On Thursday, March 13th, we had delicious home cooked hamburgers (Peruvian style) for lunch and then Rubie, Julia and I met up with Margarita, our new Peruvian friend, and headed out to Polvos Azules, this huge indoor mall of sorts where everything is cheap. I bought so many DVDs for so cheap (all pirated of course) and still really good quality. I ended up walking away with both seasons of Rome, the first season of Heroes, and the 4th (current) season of Lost for 46 soles (about $15).
Afterwards, after it got dark, we went to Parque de las Fuentes (Park of the Fountains) to meet up with her friend Julie and her exchange students who were Peruvians from Ayacucho. We walked around the park, which was vast and must have has at least a hundred fountains. We stopped at one to watch a fountain/lights/music show that was almost like a dance. They even had images projected on the water at certain points of birds flying, flowers, people, etc… I had never seen anything quite like it but it seemed to be a popular event because the park was packed with people – couples, families with children and young people like us just goofing off. The fountains were all different shapes sizes and colors. There were certain fountains you could walk through without getting wet and one in particular that was circular where the water came up from the ground intermittently in rings getting smaller and smaller towards the center. People were running in between the water to each dry area when the water went down but all those to slow to jump through would get sprayed. What struck me was that not only kids were getting in to it but everyone, not just children were screaming and running around getting absolutely soaked. It seemed like a magical place, especially to bring your family to.
The next day (March 14th) Margarita met up with all of us (minus Abi and Melissa) to take us to the beach. We went in combi from la Calle Benevides were we all smooshed standing upright into a tiny combi with totally occupied seats. It was only about a 45 minute ride to Punta Hermosa and we arrived just after noon for prime beach weather. Punta Hermosa was a small black sand beach whose name is a little more than slightly misleading. The random bits of trash in the water was a turnoff but it was sooo hot and the water felt so good no one was really complaining. After a while of beach fun we went to a restaurant and had a big lunch, everyone tasting and sharing with each other. I had ceviche, avocado salad, and a tortilla de mariscos, which is composed of seafood, veggies, potatoes and eggs all mixed up and fried in a big pancake.
That night we all went out to a house party in Miraflores hosted for the international students and their compañeros. Everyone was crowded onto the roof of the house and mingling around with some bad techno music playing in the background. It was nice because I got to meet a lot of people – both Católica students and other foreign students. Classes start on Monday!
