Road Rules?

Well I tried to post last night, but the Andes have been throwing some pretty good weather our way and the internet connection was spotty at best. There is a bit of blue sky this morning- so there is still hope for a bit of a river tan this summer!
The trip to Peru was fabulous- not that you could call 18 hours on a bus in 3 days anything short of fabulous....well actually I am sure that I could come up with a lot of interesting descriptive words, but I will spare you for now. Most of the weekend was spent relaxing- something that I do not remember doing since December!

Rafael and Elena enjoying a relaxing Sunday morning.

Yes, we did get out of the house- but I will have to admit that I think I enjoyed the couch time more than anything! Well the great company could not be beat! Rafael, Elena, and baby are doing fantastic. Their apartment is adorable and life in Piura is well life in Piura- not much has changed. Even at 17 weeks I think that their little niño is all ready full of piss and vinegar just like Elena. They will hopefully get to find out the sex of the baby this week, but the baby has been giving them a bit of attitude during their last several doctors visits and literally turns it's back on the camera! 

Enjoying a little Peruvian ceviche!

These guys come in and out of the apartment all of the time.
I woke up to this guy hanging out next to my head. Elena says that
they eat all of the bad bugs- not a bad pet at all!

Before the invasion of the Spaniards and the subsequent conversion to catholicism, there were numerous "religions" celebrated by the indigenous peoples of South America. A lot of this religion was/is dominated by a lot of rituals and superstitions. While I am not a religious person myself, it is still interesting to observe the behavior of others and their social practices. It is common practice in Peru to either wear or decorate your home with a local seed that is said to provide good luck and protect you from the envy of others. Given the string of "bumps in the road" that Greg and I have experienced recently I thought "what the heck," and when Elena, Haley, and I went to the beautiful markets in Catacoas I bought a necklace and a couple of bracelets made of these seeds. Beyond their "protective" properties, they will look great with my black dress. 

Now on to driving. As mentioned before, living down here is somewhat reminiscent of  living in one of the fast and furious movies. There really are no road rules. What we consider to be a two lane highway in the US can easily become a 4 or 5 lane highway down here- without any warning. I should not say that there is not warning, as everyone uses their horns down here with the intent of telling the other driver "I am making my move, what are you going to do about it?" A pedestrian right away is a fantasy down here- absolutely non-existent. Rafael and I were watching some news footage from Lima and in a 45 second vignette, probably saw 20 people catapulted through the sky after being hit by a vehicle. Raw footage, no editing. Thus as our bus was weaving its way back to Loja, winding through cloud forests on a one lane dirt road, driving in excessive speeds, and being passed in every way imaginable- I could not help but take notice of how the locals were fairing the ride. Every church or cross the bus passed (which was a significant number), the passengers that were awake would all make the traditional cross across their body. While I am sure that there is some religious merit to that action- the majority of me believes that they too are aware of the ridiculous road rules of the country and will do anything for a little peace of mind.