Un día perfecto.

Today was, in fact, a perfect day. Firstly perfect because we didn’t have class today. Not that I really mind class, but 9:00 seems to come earlier and earlier each morning. Revae and I rolled out of bed around 10:30 and took our laundry to the lavendería across the street. I LOVED IT. I’m not much of a laundry person (in that I don’t do it, ever) and so I was a little nervous about doing laundry here. Cold water, warm water, lights, darks, it’s all very overwhelming for me. Well we take our laundry across the street, and then the man weighs it, and says it’ll be ready by 4:00. I return at 4:00 and 12 soles later (around $4), a week’s worth of laundry is clean and folded. I am a big fan. Granted, I suppose I have my own lavendería at home by the name of Boozin Susan.

When we came back inside, Ella had prepared a breakfast feast! Best breakfast to date. We had the classic ham and cheese paninis and cereal, but there were peaches and some other fruit as well. And tamales! And fresh bread! And sweet potatoes and some kind of meat. Notice how I don’t know exactly what all the food is because our conversations go something like this:

Ella: Lori, esta es una fruta – da;flkjdablkafsa – de la selva – ald;fkja;dlkfjasd;flk – que se llama – alkajdl;kfjas.

Lori: Oh ok, muchas gracias. Es muy rica! (with lots of head nods and smiles)

My roommates: What did she say?

Lori: No idea.

After breakfast, Revae and I walked with Ella to church. She is so popular! She knows all of her neighbors and she greeted about 90% of the people we saw on the way (about a 20 minute walk). The church that we went to was beautiful and packed. I was sort of nervous that no one would take Communion because I’ve noticed that before in Spain, but Ella went for it, so we did too.

The three of us then took a taxi to the centro to buy stamps for postcards (for all you naysayers, you should be expecting some postcards soon). She pointed everything out on the way, our own little tour guide. We had expressed an interest in going to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission photography exhibit, so Ella took us to the Tourist Information office so we could ask about it (well, so she could ask for us). I also asked her if she could ask about the Saint Rose of Lima church. We found out that the Saint Rose of Lima church didn’t open until 3:00 and we had about 45 minutes to kill, so we stopped for a drink at a café. We had these awesome jamba juice type drinks and chatted for a while. I had Ella in stitches when I explained to her how I took a Chinese class in Spain from a German professor. When she went to the bathroom, we asked for the check so we could pay for her drink. The waiter told us that Ella had already paid our check. Typical Ella. Love her.

We checked out the church, which I had been to before, but it’s still way cool. Then we took a taxi to the museum, but it was under construction so we couldn’t go in. Then we just came home for un descanso. Because today was our free day, we had told Ella that we didn’t need dinner tonight because we were going to try chifa (Peruvian Chinese food). What did that precious woman do? She ordered in chifa for us! As you can probably guess, I thoroughly enjoyed the food as I have thoroughly enjoyed every meal here.

Tonight we met Bobbi and Calin at the Circuito Magico del Agua. It’s a huge park with beautiful fountains. They also have a show of the fountains with lights and it’s set to music. It was incredible. We had discussed possibly meeting the rest of the group there as well, but never really made any definite plans. After finding Bobbi and Calin, we were standing at the front of the park (reporting Revae’s stolen wallet – it’s a pretty crappy situation, but doesn’t fit in with my perfect day theme so I’m not going to discuss it) and whom do we see? Kristina (and her boy toy), Whitley, Faith, and Jenny. While we’re talking to them, Chinh, Jane, Kim, and Carly show up too. I swear for 8 million people in this city, it seems awfully small.

Today was perfectly pleasant. The sun was shining (which so far has been very rare). I got to practice a whole bunch of Spanish. Hung out with old and new friends. Enjoyed great food. Perfect.