Whew, I have taken quite a lengthy break!! We are now back in the swing of school, so my trusty old computer has been dusted off, and I am back to blogging!
Saturday, June 12
On Saturday we did a little sightseeing around Lima. After sleeping in, we headed into the city to the Museo del Ejercito Real Felipe - the King Phillip Military Museum. The tour was all in Spanish, so Alycia had the fun job of translating for us. The whole event was, shall we say, interesting. Our guide was ALL business. We (or most of us, anyway) were sickly. Around halfway through the tour, an hour and a half in, we asked (okay, begged) Alycia to leave. She obliged. Sorry, Peru, your military museum was not overly interesting.
oooh, except for one thing ...
iel pirata!
He's making Candice a pirate. He loooooved us Americans ... and loved making fun of us in Spanish, thinking we couldn't understand.
our group: "bob", Burton, RJ, Candice, Michelle, me, el pirata, Megan, Zach, Leslie
He had to take our picture before he would take a picture with anyone else. Like I said, he loved us. He even gave Candice his card. I hope he's not disappointed that she did not call.
After we fled from the boring-beyond-boring tour, (oh, let me defend myself, the tour guide was speaking like this: "this ... is a male cadet uniform. [stop for translation] this ... is a female's. [stop for translation]" And she spoke like she was talking to 3-yr-olds. Even with my choppy Spanish I didn't miss a word. yikes.) Anywho, after we fled, we went to a restaurant for a late ceviche lunch. Ceviche is a dish where the fish is cooked (um, the proteins are coagulated to be technical) in citrus juice, usually lime. You want your fish to be right-out-of the ocean, so Alycia told us that the joke in Peru is that if someone tries to feed you ceviche for dinner they are going to rob you. We had three big plates family-style: ceviche, a fried plate, and one that was like jambalaya. Oh, delicious.
Sunday, June 13
Sunday we headed south to Chincha in the earthquake zone. On our way, we stopped at the Pachacamac Ruins (not to be confused with Pachacutec - the shantytown - the two P's were twin brothers back in the day, apparently).
Welcome, Dr. B!
Dr. Bernstein arrived on Saturday night, so our group was now (back): Burton, RJ, Candice, Leslie, Dr. B and (front): Zach, me, Michelle, Megan
After driving the rest of the way to Chincha, we settled in at the school and then headed to the Paracas Natural Reserve, or so we thought! Paracas is on the coast, and you can take boats out to islands where there are penguins, sea lions and other wonderful animals. I think this was the tourist-y thing I was most excited about. Every time someone mentioned it, I got all giddy like a little kid and said, "penguins!" (I know, pathetic. I am easily amused.) When we got there, though, they told us they take no boats out after 2:00pm. What?!? Thinking it was a lie they tell to dumb Americans, we took our business elsewhere. Nope, it's a rule. No joke. No one would take us! Seeing that we were assertive enough to walk away, the first boating company offered to take us out on the water (just not to the reserve) and show us the ritzy houses (lots of rich Peruvians have places there) and the two 5-star resorts (need a vacation spot?).
Soooo pretty.
Really. Incredibly beautiful. Burton took this picture while we were on the boat.
Waiting for Alycia to cut a deal - are they going to take us to see the penguins? Yes? Maybe? Please?
big dog on the roof of the house
I wish this was uncommon, but animals on the roof were quite common - we even coined the term "roofster" back in Lima. (that's a rooster that lives on a roof ... who wakes you up at all hours ... because obviously a rooster in a city on a roof will be quite confused)
Ahh, it feels good to finish another post, even if it is a month late! Slowly and surely getting back in the swing of things.
Happy Wednesday, everyone!
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