Peru: Day Two - Part Three

I hope no one is getting too terribly bored with all of these posts (though, I guess if they are bored, they don't have to read). I'm really enjoying writing about the trip, and when I print my blog book I can have the experience forever (I'm not so good at the journaling). Also, I think it's good that I've waited a while to write about it. When I first got home, I was mostly thinking about how grateful I was for hot showers and being able to drink tap water. Now that it's been a while, I'm able to look back at what a wonderful experience it is. I would so go back, provided I had access to hot showers...that was really rough.

So after our visit way up the hill, we headed to visit another family at the bottom of the hill. We walked down, down, down, and down some more. The city, somehow, was just so charming. I can't even describe why it was charming; it just was. Once we got to the bottom of the hill, we walked along the railroad in a very poor part of town. Here, the houses were in one solid row that went on as far as you could see. They all shared walls. Some had actual roofs, but a lot of them only had corrugated metal for roofs.

We walked on the ends of railroad ties as the sun set (and walked faster so we could get to our destination before dark). There were children playing in front of their houses, and people out talking to each other. It really was so beautiful. We reached the family Bergs wanted to visit, and they pulled us in to sit for a visit. The mother sent the children to buy a bottle of Pepsi, and we talked (well, they talked; I listened and picked out a word here and there).

After the visit, the mother escorted us closer to the city center. On the way, we met her husband, which Bergs was really excited about. After we chatted for a while, we continued up the hill (in a moto-taxi - that's when I took the picture that was in the last post) and walked through a beautiful park. There was a pond in the center with a statue, and a raised and covered walkway around it. The statue was a goddess (I believe), and I thought about taking a picture but she was quite naked. It was lovely, and the park was wonderful. So many people walking around or sitting at benches. Bergs pointed out the church house across the street that she went to when she served there.

After walking through the park, we crossed the street and entered a beautiful plaza which led up to a giant statue of Christ. There were fountains with colored lights leading up the block to the statue, which was on top of several layers of waterfalls. We stood around and waited for the statue and waterfalls to light up, as the sunset was still fairly recent. Eventually, the statue lit up, but the waterfalls never did. It was still really cool to see.

We then decided that we needed some food, so we headed to Roky's. There are a lot of chicken places in Peru, and a lot of them have names that sound a lot like Roky's. We ordered bottled water (specifically asking for non-carbonated), I got pollo a la brasa (chicken), and Bergs got cow hearts on shish-kabob (I forgot to write down the Spanish name). The food was amazing! We sat at a window and watched people on the street below, which was fun. And here are pictures!

Full of lovely dinner, we found ourselves a hostel and got some shut-eye. Thus ended day two.