Peru: Day 6 (Casually Cuddling the Cathedrals) Pt. 2

I forgot about Thursday P.M.
On Thursday night, Miss Elizabeth took us to a fountain exhibit. It was a park filled with really big fountains. The fountains were lit up and made for quite a show. There was one fountain that Becky and I actually went in. It had rings of fountains shooting up at different times in different directions. The point of it, I think, was to get to the middle of the fountains without getting wet. Neither of us succeeded of course. Another fountain was a walk-through tunnel. We wandered around the park and around town for the rest of the evening before heading home. We stopped by a market, and I bargained on different prices for different items. And we saw what Centra Lima looks like when it is lit up. It is amazing to see all of the colonial era (17th cent.) buildings lit up against the dark sky.
On to Friday though.
Friday morning, we all went back to downtown Lima, and brought Mary along with us. We first watched the changing of the gaurd at the presidential palace. It is a small fifteen minute ceremony with a band playing. The gaurds change spots, and march, and march. Kinda interesting. After that we went for lunch, for S./ 7, which is just over two bucks. I was once again stuffed. We wandered around the streets for awhile and I noticed a very peculiar thing. Peruvians LOVE their shoes. We walked down one street for two blocks and I kid you not, 75% of the stores and shops were for shoes. If I still loved to buy shoes I would´ve gone crazy. There is one shoe shop that I will probably go to to get my shoes, because the owner handmakes his shoes. The place is called Luis Vallejo, in case you were wondering. The next place we went was the ocean. Yes, Lima does have it all. We went to a restaurant with an amazing view of the ocean and the surrounding landscapes. I´m sure we have pictures somewhere. We had Peruvian donuts there, which are made from sweet potato. Very tasty. We went down towards the ocean on a little path surrounded by older buildings, restaurants, and street vendors. It was very beautiful. We ended the night by going to a small bible study at my boss´s brother´s house. We sang some Spanish songs and some English songs, and ate some more food. I´m probably gonna break 200 pounds with all the food I´m eating here.
Saturday. Today.
Today, I woke up at 4:30 in the morning. Miss Elizabeth, my boss, and Daniel, her brother, invited me to go to Barracas with them, which is approximately three and a half hours South of Lima. We left the school at five and I dozed on and off for the first hour or so. We drove past smaller towns and the poverty level dropped very quickly. Elizabeth told me that in Lima, where we are staying, we are in a level A area. (The area we are in is relatively safe and there is not too much poverty around us). The towns we were passing by, she said, were level E. The landscape we drove through was mostly desert, and all over there were small ´houses´, no bigger than 10 feet by 10 feet, made of straw mats and canes. There were hundreds of these places and, though I did not see many people near them, I can assume that the people that lived in them were barely getting by. Daniel said that they moved from the jungle to find work and have to live like this until they can save up money for a real house. It was really shocking to see so many places like this all around us. Eventually, we reached Pisco, and Daniel said it was my turn to drive. I thought, hey, I can handle this. It´s not too different right? Wrong. I ran over a few large dugouts in the road and realized I was in for it. We got to Pisco (just before Barracas), and the roads got narrower, and busier. There were little motorbike cabs everywhere, and cars, and carts pulled by donkeys, and huge trucks overloaded with cane, and people, and dogs, and one lane main streets, and piles of dirt. It was a crazy experience driving through Pisco. We made it to Barracas though, thankfully. In Barracas, Daniel and I went on a sightseeing boat tour out to the Paracas Islands, paracas being sea lions. We went in a 30 passenger speed boat out to the islands, and along the way saw a massive Inca carving on a oceanside hill, as well as caves carved by the waves. We saw a lot of wildlife including penguins, albeits, pelicans, and sea lions. It was incredible to actually see these penguins, chillin´on a small island, along with the other birds. The sea lions were very sweet too. They just layed around basking in the sun. We took the boat through a tunnel carved by the ocean. It was amazing to see the rock formations that the ocean made. We headed back to Barracas, and once back on shore, checked out the market that was right on the beach. It was crazy to walk through this market with white sand below the booths and below my feet. Really nice. On our way back, there were tons of stands on the side of the road, but none of them had the regular fruit, candy, arts and crafts stuff. They were all full of wine bottles. Daniel told me that around Barracas and Pisco, they have a lot of vineyards, and thus, a lot of wine. So, Mom and Dad, I´m gonna try to send you a bottle of it. I´ll make sure I get an expensive one, which will probably cost no more than S./60. Or about $20. But I´m sure it will be tasteful and elegant. Anyways, that brings me to wear I am now. We drove home, and I ate dinner (empañadas de polle, kinda like chicken pot pie), and now it´s time for bed. Gotta be ready for churches tomorrow. Yup, I´m going to a couple.

Beunas noches.