An Interesting Post-Peru Insight

I wish I had thought of it before we left. But it never occurred to me, unfortunately. Otherwise, I would have had a chance to see it. Here's the story. For 26 years, I was the Head of School of a school that was founded by Jean Garvey. She and her husband, Willard, were prominent Wichitans, philanthropists, and community leaders. Over the 26 years I learned a lot about their family and their business philosophy, but there was a lot I didn't know. In about 2004 (I think), Mrs. Garvey went on a long cruise through the Panama Canal, and she told me about stopping in Peru. Willard was involved in building some starter homes in Peru, and she went to the area to see what the houses looked like now. She said it was amazing what the families had done with the homes, and she was treated like a queen. She described the gated community, the flowered yards, the courtyards . . . it sounded wonderful. Of course, did it occur to me when we were going to Peru to find out where the community was so I could go see it? No. Not until April 28 did I think about it, and then I began to do some research, and this is what I discovered. In the late 1950s (Willard was in his late 30s), he worked with several people nationally (Dwight and Milton Eisenhower and Allen Dulles, for example) to try to build low-income housing in other parts of the world. He had already created a number of homes and apartments in Wichita that are used to this day, and he strongly felt that to counteract Khrushchev's "Every Man a Communist" manifesto, he would make "Every Man a Capitalist" by providing a starter home for people, coupled with low mortgage rates. Using the surplus grain that the US had, he had a plan for using the grain, philanthropy, and governmental aid to allow people to own their own homes. The homes were much in line with what was described to us in Peru - squatters built one floor, and then they would add on as they could. Willard's homes usually had four walls, windows, a floor, plumbing rough-ins, and that's it. Some of the homes only had three walls with a curtain over the fourth, but the majority of the homes were the four-wall style. At the time, Pedro Beltran was in the Peruvian government and was very interested in Willard's plan (he also worked with two other Wichitans - William Graham and Bob Martin), and together they were able to build 450 of the planned 500 homes. The neighborhood was called Villa Los Angeles, and according to our guide (who I contacted about this), it is a gated, nice area. I wish I had seen it. Willard also built homes in India and other countries. In reading about the project, one person suggested that the plan worked in theory but that the reality was that too many governmental and management obstacles caused the program to finally stop. But one thing Mrs. Garvey told me has stuck with me. She said they considered building in the Israel/Palestine area. She thought that perhaps, if they had been able to build there, if people had lived and worked together, perhaps many of the problems of the Middle East would not have developed. I was told Willard carried the weight of the world on his shoulders. I think his attempts to help the hard working people of the world is an example of his generosity.

Recipes we learned to cook

Another fun part of the tour was that we were able to learn how to make a few of the dishes and drinks that we had. In Lima and Cusco we were treated to two renditions of the Pisco Sour. In Quito and again on the ship, we were treated to Canelaso - a cinnamon drink that tastes much like mulled cider. And on the ship we also learned to make ceviche, which can be made with cooked fish (which is how we ate it). Most people eat ceviche with raw shrimp, but I believe the chef felt that cooking the fish might go over better. We had a few people who had had gastric issues, and he did not want to aggravate them. I plan to make Canelaso and Ceviche, but I think I will let the Pisco Sour go!

Group Pictures

Debbie was a big fan of group pictures, so we have one at each of our dinners. But I will just post two group pictures, as finding all of the other ones would be hard. It was a fun group . . . glad we all got to experience South America together.

Peruvian Agriculture

Peruvian Agriculture certainly differs from what we have in the US. For many years, most of the land was owned by wealthy people, but in 1969, agrarian reform began implementation. The owners of the haciendas were given agrarian bonds for their land, and the acreage was redistributed to the campesinos and small farmers. These people then built a structure on the property (frequently left empty) to identify that they owned the land, and they would then farm the land. We noticed that most of the land was tilled and worked by hand. Hay and straw were raked by hand; corn was picked and the stalks cut and stacked by hand. Occasionally we would see a tractor, but it was usually a fairly small one. Children worked in the fields, too. Additionally, many of the campsinos farmed terraces on the sides of the mountains. The mountains are very steep, but the terraces allow them to farm enough to keep their families alive.

How Lucky We Were

Our trip was truly a blessed one. Throughout our trip in Lima, about which we had been warned, we had no problems with pickpockets or thievery of any kind. When we came to Machu Picchu, it began to rain just as we headed up the hill; by the time we got into the park, the sun came out and we had a glorious day. The weather in Quito was cool, and despite threatening weather, we only had a few sprinkles. The seas were calm around the Galapagos; the snorkeling could not have been better. Other than one hot day in Puerto Ayora and a deluge the morning we left, the weather cooperated in every way. Additionally we had terrific guides; every planned stop worked perfectly; all of our trains, planes, and boats were on time; none of our transportation broke down (well, one bus was a little late, but it was a nominal delay); no one fell; although we had a few illnesses, they were nothing unexpected and within a day or two, nearly everyone felt better; and our group got along well. We had a terrific trip and we are grateful that so much went right!

The Skies

We had a variety of ways we could see the skies - morning sunrises, evening sunsets, and night skies. Being on the equator allowed us to see both Orion and Ursa Major. When we were in Australia, the only constellation we could see from the Northern Hemisphere was Orion, but since we were closer to the equator, we could also see the Big Dipper. One morning Debbie sat outside and took pictures of the early morning skies.

The sunrises and sunsets were gorgeous, too.

The Flowers of Peru and Ecuador

I wasn't able to identify most of the flowers we saw . . . and we saw a lot. I thought I would put a few of my favorites here . . . and maybe identify them later.