So, When I moved here, I had an old friend, Lisa, let me know that she would be coming here with her Peruvian husband for most of August. She had been busy traveling around for most of the month but we managed to get together on Saturday for a trip to the Bioferia with the normal crew of ladies and babies. We had a nice visit and some Starbucks and showed her around the more "American" side of Lima. I think she enjoyed the english conversation as all of her husband's friends and family speak Spanish.
On Sunday, Josh had the day off so we went to the Marriot hotel, this time for the breakfast buffet. Once again it was amazing with a ridiculous amount of food. They had some of my favorites that are hard to get here like Lox and Bagels, Eggs Benny, bacon and Waffles. After a serious shoe malfunction (My shoe basically exploded on the way home) we decided to head into Centro Lima to a place called Polvo Azules (it actually means Blue Powder. random) which is a HUGE market near the center of the city. It is basically hundreds and hundreds of tiny shops in one building filled with counterfeit and real merchandise. Rows upon rows of Running shoes, Converse sneakers, Louis Vuitton Purses, Prada sunglasses, Lucky Brand Jeans, cell phones, electronics, Bootlegged DVDs and Cheap Rosetta Stone.
We actually went to get some new DVDs (brand new movies, 4 for S/.12 which is about 5 dollars) and look for a pair of Converse sneakers I have been wanting. The pair I want is some special edition with the american flag on them. They are super cute and would make a great Green Card gift but they are S/. 275 at the stores here. Unfortunately they were also that much at Polvos. So. we ended up getting about 12 new movies and Josh got a pair of Oakleys and I got a pair of Prada sunglasses for S/.25 (10$). I guess the next day at work, Josh told the Peruvian workers that we had went and they told him it was too dangerous! I have never, ever felt threatened or in danger there at all. I am the only white girl there but that is pretty much the way it is everywhere. I know other couples go all the time and have never had a problem, and Mariya and Jules have went alone, with Jules carrying her real Louis Vuitton bag and no issue. I think that a lot of people here are still in the mindset of how it was here in the early 90's when there were terrorists and kidnappings all the time. It is not nearly as bad anymore and Polvo Azules is actually on all the tourist websites as a safe and cool place to go shop.
Monday was also a great day. The lovely Mariya and I headed over to San Isidro, the next district over, about a 20 minute cab ride away. Our first stop was Petra Nail Lounge for a Mani/Pedi. It was under S/.40 (16ish dollars) for both. Crazy.
We continued the afternoon with some shopping at some great little boutiques. We got matching sweaters (awwwww! haha) And we found these gems. I have been meaning to take a pic of them since I got to Peru. They are essentially dressy Croc high heels. Please let me know if you would like a pair.
We finished up the afternoon with a walk by a park in San Isidro filled with Olive trees.
As some of you may know, from about February of last year until November when I moved to Anchorage, I was big into yoga. At least 3 days a week, normally on the days that I wasn't running. It really saved me as my hips get very sore and tight from running. I have been meaning to start again for months, but have been to lazy, so Tuesday morning Mariya and I headed over to LimaYoga. It is only about 3 blocks from my apartment so I have no excuse to skip. It feels sooo great to get back into it! Our teacher Patty is fantastic, and even though the classes are mostly in spanish unless she has something hard to explain to tell us, we seem to be able to follow along. So I am going to keep at it on the days I don't run and hope it once again helps with my muscle building and weight loss. After I got home, I took out a couple steaks from the freezer for supper that evening and set them on the counter. A few minutes later I heard some strange noises and looked over from the bed to see this:
Yes, Smudge, my little princess had hauled a huge steak off of the kitchen counter, across the entire apartment and into the bedroom to eat. I couldn't even be mad because it was so hilarious to see this little shit carrying a steak half her size, around the apartment.
Well, that is about it folks. The rest of the week has been mostly filled with running, walks, yoga, blogging and cooking. We went to visit baby Ava again Wednesday, still the cutest little girl ever. Yesterday Yoga I went out for a couple hours to look for a few presents for Myles 2nd birthday party tomorrow. I have also been making homemade Larabars. They are so good and while decently high in calories, they are made only with nuts and fruit and I love knowing what is going into them. I will put recipes for some of the various kinds I have made in the next few days.
I am off to try out the Peanut butter and Jam Larabar recipe now, so everyone have a fantastic weekend and see soon!
Oh and Happy Happy Birthday to my precious Mother in Law, Steph!
