More Rio Negro Pics

More photos!

Top -> down: Agua de Cebada, a sweet, refreshing drink made with barley (that they sell in bags like this sometimes lol); a tower of "algodón" (cotton candy); an outdoor fire pit used to make Pachamanca, a dish that can have chicken, pork, guinea pig, rabbit, pretty much any kind of meat, and yucca, potatoes and lima beans-they put the food on stones straight on the fire... the next pic is the end result; and me with really good cocoa liqueur (too bad I didn't get to take the bottle with me haha!)

Ok enjoy!

Rach :)

Rio Negro Festival

Hey all!

Hope you had a great weekend :)

Well, this weekend (and up through Tuesday) was the Rio Negro festival (it's the next town over)- it was a lot of fun! Saturday I went with Blanca and Ricardo, and it started to rain! :( so we sat under a big stadium area and watched some soccer and volleyball games; Sunday the Coop had a little area set up where they roasted and ground coffee, and had samples and packages of coffee for sale- plus there were a lot of other people selling their wares: cocoa cream and cocoa liqueur (which I got to try and was soooo good!), pineapple, beautiful handmade jewelry, lots of plants, and honey- so that was fun! Plus there were fireworks and a light/water show at night, which was fun to watch, too-not to mention all the delicious food! Hopefully I can get back there before Tuesday.

So I'm finally getting to travel a bit this week, with Blanca, to Huancayo and Huancavelica, two towns in the mountains- I'm really looking forward to it! There should be a lot to see there, plus it'll be cooler (which will be a nice change!)- so when I get back I'll let you know how that goes!

Ok, so here are some pics: setting up booths at the festival; camu camu, which looks like a berry and is really sour/citrus-y-apparently it has a bunch of vitamins, too; the best pineapple I've ever eaten; the town square in Rio Negro (I think they're building a giant hat- hopefully they finish soon!); and waterfall fireworks off the municipality (yes, that's a bandstand underneath, and yes, it caught on fire after this LOL! It went out quickly, though)

Ok, enjoy! More soon :)

Rach

Fall! (but you wouldn't know it haha)

Hey all!

Well, I have a bit of bad news... you know that chicken with the messed-up beak I posted before? He died yesterday :( I guess he just wasn't getting enough to eat, and was exhausted! Luckily, I wasn't the one who found him! He's in a better place now, though :)

Anyway, hope you're all enjoying some cooler fall weather- the past few days have been cool and kind of rainy here, so that's been nice for me!

So here are some pictures: the BEST picarrones in Satipo- these sweet, donut-type things made with sweet potato and covered in a honey sauce (I LOVE them!); chanfainita- a meat and potato soup; delicious avocado; a plant called "croton", i think- there are a bunch of types, they're beautiful; and a restaurant/recreation place called "Vas Yun," where we eat sometimes- they have great food, and beautiful plants!

Ok, have a great weekend!

Rach :)

Pictures, Pictures :)

Well, things in Satipo are goin' well so far- unfortunately, I don't think I'll be making any big trips (like to Machu Picchu or Cuzco) until closer to December (did I mention this already? I may have...lol) but I'll definitely post some cool photos of the things I do get to see in the meantime.

Like guinea pig, for instance. Haha!

Sooo..here's some photos: fried chicken with rice, mayo and russian salad; a TON of avocados, called "palta" here, and pumpkin, or "zapallo"- isn't it weird to see them with green skin? They're tasty!; a woman at the fest in Tzancuvatziari (yeah, now you know why I couldn't remember the name!), preparing "cuy" (guinea pig- though you can't really tell here); picarrones (a delicious, sweet, doughy donut-type snack); and the finished product: "picante de cuy", or spicy guinea pig. Delicious (it really was!)

Ok, enjoy! More soon,

Rach :)

More Photos!

More Pics!

Some delicious papaya, pretty plants near my house, the chicken with the messed-up beak that lives in my house (it's so sad and funny, that thing can literally not eat!) a cacao plant and some macaws :)

One Month!

Hey All!

Wow, I can't believe I've already been here about a month! Crazy! Anyway, some pretty funny stuff has been happening lately, but unfortunately I didn't have my camera- so bear with me lol!

So Thursday evenings some people from the Coop and I get to play volleyball, and last night my boss invited Blanca and I to get food in a town nearby afterward (I can't remember the name but it had like 15 letters lol)- they were having their town Patron party (I think that's what they call them) where there is food and drinking and dancing, and also what they call "Corta Monte"- people decorate a bunch of trees with balloons, small bottles of pop, bags of candy, like a piñata almost, and a band plays while people circle around the tree, dancing- meanwhile, people take an axe and try to cut down the tree, so they can catch the goodies attached to it- well, last night, my boss was the one who cut down the tree, meaning that I, since I was his dancing partner, am technically the "Godmother" of the tree, and am supposed to go back to the town the next year to plant the next tree! It was pretty funny the way people ran up to us, celebrating that "we" cut down the tree, and had us put our names in their book to remember- well, I don't think I'll actually be able to go back, but I'll send my regards haha!

Also, I had the pleasure of trying "Picante de Cuy"- Spicy Guinea Pig! Actually, it was really good! I can't think of what I could compare it to taste-wise, but I would definitely eat it again hahaha!

I also got to go to a birthday party the other day (which I did get photos of) for a 5 year old girl- I went with Blanca and Lucero (Lucero is 4)- they had a clown and lots of snacks and cake, which was yummy!

Also, Satipo has parades for anniversaries of schools, hospitals, pretty much everything has its own parade which is really cool and different for me, so I saw a parade for the hospital the other day- there was a float of people pretending to do surgery, and another of a guy in a bar of soap costume fighting a guy in a pig costume (for swine flu! How cute!)- so that was cool to see.

OH! I forgot, I also got to see a lot of cool animals at this recreational site, and even got to hold a monkey! So I'll post some pics of that too!

Anyway, it's too bad I didn't have my camera, but I'm sure there will be more parades/parties, and I'll get some photos of those for you guys :)

So here are some photos that I WAS prepared for (lol): Lucero at the B-day party, a random float from a school parade, and some animals from the recreational site. Ok, more later!

Rach :)

First few weeks in Satipo

Hey there! Well my internship is going well so far- I may have posted already, but I work at a fair-trade coffee/cocoa company called the Cooperativa Agraria Cafetalera Satipo Ltda. (say that 5 times fast!), mostly working on translation work, but other random jobs, too. Over the next few months hopefully I can see Cuzco, Machu Picchu and some other cities around Peru, including some indigenous towns- we'll see!

Anyway, Peru is really well known for being diverse in almost every aspect-there are lots of varieties of foods, animals and plants (for instance I think I read something about there being 2,000 types of potato?!) and with the conquest and globalization their cuisine is really dynamic...so I'm hoping to get to experience that as well! There are also different foods that are specific to this region, like the Lúcuma, which is a popular ice cream flavor that comes from a plant native to here (kind-of vanilla tasting)-not to mention that the rest of the fruit here is amazing and so cheap! I had a pineapple juice the other day that I think was about 50 cents and it was HUGE! So that's fun :)

Anyway, just letting you know I'm doing well, enjoying my job and especially the family I live with- I live with Mariana (my host-mom) and her 4 kids, Blanca (whom I work with) Liz (who has a daughter who is 4 and also lives with us, she's very cute and sweet) María Isabel (whom they call Chavez because I guess its easier to pronounce, and has nothing to do with Hugo or Jorge Chavez like I thought before hahaha) and Brandon, the youngest. So we're a nice big group!

Ok, here are some pictures (the best part, of course, haha): a hen and her baby chicks that live with us (aren't they cute?); some delicious desserts-torta helada ("frozen cake"- its cake inside a gelatin mold, yummy!) papaya juice and other juice native to Peru (that I can't remember the name of, but it's sweet!) and "torta de la selva" ("Jungle cake"- delicious chocolate cake that I couldn't eat fast enough haha); workers sorting mounds of coffee beans at the cooperativa (you should smell the coffee roasting area-delicious!); the HUGE pineapple juice I told you about, and caihua rellena (kai-wah ray-yay-nah), this sort-of pepper-like vegetable stuffed with chicken and vegetables, and white rice. Ok thanks for readin' and talk to ya soon!

Rach :)

Peru Pictures!

Some more pictures :)

My bed in Satipo (note the awesome makeshift mosquito net and cool hat), a turkey outside my house, part of the Lima skyline, the stony beach in Lima and the "Lovers' Park" in Lima (kind of looks like Gaudi's bench in Barcelona, no?)- Lima is a really cool place :)

Rachel :)