El Centro de Lima

Peru is an incredible country full of loving people, interesting culture and delicious food! I can't even begin to describe everything I have seen and done so I will just write about a few things. Basically, life is good. My family is so kind and welcoming that I feel completely at home in my house. We have a little dog named Chiquita and I am starting to learn the customs and rules of the house. I got to go with mi papa to buy bread from the panederia this morning. It is super close to the house and the little rolls are both tasty and cheap. Each one is .15 nuevo soles. More or less 20 rolls for a dollar! :) Yummm Yummm me gusta pan! We also played basketball this morning at a court near the house. Anddddd I got to go for my first (short) run in Lima!

So, we have gone many places in the last few days but the most exciting was to the center of lima. We took a taxi to the station and then rode the bus down town to central Lima. The bus is a new public transportation system called the metropolitano and it is free until July 28th. Thus it was FULL of people! Actually, Lima in general is full of people :) about 9 million of them. So, we (my aunt Juani, mama, Ale, and Adriana) walked around and looked at all of the shops and old buildings and churches. Peruvians have gorgeous handicrafts so I bought some super cool little bags and bracelets and a peruvian hat (only 1.50!). Then we ate lunch and toured an ancient convent/museum. It was a guided tour and I was super excited because for the most part I understood everything the lady said! We also went down to the catacombs and saw tons of bones from the 1500's. One thing I love about Peru is that it has so much culture and so many artifacts from long ago. The US completely lacks this type of history... And my aunt Juani knows a lot, loves to talk, and it a great story teller so she made a perfect guide. I certainly don't understand everything in Spanish but I get enough to converse and listen to stories :)

Tomorrow we are going to Ica to visit family and enjoy Fiestas Patrias. We are leaving at 4 in the morning to avoid traffic and staying until next monday. Yayyyyy!