Domingo

Hellllo... here's to wrapping up the weekend. We finally ventured out into Lima today. Yesterday the gas man didn't come until like 5pm, so we didn't get to do very much (another guy came earlier apparently, but he had the wrong model of gas tank, and thus said "I'm not coming back"... our doorman proceeded to tell me that not taking things seriously like this is why Peru is under-developed, etc. etc.). Oh - our doorman's name is Jose Luis by the way- he's awesome. When I got here he said "Bienvenido al pais de Los Incas"... I'm pretty sure he's 100% native Incan... all of our conversations so far seem to be pretty deep about the status of Peru. But he's super nice, and speaks slowly enough that I can understand him- so as of now, he's my best Peruvian friend.

Yesterday afternoon I went on about a long run. I ran for a little over an hour- but I was hauling it, so it must've been close to 7 miles (if not more, actually). I ran all over Miraflores, trying to find stores, restaurant, parks, etc. I was going to head home from a really famous park (Parque Kennedy)- but decided it just isn't right for me to not see the ocean every day I'm here. So I ran to the coast and soaked up the view for a little bit. It's so great being so close to the ocean... I'm not a fan of sandy beaches (well, I'm not a fan of sand being in all my clothes), but I LOVE the waves and general vastness of the ocean. I actually got to see some sun on the water, so that was great.

We cooked pasta again for dinner, it was pretty good. Last night around 11:30pm the power went out. In all of Miraflores. That was slightly eery. I don't know if I've ever experienced a power outage in a foreign country... I definitely haven't while living alone (as opposed to with a host family). As I've said, we live on the 9th floor- so we could see ALL of Miraflores in its dark glory. Power came back on about 3 hours later... but still, definitely a first (and slightly scary).

Today we slept in, then got ready for our day of adventure. For lunch we went to a sandwich shop called "San Antonio"- the sandwiches there resemble those of European cities, so I was happy. They had "flauta espanola (jamon, manchego, y aceite de oliva)", and many others you could get in most large European cities ("francesa", "suiza", etc)... so that was awesome. They also have salads that are safe to eat, so I think we'll be going back there.

We went to Parque de las Leyendas- i.e., the Lima Zoo. It was HUGE. And like the name suggests- it is full of things besides just captive animals. There was a botanical garden area, a few different ruins sites, and a bunch of small parks. The coolest part of the whole day was that we got to be about 3 feet away from two lions. At the Ft. Worth zoo, you can tell they are big- but you have NO idea until they are within reaching distance. The male's eyeballs were about the size of pool balls. I was amazed. We saw all the other typical animals... quite a few were "_____ andino"... meaning they are from the Andes region only- so that was pretty cool. I won't be seeing any Andean condors in Texas that I know of (or am I wrong, Jeff?).

After we got back from the zoo, we nosed around Parque Kennedy. They have lots of street vendors and entertainment there- we watched some Peruvians dance in the square and just hung out. When trying to figure out where to eat dinner, we got mauled by about 8 restaurant waiters begging us to eat at their place. There was a touristy alley with TONS of restaurants... it was pretty funny, but really annoying, so we just left.

We ended up eating our first "Incan" dinner tonight- it was a kind of touristy place by the park, but it was delicious (and like 30 bucks, which would've definitely cost $70-80 for the same meal at home). Jason got some pastry-wrapped chicken with vegetables, it was delicioso. I got some fish with veggies and sauce and the Incan classic "tacu tacu" - which is rice and beans and some spices mashed together. SO goood. We're definitely going back there.

We just walked back to the apt and now Kill Bill is on TV. Jason has to go to work tomorrow- I think I'm going to be productive and take a bunch of pictures of the city or go shopping or something. I am going stir-crazy just hanging out in the apartment all day (school has ruined my ability to just sit down and relax I guess). I've fallen in love with Peruvian coffee, so that ought to be some motivation to get up and get going.

Hope everyone is doing well- I wish you guys were here, too :( Aqui hay unas fotos de nuestro dia:

Miraflores with power.

Miraflores without power. Hay diferencia.


Faithful to FMHS in both hemispheres...

Wild Peruvian birds... these guys were everywhere eating the caged animals' food...

Wild Peruvian squirrel.

Me and muh alpaca friend.

Peruvian condor... what if you ran across one of these in the field, Jeff?

Galapagos turtle! Again- probably not to be found in DFW any time soon...

Do you have 500-1000 year old ruins in your local zoo? Probably not.

Me & ruins...

"Lazy 2 fingers" aka sloth. (they sleep 18 hrs, but they party 24...)

Awesome black jaguar... never seen one before, but he was beautiful.

Pinguino dice "salida"... I dunno, thought it was worth posting.

Kelyn and Jason on a bridge at the zoo.

Hola Senor Leon- you are huge.

The two lions - this is without the "zoom" feature on the camera.

Peruvian dancing on a Sunday afternoon. I love Latin America.

Your begging doesn't help anyone!

Cathedral in Parque Kennedy.

Enough said.

Fish y tacu tacu.

Jason's delicious pot pie.

That is all for tonight! Hopefully I'll get some good, artsy pics tomorrow (I love photography, time to take advantage) :) Hasta luego...