Parents!

The last week has been the most amazing vacation I could have possibly imagined.  The main reason being that I got to spend it with my parents.  

The first day, we went to my first host family in Lima and had lunch.  While my parents don't speak Spanish, and my host family doesn't speak English, I think they did a pretty good job communicating, getting to know each other, and it was wonderful seeing my two sets of parents sitting at the same table.

 Then we were off to Tantará, passing through Chincha, and taking the long (very long) road up into the mountains.

Typical mototaxi traffic jam in Chincha

 I didn't discover the most interesting part of my parents visiting Tantará until many days after when I was looking through the pictures my dad had taken.

A small collection of houses on the way to Tantará

So many things that I see everyday have faded into the background.  But my dad, interested in everything, took some great pictures of Tantará.  It was really amazing seeing Tantará from a different angle.  It made me appreciate again the beauty of the place I live.

Added bonus: I now have a lot more pictures of my site than I used to.

One of the main streets

Secondary School and Health Center

School, Health Center, and some houses from above

A neighborhood called Nuevo Amanecer

Hiking up some mountains

A small cluster of ruins down the road from Tantará

Then, we left Tantará and took an overnight bus to arrive in Arequipa.

Cathedral with volcanoes 

El Monesterio de Santa Catelina

 So much of Arequipa, especially Colca Canyon is impossible to capture on camera.  The vastness of the valley, the beautiful blue skies, the crispness of the air, and the chirping of birds simply do not come through in a picture.

Really high up

Colca Canyon, with terraces 

The mountains go on forever

Condor

Some friends we met

On a hike to some ruins

It was a wonderful vacation, and I am sad to see them go.  But also very grateful to have parents that will come here, spend endless hours on various buses, and not understand most of what's going on, just to see me.