This morning we took a bus tour of Lima. Among other things we saw, President Fugimori’s house, embassies of various countries, a museum that was once an important monastery, a huge cathedral (there was a service in progress), El Parque Del Amor (The Park of Love), and The Hard Rock Café. Our guide today was named Nieve, who did speak English, but her accent made it difficult to understand. One of the most interesting but shocking sights was the catacombs or cemetery under the church in the old museum. We wandered through small, dark tunnels and looking to either side could see graves full of human skeletons. On our tour we were able to see some of the other districts of Lima and learn more about the city. Many things about the city are very Americanized. It was common to see such places as Burger King, McDonalds, Dunkin’ Donuts, Pizza Hut, etc. It still was neat, however, to notice all of the differences in the Peruvian culture. This afternoon we went to lunch in an upper class seafood restaurant called AlFresco. It was a fun experience because we had hardly any idea what we were ordering but we ended up having a very good meal. We then walked around Miraflores and enjoyed the afternoon. We had dinner at El Parquetito and again had a great Peruvian meal. During dinner we enjoyed some excellent Peruvian musicians playing a small banjo-like guitar, a flute, a hand pipe and a guitar. After we ate we wandered through some of the street vendors in the middle of the park in downtown Miraflores and then returned to the hotel to meet the rest of the family. Grampy, David, Mary, Arlin, Brock, Emily, Adoria, Ammiel, Alden, Martha and Carol arrived close to midnight. It was great to finally have everyone together. Almost everyone went right to bed but David, Brock, Mary and I went back downtown to El Parquetito for some Peruvian beer and to mingling with the locals.

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