Peru, 2002: Memoirs of a Writer In Peru

Visit the author's website at www.DutchInk.com





During the fall of 2002, (Peru's spring), Dr. Mary Hiliare Tavenner and her sister-in-law, Sadie Gonzales Tavenner, went to visit a nun/friend who teaches English as a Second Language for the Catholic University of Peru. Sr. Joseph Louse Reichlin, OSF, is a member of a religious order whose Motherhouse is located in Syracuse, New York.


After more than a year of preparation, the trio sets out to explore the culture, people and history of Peru together. They are fortunate to have well-informed and entertaining guides...Cucha Bravo, Darwin Camacho Paredes and Geraldine Collcardenes, among them. Their exploits include traveling in Lima, a city of more than eight million people...a visit to Cusco, the oldest inhabited city of the Western Hemisphere...and a stay in the Amazon River Basin. These adventurers see pirhana up close, six-inch long grasshoppers, and taste the popular Peruvian delicacy of "Cuy," cooked guinea pig.


Most Americans never have the opportunity to visit Peru, but Dr. Tavenner's book is an opportunity to experience vicariously the Shrine of St. Rose of Lima, patron saint of all the Americas, and the first saint from the Western Hemisphere to be canonized. You will also learn of the great, and dealy beloved St. Martin de Porres, patron saint of interrracial and social justice. The reader will venture into the Sacred Valley and learn of ancient civilizations who continue to revere Mother Earth, "Pachamama." Tavenner's book includes the accomplishments and terror of Francisco Pizzaro, both famous and infamous Spanish Conqueror. You will see images of the Peruvian homeless, the glorious natural beauty of the diverse topography, along with snippets of their intimate adventure.


No other travelogue has captured so much in so few pages and in such a short time! Rarely has any book ever revealed such personal reflection and response from an author. This book records a two-week-long Peruvian odyssey. How many people have ventured to a foreign country and returned home with the desire to tell and to share their experiences with family and friends? This author takes this natural inclination one step further...she writes of and publishes her exploits in a book! The reader will actually feel the spontaneity of Tavenner's journey as it unfolds with each passing day.


Dr. Tavenner is interviewed in Peru on a national cable network and gives her first international lectures to the faculty, students and staff of the Language Dept. for Catholic University of Peru! Tavenner is obviously edified and inspired by the 30 plus years of missionary work accomplished by native born Hawaiian, Sr. Francis Clare de Gracia, OSF, and the other Franciscan sisters devoted to the people of Peru. Both she and her companion, Sadie, are continuously gratified for the delicious Franciscan hospitality of the sisters.


Dr. Tavenner proudly dedicates the memoirs of her Peruvian adventure to the memory of her brother, Garth Montgomery Tavenner (1945-2000) and his entire New Mexico family.