More TravelPeru posts.

This link has comprehensive information about the best time to visit Peru. In my opinion, if you are not doing the Inca trail, for that matter any major hiking/mountain climbing, the time of the year does not matter. Just take in to account that it rains in the highlands(Cusco, Machu Pichu, Sacred Valley) and add an extra day when you do the itinerary.

Day1: SFO – Lima.
LAN flies non stop from select US cities. They give good deals to major South American destinations.

Giving your credit card information and clicking  on the ‘BOOK THIS FLIGHT’ is not the same as booking the flight. First your credit card company goes on alert, few hours later LAN comes back and asks you to confirm first name+last name+passport#+frequent flier number/passenger/ 4-6 hours. Few hours later, they ask you to send fax/jpeg of your passport picture page and credit card. After this they ask you to submit a written request for your reservation, which essentially consists of all the data you have given online, on phone, over email, again on phone over the past  36 hours. They are extremely polite and ask you very nicely, but it takes time for the wheels to move.

LAN’s in flight entertainment system is very good. Food not so much.

Day2: Lima to Cusco. Sacsayhuaman ruins, Tambomachay ruins and shopping in Cusco’s artisan district.

The well kept secret is Peru’s airport fees/tax. Every time you fly out of an airport in Peru, be it domestic or international, you are expected to pay airport tax/fee. They use it for maintaining the airport. You can pay it in dollars or soles. Just be sure to check twice or thrice if the amount quoted is in dollars or soles because of the language barrier.

We flew Peruvian airlines from Lima to Cusco. In general early morning flights are to Cusco are good in terms of departing in time, flying conditions etc.

99% of the time, the hotels you have booked with provide airport to hotel transfer. Just state the number of people and bags and they will bring suitable vehicles. Also check twice where they will be picking you up from. If they say OUTSIDE the airport, a person will be OUTSIDE holding a board with your name. Porters who meet you inside the airport calling your name and the hotel you have booked with are just people who have made their rounds outside and memorized names from the boards and have no connection what so ever with the hotel. Creative huh?!! 🙂

Cusco is at an altitude of 3400m, which means that there is a good chance that the altitude will affect you. If so, do not fear the Sarochi pills are there. Stop by any pharmacy and pick up five for five soles and pop one every 12 hours. Plenty of water, hot tea and low physical activity helps in the first couple of days. If you have been in high altitude before and if you think you can handle it…well you cannot. It is what your body is used to in the present and not how and what you did in teh past.

Cusco has exactly one family from UP, India. They run an Indian restaurant very close to the city center.

In the middle of the city of Cusco is the statue of emperor Pachacuti, which to me is such a tamil name!

Factoring in altitude, jet lag, kids etc, we spent 4 hours site seeing around Cusco. We rented a taxi and visited the ruins of Sacsayhuaman, Tambomachay and finished off our day in Cusco’s local market. If we had a day to spare, I would have loved to visit Qoricancha, one of the museums housing pre columbian artifacts and spent some in the Plaza de Armas. San Blas also came in highly recommended, but we didn’t do because we ran out of time.

Sacsayhuman ruins is another 300m climb from Cusco. So if it is your first day allow yourself 60 – 90 min to go around the ruins. If you push yourself you will feel the lack of oxygen.  From the top of Sacsayhuman you can see the whole city of Cusco.

They say that the fortress is built in the shape of a puma. The construction is awesome, I mean huge stones just fitted without any kind of mortar, earth quake durable construction with wide door ways and the walls naturally built at a 15 degree inclination…. all this by a civilization which had no written script! How they would have planned for these buildings is a constant source of wonder to me!

The above picture shows the biggest stone in Sacsayhuaman, it weighs about 300 tonnes and is more than 8 meters tall.

The Incans believed in the puma (the present), the condor(the higher life) and the snake (the underworld). So they incorporated these shapes in to their structures. According to R, the snake in the picture below is more like seeing their child’s ultrasound pictures. Once the doctor says that it is a head, you try and see a head. But that is purely the husband’s POV 🙂

Tambomachay ruins is a fancy bath house. It is built in three levels, powered by underground spring water. The spring water is still flowing. Again how the Incas found consistent source of underground water and used it to their advantage is another thing I wonder about. It is said that Tambomachay was used by royalty, for ritual bathing.

If you love haggling, you will never leave the Cusco local market. We went crazy, buying just for the sake of buying. I just loved the colors. I kind of pushed every one in our group and squeezed in the Cusco local market again on day four 🙂

More soon…..

(More TravelPeru posts.)

would be a fitting title for our vacation to Peru. We traveled using all modes of transportation.

I first planned this vacation in 2002 Dec, didn’t happen for many reasons. Since then hiking the Inca trail to see Machu Pichu had always been at the back of my mind. It finally happened this Thanksgiving break, with some changes to the original plan. Hiking was thrown out of the window, skipped Puno and Lake Titicaca, two other friends and their families joined us, the end result couldn’t have been any more perfect, wouldn’t trade it for anything.

We were a group of 10 – 6 adults and 4 kids. The children in our group were the true superstars. Peru is not a place for children younger than 10 years of age. The only reason this worked for us was because the children cooperated. They sat by themselves, played by themselves, watched imaginary TV, played imaginary card games, read books, colored, fought and made up without any adult interference, walked, climbed, slept when asked to and ate what was put on their plate. The adults took turns watching the children and doing steep arduous (short)hikes.

Many package deals are available, but planning on your own is much cheaper. Having said that, though most of the hotels and transportation companies we used had a web presence, it was hard to line up things. It took us approximately 4 man hours to book round trip airline tickets from SFO to Lima through LAN.com, and that is just the tip of the iceberg 🙂 Time Vs money, you pick where you want to compromise.

Trip advisor and andeantravelweb.com/peru were our bibles.

I went to Peru fantasizing about Machu Pichu, but was completely won over by Peruvian people.  They go the extra mile to help tourists.

Peru reminded me of a less crowded, friendlier, much cleaner, rural India from 20 years back.

If you are a vegetarian, and if you are not ready to make do with pasta for lunch and dinner for all ten days or at times with plain white rice, you are screwed. People are more than willing to cook something that is not in the menu, but it is hard for a culture that eats red meat three times a day and for snack to completely understand the concept of vegetarianism.

12 packets of Parle-G, four giant packets of Marie biscuit, 4 packets of murukku, 2 packets boondhi, 2 packets of omapodi, 12 maggie packets, 18 cartons of chocolate milk, 100 chapathis, 100 theplas, corriander thokku, cranberry thokku, instant beaten rice upma, 2 packets trail mix, 1 packet of multi-grain cheerios, 36 breakfast bars, one packet mixture, peanut candy, ginger chews, juice boxes…….we carried all this to the southern hemisphere. Our snack bags were bigger than the rest of all our other stuff combined. We had enough stuff to open our own convenience store in Peru and we still starved at times.

The vegetarian food from LAN airlines is by far the worst I have E.V.E.R had in my life.

We did not stay in the same place for more than one night. We had to pack and vacate every morning and travel with all our suitcases every day. Peru is used to lot of Europeans with knapsacks, so family of ten with ten suitcases raised quite a few eyebrows. On the Vistadome train towards Machu Pichu, people were literally pointing to our suitcases heaped on the platform.

I work with kids, which means that I have been sneezed, thrown up, peed and pooed on. In the past three years I  have seriously gotten sick only two times, I am pretty resilient that way. But I was sick as a dog on my dream vacation.

Last but not the least. If you go on vacation and if you see a guy from your group pet a parrot in the resort you are staying, never follow the lead. Chances are that, it might bite you. Even if you joke that you look so delicious that even a parrot cannot resist, you will still worry if the tetanus and hepatitis booster shots that you neglected 6 months back was wise.

So we are M.A.D about fairies at home…..

Rainbow Magic series, thanks to the recommendation of the lovely ladies at SaffronTree, has served us well. One thing that Meija seems to have nailed down is that there can be fairies for everything and every occasion. She goes around the house, doing whatever she is doing, mumbling

Sopa the soap fairy
Slippera the slipper fairy
Marmala the marmalade fairy
Pencila the pencil fairy
Lunchella the lunch fairy
Sandella the sandbox fairy

….you get the idea.

Cut. Scene change.

I was on the phone requesting the husband to make a quick stop at Target, on his way back from work, to pick up some much needed feminine products. I gave him a bunch of keywords to narrow down what to choose and what new fairy we have at home?

Overa the overnight fairy.

Questions. Of course there are always questions…

Why do I need protection in the night?
Am I going to be attacked by some kind of monster?
How exactly her Appa is arranging for my protection?

Now some one please explain to me, how a child can totally glaze over/ignore/fail to notice/do her own thing for specific, in the face (this I mean quite literally), direct, instructions about cleaning up, finish her food, get ready for school in time etc, but can absorb a vague conversation on the phone and introduce it in her pretend play?

Theorem I: It is easy to fool your child.
Theorem II: In the circle of life, you are the real fool.

I am on the couch reading a book. Mieja is walking around the house with a cup of milk. I see her walk in to the bedroom. I hear a thump sound, a ‘gluck’ sound and there is an ominous silence. I am still on the couch, but I say, ‘Get the cleaning rag and clean up the spilled milk please.’ She comes running to me and says, ‘How did you know that I spilled the milk?’ I put on my most serious look and say, ‘I can see through walls. No matter where you are, what you are doing, I know exactly what is going on.’

Fast forward a few weeks.

I am in the kitchen cooking. I am calling Mieja. I am just trying to locate her and find out what she is doing. There is no reply. I do not want to drop what I am doing and run around the house. So I repeat her name enough number of times to compose an ashtotharam. Finally I give up, walk to the child and ask why she did not respond. She says, ‘But why Amma? You can see through walls, so I thought you can see where I am and what I am doing.’

….every single thing went wrong.

At least that is what I thought initially.

Every year, in our school we celebrate United Nations day with much gusto. Kids practice for couple of weeks. We make a list of countries every one of the 150+ children represents. They come dressed in the traditional costume of that country, sing a song for each country, place the country’s flag on the world map etc. Parents bring a meal and it is a huge potluck with at least 300-400 plates served.

This being the kindergarten year Chula had a part. So naturally I was pumped. Even before the school year began, I declared in the staff meeting that I am planning to take UN day off and attend as a parent. R was supposed ordered to come for the celebration.

Two days back R said that he has an important meeting scheduled and cannot make it to the celebration. Okay, at least I am going, I thought. My first sub cancelled and I had to find a second sub. I did and took a deep breath. On the day of the celebration, I found out one of my two colleagues had a serious emergency and will not be coming to school. As much as I was sorry for her, I was devastated because we will be out of ratio if I stepped out of the room. So I called R and told him that he has to do what ever he has to do and be at school to record the celebration. So R decided to work from home and attend the meeting through phone. Problem solved? Apparently not. He calls 15 min later and says that there is a power cut in our area and his working from home is not going to fly after all. So we decided to bundle up our class children and take them out to watch the celebrations. We got them dressed, booted and jacketed and went out 10 min after the celebrations started. Just as I was getting my breath back, it started to drizzle. How can we have our class out in the rain? But it so happened that one of our children went home with his mom, we were in ratio, my other two colleagues took the eight we had inside the room and I got to stay outside.

As I was recapping this out of ratio – in ratio, can go-can’t go status changes and madness that followed, in my head, I was thinking about the kind hearts at work today.

The colleague who had the emergency and had to take the day off, called in early morning and asked our receptionist to personally apologize to me. For her to think of me even when she was in great sorrow? I was touched. Then my other colleague and my sub, who came up with a plan and managed the class when I was outside attending the event. Though we were in legal ratio, we have two new children and two babies. I can only imagine the exhausting work they must have endured when I was outside enjoying my daughters. Not to mention, R’s meeting was cancelled in the last minute and he was also able to make it.

Now tell me gentle reader, ain’t I blessed?! Some where up there some one is looking out for me 🙂 As this thought floats through my mind the kids chant Gandhi’s peace prayer.

I OFFER YOU PEACE.

I OFFER YOU LOVE.

I OFFER YOU FRIENDSHIP.

I HEAR YOUR CRY.

I SEE YOUR BEAUTY.

I FEEL YOUR PAIN.

MY WISDOM FLOWS FROM A HIGHER SOURCE.

I SALUTE THAT SOURCE IN YOU.

LET US WORK TOGETHER.

Can’t help but dedicate this post for the people who felt my pain and worked together to help me.

I don’t watch TV very much. It is not that I am opposed to TV. Every night for the past few years, the ritual has been unaltered. The girls are in bed, I clean up. R and I settle on the couch to catch up on TV. I get my fluffy pillow, my cozy blanket, put my legs on R’s lap and get ready to watch TV. But invariably, within 20 min, I am asleep.

Sat/Sun are slightly better, I can manage an hour of TV before my eyes seal shut. But there are some gems that I catch before I drift off. I often find myself pondering over the snippets. Just wanted to share the gyaan with you all.

Michael J Fox in The Late Show With David Letterman

“There’s a difference between acceptance and resignation. I’ve accepted that this is my situation, but I’m not resigned that it has to be that way always.“

Star Trek Next Generation, Episode: The Host

Governor Leka Trion: Listening is a skill which seems to have evaporated with the heat of argument.

Riker Odan: Speak softly, Governor. Those who cannot hear an angry shout may strain to hear a whisper.

Current favs at home: The Mentalist, Star Trek Next Generation, Monk, The Late Show, Daily Show, Colbert Report, Top Chef, Next Food Network Star, Next Iron Chef, The Great Food Race.

I can confidently say that I have watched the first 15 min of most of these shows.

More summer fun 2010 posts.

Winter is about to come and I am still harping about summer? Well, I had ten posts in mind and with this I am finishing this year’s summer series.

Activity 9 – Cooking.

We(the girls and I) got in to the habit of cooking together with some regularity. My mom was here in summer and was responsible for the majority of our meals. So we ended up making fancy dinners once in a while. We made dessert for all the get-to-gethers we had at home. Of the desserts we made, croissant pudding(your every day bread pudding comes out so rich and yummy if you use croissants instead of bread), fruit salad with custard and fruit kebabs were huge hits in terms of ease of making(for kids) and taste.

The above is a part of the tea time snack menu the girls came up with for a friend with diet restrictions. The whole spread here.

One pot wonder soups are a huge hit at home. My recipe is not fixed, it is more like throwing in everything but the kitchen sink. I put a plastic stool next to the counter and the girls are all set. I cut the onions and garlic. They wash, rinse, cut, peel everything else. We dump a can of beans(garbanzo, pinto, red kidney beans, white kidney beans anything that you have in your pantry) and some pasta. My secret ingredients for these soups – fry onions with garam masala and finish the soup with fresh home made rasam powder. Devour as is or pair it with some garlic bread and salad. Hmmmm!

Even if they are not cooking they just like hanging out with me in the kitchen.Literally. Especially Mieja! Look at the picture and you will know what I am talking about 🙂

Another hit recipe that is a one stop meal is my version of Giada’s Curried Cous Cous salad. I omit the dried berries, substitute cashews with almonds, sometimes use quinoa instead of couscous, cook the grain in low fat vegetable stock, add a whole bunch of desi spices, add a couple of avocados, use regular low fat yogurt instead of greek and serve it lukewarm. R.O.C.K.S!

Another thing we are getting to be crazy about is naan sandwiches. Inspired by Aarti, I started making naan pizzas. My twist is to layer it with left over home made paneer butter masala or palak paneer and bake it with a little cheese. Then it morphed in to sandwiches. I started using mini pizzas. As soon as the paneer butter mini naan pizzas are out of the oven, I slap two together. I find the sandwich version a lot easier to eat, especially when I am taking the left overs for lunch the next day.

Activity 10 – A picture is worth thousand words and this is the better half’s contribution for SummerFun2010 🙂

Now you all know what we did this summer.

I picked up a book by Bronwyn Bancroft, illustrator from the the Bunjalung aborigines of Australia and was thinking how many details are very similar to the Gond style of art. Just in time comes Gita Wolf’s post on ‘The Politics Of Voice‘, a post on folk and tribal art in children’s literature. How can I not do a post on ‘Tribal art in children’s books‘?

Unlike Gita, who talks about the publisher’s perspective on creating a children’s book with tribal art illustrations, I decided to stop with the commonalities I observe in tribal art across the world.

While you are at it, check out the art of Sue Coccia. Very Gond in spirit don’t you think? Thanks to Kodi’s mom for introducing this artist to me.

Three years back while reading Tulika’s Sweet and Salty for Chula and Meija, I distinctly remembered villu pattu artist Subbu Arumugam. The train of thought later lead to the art of story telling. After reading Hanuman’s Ramayana, also by Tulika, the concept of stories being molded by the story teller and how myths came to be, really appealed to me. Inspired by this is the post on Stories of The Flood, my last and final contribution to CROCUS2010.

Bye bye CROCUS2010.

Edited to add: Submitted post for Shruti’s Artsy-Craftsy June 2001 Folk art challenge.

I have done numerous lesson plans for course work. Two years back, one such lesson plan was on Tulika’s Sameer’s House, an all time favorite at home. That is when I realized how today’s kid’s-lit is so versatile and can be integrated in to a classroom setting. The seed was sown.

For CROCUS 2010, my category assignment was arts and crafts. For this I decided to do a post on how Warli can be integrated in to a classroom. Check out my post at Saffron Tree. I am eager to hear back from you all.

I thought being a part of a kid-lit book group was fun. The celebration of CROCUS and the addition of new enthu-cutlets members (y’all know who you are!) has only elevated the fun to a new level.

This Oct 23, we are celebrating CROCUS again. It is going to be a week long celebration. Planning committee, PR team, banner design, press release, categories, review assignment, scheduling, the famous CROCUSWord and much much more galore at ST. It just feels like a wedding, well some one esle’s wedding of course, because it is universal truth that one never has fun in their own wedding.

Without further ado the virtual invite for CROCUS 2010. Clicking on the picture below will take you to CROCUS 2010 posts on Saffron Tree’s website.