Life in Peru

Just waiting

Ready for the big day!!!

Ready for the big day!!!

We got the crib ready, the baby shower out of the way, and got lots of cute ropitas ready for the big day.

May 31, 2009 Posted by | Life in Peru | , , , , , | 2 Comments

baby shower

Mayo ha sido un mes bien ocupado para nosotros, el matrimonio de Helvi y el baby shower de nuestra bebe. Como nuestro departamento es pequeño, tuvimos dos fiestas de baby shower, la primera fue con mis amigas de la universidad, y la segunda fue con mi familia y mis amigas las sras del vecindario… La fiesta estuvo agradable especialmente al jugar el ‘dirty diaper’, donde el ganador es aquel que al final se queda sin el pañal. Fue muy gracioso ver a todas las sras ponerse nerviosas tratando de pasar el pañal rapidamente. Por cierto gracias a todas por los regalitos, y sera hasta el proximo baby shower de aqui 2 años…talvez???!!!!

Patricia :)

May 27, 2009 Posted by | Life in Peru | , , , , | 7 Comments

Peru, safety and pitbulls

How safe is Peru? How dangerous are pitbulls?

Got an email from my mom a while back, loosely translated:

“… Two friends of mine were thinking about visiting Peru. They’ve planned out their trip to Lima, Machu Picchu, and Cusco, and have already bought their tickets. But someone told them Peru is dangerous, and then they also read that Peru is dangerous on some government website. Now they’re thinking about canceling their trip, what should they do?”

So is Peru dangerous in my opinion? Here’s my response, again loosely translated:

“… Jee if I had known how dangerous it is here I could have been scared for the last year and a half !! Peru is very safe in my experience, BUT, it is a poor country so you have to be mindful of petty crime. It often amazes me how some tourists walk around Cusco as if they’re in Disney World. You have to be aware of your belongings, especially in busy places and on buses. Pay attention when the bus stops. There are bad parts of town in Lima, just like anywhere else in the world, but there’s no reason an ordinary tourist would end up there. I imagine the reason the government website said Peru is dangerous is because in a few of the provinces along the border with Colombia there are drug cartels, but again there’s no reason the average tourist would end up there.”

And then I made the mistake of adding some humor…

“Besides if your friends are really scared they can borrow my Pitbull while they’re here…”
We think Manchita is a Blue Pitbull

We think Manchita is a Blue Pitbull

Response from my mother….

“O my God, I’m so worried about what you’re going to do with the dogs now that you’re going to have a baby…”

Sometimes you just can’t win. There are lots of documented benefits of having dogs around children. Needless to say if you have strong, protective dogs like ours you have to pay attention to them, especially around children. But the notion that pitbulls randomly attack people is even more ridiculous than the idea that Peru is some bad unsafe place that you shouldn’t visit.

May 20, 2009 Posted by | Travel in Latin America | , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Looking for names of Inca princesses

In an instant I’m no longer the guy who tells tall tales of flying old airplanes or traveling the world. I’m now the guy who shows baby pictures:

5 months - Thank goodness she looks just like her mommy!!!

5 months - Thank goodness she looks just like her mommy!!!

2 big tummies

2 big tummies

We found out yesterday that everything is going well with nuestra calatita and it’s going to be a girl !!!. Suggestions for girl names are welcome, since everyone told Patricia up to now it was going to be a boy, she was looking mostly for boy names…

Due date is June 14, so we’ll keep up the news on what it’s like to have a baby in Cusco, Peru :)

Help us out. Patricia speaks Spanish and English. I speak Dutch, English and some Spanglish. My parents speak Dutch but Mama Vicky prefers Quechua… Please vote:

February 12, 2009 Posted by | Life in Peru | , , , | 19 Comments

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