Boricua en la Lima

...for end of year parties and Christmas productions and most importantly Christmas and Summer! Here´s Sebas´ Christmas show from school this morning...

I’m sitting here on the airplane coming back from New York to Lima wondering how all the events that transpired to my being here right now came about. I just ran (and finished), my first marathon, the NYC Marathon 2013, which was especially meaningful for the city of New York given Hurricane Sandy last year and the bombings in the Boston Marathon this year.  As I sat in the seemingly endless waiting pattern to begin the race I wondered “Why this one? Why now?”… See, last year I basically trained for a whole marathon without actually doing it.  Some family members were training for the Chicago marathon and while I couldn’t make it because I had a trip to Puerto Rico previously planned I decided I would do the training as a way to keep them company while they trained and getting some good workouts in after having moved to Lima.  While I didn’t do the middle of the week runs I ran almost every long run with them and felt like I was in good physical shape from all the wor...

A lot has been happening which is taking up a lot of time and not letting me write much! Not to mention not inspiring me much either. First, work continues to be a lot more time than I initially bargained for. I think I am getting more used to it by now but it´s still not at a level I want it to be at long term. But either I´ve learned a lot and I´m starting to do things a bit faster, or we haven´t had enough high pressure visits or I don´t know what, but now I get home around 7:00 pm or 7:30 pm at night instead of midnight almost every night.  Watch me say that this week and jinx it for next week. But the good thing is that because of the better recent work schedule I´ve been able to do my week runs around 8 pm or so once the kids are tucking in for the night.  It hasn´t been easy because most days I just want to get in bed and watch some TV before zonking out for the night, but I think I am somewhat on track to run this marathon on November 3 rd .  But basically betwee...

We're on our way back to the train station from Machu Picchu and I am so happy that I've gotten to enjoy a well deserved couple of days off as well as seeing the kids enjoy themselves in Cuzco so much when I get am email from the school administration that a kid in pre-kinder has passed away. No name, no explanation, just a note saying that they have rallied all the counseling support they can to deal with this thing on Monday morning when the kids go back to school. First thing I wonder is if the kid was in my kid's classroom, were they friends? How will they explain this to my kid, how will I explain this to my kid? Will all the kids react as if it was a non-event or will their little worlds be shattered? Obviously this is nothing compared to Newton but I find myself at a loss here too, not understanding how God can let something so tragic and sad happen. It's Father's Day tomorrow and I feel so horrible for the parents of this kid, what they must be going throu...

Not much time to write things are still crazy at work (at this point I don't think they will ever NOT be crazy).  But I wanted to share this great article my Dad sent me on traveling to Peru.   10 things to know before visiting Peru Shortly afterwards the same day my dad sent me this other link and he said he watched the show and it was really interesting, especially when it comes to places and things to eat! Anthony Bourdain Parts Uknown Episode 7 The same day the episode came out we had walked by Amaz and wondered about it but chose Papachos instead since we were craving some nachos and burgers (amazing!).  But next time we´ll have to give Amaz a try.

Work has been so absolutely crazy this month I haven't even had time to really properly move in.  Every weekend I spend about two hours doing ONE project that's move related and then I do nothing for the next seven days due to lack of time.  So it feels like progress on the house is EXTREMELY slow, because it is! After Easter we had my mom come visit and fortunately she's still with us.  My sister and her husband and son also came to visit but I didn't spend nearly as much time as I would've wanted with them mainly because of how crazy things have been at work.  Initially I wanted to fly to Cuzco with them but I ended up just spending a weekend with them and then I sort of took off their last day here so I could also spend some more time with them.  Sort of because while we were "hanging out" at the beach I was sitting there laptop in hand clicking away.  But hey at least I got that day with them.  Not to mention all the FOOD we ate!  Which of c...

This is the first Easter we ever spend in Peru.  There was so much activity going on this weekend I'm pretty exhausted, especially trying to move at the same time!  But the kids had a blast.  First of all we had the whole family down here on Jose's side - his brother and their whole family as well as Jose's Dad.  We couldn't fit all those people in the beach house so we had to rent a beach house just for the weekend.  We drove down on Wednesday night after work since Thursday and Friday were holidays down here (no work!).  Thursday started with family tennis between all the cousins and Friday started the same way followed by volleyball and football. It was also Jose's brother's birthday on Friday and Jose's sister birthday on Saturday. Saturday was jam packed with activities.  First the running of the bulls (where hubby got poked on his side by a bull with a pretty mean streak, but I hurt him even more after the whole thing was over!), then a...

Now this is the kind of business trip I could get used to!  We arrived on Sunday at Urubamba Valley which is on your way to Macchu Picchu if you land in Cuzco's airport which most people do.  We are staying at the Tambo del Inka Luxury Collection Resort & Spa which might be the best if not second best hotel I have ever stayed at (other than maybe the President Wilson and Kempinski hotels in Geneva).  We have gone horseback riding..   ...And spa´ing... ...And llama meeting... ...And eating...and eating, and eating some more...(hey at least I´ve ran 4 miles two days in a row to compensate!) It's been an incredibly luxurious experience which has spoiled me for life!

In the wake of the recent Yahoo controversy, I read this blog post by Penelope Trunk that gave me a huge wake up call.  I´ve already been feeling the pressure of the new job -- people in this job spend way more hours at the job than what I´m used to from my previous job and it´s been making me feel super guilty with the kids at home.  At the same time I don´t even feel like I´m spending enough time at work because the learning curve is so huge and I should be spending a ton more hours to really understand what´s going on and to be at par with co-workers and managers.  So the constant work life balance struggle was starting to tug at me again. It´s also been a shock to my system just because I had something in my previous job that I took for granted that apparently isn´t as common as I would´ve initially thought.  Lots of people around me who wanted the same things for their work-life balance, they wanted to get ahead but also be there for their kids. So I keep cry...

While this summer has gone by way too fast (the kids already start school next Monday!), I have loved the opportunity to give the kids so many cultural and sports activities to enjoy.  Just to give you an idea Sebas has done soccer, general sports, swimming, and ceramics, while Gabi has done tennis, gymnastics, swimming and art.  This last Saturday at the beach Gabi had the opportunity to participate in a workshop by a famous local artist called Marcelo Wong .  I have always loved his work but it´s a bit pricey for me! But his style is just too cute for words. Whimsical is probably the best term I can come up with! I really wish I could put one of his pieces in each room in my new house. So when Gabi was invited to this workshop we were both super excited.  She didn´t even know why Marcelo Wong was so famous but when he came over to ask her what she wanted to do with her piece she was swooning! :) She worked on her piece all morning and then at night w...

Last weekend we got away for a mini vacation which was of course very stressful getting to but then was totally worth it given how crazy things have been here lately. We just basically hung out with friends the whole weekend, I haven´t seen all those folks in like 2 years so it was much needed for me. Here´s the girls and I singing a birthday song for our friend Graciela who brought us all together for her birthday and gave us a much needed excuse to get together! She planned a wedding-like fairy tale celebration and I think each one of us is feeling the withdrawals after spending so much time together. I am more exhausted than I was before I left but it was well worth it. Now back to reality and crunching away at work, trying to find my work-life balance and STILL (yes, STILL) waiting for our apartment to be ready. Soon, hopefully soon!  Oh, and please, the next time I complain about the Caribbean Sea smack me, it´s soooo much warmer and nicer than the Pacific Ocean!!! ...

Last week was rough...kids were sick, it was my first week at work, and Jose was out of town. To top that off at the end of the week of course I was sick too. We ended up not going to the beach for the weekend cause the kids kept having fevers every other day. One day one kid was fine and the other one had a fever and the other day it was flipped. This week things are finally starting to feel a bit more under control. I´m feeling a little less frazzled at work, Jose can help a little bit in the mornings and the kids are finally coming out of being sick and starting to go to all their summer activities so I don´t feel like a horrible mom for not being with them while they´re sick. Hopefully tomorrow we can make it back out to the beach house and relax a bit this weekend!

I yelled at the kids probably more than I should've this morning. I broke a hair brush trying to get Gabi to listen to me! I wanted them to understand it was my first day of work and it was so important to me and could they just behave for ONE day!?! Of course they were totally oblivious to how important today was to me, why should they understand? Gabi actually wanted to come to the office with me! Jose is traveling this week too and that didn't help with the morning routine. Funny thing was I was just sad to leave them and was acting out. Of course I was a bit stressed because I wanted my first day of work to go smoothly and it wasn't going smoothly at all. But of course I should've never expected it to go smoothly, not with two young children in the house! But more than anything I was just sad to leave them after so long. I cried a few times before actually walking through the office doors.  I felt like coming back from maternity leave times ten.  Because now they...

I am hoping '13 is my lucky number.  I hope so for everyone out there too! We had a nice relaxing (and long) beach weekend for NYE and while the kids are almost saying "the sun is too much" at this point (and it's only the beginning of the summer!), they are definitely enjoying the water more and more this year.  Last year Sebas wouldn't even go in the water because it's so cold (he takes after me in that respect, preferring the warm waters of the Caribbean to the icy Pacific).  But this year they have found joy in beach toys, floaties and boogie boards!  Not to mention ice cream.  I hope this last weekend is a sign of how fun this summer will be for them.  And I hope sunblock makers really know what they're doing, especially with Sebas beacuse he's so pale! Gabi's already got the most enviable tan ever.

We've been taking advantage of the beach at the Regatas ever since we got in!  What's not to love? Some days have been nicer than others but I think we're on track to be super tanned by the end of the summer.  In fact, I'm not quite sure how we're supposed to be in the sun for the next 12 weekends or so! We also had a really nice Christmas at "home" (our temporary home) with the whole family.  Here's a couple of pictures of the kids and Dad around the Christmas tree at family's house. Now we're looking forward to 2013 with lots of changes, maybe even more than 2012!  New house, new job, new nanny for the kids, new school for Sebas, a very busy summer in the middle of trying to do all that.  I think I'm setting myself up for a slight nervous breakdown but everything just collided time-wise! I wish I could find the 2012 horoscope I read at the beginning of the year which turned out to be soooo right -- it predicted the m...

I can't write anything about the Newton school tragedy because it still hurts to even think about it. I've been trying to avoid the news and Facebook because every time I hear about one of the children or one of the teachers who died helping save children my heart breaks all over again.  I was literally sick to my stomach all day Friday and I cried at all hours of the day in the most inconvenient places.  I drank half a bottle of wine to numb the pain and cried myself to sleep.  And I'm just a spectator in this whole big mess, I can't even imagine the pain the parents are going through right now. So instead I'll just write about the last race we did which included Sebas and had a very festive Holiday feel to it so those were my two favorite things about it.  I did 8 Km (5 miles) in 45:54 which is a personal best for me but it was also hard because I was trying to keep up with my husband the whole time.  Then towards the end when we wanted me to go faster becau...

...like I really want to move to my new house but probably won't be able to until the end of January! Argh, so frustrating.  Trying to be really patient but there are just some "creature comforts" I feel like I am entitled to NOW! Like what you say (thinking I sound like a Gen Y'er or Millenial or whatever they're called).  Like clothes for work would be nice.  Yep, I've accepted a job offer with L'Oreal and I need to start soon but guess what, all my working clothes are in boxes, together with my summer clothes.  Well it's getting warm and it's getting to the point where I'm going to need professional looking clothes but all those things are still in boxes because I never thought it would take this long to move into our new place.  The cat is also starting to act out -- he's peeing and pooping in places he's not supposed to.  And I know that part of it is because he's living with a dog which he's not used to doing and he's...

This weekend I had signed up for another 10K , this time I signed up to do my first race with my husband.  We "trained" one time which basically meant running five miles the Sunday before.  During training we started off really fast (like (8.5 minutes per mile, fast for ME!) and I quickly realized I wasn't going to be able to keep up that pace.  So once we hit the half way point I told my husband to go back on his own so that I could run/walk.  I had no energy that day but I chalked it up to "it happens" -- some days you just don't have as much energy as others.  What I didn't realize is that night I was going to get the stomach bug from hell which would put me in bed for the next 48 hours. So to run a 10K "competitively" 3 days later was kind of a daunting thing. So as much as yesterday I wanted to run WITH my husband (not in the same race as him!) I told him at the beginning "you do your own thing I'll do mine".  While there...

I've been delaying posting this week. First I got sick with a stomach bug which left me in bed zonked out like a zombie and then there was a death of someone we know in Lima who sadly took his own life at a very young age and left behind mourning parents and grandparents. I can't imagine something more painful for a parent to go through and I still cannot wrap my head around it. It's been a very tough pill to swallow and both things have made me less than grateful for the last few days. But after hearing mass today at the funeral I heard the message of gratitude over and over again. And it just so happened to fall on Thanksgiving which is not even celebrated here in Peru. I haven't been to mass in so long but I definitely heard the message loud and clear. So today I give thanks because though it is very hard to be grateful at times I know it's the only way. I give thanks for life, health, and these beautiful munchkins.

Yesterday I did my first race as a resident of Peru!  Hadn't trained for squat because between my mom's visit and the kids' ongoing sickness I haven't had much time for exercise.  Definitely don't want my mom to leave (which she does tomorrow) but hopefully once I'm back to a "normal" routine I can fit exercise into my day a little bit better. I was scheduled to run with two of Jose's cousins, although one of the cousins we couldn't find at the start of the race so it was just Marco and me.  Marco doesn't run often but he does other types of exercises pretty much every day so he's fit (not to mention much younger than me!).  So he went in with a goal of doing 10K in 45 minutes and all I wanted to do was less than 1 hour.  Although once I started and I realized how humid it was and how out of breath I was (and out of shape!) all I wanted to do was finish.  I tried to keep up with Marco but around the 7th Km when we opened a gap betwee...