Hmm where to start? Let's start with Wrenn! Its amazing that even though we are in Peru Wrenn is still growing, and becoming more and more like a little boy. He has been trying out more solid foods. So far he has tried banana, apple, pear, sweet potato, and carrot. He doesn't really like the sweet potato and does a weird face when he eats it, or spits in out in a spraying like fashion. This is sad to me.. sweet potato is awesome!
Not quite a perfect shot of his weird face, oh well!
He has also learned to army crawl. Not quite crawling yet but he still manages to get into things he shouldn't; like the plastic casing on his diaper bag. and the cords and computer chair. Luckily both Nathan and I spend most our time in the living room so we keep a pretty good eye on him to make up for our lack of baby proofing. Here is a video of one of the first times he army crawled; sorry its filmed at a bit of a weird angle.
Also remember at the end of last blog post when I said Wrenn learned how to stick out his tongue? Yeah well he hasn't stopped sticking out his tongue. What once was cute has now become a bit annoying as we want to see his adorable smile again, minus the tongue. Pictured below.
Ah its still cute. Wrenn is quite the charmer here in Peru. All the Peruvians love our baby. It seems like at least one person is always making faces and smiling at him from somewhere. Lots of people come up and grab his hands, playing with him and saying, "que linda" which is basically how cute. Every now and then I get random women who want to hold my baby, and I let them because both Wrenn and the women love it.
Its fun because at church I feel we have made more friends because Wrenn is such a social bug. I basically never have to hold him as there are so many women who want to play with him. Which leads me into another thought. I love Peruvians! They are such a fun and loving people.
I have loved getting to know the culture down here better. There are a few things I'm really going to miss when we come back home.
I'm going to miss taking taxis and listening to the conversations Nathan has with the drivers. They have so much to say and are excited to talk to you and tell you about Peru. We even had a cool experience while taking a cab to the Lima Temple where Nathan was able to tell the driver about the gospel. It was fun for me to listen to basic gospel principles in Spanish and realizing that a lot of the questions people have about life, like "why are we here/whats the purpose of life" have been answered through the gospel. It was nice hearing it so simply and realizing how beautiful the gospel is, and to take a break from how complicated I sometimes try to make it.
I'm also going to miss how people make sure to greet each other and say good bye here. Always with a handshake or a kiss on the cheek.
I'm going to miss how generous people are. For example we had a cool experience with a lady in our ward named Elizabeth. She invited us over to her home for her birthday. She lived in this small apartment that had a bunch of washing type machines in the front area, and couches stacked up in the living room, and cement floors. What I am saying is that she was poor, but she had her whole extended family packed in there tight. They served yummy cake, these amazing tootsie roll type treats, and then they served us a legit dinner: Aji de Gallina (which is an amazing version of shredded chicken type gravy stuff over potatoes served with rice). They were so fun to talk to, so kind, and happy. It just made me realize you don't have to live "comfortably" to be happy, and charitable. It was a really cool experience and I just felt taken care of and loved the whole time I was there. The same lady has given us a few small gifts at church including a rattle that Wrenn loved (till Nathan broke it accidentally) shown here.
We have had a few more fun experiences with people. We went and had dinner with a wonderful couple in our ward that also had a baby. They were a lot of fun to talk to, and even understood a little English so that helped me. It also was fun seeing the babies interact, and having to secure Pedro's pacifier when Wrenn tried to steal it. I like seeing babies interact because there are no language barriers there.
We also went and and got dinner with one of Nathan's mission companions and his wife, and their son. We had a lot of fun hanging out with them, and we have plans to eat with them again. They are going to make us pachamanca which is a traditional Peruvian dish you make with hot stones. Here we are having dinner with them.
I could keep going on and on about how cool Peruvians are, but I have more to write about. I really love their culture though, and I am glad I have gotten to experience it a little bit. It's weird I even have started to love how they help me take care of Wrenn, and make sure he's warm enough, been burped right, wiping off his toys that fell on the ground, telling us how to mash a banana properly, that we should buy more bibs etc. It just shows that they want to help you out. It's like they see a need, and they are quick to help and give advice. Ah I love Peruvians! I'm going to miss them, but moving on!
Alright also in the last couple weeks we have eaten out a lot. There are just so many new food to try, and classic Peruvian dishes to sample (Peruvians are also very proud of their food, and dishes). So enjoy all the pictures of the food we have eaten recently:
Arroz con Mariscos (a seafood rice almost cajun in flavor, but not quite)
Alright I don't think this burrito was particularly Peruvian, but it was amazing!
Papa Rellenas (Stuffed Potato) that I attempted to make... they were okay, going to have to put them on the try again pile of recipes.
Anticuchos (basically meat on a stick) these are cow hearts on a stick. I tried some, sort of, I took a bite chewed than spit it out. I'm counting it.
Nathan really liked them however.
Rocotto Rellena (Stuffed Pepper) really good flavor. For some reason when they boxed it up for me though they didn't give me the pepper... not sure why.
Picarones are like a donut but they use squash in the dough, and anise spice. By the way anise is in most deserts I have had
For Nathan's birthday he wanted to eat a whole fish on his plate. So we went to this place that did just that. They had a lot of types of fish to try, but we picked a smaller one in our price range.
Nathan excited about his fish to come out. Baby is excited too,
Then it came out! It was actually very yummy; I had some of it too.
The aftermath carnage
Also at the fish restaurant we got causa rellena with chicken.. not sure how to describe it.
I don't know if you can find this bread in the USA, but its a kind of candy like bread that they have around Christmas time. I liked, and didn't like it at the same time.
Chia drink also don't know if this is available in the USA, but it was weird so we took a picture. Kind looks like something hipsters would drink. A weird thing about a lot of the drinks down here is they serve them at slightly above room temperature. Not sure why. Do they think lukewarm is a good temperature for drinks?
Alright the ultimate weird/Peruvian food Nathan has tried is guinea pig. They just brought out this whole fried rodent (head, limbs, organs, and all) and he ate it. All of it. Except the eyeball he said that is where he draws the line. I drew my line at looking at it.
This was the chest cavity of the guinea pig...
He's a champ. After eating the whole guinea pig Nathan was like, "Now I know I'm a man."
The last couple weeks started pretty chill then got a little crazy. About a week ago I realized we only had a few more weekends here in Lima, and I was like there is still so much I want to see! So then we decided to start seeing stuff a lot more, and being a bit more proactive about sight seeing.
We went and saw an archaeological site (Huaca Pucllana) up the road. It was an ancient ceremonial temple where among other things human sacrifices were performed.
Baby an daddy excited about the tour.
Our guide said the average Limean (ancient culture that built this site) were 5ft tall. Made me laugh I was like the same could almost be said for Peruvians.
The bricks on the right were replicated by archaeologists.
They had guinea pigs and llamas there to represent a major food source for this culture. Still a large part of Peruvian diets.
The site is around 1500 years old and was originally plastered and painted yellow.
Lets see we also went to El Centro (main part of the city) and saw a few cool things. We saw a protest happening. Which was interesting and a bit unnerving. On the other side of a barred off street there were a group of people shouting ahora, ahora (meaning now) and across the way from them were police officers with the big plastic shields. It seemed like a stand off, and I'm not sure what happened but after we had lunch it seems like it had dispersed. I didn't take a picture because I didn't want to get in trouble. I also didn't take a picture of the army official guy we saw that had an ak-47 for the same reason.
What I did take pictures of were the governmental palace (Peru's mix between the white house and Buckingham palace), and some shots of the neighborhood.
We also went in and saw the archbishops home and the Lima cathedral. The archbishops home was full a lot of interesting art. It seemed almost like Italian catholic art , but just a little bit off. I haven't seen very much catholic art so it was interesting to see biblical/new testament themes depicted in this way.
A fountain of a boy peeing. Classy?
The Lima cathedral was beautiful and had tons of amazing altar type pieces along the sides. I wish we had gone in here before the archbishops home because we were feeling a little worn out with catholic art by then. Still beautiful and the catacombs were interesting and a bit creepy.
These are mosaics which is amazing to me.
Story of John the Baptists beheading on the right, which is interesting.
These bones are real for some reason the cathedral leaders decided to stack them that way.
Then a different day we went to a four hour lunch show where Peruvian folklore dancers danced and in between their numbers the members of the audience went on the floor and did some salsa dancing. It was a lot of fun, and a lively atmosphere. We went and joined the Peruvians on the dance floor for one of the in-between sessions, but we both felt pretty awkward. Nathan being tall and white was especially out of place towering over everyone. Looking at the pictures I really wish my DSLR camera hadn't run out of batteries.
The audience hitting the dance floor.
We also took a few videos of a cool dance where they did lots of acrobatics while clinking scissor like knives in their hands.
To finish off this blog post we also went to this beautiful park in Lima that has thirteen fountains. It was lit up and gorgeous, and with the dulce de leche filled churros and delicious chocolate cake it was a wonderful night out.
Well that about catches us up at Peru. We have been having a lot of fun, and I think we both feel the time is both going too fast, and not fast enough. Oh yeah in addition to the giant fish we ate for Nathan's birthday we also went and saw Interstellar at a theater with Spanish subtitles. It was three bucks a ticket awesome! Then afterward we went to a park near our home with lots of cats.
We are not sure the story with the cats, but they look healthy and people like to pet and hold them (see the cat in the girls lap). Anyways thought I would leave you with that random bit of Peru! We love you all!
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