A Day at the Zoo.

Well!  Today was a lovely day! Josh had the day off so we slept in (okay he slept in, I pretty much got up at my normal time) and then we headed off to a new part of Lima we had never been to before to check out the Zoologico Huachipa .  It was about a 45 minute drive, but the weather was totally different.  The driver told us when we got in that it would be hot and sunny and we weren't sure if we should believe him, since it is only about 20km away. He was right!  It was amazing!  I haven't seen the sun since I left Saskatchewan.  This is where we were.  The blue dot is where we live and the other one is where we went.

I always forget that where we live is actually something like 80% shanty towns and slums.  It is kind of sad but also amazing and beautiful to see how people survive and work so hard and have nothing but are so happy and thankful for what they do have.  I went and visited a shanty town a couple months and I will share some of those photos another day but here are a couple from today.

This truck is actually a motor bike fyi

SO we got to the zoo and weren't sure what to expect, but the weather was gorgeous so that was worth the trip regardless.  I always get worried going to zoos because I don't like to see animals that are sad or undernourished or in small cages.  I was actually pleasantly surprised!  The animals looked healthy and well taken care of.  Some of the enclosures were a bit small all and all very nice.  It did get really hot, but I was wearing a tank top under my new denim shirt and I did not dare take it off!  The looks I was getting from men and women were insane.  There were hundreds of people in there and the only other "white" person was one of the zookeepers and she seemed like she had lived here for quite some time.  Even Josh noticed and he never really says much about the men making comments and staring because, well, lets be honest, they are men.  But today it was both sexes (which I do notice here, as in general the women are not friendly to me) and the looks from the women were not nice!  I did have some children come up to me and tell me I was pretty and stare and ask if I speak english which was really cute.  We also had some pictures taken of us and even a couple people came up and wanted their pictures taken with us.  haha.  AWKWARD. Anyway, here are some of the pictures we took.  Some will be the same as Facebook but some new ones too.

monkey

Andean Hawks

adorable old couple

tiny deer

spectacled owl

Penguin Pirate restaurant

Colorado Monkey found me interesting

Sloth

another sloth.  I love these guys

Monkeys with their tails intertwined. so cute.

Proud lion.

Peacock

Macaws

tri color toucan.

horned owl

Kangaroo

mom and dad lion

Momma Siberian tiger.

Emu

llamas

piglet.  

Duck with her chicks

sow.

Alice the camel.

Tortoises

Flamingos.  Some babies in their too.

moving T-Rex.

Swan paddle boating.

Giraffe. So Pretty.

Ostriches. 

The river.  When we drove by it further down there were naked people bathing in it.

Sleeping Tapir.  Looks like a pig.

Parrots

Tapir

One turtle on the caiman's back, and lots of others far to close for comfort.

Otter showing off doing flips.

Pelicans.

Penguins!

Monkey showing off at the top of the tree.

drunk monkey.

Monkey picking the bugs off his buddy.

love little red face!

deer.

tiny tiny monkey, like the size of my hand.

more sloth

Mr. Fox

Smiley Puma

Zebras

bear cub having lunch on the roof.

mama bear trying to nap.

Leopard.

So we headed back towards Miraflores and decided we should stop for lunch somewhere.  I had walked by a place called Embarcardero 41 Fusion a few times and thought t it looked good, so we decided to stop as it was on our way.  Turns out, it is amazing!  The drinks were fantastic and reasonably priced and the food was delish. 

Our appetizer, Lomo Saltado (Beef, pepper and onion in a traditional Peruvian Sauce) stuffed potatoes.

Josh's Entree. 3 Cheese tacu tacu (Bean's and rice cooked in bacon grease formed into a patty) with shrimp.

And mine, Lomo Fina (tender cut of beef in a light gravy) on Huancaina Risotta (huancaina sauce is a traditional Peruvian sauce made with cheese, onion and tradition yellow chiles).

We had a great day and I hope you enjoyed seeing it!