Miscellaneous pictures & observations by Craig

 

We ate a few times at the same restaurant in Caraz. Each time this lady came in and went to each table trying to sell potatoes or wildflowers (actually begging). She's wearing the characteristic hat of the area.

This is a typical shower head from Peru, with exposed wires and taped wire junctions. Yikes! There is a heating element in the shower head. The way it works is you turn on the water, next you throw a breaker to shower, then you adjust the water so it's hot. If the flow is too high, the water isn't warm. If the flow is too low, there's a low cutoff switch that turns off the heat. It's very difficult to adjust the right trickle flow such that you get hot water.

We took this taxi up to a trailhead near Caraz. The road was very rough and narrow with about 50 switchbacks. Americans think we need SUVs with four-wheel drive and ground clearance. The taxi was an ordinary Camry about 15 years old.

This is a trash pickup in Cusco. People leave their trash out in garbage bags and packs of dogs then tear up the bags for the food inside. Then the poor trash collectors have to gather that up and shovel it into the truck. Stray dogs are a plague here.

This is a deep fried bread and relish that is automatically served with meals in parts of Peru. It's like the chips and salsa with a Mexican meal - quite good.

This church in Arica, Chile is made entirely of iron. It was prefabricated in France, designed by Gustave Eiffel. Apparently he made many buildings like this for export to South America.

 These folks are celebrating the anniversary of The Battle of Andamos, a national holiday in Peru. The battle was a crushing naval defeat for Peru in their war with Chile in the latter part of the 19th century. This defeat set the stage for their loss of the entire war, which led to the loss of Peruvian territory to Chile. Why this should be a national holiday in Peru is beyond me.

This building was a lactarium, built in a public park in Buenos Aires in the early 20th century for the convenience of nursing mothers.

 An abandoned fishing boat in Puerto Natales.

A typical breakfast in Buenos Aires - Cafe de leche and semi-lunas

We went to an art museum outside Buenos Aires, housed in what had been a beautiful and elaborate athletic and social club built in 1912. It has some of the original bathroom fixtures.

 Many older buildings in Buenos Aires have these tall (10-12 ft) narrow entrance doors.

This fountain replicates one found in the 16th century painting by Hieronymus Bosch called The Garden of Earthly Delights.