Cebiche de Pato and 52 Weeks in Peru.

This past week we noted the anniversary of our arrival to "Peru" at the MTC in Provo. Our grandson CP, three years old at the time, knew we were leaving home for our mission to Peru.  As we exited the freeway, his dad Kyle driving, he asked, "Are we in Peru yet?" Without a doubt the most difficult part of being a missionary this past year is missing our grandkids. They are growing, learning, and developing so quickly and we are so far away. The best I can do is order Thomas the Tank Engine components from Amazon and send them to Indiana or other things to Salt Lake and Centerville. We miss our friends in Utah, California, the NCAC of 2011, and our house of course, tucked away in the redwood forest.

CP and his grandparents at the Provo MTC, September 2010

When we can we like to visit a number of Peru's fascinating archaeological sites.
This photo is from the Cechin Bajo site near Casma on one of our trips where we
first experienced cebiche de pato with our friend C.

In honor of our one year anniversary we enjoyed several events. First of all, our friend C. came over last Monday and cooked us cebiche de pollo. He originally intended to prepare cebiche de pato, but C. was unsure about the age of any ducks in the market, therefore he substituted chicken. Pato is duck in Spanish. Unlike traditional cebiche with fish, the pato or pollo dishes are cooked thoroughly. The common denominator being the use of lemon in the marinade.

Preparing the red onions for the cebiche marinade

The washed papas ready for cooking. Once cooked some of the skin or eyes 

were removed. 

In addition to the pollo, he prepared yucca and a new variety of papa or potatoes that we had not tried before. It is similar to huayro papas, but a little different. They are sold in La Parada and we agreed we will go back there again with him to shop for several more varieties of potatoes.

Mixing the marinade in with the pollo. 

After several hours of preparation and cooking the plates are being loaded.

Cebiche de Pollo, papas, and yucca. It was very very good as C. is a great cook.

Next, we enjoyed a very surprising football game between the Utes and Cougars. Who would have thought the game would be so completely lopsided and dominated by Utah? It was in their house too.  A local BYU diehard even gave me six points on the game so we are planning an evening out at our favorite restaurant. We'll likely go to El Hornero as their steaks are very good. Somehow eating "dead meat" is appropriate to honor Coach Bronco and his team's failure to execute.

QB Jake Heaps coughing up one of numerous fumbles against Utah last week.

This weekend we are flying to Trujillo where the new Temple groundbreaking occurred last week. The Lima Temple is closed for the Women's Conference.  We would like to visit the construction site, learn if bicycles can be ridden in that part of Peru, and tour several archaeological sites close by.

Artist's drawing of the new Trujillo Temple. Likely, it will be 9700 square feet

with two endowment rooms making it a little larger the Lima Temple

The largest pre-Colombian city in the Americas is close to Trujillo. It is known as Chan Chan and was built by a pre-Inca people known as the Chimor. Estimates range upwards of 30,000 inhabitants. Marine motifs and engravings of reed boats suggest a seafaring ability.  The Chimor were the descendents of an earlier seafaring culture known as the Moche.  Somewhere among the time period of these two cultures the spread of the Peruvian sweet potato or camote to Polynesia occurred.

The Chimor prospered in their city of Chan Chan for nearly 600 years prior

to the arrival of conquering Incan arnies.

We will have photos and another post from our visit to Chan Chan, Trujillo, and several nearby sites.  We have recommendations for a couple restaurants in the area and the food, according to most travel guides and our Peruvian friends, is better than what we find in Lima, except for our friend C. and Brother and Sister Ramos. The weather is more agreeable too. Among Peruvians Trujillo is recognized as having a perpetual spring or 'primavera eterna' in Spanish.

***Update/Flash:  While we were in Trujillo we received an email from Alice with the news that CP, our four year old grandson, had scored his first goal as a soccer player.  He has grown a lot in a year and has benefited from older brothers teaching him his sweet soccer skills. A parent of a player on the other team observed, "That little red headed boy is the best player on their team."  We will be on the sidelines for 5 year old soccer next season.

CP in the "zone" racing with the ball toward the goal.