Peru 2014 - Part 10 The Mall and the earthquake

 Sunday August 24

 Up early for this area. Sunday mornings are always a good time to check out a new city, and really, this city is amazing. We are feeling much more comfortable now. This is a good part of town. We have been studying the busses and the street names they have painted on them. We are going to try it on our own one day. For two country bumpkins that have never ridden a city bus in our lives, we are doing ok. The people last night were quite surprised we even went on the bus yesterday. Doing the small towns around Cuzco the first week was a perfect way to learn the basics of getting around. Now we have graduated to "Getting Around Peru 202".

But for the short 2 mile walk to McDonalds is where we started today. The McCafé is separate and I got a Coca Café and an apple muffin with layers of real apples that was amazing. All with real dishes. You know all the beautiful food photography you see in the advertisements? Well, that is what it actually looked like. Then over to Wongs (=Walmart Supercenter - clothing), to buy books in Spanish for our girls in a Guatemala. It is much cheaper here to buy them. I have also noticed the huge lack of Latino authors available, even here. On the way back we passed a church and the were singing "Open the eyes of my heart, Lord" in Spanish. Mark was not up to spending a hour in a Spanish speaking service. There was also zumba going on in the park, but we didn't do that either

 We met up with Giancarlo, Yova, and Valerina for a nice family photo session in the park and a photography lesson for Vale.  She wants to be a photographer some day. I also took some pictures of their little Yorkies , and the 11 month old Leandro, the nephew.

We went to the mall and I ordered Mark food from Burger King, and I got pollo saltado from a Peruvian food place. It was delicious. The Primavera Mall was huge and very modern. I got to go to the book store, Crisol, but they were waiting on me. I think Mark and I will go back there another day on the train. We came back survived a tiny earthquake and watched a Mexican movie with English subtitles - Instructions Not Included - great movie. Mark was tapping his leg so I thought it was him moving the couch ever so slightly, but then the whole household started saying "temblor" and going downstairs. It lasted maybe 3 seconds, but they go to a safe place for about 10 minutes in case the first one is a warning for another.  Lima has lots of earthquakes, but the buildings are designed to withstand them. In every building there are "zonas  segura en caso de sismas". I look at it as our tornado fraidy holes.
Oh, and while we were walking today, we saw a real Peruvian Orchid - a breed of hairless dogs.