SCAVENGER HUNT SUNDAY 7.29.12

PERU - GOOD-BYE CUSCO

I've missed SCAVENGER HUNT SUNDAY for the past several weeks... BUT, traveling through Peru for the past 20 days, with limited internet coverage (bummer!), has given me a huge file of photos to draw from (awesome-ness).

Due to limited internet coverage --- heck, we didn't even have electricity in our rooms during the Amazon River portion of our trip --- SO, I'll be posting pics from our travels, as I begin the editing process. We traveled with a small netbook so I could download the photos daily. I was reluctant to use anything but the photo editing programs on my Mac, so these photos are SOOC (straight out of the camera) --- for this week's SHS.

We fly into SFO on Saturday evening, so I'm putting this post together (Thursday July 26th) in Cusco. Today is our last day in this incredibly colorful, architecturally-rich city in Peru.

This week's SHS words are: PAINT, GREEN, EYELASHES, SHAPES & CLOUDS. 

Here's "A TOUCH of PERU" for this week's SCAVENGER HUNT SUNDAY. 

PAINT

Walking through the city of Cusco, I came upon these workers prepping & PAINTING the side of this building! Older cities provide a wealth of photo opportunities that I'll be sharing with you! Note the colors on the man's shirt (standing on the ladder): red & white. These are the colors of Peru's national flag --- their INDEPENDENCE DAY is July 28th. All homes must display the national flag or pay a fine!

GREEN

Loved the GREEN color of this cathedral door. A bit faded from the intense sunshine (Cusco sits at an elevation 11,000 - closer to the sun) - this doorway was about 18 feet tall.

EYELASHES

Rosita, was our table hostess for lunch when we visited the "weaver's cooperative" near Moray, Peru. She had incredibly beautiful eyes with thick EYELASHES. She's wearing the native clothes for her area (mountain range) --- vibrant reds, greens, golds, blues, oranges, golds - even the white was bright! I'll be talking about her culture & work as a weaver in another post. She's demonstrating how to prepare sheep's wool for use in weavings.

SHAPES

This picture was taken in the Amazonian town of Indiana - located on the shores of the Amazon River. Lucio, our guide for the Amazon portion of our tour, grew up about 45 minutes (in an Amazon village) down river from this town. Outside the primary school, the residents had trimmed the trees in various SHAPES (helicopter, egret, etc). This ficus (not native to this area) was shaped as a motorcycle.

CLOUDS

Our first evening in Cusco, Peru, we saw the most incredibly colorful CLOUDS. All of the pictures in this post are SOOC (straight out of the camera)... I'm still trying to master taking night-time photos... in this photo, the buildings are a bit dark, but you can see the clouds casting a glimmer of light on the cathedral tower (on the left). When I have a chance to edit this picture, I'll probably lighten it, so the buildings are more visible??

JPE & I arrived back home Saturday, July 28th evening about 10:30pm... following 36 hours of travel, that began Friday morning. A bit blurry-eyed today, but eager to enjoy the luxury of our own home & its conveniences (drinking water from the tap & being able to flush toilet paper down the toilet).

While in Peru, we were instructed never to drink the water from the faucets! in fact, we had to rinse our toothbrushes with bottled water!! also, beside each toilet (in all bathrooms we used) was a trash receptacle. Over the toilets were signs that reminded us to toss our used toilet paper into the trash --- never into the toilet. I know ---- yuuck! BUT, it wasn't as bad as imagined. The reason for this "inconvenience" --- an over-taxed water system & old pipes... In the 1960's, the population for Lima, Peru (the capital) was 1 million people --- it is currently 9 million... so, the infrastructure of the water system cannot handle the enormous increase in people using the water.

I hope you'll check back often as I share

"A TOUCH of PERU"...

and also, check Ashley's blog, Rambling & Photos 

for tips on participating in SCAVENGER HUNT SUNDAY.