I believe in the future…
maybe not in my lifetime,
but in yours I feel sure
Great words from Paul Simon. New decade, new baby, I suppose it’s the only way I could feel…
HAPPY 2010. While Peruvians are still busy buying their yellow underwear, here in Belgium we just rang in 2010.
Gotta get me another drink of Pisco…. HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL!!!
New Year’s resolutions
First New Year’s Eve with baby… needless to say we’re at home laying low. Perfect time to jot down some New Year’s resolutions. Keep in mind I’ve been sipping hot cocoa with Pisco…
- Think less and do more.
- Drink more and worry less – it’s good for my health
- Speaking of health, join the gym.
- Visit Arequipa, Moquegua, the selva or Amazon jungle of Peru, and Piura.
- Be a better teacher, if I teach again.
- Get a real job… or at least think about it, since I got a “wawa” now.
- LAST BUT NOT LEAST… be a good dad!!!!
HAPPY 2010 TO ALL!!!
Feliz Navidad a todos
Feliz Navidad, Merry Christmas to all. We wish everyone a wonderful time with friends and family.
Really over the top, but one of my favorite Christmas songs of all time.
The idealist that I am… Peace on earth and goodwill to all of mankind.
Please stop this tontera
Please stop… I don’t want no fancy mall in Qosqo. Why put the embodiment of mindless consumption in the imperial city of the Incas, the last known succesful society without private property…
Todos queremos Jockey Plaza Cusco con Multicines
A movie theater would be cool though 
Not in Peru…
We’re in Belgium, it does exist, and the chocolates are great!!!
Que rico chocolate!!!
Next up, waffels and Belgian beer. I’m going to fly back to Peru as a pimpel-faced teenager 
In this great future – part 2
A while ago I wrote about difficult times in the recent history of Peru, borrowing words from Bob Marley “in this great future, you can’t forget your past…”
The same is true for Belgium, where we are currently spending the holidays with my family. Life wasn’t always easy here either. Take a look at the main square in my town, nice and picturesque in the snow…
Main square in Oostakker, Belgium
There’s a cute gazebo in the middle of the main square, where we were being all touristy…
The gazebo in the main square in Oostakker
Patricia on the gazebo
But take a closer look… the gazebo is built on top of a World War 2 era bombshelter, the red door is the original entrance. When we were kids we’d go inside and play, although it often had standing water inside. It’s not the only bombshelter in town, there are several more scattered around.
Entrance to WW2 era bombshelter
In Peru there are so many young people that a middle-age white guy like myself is positively ancient, not many people are around with any recollection of World War 2, but in Europe there are still many people who remember WW2. My grandmother used to tell us about how they slept in a home-made shelter they dug in the backyard, my grandfather was in the the Belgian army at the beginning of the war. My other grandparents had a farm and would secretly help people with food when the rations weren’t sufficient.
“in this great future, you can’t forget your past…”
Flying with baby
We had a very good flight with the baby from Lima, Peru, to Amsterdam yesterday, a 12.5 hour intercontinental flight with a 5-month old baby. So here are a few tips about how to fly with a baby.
First: Tank up before flying, make sure baby’s tummie is good and full. The same thing is true for adults BTW, flying on an empty stomach is a bad idea.
Get a good meal before flying
You also want to keep the baby awake before the flight (in our case the flight left at 8:35pm), and, stating the obvious, change diaper before you get on the plane.
Second: Pick a fun place to go.
Lima airport departures
Look at that screen, are there any of those destinations you wouldn’t want to go to? Iquitos, Arequipa, Tarapoto, all places I want to go. I mean, if you’re possibly going to annoy 200 perfect strangers with a fussy baby, it better be worth it 
Third: Get all the necessary supplies to fly with baby. Diapers, bibs, a change of clothes, some extra baby food, paper towels, toys, etc. Brianna was also checking out some new sunglasses at the mall before we left… but we ended up not getting them because they made her look too pituca.
Baby trying out new sunglasses
Fourth: Pick good seats…
Baby on airplane
The best seats for flying with a baby are in the front of the airplane, because there’s less noise and vibration.
And the most important part about flying with a baby: Request a crib!!!
Baby in crib on airplane
Baby crib aboard KLM airlines
Before we left, Patricia read online that most airlines carry baby cribs on long flights, which KLM confirmed on its website. We called ahead of time to request a crib, and the baby slept for most of the flight.
How we got our good seats is a story in itself. KLM opened the flight for online checkin 30 hours before departure. We checked out the seating chart beforehand and decided we wanted the first row behind business class, where there is extra legroom and a nearby bathroom. Right when the online checkin opened up I tried to select our favorite seats, but to no avail… No matter how desperately I clicked away on my laptop, I was unable to change my seat from the dreaded 43B (second-to-last row, middle seat). So I called KLM (thank goodness for Skype) and was told that I couldn’t select my seats online because I was traveling with a baby, but that our seats could be changed at the airport. We decided to go early to the airport and when we asked if we could have better seats, the agent told us he had already given us the first 2 seats for baby, 10 H&J. First row behind business class, with extra legroom, space for a baby crib and a nearby bathroom. The exact same seats we tried to select online! Que buena suerte!!!
Other than that, the cabin crew aboard KLM was very nice, Brianna even got her very own KLM bib!!!
UPDATE 12/22: while flying with baby was easy, adjusting to the time difference (6 hours) has been H*LL. Nada de dormir at night, wake her up in the morning and half hour later she falls back asleep. It takes her until 2:00pm-ish to fully wake up, and until 4:00am-ish to finally sleep at night.
HELP: any experience with babies adjusting to a time difference, please let us know!!!
Broadcasting live from…
“Life in Peru” will be “Life in my mom & dad’s house in Belgium” for the next 3 weeks, since we’re “home” for the holidays.
Happy holidays to all!
Baby’s got passports!!!
And they taste yummie!
After many tramites our baby now has 2 passports, one Peruvian and one Belgian. We just picked up the Belgian passport at the Belgian embassy in Lima and will be flying to Amsterdam on Sunday, spending the holidays in Belgium with pepe and meme.
Since baby Brianna Nayaraq is getting ready to go on an international trip, I think I’ll sign her up on the Facebook group I have more foreign policy experience than Sarah Palin… I mean, nothing personal, but Sarah Palin didn’t get a passport until 2006.
At any rate, wish us a good trip Sunday and we hope everyone gets a chance to spend the holidays with friends and loved ones like we will.
Un rato
It is said the very first word of Spanish you’ll ever learn is “mañana”, which literally means “tomorrow” but in real life Latin cultures usually means something like “some day in the future, possibly”.
When I was a kid, my parents built a small vacation home in Spain. At our first visit, my dad went to buy some stones to finish the patio. The stones were supposed to be delivered “mañana”. So when no truck showed up the next day, my dad rode his bicycle in town to inquire… only to be told kindly “mañana”. This happened again the next day, and the next day, and it became a ritual for the entire 7 days of our stay, until the last day of our vacation when day my dad agreed to have the stones delivered some 6 months down the road when we’d be making another, longer trip to Spain. The entire time my family of course took the Spanish contractor at face value, thinking “mañana” actually meant the same thing as “tomorrow”, or “morgen” in Dutch.
Here in Peru the word “mañana” has an equally dubious meaning, and I’ve learned another one just like it: “un rato”, which literally means “a moment” or “a minute”. But nothing could be further from the truth. When someone in Peru tells me “un rato”, it pretty much means “nothing is going to happen for at least 45 minutes”.
In fact, when the baby starts to fuss because she’s hungry and Patricia says “un rato”, I’ve learned I can put in a pirated Led Zeppelin DVD to keep the baby entertained and distracted and pretty much make it through half the DVD before the “rato” is finally over. Hey, rock and roll beats walking around with a crying baby for 45 minutes
Gotta go now, in un rato we’re going to eat dinner…
About us
View from Machu Picchu, Peru
Read the story about 2 tickets to Lynyrd Skynyrd, love over gold, and our move to the beautiful city of Cusco, Peru.
Ward Welvaert & Patricia Carrasco
Cusco, Peru
contact: ward DOT welvaert AT gmail DOT com
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