Telling the Kings

Christmas in Peru!

We had plans to travel to Peru with my family for x-mas since the summer, when Alissa (my sister) found out she would be spending the year there as a Young Adult Volunteer (YAV). I was very excited to go to Peru and to see Alissa, but also a little nervous about traveling again with morning sickness. Jordan was smart enough to mention these concerns to my OB/GYN who prescribed some nausea medication, just in case. Just having it in my possession was enough to ease my mind.
We left for Peru on December 22nd, and while the trek to get there was long, the nausea wasn't nearly as bad as I had thought it might be. I was armed with plenty of snacks and the medicine just in case.
We spent all day on December 23rd in Lima, Peru before catching a plane early the next morning to Arequipa, outside of Huanta, where we would met Alissa. The day in Lima may have been the hardest part of the trip because we were determined to keep the news secret until time to open gifts for x-mas.
We walked around Lima and ate and shopped some. We took some pictures. I love the one of me curled up in the sun because I think it's great to imagine the little embryo growing away inside. I was impressed that I fit in that space, but it's even greater that there were two people in there!
Another great picture I only recently saw that I find hilarious! I thought I had done a better job of hiding my general nausea and exhaustion than that!
We arrived in Huanta early on Christmas Eve. Alissa's host family had made plans for us to see Huanta, so we spent most of the morning and early afternoon traveling around Huanta with them. The tradition in Peru is for gift giving to happen on Christmas Eve. Once Jordan and I heard this, we were both so excited to finally be able to tell my family. We did still have to bide our time until there was a moment to spend with just the family. This finally came around in the late afternoon.
I had crocheted slippers for everyone (except my dad because they seemed too girly). We had everyone open the slippers at the same time. Then, there was an extra gift for my mom (baby slippers) and my dad got to open what we had brought for him (a kid's tool set). We were lucky to be able to video the moment. When you watch it, pay particular note to how no one really knows what's going on at first. My mom subversively hid the baby slippers back in their packaging so that no one else could see. They figured it out eventually, though it took some longer than others :)

My parents were already pretty sure that I was pregnant, come to find out. While I thought that I had always been a little motion sick in childhood (and therefore could get away with claiming motion sickness in Peru), my mother's memory was that I had never really been that motion sick. She said that she had been trying to figure out why I had motion sickness all of a sudden, and that really gave it away. My dad said he was sure when I had to make a pit stop and pee in the bushes while we were out around Huanta earlier that day. I guess I wasn't as sneaky as I thought!
While telling my family was definitely the highlight of the trip for me, the rest of it was pretty great too. I did end up using a fair amount of the nausea medication. I probably could have made it through without, but I wouldn't have been up for a lot of the hiking and tourism that we had planned. I would say the other main highlight was hiking down to the bottom of Colca Canyon (a day's hike). Best parts: 1) sliding on the dry dusty pathway so suddenly that I ended up on my butt! 2) sleeping in a dinky cabin. I can't even describe the "mattresses" 3) Arriving at the "oasis". Why didn't they warn us about the devil mosquitoes?!!! 4) riding out of the canyon on a donkey (and man am I glad we had a donkey!)