Parents in Peru, Part Two!

Monday May 4, 2009 11:34 PM
My house in Lima

My last day with the parents! In the morning after giving a tour of my school and the ISA office, we headed to the Barranco barrio so that they could see the beautiful old architecture. We came back to the house for lunch to eat a typical homemade Peruvian meal and they devoured the arroz con pollo. While I headed to class in the afternoon, I unleashed my parents in the city center to church and museum hop. I met up with them after my class ended to catch the last tour of the catacombs of the Iglesia de San Francisco.

We walked throughout the still-functioning monastery currently home to 200 monks, passing under ornate wooden-carved domes hosting shrieking bats, through corridors lined by azulejos (decorate tiles) and fading wall murals of old Franciscan brothers, around cloisters bordered by hundreds of glowing wax candles, in rooms hosting priceless artworks and furniture, to the grand finale – the catacombs underneath the church. Hosting over 25,000 bodies interred between the 17th and 19th centuries, we walked in between the old brick walls (with a mortar combination of limestone and egg whites, among other materials) to view piles of femurs and skulls. At one point I looked up set of stairs and saw directly into the church- turns out it was a passageway I had noticed from the church the night before. It was originally the entry point for the monks carrying in the body directly after the funeral.

For dinner, I made reservations at Junius, the same buffet and dinner show that I ate at during my first weekend in Lima. My dad wanted to take a bus from the city center to Miraflores, which was probably not the best idea since we were on the bus for 1 hour, 45 minutes before we finally got off and grabbed a taxi the rest of the way to the restaurant. Of course the food was delicious and the show was great, but it was really cool to compare it to my first time. I was familiar with some of the dances, such as the Marianera with the horse, which I saw at the Paso de Caballos. I also knew almost all the names for the dishes they served as well. Actually, as I was eating, I felt like there was something missing from the food and then I realized – there wasn’t any spiciness! I guess they tone it down for all tourists. I couldn’t even find ají on the buffet, but the waiter brought me some and warned me how hot it was several times. But it was actually relatively mild compared to what I have grown accustomed to – this is all so ironic considering medium Buffalo wings were too spicy for me before coming to Peru! At any rate, we headed home with our stuffed stomachs so my parents could sleep before their 5:30 AM flight to Cusco and I could pack for my flight at night to Washington, D.C.!

I'm leaving on a jet plane! Coli