La Cena Mistica

Thank goodness my husband Kiko is Peruvian! As an expat, I experience Peru quite differently from foreigners here without a Peruvian expert. I've been able to reap the many benefits of his Spanish fluency, cultural knowledge, driving prowess, personal contacts, family ties and patience (ok, his patience isn't necessarily Peruvian but boy is it helpful!)

On the Saturday of Mother's Day weekend, I was able to enjoy the fruits of his personal contacts. We packed an overnight bag with a few things (including leashes, bowls, food, brush, ball, and toys!) and drove south to the small town of Lunahuana. It's a very pretty area where people go for adventure sports like mountain biking, horseback riding and river rafting. The river runs through a beautiful, fertile valley surrounded by dry, desert hills on both sides. It's weird to see the farmland stop suddenly where the effects of the water can no longer reach. 

We stayed in a little bungalow at Refugio de Santiago, a casa hacienda where Kiko had previously visited and gotten to know the owner, Fernando. These places are kind of like bed & breakfasts, where the owner lives and works on site, and visitors get to see the real Peru. Rural tourism and eco tourism are great ways to see the country! Our host was anxious for us to try his fresh pink tuna juice, a deliciously pink cactus fruit drink, which we enjoyed with our tasty lunch of pato (duck) and cuy (hang on, that's guinea pig!) After lunch we walked down to the river and then hiked up a hill while the dogs followed new scents.

Part of the charm of a casa hacienda is interacting with the owner and meeting new people. We had pink tuna pisco sours with an American (who grew up in South America and works in Lima at the U.S. embassy) and his Venezuelan wife and made plans to meet up at dinner. After a short nap, Kiko and I cleaned up a bit and found our way to the pre-dinner festivities. Besides the couple we had met earlier, there was a family staying there to celebrate the matriarch's 70th birthday - the birthday "girl", some of her kids, their spouses and a few grandchildren. Everyone was sitting around a nice, warm fire, and as soon as Kiko and I were seated, our host, holding a bottle of coca-flavored pisco, began to give us instructions for the purification ceremony. He demonstrated that we were supposed to pour some liquor into the shotglass, say what we're grateful for, take a sip and throw the rest onto the fire, being careful when the alcohol hit the flames. I was almost the last to go, so I had some time to plan my speech in Spanish. When Kiko finished his speech and gave the bottle and shotglass back to Fernando, we found out that we had to go around again. Kiko said I could speak English this time, so it wasn't as stressful. After I finished, it was Kiko's turn again. He told the story of how we're trying to get my permanent resident visa, and one way to do it is to get married (again) in Peru. Our 27th wedding anniversary was earlier in the week, and this little getaway was to celebrate that as well as Mother's Day. Then he got down on one knee and asked me to marry him! I was so surprised, and it was so special because I was the one who originally proposed to him in 1983. At least I had the presence of mind to say, "sure!"

I thought we going out with everyone to have dinner in the garden, but Kiko and I were the only ones heading out the door. As soon as we were outside, I saw tiki torches on the ground on both sides of the walkway, lighting a path where Kiko was leading me. A few people were following us, and we just kept walking up the path toward all these little bright lights on a hill. I was so confused, I didn't know what to think. It was dark except for the tiki torches, and it seemed like we walked forever! Finally we ended up on a plateau, and in front of us was a table set for two, with a white tablecloth, candles, flowers, the romantic works! After I sat down the harpist began to play! I hadn't noticed him standing next to the hill, the one with what looked liked hundreds of tiki torches lining it from bottom to top! And it wasn't even a hill, it was a huaca, a sacred monument build by an early Peruvian civilization such as the Incas. I was so overwhelmed at this point, and that's when the guests who had been following us came over to give us hugs and take pictures. Apparently I was the only one who didn't know what was going on! My darling husband and I had a delicious dinner under a clear canopy of stars, listening to Peruvian harp music on an ancient civilization's sacred ground - la cena mistica (the mystical dinner). Words cannot do justice to the scene, or the feelings.

We danced, and talked, and I shed a few tears. We wanted to stay longer but the tiki torches were getting dim, and we were concerned for our harpist and server walking in the dark with their hands full, so we reluctantly walked back down the path to the hacienda. Everyone else was just finishing up with dinner, and we walked back to our patio with our neighbors to share some wine, champagne and conversation near our own roaring campfire.

My Mother's Day was filled with more excellent food, drinks, a hike, a tour of the many organic fruit trees on the grounds, some reading, and visiting with nice folks. It was a fun-filled, down-to-earth Sunday, which followed the heavenly Saturday evening under the stars.

It's a Dog's Life

The dogs have been in Peru for a month now, and they seem to have completely recovered from their travel ordeal. They've generally adjusted to apartment life, making the most of their three daily trips outside (really, how much poo does a dog have?) They love chasing all the birds in the park - cuculis (doves), mockingbirds, pretty red and yellow songbirds (vermilion flycatchers and saffron finches), red-masked parakeets. Kianne once caught a little dove - twice in the same day! I'm sorry to say that it didn't end well.

They don't understand that our neighbors are closer to us in the apartment than they are in our neighborhood at home, so Kianne and Maddie still bark when they hear the neighbors come and go. They drink tap water, and eat Peruvian Purina. They know the sound of our diesel minivan, and look down at us from our third floor window whenever we come home. It's so nice to have their company, and it makes life here seem a bit more normal.

Because we must consider their needs, we've been doing a lot of dog-friendly activities. We've walked to and through numerous nearby parks, and I'm really grateful for the pretty park right behind our apartment building. I can actually take them there in the middle of the night because it's so well lit and there's always a security guard. The dogs usually meet up with friends at the park, and Kianne will often play with them off-leash. We're always asked if the dogs are embras (female) or machos (male) because Peruvians almost never get their dogs neutered and I guess people are afraid that the macho dogs will fight. We always see dogs in the park, whether they're being walked by their owners, dog walkers or maids. And it appears that nearly every dog we see is either a Golden Retriever, Miniature Schnauzer, or Cocker Spaniel (but never a chubby, black, English-speaking one with a long tail - Maddie has that covered). There are also all the Labs - yellow, chocolate and black - a few Jack Russells, and the occasional small, white fluffy varieties. Kiko and I laugh every time we see one of these same breeds, also noticing that pretty much the only time you'll see a mutt here is if it's a street dog. Kianne is quite unique! 

We've taken Kianne and Maddie on a long walk along the malecon, the street that hugs the cliffs overlooking the ocean. There are a lot of parks along the way, and little stands where you can get fresh juice or coffee and a sandwich. We took them to the beach twice with their primo (cousin) Volvo, Miguel and Ceci's huge Great Dane. There's no specific dog beach here, so they can play in the surf and then roll in the sand anywhere they please! For Mother's Day weekend, we took the dogs on an overnight trip to a rustic retreat in Lunahuana, a few hours south of us. They enjoyed hiking in the dirt, dodging barbed wire to chase birds through the farms, and cooling off in the creek. They did not, however, like the loud fireworks exploding over our little bungalo ALL NIGHT LONG. The double bed was very crowded and felt very small!

Both dogs have been groomed twice since they've been here, already more often than they get groomed at home. It's amazingly inexpensive for a bath, nail clipping, ear and (gulp) anal gland cleaning - only $15 for the two dogs, with an extra $4.30 for Maddie's haircut! The place even provides pickup and delivery, and the vet on site will take a look at them to see if they have dry skin, ear problems or anything else that might affect their grooming.

So, the dogs are clean, they're enjoying new experiences and new friends, and they're learning a second language. Their next outing will be to the ranch in Barranca, where they will see (up close!) a creature even bigger than Volvo - a Peruvian Paso Horse. If only they could talk.

The Dogs' Adventure Begins Part 2

I feel much better about writing Part 2 now that I'm sure the dogs have recovered from the horror of their journey to Peru. I wasn't always certain that they were even alive! 


The LAN Cargo flight was due to arrive at 11:30 pm on Saturday, April 16. Kiko and I left for the airport late (surprise!), and were still driving at 11:30. But Kiko was laughing at me because I was under the mistaken impression that we'd walk into the airport and pick up the dogs. Well, the LAN Cargo website said, "AT DESTINATION - To claim the pet, the person at destination must follow a standard procedure that can be initiated before the flight arrival." That didn't sound like things would take too long. The plane arrived at Jorge Chavez International Airport on schedule, but we had to wait for the cargo (our dogs) a few miles down the road at Lima Cargo City, where they would be transported. Kiko and I had originally planned for the dogs to fly with us on a nonstop flight but decided against that because the nonstop flight was really expensive. Keep that thought in mind. 


At 11:40 pm, we handed over our IDs to the security guard at the gate and obtained badges for Cargo City. It was an enormous warehouse with offices above and across from it. There were no signs indicating where we should go, so we asked someone who sent us to an office upstairs, where we were sent downstairs, where we were sent back upstairs to a window, where we were sent down the long hall, across the footbridge to ask the security guard at the desk where to go. Basically no one knew anything, and it was now about midnight. We were then sent around the front of the building past a long row of offices, finally into an office where another security guard asked for our IDs, which we said we had exchanged for the Cargo City IDs ("see the official badges hanging around our necks?") We were sent upstairs to another office, this time arriving at the LAN Cargo headquarters. We asked to initiate the process to claim our two dogs, but by this time were obviously skeptical of the website's definition of "standard procedure". 


We were correct in our skepticism, because we were told that we couldn't do anything until they received the paperwork that traveled with the dogs, which was still at the airport WITH THE DOGS. So we waited. We sat in an empty waiting room for an hour and a half. If I had known, I would have brought a book (as Kiko was busy on his cell phone). Finally, the paperwork arrived and we could do something. It just wasn't clear WHAT. Things get kind of foggy here. We had to get cash from the ATM downstairs to pay a fee but no one seemed to know where we had to go to pay it. We had to take various documents to different offices and windows and counters to get signatures and stamps and receipts. I was desperate to see the dogs, worried because we hadn't really had official confirmation that they were on site, so Kiko insisted that we be allowed to see them.


We took a break in our paperwork trail to wait at the warehouse entrance for a worker to locate, in the slowest possible manner, an extra hardhat for me to wear. Finally we were walked through the warehouse to the "special area where the dogs were being kept safely", only to find that their crates were in no special area at all! At least we got to witness that they were, indeed, alive, but we were not allowed to take them out of their crates, even for a moment. We stuck our fingers through the doors, and told Kianne and Maddie to hang in there, and left them crying as we walked back through the warehouse.


Our resolve was stronger than ever as we then drove to the airport to pay another fee. It took several different people giving us several different directions, and then a grumpy man telling Kiko he couldn't get through the gate to meet with the person he was supposed to pay. After searching out someone from an office that was closed, Kiko was finally able to bypass the grouchy gatekeeper to take care of the next step. I wasn't allowed to go with him, so I passed the time alternately watching some backpackers inspect their equipment and walking up and down the stairs and around the terminal, counting my steps for fun. 


On the way back to Lima Cargo, Kiko told me that he had to go turn in the newly acquired paperwork, pick up another document, visit the ATM a second time (because they only deal in CASH) and then we would be driving to the airport AGAIN to pay for something else! Of course I thought he was making this up. "You're kidding, right?" I asked him. Kiko wasn't kidding. I stayed in the car for this round and also when we went back to the airport. When he woke me up from a restless nap, the sun was coming up. Supposedly we had the final clearance in our hands as we made our way back to Lima Cargo, got our badges again, made our way up the stairs, down the hall, over the bridge, along the building, up the stairs and into the office for the final signature. But it wasn't the final signature, nor had we made the final payment. We were sent all the way back to the warehouse, where we were then told to go back upstairs to pay the warehouse company for keeping our dogs for us (while we ran around all night long trying to pay their ransom).


I don't know how many guys tried to get Kiko to make a little "extra donation" because we had the pink copy instead of the yellow one, or the signature was on the left side instead of the right, whatever little thing they could come up with to slow us down, but Kiko firmly held his ground and got through it all without making any additional payments. We were told that we were lucky that we handled all this in the middle of the night, because claiming cargo could take several days due to the extremely long daytime lines. And "cargo" is truly what the dogs were considered, which is why we had to pay import taxes and customs fees. While we thought we were saving money by not flying direct with the dogs and sending them via cargo, we probably ended up spending nearly as much, along with incalculable hassle. I am confident that my narrative has missed some steps along the way, but that has probably helped to ease the pain of that incredible fiasco.


It was now after 7 am on a sun-shiny, Lima morning. Finally, after nearly eight hours of following their "standard procedures" we handed the completed paperwork to the warehouse manager, who called for a worker to get the dogs. This guy was walking so slow, with no sense of purpose, that I finally lost it and yelled at him in bad, exasperated Spanish, "POR FAVOR! Mis perros estan en sus jaulas para 20 horas! (that's right, Kianne and Maddie had been in their crates for 20 hours straight). He just turned to me, flashed a stupid grin, and kept plodding along. 


As you know, there is a happy ending. We got the dogs! They were a bit groggy and wobbly, hungry and thirsty, needing to pee and wanting to be petted. Fortunately, one of the best things about dogs is that they don't hold things against you. The big dog at my feet and the little one next to me are proof of that.