Another Week in Lima

As you can see from the pics posted below, while there might not be much activity on the old blog, there´s certainly a great deal of ¨behind the scenes¨life!

We are preparing to enter our fourth week here in Lima. Truth be told, the time is really flying by. I feel that my skills in Spanish are increasing (in fact, I have only a few moments to blog as I need to translate a short article for class tomorrow). It has also been wonderful to get around the various cities surrounding Lima in order to see the life and culture of the people. We´ve met many people while on our adventures and with each encounter my love for this land and her people increases.

Below you will see a picture of ¨Raton Rosa¨ - a nickname she ratified, by the by! Arianna is a lovely young girl who rolls her ´r´perfectly when she calls my name, ¨gato rrrrrojo.¨ Indeed, just before this picture was taken she ´did´my hair by trying to spike what few strands I have into a point on the top of my head. Interestingly, I understand ¨Raton Rosada¨ much better than most adults...which leads me to wonder if I should consider a life teaching kindergarten rather than systematic theology!!

Sadly, I did come down with a bit of a cold this week. Nothing major, thank goodness, just the inconvenience of having to carry around a pocket full of tissues. I´d like to say that I could sleep it off, but there is a celebration going on in the park next to the juniorate with live music played so loudly that our doorframes and windows shake until midnight each night. That is, however, life in the big city of eight million people.

After this week, we go to Cuzco where we´ll get to see Macchu Picchu. I´ve been fascinated by this site since childhood and I´m so excited to see it. When I was in the junior high, Grandma and Grandpa Duns took my brother Colin and me to see Chichen Itza and Uxmal (Maya) when we went to Merida. The chance to see the Incan ruins here in Peru harkens me back to memories of that trip and certainly titillates the ¨Indiana Jones¨fantasy that dwells deep within.

I wish all of you the best and I hope that you enjoy the pictures!