Dogs of La Molina

La Molina prides itself on being a pet friendly city with all kinds of dogs and conscientious owners (however, we have also learned to look carefully where we step when walking on the sidewalks).

Although over thousands of years dogs have developed extraordinarily effective fur coats that will protect them in the coldest weather, no dog owner in La Molina would even consider taking their dog out for its daily "paseo" in 50-plus degree weather without a stylish coat. So when winter comes, the streets of La Molina become something of a fashion show for dogs (or their owners).

Always pretty in pink!  Even with a thick Husky-like coat, a dog needs to take the Lima winter seriously.  And what better way than in this pink coat with black dots.

This poor guy is all dressed up properly for his walk in a neat blue coat embellished with colorful canine-themed accents. Why would anyone want to leave without him? So sad!

This was the year, the first in 30-something years, that Peru went to the World Cup!  Here's one of the fans in the traditional "blanquiroja" stripped Jersey. From the expression, he must have been watching one of Peru's World Cup games, none of which ended well.

A  happy spaniel looking sharp in his comfy plaid jumper.

A patriotic look for this Great Dane on Peru's Independence Day.

Orange may be the hot new look -- the new black -- haven't you heard?

Blue on black looks good on this Lab.

 

Sporting a Southwestern Navajo rug theme this year.

These guys are going for a different look, and it doesn't involve pretty pink coats.

Sky-blue is always a favorite, but, seriously ladies, it is really all about the shoes.

A brief commentary on dogs in La Molina:  There are all kinds of dogs here!  The pictures above do not accurately represent all of the various breeds that we see as we walk the sidewalks.  There are  many small dogs -- probably even more than the larger breeds. Especially common are chihuahuas.  One sees Yorkshire terriers. Poodles and poodle-mixes are everywhere.  There are all kinds of terriers, shar peis, bulldogs (including the French sort), beagles, dobermann pinschers and miniature pinschers.  I even saw and petted a St. Bernard puppy (about 6 months old at the time) running away from her owner!  However, we have never seen a Welsh corgi -- pembroke or cardigan -- here, and none of the locals we've talked to about corgis have ever heard of the breed. (What would the Queen think?) Jewels would find many friends here, but none quite like her. 

Brasilia 350, etc.

We're in a new place, apartment 201 on Brasilia 350 in La Molina (for those who want to check it out on google maps). It is a long, complicated story why we're here and not in the apartment on Melgarejo and Bogota or in the Temple apartments, but in short it is nice to be back in a neighborhood.

In terms of interior design and layout, consider an apartment organized around a single long hallway resembling a bowling lane. All things considered, however, it is a step up from the noisy place at Melgarejo and Bogota with its small kitchen, although I liked the Spanish colonial look of the other apartment better than this modern box style.

One of the reasons we moved was that, with Evie recovering from sinus infections, the apartment on Melgarejo wasn't ideal, especially when another (this one) on a quiet street with less traffic fumes was available. So, promptly after we moved in, they decided to demolish the building across street.

A nice thing about being missionaries is that members are really nice to you, because you are missionaries (they have great regard for the calling here in Peru). These nice people, as part of an YM/YW service project, came by one Saturday morning to help clean our apartment. The sister at the far left is one of the YW leaders.

Another senior missionary couple, serving in the temple, left for home, which required a party and entertainment for those on the Friday evening temple shift.

This is the primary practicing a Father´s Day song. The twins in the front row (boy with dark sweater and girl in pick dress) are in our class.  (We teach a class for the English speaking kids). They are really cute.

The boy with blond hair in the middle row is also in the class. The tall girl right behind him is his big sister. She is not in our class. The blonde boy is looking at and getting ready to bother another boy in a white shirt who is already bothering a girl with dark brown hair. 

The boy in the white shirt is from an Argentine family, who speak English (lived in Plano, TX for awhile) and are moving to India. That boy and his older brother, who is also wearing a white shirt and standing behind him and next to the blonde kid´s older sister, have been coming to our class to practice their English. The brown haired girl who is being bothered by the boy in the white shirt also comes to our class. Her father is a mission president and the family is from Brazil, but lived for several years in Florida. She speaks Portuguese and English, but not much Spanish yet.

 Our lessons are the same as any other primay class. The class members, however, can be quite interesting.

 

We stopped by our legal coordinator's house to pick up some chicken from a "pollada" (another story) and, since we speak English, their son David wanted to show us that he could recite in English the names of animals from A to Z.  This is David announcing the animal for "W." Courtesy of some earlier comments by Grandma Evie, the animal chosen was not "wolf" but "werewolf." (Note: "blanquirroja" jersey)

Dancing grand kids, check this out. This is Andrea (AKA Andreita), who had taken some ballet lessons, but is now taking "marinera" lessons. The marinera is Peru's national dance and there are marinera dance academies all over and a big national contest each year in Trujillo. This is a link to an earlier post with a clip of the dance towards the end of the post marinera dance clip . It is not a "free form" dance, but one with lots of specific moves that have to be learned and performed precisely by both dancers.

Andreita was just wearing her PJs, but put on her skirt to show us the dance. The skirt is actually really heavy, I guess because it gives the dancer better control. It is a courtship dance, but interestingly the two dancers never actually touch.

 Evie (along with a few hundred other missionaries) welcoming Elder Stevenson to Perú. 

Ecuador

I like this picture. The snow capped mountain in the background is Cotopaxi, the second highest summit in Ecuador (5,897 m /19,347 ft) and an active volcano, last erupted in 2016.

I took the photo from the window of this place, the Hacienda los Mortinos, an "idyllic destination getaway" about two hours south of Quito in a plain or valley known as Predregal. I had to go to some meetings in Quito, and we decided to go a few days early to some place that was not like Lima, and we ended up here. It was fun and we even had our own llama herd that wandered in from time to time.

Another picture of Cotopaxi from the hacienda.

The area around is largely pasture land for horses and cattle, mostly dairy cattle. Not far and a little lower, the land is planted with potatoes. I suppose the volcanic origin of the soil in southern Idaho, as well has here, makes for good potatoes. The man in the photo is a "Chagra," the term here in Ecuador for a cowboy. If you look closely at how he is dressed you may see some clues about this place that are not evident from photos - it is cold and windy, as well as spectacular. 

The area is surrounded by horse pastures and one night some of those horses managed to escape and spent the night wondering around the hacienda. Check out the video clip. It's what horses do when free to wander where they're not supposed to be.

With Cotopaxi spectacular, but cold and windy and feeling the effects of the altitude, we decided on an adventure hike at a lower altitude. About 30 minutes away from our hotel in a four wheel drive vehicle over very rough dirt roads is a trail up a little canyon along the Rio Pita to a waterfall known as the Cascada Cóndor Machay. The amazing thing is that it is a very jungle-like environment even though we were still at around 10,000 feet and not that far from the nearly 20,000 foot Cotopaxi. 

The trail crosses the river about six or seven times with bridges such as this. Although made of steel, they still sway. Kids, wanting to annoy their parents, can make them sway about a foot or so. With an adult being careful, such as Grandma Evie, it will still sway 3 or 4 inches, just enough to make you look down to the river far below.

Resting with our Spanish speaking guide and driver -- a nice young man, but crazy driver.

The Rio Pita begins in the glaciers of Cotopaxi, flows down the high plains until falling here into the canyon. It really is a cool place (and favorite for locals with their families).

Quito

While Grandpa Mike went to some legal meetings, Grandma Evie went shopping and explored interesting things of Quito, such as this piece of public art. Afterwards we did the essential tourist things we missed on our last trip, including:

The TelefériQo (the name derives from teleférico and Quito), a gondola lift running from the edge of the city center up the east side of Pichincha Volcano to lookout Cruz Loma. It is one of the highest aerial lifts in the world, rising from 3,117 m (10,226 ft) to 3,945 m (12,943 ft). 

The lift provides access to viewpoints with great views of the city and surrounding volcanoes. It also provides access to a network hiking and biking trails in the mountains above Quito (I think some of the trails down would be a lot of fun, but unfortunately no bike). We enjoyed the views and walked on some of the trails (until our bodies reminded us that we were at 13,000 feet and had been living a sea level for almost a year.)

That afternoon, it was on to....

Mitad del Mundo (see this post Mitad del Mundo).  Having lived in some of the "4-corners" states, and having taken our children to the actual 4-Corners monument years ago, we thought it would be fun to have pictures of two different hemispheres.

So close, yet really hemispheres apart.

The Mitad del Mundo monument was not as lame as I had expected and was well done. Grandma Evie enjoying some of the interesting public art.

When we were waiting to go through customs at the Lima international airport on our return from Quito, we met three sister missionaries returning from missions in Honduras. We then walked into the public arrival area to this huge, loud welcome, which of course was not for us but for the three missionaries standing behind us. I appreciate that SLC has a reputation for over the top welcomes for returning missionaries, but these Peruvians have taken it to another level. The photo doesn't come near to capturing the event (it wasn't really our party to take pictures of). There were three large groups of 20+ with matching t-shirts and various welcome home banners. One sister had to walk through a mock welcome home finish line tape to greet her awaiting family. Our ride from the airport was late so we were hanging around for the next 45 minutes or so during which the families all took photos for themselves welcoming home a missionary. This was actually one of may favorite moments of the trip. It was not tacky or feigned like so many things nowadays, but sincere (and very well executed, which is not always the case here).

A Room with a View

Complicated story, but we had to move from the apartment on the corner to the missionary apartments at the Lima Temple complex. This is the view from our bedroom. Seriously,when we look out the window from bed in the morning we see Angel Moroni above the temple. It can have an effect on how you welcome the new day, especially if you wake up in a bad mood about something.

This is another view from our window on a Saturday. Saturdays tend to be busy days with bus loads of patrons coming from just a few hours away or a bus ride of several days. When you come with a group there can be a lot of waiting around. The temple sessions fill up quickly in the morning, meaning many people who arrive in the morning will not be able to attend a session until the afternoon. And, of course, there are children waiting for sealings. Fortunately, the temple has probably the nicest grounds in all of Peru for waiting around. Zoom in on the photo and check out the different people and groups enjoying the temple on the outside.

Note the little boy looking through the glass on the temple doors. This is a common sight and from the inside they look so cute peering through the doors to get a glimpse of what's inside or their parents (who they're hoping will hurry up)

 

 The "comedor" in the auxiliary building.

Waiting outside the temple doors.

 On the way to a sealing...

Peaceful temple grounds (and about 25 yards from a busy and congested bus stop on a major city road)

And take a few pictures to remember.

The veranda on a pleasant evening, a perfect place to wait for that final session to end. Incidentally, the window on the third floor with the light is our apartment.