Life in the Big City

It's Saturday afternoon and we are all whupped. We spent the long weekend (Thursday through Saturday) playing in the park and camping at Ceande. Celeste got to play with lot of other dogs and kids, and we took her for long walks...so she's now in the living room, snoring the rest of the afternoon away. O is crashed in bed and here I am, almost ready to do the same. Tomorrow, I have a midnight flight to Denver, and am kind of looking forward to that, but I hope to have classes again in December!

After the last class of the month of October, I went to Miraflores with friends for lunch. We ate at Pardo's Chicken, a nice restaurant with great chicken, cooked over a wood fire. They also have nice steaks, but they don't do rare meat. That's a pity, but I still enjoyed the steak. I can't say that the meat is on a par with the Texas Roadhouse, but it's still good. The chicken, though, is their specialty, and it's the best. So if you happen to go there, get the chicken.

The restaurant is on the beach in a place called Larcomar. Larcomar is a trendy, upscale place, focused mainly on tourism. The view from several restaurants there that overlook the ocean is wonderful. You can often see hang gliders floating on the wind currents over the beach and the ocean...and they're closer than you might think! It's a nice place to visit on occasion, but shopping there is a little too expensive for my wallet.

All in all, I'm enjoying living in Lima. I'm getting around the city now without much difficulty, and either the bus drivers are getting used to my American accent, or I'm improving my pronunciation. Now they rarely ask me to repeat myself when I tell them were I want to go. Every once in a while, I go a little farther than the last time. I like exploring new places and seeing what's out there. And I like feeling independent. Sometimes I miss being able to just jump into the car and take off to wherever I want to go, but even if I had my car here, I wouldn't want to drive it much in the city. They drive a little too differently here for me, and the taxi drivers are aggressive on the road. I prefer to walk. As long as I have two good feet to carry me, I'm happy. I really feel blessed to be able to walk wherever I want to and that my legs can carry me with ease. I know there are people who don't have that ability. I see many of them here in Lima. The only time I take a bus or taxi now is if I'm on a timetable and don't have the time to make the walk.