Simple, but plentiful living

We've been in Peru for about a week now, although it feels a lot longer given all that we have experienced and learned in such a short period of time. We've spent most of this first week in and around Arequipa, the second largest city in Peru, including a three-day trek in the Colca Canyon, one of the deepest canyons in the world.

Located in Southern Peru, Arequipa overlooks the Andes mountains and a beautiful snow-capped volcano called El Misti, and many of the buildings in the city are made from white volcanic rock. It's a city with a lot of history and tradition, but is clearly a city undergoing a lot of change. It's the fastest growing city in Peru and has lots of new trendy restaurants and bars. One odd thing about Arequipa is the number of taxi cabs - it sometimes felt like there were more taxis then people. 

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Arequipa, with El Misti in the background...

Our hotel in Arequipa and the hotel owner (who insisted on being called "Papi"), who gave me free Spanish lessons every afternoon.

 















While Arequipa is a nice place to poke around for a while, the highlight of our first week in Peru was definitely the Colca Canyon. Although the canyon is over 13,000 ft. deep, there are several villages inhabited by the Collagua people that are still in existence, dating back to pre-Inca times.

During the three-day trek we visited a few of these communities for meals and to spend the night, and got a chance to meet the local people and learn about their traditions. It's amazing to see how well preserved their culture is, which probably has something to do with the fact that the only way to get there is to hike for several hours down and back up a deep canyon. There are no cars (people get around by foot and by mules through a series of trails), no heating, no modern plumbing, and very little electricity use - simple living to say the least. But at the same time, the people of the Colca Canyon have an abundance of resources. Fresh water flows from the snow-capped mountains and the villages and surrounding land are laced with streams, waterfalls, and narrow irrigation channels. Avocado, oranges, corn, limes, and many other fruits grow in farms nearby the villages. Alpaca, a source of clothing and food, roam the canyon highlands.

While our very short stay in the canyon was a great reminder of how much we take for granted in the developed world, we left with the feeling that there are probably millions of people in the world that would trade places with the Colca Canyon people in a heartbeat. 

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An Andean Condor seen outside the canyon at Cruz de Condor. (Their average wingspan is 10.5ft!)

















We began our trek at the pagoda, stayed in Tapay on the first night, stopped in Coshnirhua to pick fruit on the second day, and walked through Malata on our way to Sangalle where we spent our second night (Sangalle not pictured).
















Arrival at Tapay, after a long and tiring day!

































Picking avocados off the tree.

Views in and around the canyon...










 






























At the finish line of our hike up the canyon with our amazing tour guide, Carlitos.






















Click HERE for more photos.

Boogie on down at Jazzfest

This was my fourth Jazzfest weekend in New Orleans (second for Jenny and I together) and my appreciation for the city of New Orleans just keeps on growing. When I was in college, Jazzfest was only about the music, and while seeing bands at the fairgrounds and the late night club shows is still the primary activity of the weekend, it’s all of the other elements – the food, the architecture, the people, and the overall all vibe of the city – that make Jazzfest such a special weekend. There is no place in the world like it.

For some reason, some of our funniest moments in this city always seem to involve taxi drivers, and this year was no different. Our taxi driver from the airport was hilarious. In addition to driving a taxi, this guy is a preacher, a singer, and apparently, a marriage counselor, because he just went on and on about what you need to be doing to keep your “lady friend” happy. Apparently, the earlobe-tug is the key to happiness!

And then, at 6am on our way back from a late night show at Tipitina's, we asked the cab driver where we can get some food. Next thing I know, the cab driver hands me 5 or 6 pieces of fried chicken on a paper towel. Apparently, he has a fried chicken stash all ready to go for the late night Jazzfest crowd.

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Mardi Gras Indian performance at the fairgrounds...

The Gospel Tent - always a Jazzfest highlight.

What's becoming an annual event for us, the Greyboy Allstars late night at Tipitina's.

During the set-break of a Creole Queen riverboat show, a brass band played the top deck of the boat. Here's a video clip of the horns busting out some MJ!

To unwind after a crazy weekend, checking out the Garden District...

Random notables from the road

We just pulled into Dallas after several days on the road, with stops in Barstow CA, Flagstaff AZ and El Paso TX. The four day drive consisted of endless desert, highway mirages, tiny towns, and in general, tons of wide open space. There were times when we would fill up the tank when it was just under half full because we were afraid we wouldn't see another gas station for a couple hours.

But it was a great reminder of how beautiful the Western U.S. is, and how when you're stuck in a car for 10 hours straight for a few days in a row, random odd things tend to happen.


Here are some highlights from the road:

-While driving through the Mojave listening to Elton John's Tumbleweed Connection (an album we highly recommend, even if you think you don't like Elton John), a tumbleweed hit our car.

-Shortly after pulling our of the check point, two dozen birds swooped on down and simultaneously poop-bombed our car's front windshield. Definitely a coordinated air strike!

-40.0 MPG (that's right - I'm a clean energy geek and I keep track of these things!)

-One of the best things about all of the open space in the U.S. Southwest and Texas is that there is lots of wind and sunshine - a perfect place for large renewable energy projects. We drove by several wind and solar energy projects, including:

The Tehachapi Pass wind farm in CA, one of the oldest large wind farms in the U.S., developed in the 1980's.













One of the Solar Energy Generation Station (SEGS) projects in the Mojave desert. The SEGS installations, nine projects located at three sites in the Mojave and built in the 1980's and early 1990's, are the first large concentrated solar thermal projects ever built in the world.

And towards the end of our drive, huge modern wind farms in West Texas. While I was quite familiar with the scale of wind energy development in Texas in recent years, you really have to see it with your own eyes - hundreds of huge wind turbines that go on and on in all directions as far as you can see. Wind power is now the second largest source of new electricity generation in the U.S., and these projects in Texas are a big reason why.