Travel? Why not! Peru

While looking for countries where Yellow fever is endemic* we ran across Peru. The Amazon falls into the endemic zone, the Machu Picchu area is borderline and both are places I want to visit.

Things to do in Peru include

• Inca and Pre-Inca Archeological sites
• Amazon River Cruises on multi-tiered river boats
• Off-Roading
• Rock climbing
• Mountaineering
• Surfing

Travel

• 8 hours non-stop NYC to Jorge Chavez International Airport Lima, Peru
• All regional air connections are though Lima

Sights

Lima

Lima is the international Entry point and transit hub for all air connections in Peru.

• Cathedrals and monasteries
• Mansions
• Quite a few Quirky Museums
• Beautiful Plazas
• Huacas, Adobe Pyramids
• Surfing

Huaraz "International Friendship Capital"

• Trekking, Rock climbing, Mountaineering
• Huascaran National Park, includes  Cordillera Blanca "The White Mountain Range" part of the Peruvian Andes

50 minutes Lima to Huaraz by small plane(weight restrictions), 8 hours by road.
Located at 10,000 feet, May to September are the dry months, "Andean Summer" and cooler than the warm, wet months of October to April.

Cusco

Gateway to the Sacred Valley

• Inca Trail, 4 day trek to Machu Picchu, advanced booking required. 
• Machu Picchu
• Access to Machu Picchu is by train, boarded 20 minutes outside of Cusco with a travel time to Machu Picchu of 4 hours, a few different price options available.
• Most hotels near Machu Picchu are in Aguas Calientes.
• The only hotel right outside the gates of Machu Picchu is the Machu Picchu Sanctuary Lodge. 
• Off-road excursions to the Colca Valley

At 11,200 feet, the best time to visit is June to October, with the rainy season from November to March.
Cusco is a 1.5 hours flight from Lima, 16 flights a day or 21 hours by bus.

Iquitos
Once a thriving rubber port, it is in the Peruvian Section of the Amazonian River Rainforest. November to May is the wet season, the rivers is at its highest in May and then at its lowest in October. The change can be as much as 30 feet. Sights vary depending on the water height, high water allows canopy viewing and better cruising while low season allows for jungle hiking and better fishing.

• Amazon river cruises
• City tour

Iquitos is 2 hours from Lima by medium size plane with 5 flights a day. Only air and river access.

Chiclayo

• Plaza de Armas
• Main Cathedral
• Moche Route, pre-Inca archaeological sites
• Archeological sights (pyramids of Tucum) 
•  surfing

A 1 hour flight from Lima with 4 flights a day or 12 hours by bus.

Puno
Located at 12,500 feet, even higher than Cusco's 11,200 feet.

• Floating Reed Islands
• Lake Titicaca
• Naval Museum on the lake
• Coca Museum

A 2 hour flight from Lima or a 10 hour train ride from Cusco.

* We don't have a desire to contract Yellow fever, but already had the vaccination and want to defray the cost across several trips.

February Flowers

Tried forcing some Lilly of the Valley. They finally bloomed, but they are not getting enough light. They look OK, but nothing compared to these.

Just happened to be outside today and noticed the Witch Hazel are blooming, a bit sparsely though, but I think this is only the second year I've had them and now they have a permanent home. Hopefully next year will be better, I could easily have missed them entirely. They smell great, as does the Lilly of the Valley. Do we have a blooming flower every month? I think we are close and I'm not counting indoor forced flowers.

So we lied, There are monsters under your bed

A few years ago (10) we did a roof raise. To accommodate for the plumbing to the new bathroom we had to give up a tiny corner of the bedroom below. After the plumbers were all done, we boxed in the pipe and added some insulation and put up the sheetrock. Only thing left was the base molding and I must have gotten busy with other things because it never got done.

Fast forward to Christmas Eve 2012 and we notice the Young One's arm is swollen and there are some sort of bites. It is determined that it is cellulitis and the next day, Christmas morning, at the Urgi-Clinic that diagnosis is confirmed. The cause of the bites were not, but bedbugs were ruled out. Two weeks later the Young One is home again and now we notice a swollen ear. Four weeks after that, the Young One is visiting and we notice arm swelling and bites again. We rip apart her room, find no infestation but wash all her stuff and clean her room as a precautionary measure. I had a cunning plan, have the Eldest and Young One switch bedrooms for the night and see if the Eldest was bit proving that there is something in the bedroom, as is so often the case, wiser heads prevailed(imagine if I lived alone) and we didn't try that experiment.

Remember that missing base molding? And remember how your parents always told you there were no monsters under your bed. Well we think that there may have been some monster traffic coming up from the basement.
So it seemed like it was a good time to finish closing up the wall.

For some reason the base molding removed was not long enough to span the long section, but I had some scrap oak down in the Lab which was just right the right height. I used foam to seal out drafts and the holes to the basement, I wore gloves, but some how I still managed to get some on me.

I used 2 screws to connect the longer base molding to the studs and used glue to attach the shorter piece. I didn't use nails on the short piece, I knew it would split and I would curse.

I finished up with wood putty to fill in the tiny gap between the long and short pieces and and ran clear caulk along the top of the shorter piece of base molding and the sheetrock. No way I am going to be able to match the paint so I'll just use some primer on the bare wood.

Not so great from this angle.

Not so bad from this angle.
The bed goes there so I'm not worried, the most important thing was to close up the wall.

January 2013 Review

It was such a busy month, so busy I had no time to write and also because I was exhausted at the end of most days.

On the social front;
We were invited to one of the neighbors house for a party and I brought Grolsch swing-tops because I needed the bottles to bottle the beer I had made the day after Christmas. I had planned to drink the Grolsch during the 2 week period during which the beer fermented, but I got sick right after Christmas and was in no shape to drink. Recovery took quite awhile.  I plan to give that neighbor a bottle of my brew since he helped empty the bottles. We were dirty stay-outs that night, out till 2:30AM!, no wonder I kept nodding off.

The better half graduated from her MPA program in the first half of January, the Graduation reception and ceremony was very nicely done and we managed to fit in a late night meal at our local Thai restaurant.  The next night we had a celebratory dinner at Carols Cafe with the immediate family.

We had neighbors over for Paella which was enjoyed by all and there was leftovers so I was able to bring some to work for lunch.

Not the actual Paella, but you wouldn't know unless I told you which I just did.

We went to the New York Times Travel Show held at the Javits Center, attended some seminars, the best being about accruing miles using credit cards given by The Points Guy. After the seminars we checked out the exhibitors, but a lot of the Travel Specialists were out of brochures and some were starting to pack up. I think Saturday is the better of the 2 days. I attended last year on the Saturday and came home with easily triple the amount of swag as I got this year.
Afterwards we had dinner at the chip shop A Salt and Battery in the Village.

The better half had ex-colleagues over for Pulled Pork, it came out great. One of the colleagues brought along 2 trays of food so we had pulled pork and noodles and spring rolls for breakfast, lunch and dinner that week.

A different neighbor invited us to a Robbie Burns dinner, haggis and all. I brought some Scottish Ales. I was also convinced by the store owner? to buy a sample pack for myself. The sample pack by Innis and Gunn of Edinburgh Scotland had Original, Winter Beer and Rum Cask styles and included a glass. They all tasted strong and malty and all were aged in oak barrels. The Rum cask brew was tasty, but I could not see drinking more than one in a night.

My beer, made from a Chocolate Maple Porter kit from Brooklyn Brew Shop was ready for drinking this month as well. It was carbonated, malty, had chocolate and maple notes and a dry finish. It was very good. It was a bit hoppy so I would put less hops in if I make this style again. Was thinking of making the Chestnut brown ale next since I like Samuel Smiths Nut Brown Ale. The kit was a Christmas present from the eldest, I had always wanted to make beer, but most kits were for making 5 gallons. I would get sick of the beer style before I finished it all. This kit was 1 gallon and just the right size.

On the phobia front I had a bad month, I had to endure 4 needles; a blood test, 2 tooth fillings replaced and a vaccination. The dentist uses a jell to numb the gum prior to the injection so that isn't too bad and the other 2 episodes were not too traumatic, I didn't have to wait long so my anxiety didn't have time to grow exponentially.

We also had quite a wind storm this past week(01/31). I heard things blowing around in the yard next to me and I took a look from the back of my garage and saw this. The neighbors garage door which has been unable to close for years, must have been blown to pieces by the wind.

The neighbor has yet to pick up the shingles (in the background) which were blown off the roof by Super Storm Sandy.

December Flowers

Actually have some flowers in Bloom thanks to the moderate weather.
Snow Drops, I had one bunch pop up in December last year as well, the rest will show up in January.

Periwinkle, I expect them in the Spring, but was happy to see this brave soul.

Won't be long before the Witch hazel blooms.

I also have flowers on one of the Coral Bells, a Rose in bloom and had a few Lavender sprigs in color.

Opening gifts a bit late Christmas morning with my foot warmer. An unexpected trip to the Urgent Clinic Christmas morning changed the morning plans a bit, but everything was fine after that.

2012 Tree with the Golden Baked Potato in place of the traditional Santa Hat.

A very festive table.

Birthday Boots

Yeah, the boots I ordered for my birthday showed up.
This is the Official photo.

and these are mine. I ordered them from Russel Moccasin Co. with no pull tabs and Newporter soles with a 1/4 inch heel wedge.

I slid my feet in and they were very comfortable, like they were made just for me. I can be very picky about shoes. The shoes also smell great for now.

I wore them around the house for 2 days and then wore them to the office as their first outing, after a short while I forgot I was wearing new shoes. I'll wait for a dry day to take a walk in the woods, wouldn't want to muddy them up first time out.

For a comparison, these are Bass Clifford boots that I purchased at an outlet for a great price. Very comfortable straight away, but very thin leather, canvas and soles. A lot of seams in the leather outer sole and I'm sure the vamp does not wrap around the foot. My new shoes have a seamless molded outer sole and a wrap around vamp. Plus the pull tabs on these bug the heck out of me, they should probably not extend past the top of the boot. No other complaints about the Bass boot, but they just won't be here as long as my new boots (Thula Thula "PH"). I prefer to keep things for as long as possible, plus I like the routine of maintaining things like shoes, wax jackets and tools.

A pinch of this, a sprig of that, eye of newt and some spam

Lime Aftershave
I ran out my Truefit and Hill West Indian Limes aftershave and now have run out of my Caswell Massey Lime spray so I figured I would try to make my own. Of course I searched the web, then I did my own version of all I had seen.

• peels of 3 limes (no pith)
• 18 allspice berries
• 2 oz. vodka
• 0.5 oz white rum
• may add witch hazel after the limes have given their all

 Almost like Lemoncello sans the simple syrup.

 Sweet Bacon for Christmas

• 955 g pork belly
• 45 g dry cure*
• 32 g brown sugar
• 25 g maple sugar
• 2 tablespoons Crown Royal Maple Finished Whisky

I used to buy my Dad Crown Royal, it came in a blue bag. I had seen a writeup of the Maple Finished on Drink Spirits  and figured I'd give it a try. When I purchased it, it was in a box and I was disappointed that I wasn't going to get a bag. I was wrong, it came with a brown bag, I'll probably use it when I travel to keep my shoes in, I have awfully tiny feet.
In our scientific tasting, 33 and 1/3 of those samples thought it was like firewater while over half of the sampled population liked it. It has a pronounced maple aroma, but is not overpowering upon drinking. A good companion on a cold winter's night of boar hunting with spears.

Savory Bacon, for cooking

• 728 g pork belly
• 40 g dry cure*
• 3 cloves garlic
• 3 bay leaves
• crushed black peppercorns

Savory left, sweet right

The bacon will sit in the fridge for 6 or 7 days and I'll smoke them next weekend.
I also rendered some of the extra fat and chucked it in a jar for use in cooking.

Bought the pork belly at the local Pork store, imagine that. It usually is difficult to get it in large slabs if the food stores have any at all.

Bacon recipes from Charcuterie by Ruhlman & Polcyn.
* dry cure 8:4:1 kosher salt: sugar: curing salt

Obligatory Beer Photos
I like Newcastle Brown, especially in the small kegs, this is very nice as well. I like the fir trees on the label.

This Winter Lager is very drinkable, though I am waiting for more Holiday brews to arrive so I can pick my favorite.

Quite looking forward to the Harpoon Winter Warmer and the Samuel Smiths 2012-2013 Winter Welcome Ale.