazing feats of human construction, precision, and art to fly in tiny airplanes that seat six people, including two pilots. Here are some pictures from Nazca:

The humming bird. You can see it in the top part of the photo.

The astronaut. He's waving to you.

The man who watches you take off. He's in charge of the fire extinguisher. I guess there's a reason for that.

This is everyone from our plane in front of our plane. They had to weigh us beforehand and distribute the weight. Lovely.

And so...

Today's Meal: Pisco with Violetta, Tessy, and Sandra. Birthday cake with Cici. Explaining vegetarianism.

Today's Deal: Flying in the smallest airplane in the world. Learning that Meg's mother is nicknamed Michelle because she gets her hair done like Michelle Obama. (awesome)

Today's Reel: Everyone from Floyds Knobs inside a fountain tunnel in Lima