Christmas Vacation 2010 - Lima Peru

We have arrived safely in Lima, Peru.  The trip here was an adventure in itself.  We left home at 10:30 in the morning for a 7:20 pm flight.  We went to the office to pick up Daddy, then headed out for the airport.  One of our friends the week before had left 4 hours before her flight and never made it due to traffic and work being done on the road due to the landslides.  We did not want to take a chance, as if we missed our flights, we would likely not be able to find another flight out of Caracas until after Christmas.

The traffic was heavier than usual, and you could see multiple landslides along the way - complete with multiple homes destroyed from the landslides, but we made it to the airport in 2.5 hours.  With that much time to kill, we decided to head out to the Marriott close to the airport for lunch.  It killed a couple of hours, and the kids got to play on the playground there and burn up some energy.  We arrived ready to check in at 2 pm - an hour before what the US embassy recommended, and they would not let us check in until 3 pm.  It only took an hour to check in, clear security and clear customs, so at 4 pm we were checking into the American Airlines lounge looking for four chairs together.

We got settled, then Chris and Madeline left for what is becoming a Haver Family Tradition - airport massages.  There is a kiosk, with a wonderful woman, who gives 10 and 15 minute chair massages for a very reasonable prices.  It is so inexpensive, we let the kids get them as well.  We all took turns, then went back to the lounge.  When we booked the tickets to Buenos Aires - we had to transfer through Lima as there is no direct flight from Caracas - so I decided we should stay and explore Lima for a few days.  The tickets were written in spanish - and were in first class - though I missed that part when we booked them.  When I was reviewing the tickets a few weeks ago I realized that our seats were in row 3!  A happy accident for us.

We boarded and realized the first class section was on of the ones that was REALLY first class.  The asiles were huge, and the seats were the ones that go from sitting to a full flat bed.  Each chair had its own entertainment system, complete with Bose type headphones.  The seats alone provided hours of entertainment for my children.  They were served a real meal, with cloth napkins and silverwear and drinks in glasses.  Of course, my worldly children acted like they were in DisneyLand - screaming, "Mom, check THIS out!" over and over again across the plane.

Five and a half hours later, we landed in Peru in the middle of the night.  We cleared customs and emigration and were met by the hotel to take us to our home for the next few days.  We crawled into our beds and fell asleep at about 2 am.

The next day we woke up to a view of the Pacific Ocean - just in front of our hotel, over looking the ocean, is a beautiful outdoor mall and park - so we decided to head there for breakfast.  After breakfast we took a long walk along the cliffs and parks that overlook the rocky beaches and plotted out our day.   We went back to the mall to eat a sushi restaurant and had some of the best ceviche we have ever had in my life.   The seafood here is amazing!  I also had my first pisco sour.  The pisco sour is the local drink here - kind of like a margarita and about 100x as strong.  We went shopping and bought a few scarves and a hat for Madeline made out of baby alpaca - one of the local handicrafts here.

Dinner last night was at Cala - a beautiful restaurant on the beach, specializing in seafood.  The prices here are half of what we would expect to pay in San Francisco for the same food and level of service.   Everyone here - from the maids, to the waiters, to the taxi drivers are some of the most polite, and genuinely happy people we have ever met.  We have become so used to people treating us like we had intelligence issues because or command of spanish was lacking, but here they smile, and remain very patient trying to help us along.  Of course, nothing is pefect, my meal was not what I thought I was ordering last night, but was delicious none the less.

Today we head out for surfing lessons for Chris and the kids at a beach south of Lima - we will let you know how it goes.

Rain Rain Go Away....

Caracas has made CNN.  Again.  Not for the crazy president, but for the torrential rains that have drenched the area.  Yesterday, the government declared a state of emergency and closed the schools for the rest of the week in anticipation of more rainfall, and the ensuing flooding and landslides.  Here is a picture of the sky this morning from my bedroom.  You can't see the Avila - as the clouds are obscuring the view.

We are OK.  We live up on a hill so flooding is not an issue.  We already have landslides around the building on the property and in the surrounding areas - but nothing major.  My neighbor might have to leave her building due to a very large landslide that may have affected the structural integrity of the building.

The weirdest part is the waiting...  It is almost like when a hurricane hits the Gulf of Mexico, and we wait to see which way it will go.  We know it will hit somewhere, and it will be bad, and it might be us, but probably not.

But here, I am not surrounded by my best friends, making gumbo, and telling stories.  AND we don't have weather.com or wunderground.com - where during hurricane season, I am freakishly glued for days at a time.  So I sit and stare and the fat grey clouds outside of my window, waiting for the rain to start, and for whatever will happen, to just happen.

The rest of the photos are a series of pictures taken from the property  around my building.  We have one minor and one moderate slide so far.  The area above the driveway had a slide last year which was repaired, and now the area just lateral to the repair has failed.

I will keep everyone posted.  But again, we are fine!

Fall Break 2010

In lieu of time off for Thanksgiving, our kids get a Fall Break in October for one week.  Last year we went to Curacao, but this year we decided to go home to Louisiana and Galveston as we are not going to the States for Christmas or Spring Break this year.

Fortunately, my best friend Stephanie decided to celebrate her 40th birthday in New Orleans the weekend we arrived.  When we touched down in Houston on Friday, Chris took the girls on to rent a car to drive to Galveston, and I boarded a plane to New Orleans.  

New Orleans was a blast, and a bit of a blur.  Stephanie rented us beautiful rooms at the Royal Sonesta on Bourbon Street.  We even had a balcony to watch all of the activities below.  I laughed until my sides hurt, danced until my feet hurt (my shoe choice, although stylish, was not conducive to a long night on Bourbon Street), and had a fabulous time.  I got smart the second night and packed a pair of flip flops in my purse to change into when my feet started hurting and I just didn't care about fashion anymore.  Highly recommended.  

Here is Heidi, me, Steph, Pamela, Emily and Margaret on Friday night.  I think the guy behind us is the bellman from our hotel.  Gracias to the photographer.  

 On Sunday, we headed to Mandeville and Madisonville to see my cousin, Marla and some old friends from medical school.  Marla is as funny and gorgeous as ever.  Here we are at a lake front restaurant in Mandeville, having, what accidentally turned out to be a 5 hour lunch/pub crawl.  Got to love family dinners and it was worth every minute to see her and my aunt and uncle.

After lunch, we spent the night in Madsionville with Jherie (my roommate from medical school) and her husband Charlie and their beautiful kids Trent, Kate and Lauren.  She asked me what I wanted to eat for dinner before we arrived and I told her good seafood is hard to find in Caracas.  She made the MOST fabulous gumbo with lump crab, shrimp and crab claws AND had seared tuna steaks and scallops on the side.

Uncle Jude and Aunt Jamie came in from New Orleans for a visit and Uncle Jeremiah was able to bring cousin Juliana over for a day to play with the girls.  On our last night in Louisiana, I was able to drag myself out of bed to take the girls to Randol's, their favorite cajun restaurant.  Aunt Leah and most of the uncles were able to make it and we had a wonderful dinner.  The girls love it so much because they play cajun music and dance.   

I captured a short video of the girls dancing together - but as cute as they are, they did not steal the show.  You have to watch the video to understand what I am talking about.  Some people really know how to have fun. The next two days we spent in Galveston, running errands and visiting our loved ones there. 

On Saturday night, we returned to Caracas. 

We have a couple of months of routine, and then we head out to Peru and Argentina for three weeks over the winter break.  Expect a blog with video and all of the usual trimmings.  

We plan to visit Lima for three days then head to Buenos Aires to meet up with Chris' sister and her family there for Christmas Day.  On December 26th we leave for Bariloche - a resort high in the Patagoinian Andes.  After exploring the lakes around Bariloche, we will head to the Glaciers National Park to see Mount Fitzroy and the surrounding glaciers and finally we will head to Tierra Del Fuego and Ushuaia - at the end of the world.  

Good Bye Galveston, Hello Caracas

In true Haver style, we spent our last night out with our friends and my parents at Dibella's

Restaurant in Galveston. It was wonderful, we had the back room and God bless our ONE waitress. She had her hands full with about 25 people including children. The wine flowed f

reely, the food was delicious, but being surrounded by some of the people we love most in the world was priceless. After dinner, we headed to the Gaido's for more company and wine. Some time around midnight, we decided to head home for some much needed sleep.

We were leaving at midnight the next day, so we slept in as much as possible. I spent the morning unpacking, repacking and trying to make each bag as close to 50# as possible. I called Continental to clarify their baggage policies. OK, so you can't take more bags than is allowed (2 per Economy Class ticket), but you pay a hefty fee if they are between 50 and 70 pounds. However, if you have a first class ticket (Chris gets to fly first class), and we did, you can take 3 bags on that ticket up to 70# free of charge. I began to work every possible algorhythm in my mind on how to get all of our luggage within the required weight, and pay as little out of pocket as possible.

We showered, dressed, loaded up the car, hugged my parents, and headed out. We had plenty of time as our flight did not leave until midnight, so we stopped at Pappasito's in Clear Lake for one last meal of good Mexican food, which Chris assures me is sorely lacking in Caracas. Dinner was wonderful and I happened to see two of my former patients who worked there. As an

other fluke, Todd and Laura Flores were there with their girls having dinner on the way home from Camp Mystic.

We arrived at the airport and parked our rental cars. Luckily, there were empty baggage carts right next to our cars so we were able to load them up. Chris had 4 bags and I had 3 plus the carry-on. When we were checking in they weighed our luggage. 5 of the 7 checked bags were over 50#. I was offered a first class upgrade for $199. In a stroke of genius, I talked Chris into upgrading one of the three coach tickets to allow us to not pay the $100 charge. He he. I have yet to fly coach to Caracas. Madeline and I snuggled in first class, while Chris and Katherine had a whole row in coach.

Once the bags were on their way, we headed to the rental car center to drop off the cars and take the bus back to the terminal. We had a couple of hours to kill, so we made good use of the President's Club before our flight left. Madeline thought we were walking into a hotel it was so nice. We boarded the plane at 11:30 and at midnight, took off for Caracas.

We landed at 5:30 am and made it through customs with minimal trouble. A "pacheco" driver greeted us with Chevron Security and brought us to our car. A second car was there to carry our luggage. The drive took over an hour due to traffic and the girls slept most of the way home. Madeline commented on the barrios she saw near the airport - "Mommy, where is all the pretty stuff, why do people live there??" When they woke up, we were home.

They loved the apartment. We showed them around. It is pretty empty as our stuff from home has not arrived yet. It is fun to imagine what it will look like when it is full of our beautiful furniture. At 10 am our regular driver arrived to take us to the grocery store. His name is Eric and he speaks NO English. He is so nice, likes the kids, and smiles a lot. The kids started practicing their Spanish with him. We started with the basics, Hola and Gracias. Madeline said she was too shy to talk Spanish - but by the time we left the grocery store loaded down with staples for a week, she was talking Spanish to any one that would listen. She was saying gracias over and over again, just with variations like gassy-ass, goss-see-oss, and grathias. People in the store were giggling..... Katherine (the pro) in style was flawless in her pronunciation of "Hola Senor Eric". It is so cute. After groceries we went to the neighborhood sushi (pronounced sue-chee here) for food. YUMMY. So glad to find something so good and so close.

Today we awoke to two large birds staring at us outside of our window. Kind of like a cross between a buzzard and a raven. They enjoyed posing for photos, then flew away. We then got out the guide book and decided to take the kids on an adventure. Chris picked El Hatillo - an old colonial settlement in the southern suburbs of Caracas. The guidebook and my parents who went there 27 years ago described it as quaint, full of beautiful old buildings, little shops, and lots of Curacan's out for lunch and shopping. Caracas French Quarter here we come. There was a slight miscommunication with Eric who took us to the wrong side of town, but we got that straightend out and 1.5 hours later ended up in El Hatillo. So now I'm thinking more 5th ward than French Quarter..... I was hesitant to get out of the van. We braved it and started walking around. We found an out of the way Spanish restaurant that served Tapas and we decided to give it a go. Not a thing healthy on the menu, but the food was pretty good. We walked around the square and found that, much like the French Quarter, the inside of the buildings may not reflect what is on the inside. We did find some beautiful furniture stores with hand made carved wooden furniture, as well as antique and art shops.

We got home and I learned how to work the iMovie function on my new Apple computer and Wow is all I have to say. Posted in this edit is my first stab at a movie. Welcome to Caracas.