Homeward Bound

Sitting in the San Francisco airport reflecting on the trip of the past month. After a 9-hour, red-eye flight from Lima, we were grateful to land on American soil where you can drink the tap water, flush the toilet paper and not worry about eating salad. Suddenly signs were in English again and the hum of Spanish speakers dissipated. The colorful markets also vanished, along with dusty roads, exotic birds and steeping cocoa tea. Peru was truly an amazing country with oceans, soups, cities, jungles, mountains, alpacas, canyons and lovely, lovely people who genuinely welcomed foreign visitors and viewed us perhaps through  American sitcoms, including “Friends” and the “Big Bang Theory.”

It was an incredible trip up until the very end -- even with “the illness” as it will hence be known in our household. The kids are delighted to be almost home and we are grateful for all we were able to do and see together as a family, from climbing into and out of Colca Canyon, to getting up at dawn to watch green parrot flocks dance around a clay lick at sunrise. We recognize, sadly, that this may be one of the last trips of this kind and length as we are now officially parenting teens who have their own wants, needs and hopefully, future summer jobs (at least for one soon to be community college student with a license).

Our last few days in Peru were a slow blur. After the famous Amazon adventure, which was like a mini-biology camp thanks to the extensive knowledge of our guide Edward, we arrived at the tiny Sacred Valley town of Pisac. Best known for its grand market, which began as a local trading spot and eventually succumbed to becoming a tourist bus mecca, Pisac is a lovely place surrounding by grand mountains flanked with terraced ruins that unfortunately we did not have the time or energy to visit.

We stayed at a sweet little hostel owned by a Lima couple. It was supposed to be a two-day rest stop in a nice bungalow with Wi-Fi, the market and room to stretch out and relax before our journey home. Instead we had less than 24 hours there, which included some devastating news about Garin’s mom and a recent diagnosis. Thanks to Skype, we were able to talk to Garin’s sister Keri and his mom from the other side of the equator. We then took a long walk to town along the river, which included locals, dogs and some trash piles. Later we took a taxi back to town for dinner with the kids, then returned to check out the market the next day at 7 a.m. to pick up some last minute souvenirs. Court is happy to report that Anna did not have to carry back any of her purchases this time. Alpaca scarves tend to pack down quite nicely.

After breakfast we then caught a taxi to Cusco, where our driver had to detour through many a side street due to another protest. Back in Lima, we ordered a 2 for 1 Domino’s  Pizza special and watched more “Friends.” We have probably seen at least 20 different episodes during our Peru trip, along with multiple “Big Bang Theory” shows. The next day we checked out another suburb called Baranco. It’s the up and coming beachside artist community. We delighted in watching a happy yellow Lab roll around and dig in the sand for at least 20 minutes. We have never seen such a happy dog! We were equally happy later when we indulged in some amazing desserts at a local café -- loads of meringue, sweet rice, lemon pie and caramel (all in separate desserts of course). We ended up where we started at Hostel Patio in Lima then caught a late night cab ride home after a mediocre Italian dinner.

It will be nice to get home to our own kitchen, beds and home...but it has been another grand adventure for which we are eternally grateful and blessed.

Note from Anna: So thank you for reading our blog this month. I’m sure all of you just hop out of bed in the morning wanting to hear about the Schrieves' day.