Daniel and Javier in Lima

So Heather and I learned that our names aren't very Spanish. We already knew that. People can't seem to say Heather. If we spell it for them (Jeder), they usually do better. My name is a boy's name in Spanish (Daniel in Spanish is pronounced how Danielle is in English), so I've just been telling people that my name is Daniela.

We arrived yesterday morning (Sunday) at 5 a.m. and after passing through customs, we collected our luggage at the airport and were met by Eduardo Marquez. Eduardo is a member of the church here in Lima. He took us back to his house with his family where we were able to sleep two more hours. That was great, but even after sleeping, we were still exhausted. We got up, showered, and got dressed. His wife made us a great breakfast of tamales, onions, and herbal tea and then we went to church. After the three of us fell asleep during sacrament meeting, we decided to drive around the city a little bit.

We went to the Plaza de Armas de Lima where we sort of watched the changing of the guard at the White House (what they call their White House :). In that same plaza is the mayor's house, and a cathedral that they call La Catedral where Francisco Pizarro, one of the Spanish Conquistadors, is buried. There were tons of people in the Plaza and apparently a little miscommunication as to who had the right to be there, so there were police there kind of sectioning the areas off and doing a little bit of crowd control. There were a few Andean groups waiting to come into the Plaza and dance in their native costumes. We walked around for a bit and then took off in search of food.

We went to a part of Lima called Miraflores. It's a wealthier part of town. In truth, when we got off the plane, the part of Lima where the airport is situated is super poor. We passed miles of buildings that that early in the morning just appeared to be abandoned because of their state, but later in the day, there were tons of people bustling about. The streets were totally dusty; in fact, in that part of town, I don't think they were paved, so everything seemed covered in dust. Miraflores was definitely a contrast, but it really just seemed kind of like a normal place that you'd find in the USA. It didn't seem particularly wealthy. It did remind me a little of Santa Monica, California with narrower streets lined with tall buildings and cool boutiques just minutes from the shore.

We ate in a restaurant called La Bruja de Cachiche. It was typical Peruvian food, but it was definitely a nicer restaurant. It was frequented by the European-looking set that you find in places like Spain or Italy or...Napa Valley. The people who wear really expensive jeans with leather boots, button down shirts and sweaters wrapped around their shoulders. The food there was great. I know my family would be totally interested in food details, but I'll spare the rest of you.

After lunch, we drove a little along the coast, which is called La Costa Verde (the green coast) for all the green vegetation in the area. It really wasn't lush like Washington, but compared to the other coastal parts of Peru like the rest of Lima and Trujillo, I guess it's fairly lush. Driving along the coast actually reminded me again of Santa Monica and Malibu and driving up the Pacific Coast Highway. It had the same sort of feel. We stopped at a beach just to get out and look around and the waters were dotted with the same black dots that you see in Santa Cruz, that is, surfers. The coast of Peru is supposedly world famous as a great surfing spot.

We also drove up to the temple and the Peruvian MTC just to get a look at them. The church has pretty high security here. The walls are totally cement and you can't see through them near the entryway to the MTC, but the guard opened a metal door for us (at Eduardo's request) and let us glance in. We didn't even get to pass the threshhold. It seemed really beautiful there. As usual, the church takes really great care of their property.

Finally, we went to collect our things and headed to the airport for a dinner of crackers and chocolate that we picked up at our friendly neighborhood airport convenience store. And did you know that Peru has an airline tariff that you pay on top of your regular ticket price and fees? It cost us $6.05 to fly to Trujillo, but supposedly it'll cost us $30 to leave the country. The beauty of that is that we have a layover in Peru on our way out of the country before we even leave Lima, so we'll get to pay twice the taxes.

Lima was great. I really don't think we got to see very much of it, but our layover in Lima on our way back to the US is another 12 hours, so...we might check out a few more hotspots. :)