Lima, La Ciudad de Los Reyes

The HC group in front of La Municipalidad in La Plaza de Armas

The catacombs underneath La Iglesia de San Francisco

La Iglesia de San Francisco - with so many pigeons outside!


El parque de amor in the Miraflores district


La Costa Verde de Lima

This week has been flying by! On Monday, the fellow Holy Cross students and I started our four-week language course at La Católica. Although it can be tiring having class for four hours each day, it has been very helpful to work on some of the vocabulary and grammar that we've forgotten over the past few years. I know I have a long way to go before I feel completely comfortable speaking in conversation, but I have been improving a little each day - especially after having nightly conversations with Señora after dinner. In and out of the classroom we've also been learning common Peruvian phrases and jerga, or slang. For example, we learned from our new friend Rey in the cafeteria of La Católica that the word "chévere" is what the young people use to say "cool".

After class every day we've had the chance to travel to several sites throughout Lima with our director Evelyn. On Monday we took a bus tour of Miraflores, a nice district of Lima known for its shopping, restaurants, night clubs, and coastal parks. After the bus tour we walked through some of the parks, including the famous parque del amor. All of the parks are on top of the huge cliffs overlooking the pacific coast down below, and we got to see some beautiful views. On Tuesday we went to el centro de Lima, where a lot of the museums and government buildings are located. We toured La Iglesia de San Francisco and got to see the catacombs buried below the church. After, we walked around the main plaza in Lima called La Plaza de Armas, where we saw El Palacio del Gobierno, La Catedral, and La Municipalidad. We also browsed through some of the stores and stopped for some pisco sour ice cream.

On Thursday we went to Evelyn’s house for lunch after class and I got to meet her mom and three of her cousins. All of her cousins go to school at La Católica and it was nice to meet some people around our age, since we are used to chatting with adults like Señora and our professor. Last night we went to the movies with a fellow HC friend named Jenny who is in Lima visiting her boyfriend. We saw Harry Potter, which was in English since it just came out recently but it had Spanish subtitles of course! Our friend Jenny and her boyfriend Fernando decided that on the way home it would be a good time for us to learn how to take the public buses rather than a taxi. The buses are a very lively spot and you need to know exactly where you are going before you get on. On the bus, called a combi, the boy collecting money for the tickets and yelling the bus destinations out the window was no more than ten years old. For me it was sad to see such a young person working a rough job late at night, but it also made me more aware of the difference between my own culture in the United States and the culture here in Peru.

We have some exciting plans for this weekend that include getting together with Jenny, Fernando, and some of Fernando’s friends on Saturday and going out with Evelyn and some of her friends tonight. It’s nice to start getting accustomed to daily life here in Lima, and so far I am very satisfied with everything I have learned and experienced.

Chao,
Michelle