In Spanish: "Madre Mar" documentary

Madre Mar is a documentary created by a quintet of Peruvian friends to warn the rest of us about the pressing need to conserve Peru's marine ecosystem and resources in the face of the growing pressure put on it by indiscriminate fishing practices and pollution. (Unfortunately it's not been subtitled in English.)

The Sky's Balcony

On Saturday the family caravaned south again, this time up the Mala valley to the hilltop town of San Vicente de Azpitia.

The Mala valley is an agricultural zone and the Mala river itself is rich in crayfish, for which the local cuisine is famed, particularly the town of Azpitia. Azpitia lies at the crest of the northern edge of the valley, a location which gives the town it's nickname as the Sky's Balcony. Living up to the name, a number of restaurants have been built on the edge of the ridge, including the eponymous "Balcon del Cielo", which overhangs the valley and looks straight down upon an arm of the river. It offers a variety of criollo and "international" dishes, but it's pride and joy are those which feature the local crayfish, which are large and delicious.

We had a great time chatting and drinking wine, while the kids went down to the river to look under rocks for crayfish like we'd observed the locals doing and spent the rest of the time teasing each other and their uncles.

San Bartolo

On Saturday night, after dinner, we headed off toward San Bartolo. Mercifully, my mom and Toya had offered to wash the dishes if I took care of getting the food put away.

San Bartolo is a small fishing town and summer vacation community about an hour south of Lima. For a while a couple of years back it was also the hot night club spot for Lima's affluent youth. That distinction has now been lost to Asia, a very exclusive and expensive resort a bit further south, that has been surrounded by controversy due to discriminatory practices and having basically appropriated a beach, which by law are public.

San Bartolo is fairly quiet at this time of year, as it is midwinter and not exactly beach weather. Many of the houses will stand empty and restaurants closed until October, November, or even December, the austral spring.

My uncle Willy and aunt Betty found a great house there fairly cheaply several years ago, which came fully furnished, to boot! The family takes occasional trips there to spend the weekend at the beach or sometimes, like now, just to get out of Lima for a bit.

San Bartolo church

San Bartolo was where my nieces Pali and Rafaela were baptized, and the reception was held at the house. In the course of it, while playing on the roof, one of the children knocked loose the pipe to the water tank, sending streams of water into the house and knocking out the house's water supply. That meant, unfortunately, that the dozens of guests engaged in night-long eating and drinking could not flush the toilets. By morning it was pretty rank between the spilled beer and non-flushed toilets. Those of us who stayed there had to endure it, with no hope of a shower, teetbrushing, or even washing one's face or hands in the morning, only to find that those cousins who had stayed with Betty's brother down the street awoke to warm showers, hot food, and fresh papaya juice!

This weekend, we arrived around nine o'clock and settled in for the night, as you can see below:

Susana teaching the boys to play poker

The next morning my cousins Diego and Juancho, and I went for bread and eggs, and Diego fixed breakfast -more like lunch, actually.

Diego fixing breakfast

Nico and my cousin Guillermo ("Mito").
And, yes, that is a Hello Kitty beanie.

Later, we went down to give Nico a chance to get his fishing fix -one of the purposes of the trip, actually- before heading back to Lima.

The setting

The bait

The catch