So far, it's been one of those hurry-up-and-wait weeks.

    Monday was pretty laid back.  I had wanted to go visit Huaca Huallamarca, a well-restored pre-Columbian pyramid in the upscale San Isidro district, but, when I checked online, I saw that the only day of the week it is closed is, yes, Monday.

    Bother...

    So instead I had a quiet morning at home: I had extra-long devotions, ate a yummy breakfast of plain yogurt and Craisins (one of the few foods I brought with me from the States), called my Congressman about an issue that I care deeply about, and slipped on the stairs with my laptop in my hands (thankfully, I landed on my elbow and saved my laptop!!!!!).

    Lunch was a highlands specialty: chicken and quinua.  The quinua was sort of like stewed barley, only smaller and more fibrous.  Not what I would have cooked, but very interesting.

    I had to get out of the house in the afternoon, so I went to Eliana's beauty shop and got a second treatment against hair frizziness.  Then I went to Jockey Plaza to see a movie and discovered I didn't have enough cash on me and had to go home to pick it up.  But first, my hosts, Mercy and Oscar, invited me to tomar lonche with them--to eat a small snack of bread and a warm drink.  It was a very pleasant hour of conversation, after which I hurried back to Jockey to see my movie.

    All in all, Transformers II was alright for a summer movie.  It could have benefited from a tighter plot and a bigger emphasis on character building, as well as a drastic cut in jokes referring to all bodily functions that occur below the waist.  After the tenth such joke in the first ten minutes, it got a bit old.

    The first one was better.

    But then, isn't that always the case?  (Spiderman series aside.)

    Tuesday, we were told, was to be the first day of another two-day transportation strike.  As I have already commented, I have little sympathy for transportation workers who are protesting the fact that the Peruvian government wants to actually enforce its public safety laws, and the sympathy I do have is drastically decreased when said workers prevent other working-class folks from getting to their workplaces.  A taxi to and from Villa El Salvador to a middle-class commercial district could cost a day's wages for some, and maybe even more during a strike, since the prices inflate when demand is high.

    Rant over. 

    Anyway...

    I don't enjoy transportation strikes, so I stayed home most of Tuesday.  I did a whole bunch of laundry, which takes longer at Sra. Mercy's house, since you have to do the rinse cycle by hand.

    Then I chatted with Kelsey about politics (yes, I actually brought up the issue of politics.  John, you would have been so proud...) and then went to the market to pick up fresh fruit.  I ran into some avocado vendors on the way and picked up two one-pound avocadoes for sixty US cents.    Aunt Barb would have been so proud.

   

    I got back just in time for lunch: fried fish with locro, and then I basically hung out until I had to go conduct an interview in Villa El Salvador.

    It was at this point I realized the transportation strike had been a failure.

    Yay for the working class, tears for me--I had specifically spent the entire day at home in order to avoid the strike.  But then I can't wallow in self-pity too long--it was my own stupid decision to cloister myself at home instead of going out.

    -sigh-

    Wednesday Kelsey made some wonderfully yummy pancakes for breakfast--mmmm!!!!--and we went on a mission to make several wrongs in the house right.  First, we made a new "Necesito Empleada" sign to put on the door for the family.  The old one had been torn down by a random neighborhood vagrant, and, although the house obviously still needs an empleada, no steps had been taken by the family to make a new one.

    Sammy drew all over the sign as we were making it, leaving potential empleadas no doubt as to what they'd be getting themselves into. 

    Second, we changed the mouse's cage.  Mr. Bigotes's owner had given him a "healthy portion" of sunflower seeds--and by that phrase, he meant he covered the entire cage floor with sunflower seeds.

    Usually, rodents *love* sunflower seeds.  Bigotes is no exception.  However, this is the *only* food he was given this entire week.  Poor, little mouse.

    We (meaning Kelsey) changed his bedding, poured out the excess seeds, and gave him some fresh veggies to munch.  I held the mouse and tried to get him to see that not all humans are horrible, screaming, scary beings.  As I have already stated: poor, little mouse.

    After this, we ate ají de gallina for lunch and then visited Kelsey's friend Gladys.

    I could only stay a few minutes, because I had more interviews in Villa El Salvador.  They went fairly well, as did the Wednesday night service at Shalom, the third and final church I'm conducting interviews in.

    At the end, Camilo, one of the members about my age, was supposed to take me to Liz's home in Tablada in his mototaxi (three-wheeled rickshaw motorcycle taxi--get it?).  However, first he had to drop off two other people who lived in the opposite direction.  Then he had to get his mototaxi front wheel fixed at a mechanics.

    And thus I arrived at Liz's house almost an hour after I sent her the message, "I'm leaving the church right now, headed for your house."

    Yeah.

    But such is life, especially in Peru, and it's better to just hang loose and enjoy the ride.

   

    I stayed at Liz's house until almost noon on Thursday so I could chat with her as she got ready for work, and so that I could play with my goddaughter.  Adriel is already forming coherent sentences and pronouncing almost all her words correctly.  I am very pleased with my hyper little fireball. 

    I arrived back in Salamanca just in time for lunch and was happy to discover Gabi, the old empleada, was visiting!  She is such a good-natured, sensible person.  I wonder how the family will ever find a good enough person to replace her.  (If they ever keep up the search...)

    There was just enough time to record Wednesday's interviews and make avocado sandwiches for dinner before I went to Villa again for more interviews.  I got to the church just at the time my interviewee had said he would be there.

    And he wasn't.

    Neither was anyone else, for that matter.  Thank God a person who had just left the just-finished prayer service ran back to the church so I wouldn't be standing there alone as it grew dark outside.

    After a few minutes, it became apparent my interviewee had either forgotten or was running really late.  So I text-messaged the pastor with no response.  After a few more minutes, I called him.

    He arrived at the church 45 minutes after I had gotten there, relieving the other, very stoic brother of his post as "foreigner protector."  lol

    Pastor Levis told me my interviewee wouldn't be able to make it, but that we could have our interview regarding the church biography now.  I think I enjoy these interviews even more than my normal interviews--it's very interesting to see the differences in origins, paths taken, doctrines emphasized, and techniques used.  Without going into mind-numbing detail, Shalom reminds me of a combination of Four Winds (my Michigan church) and First Assembly (my Florida church).  In other words, pretty much awesome.

   

    I didn't get a re-schedule on today's missed interview, and I didn't get any of the other four interviews scheduled yet, either.  Pastor Levis told me "we'll do that on Sunday."

    And, considering that Tuesday is Peru's independence day, I am pretty much certain that I am not going to get all my interviews done until my last week here in Peru.

    Which means I will not have time to travel outside Lima much, if at all.

    It's been a very odd, difficult, stretching past month-and-a-half here in my favorite city.  I've already touched on some of the reasons in previous posts, and I will probably explain more in future posts, but for now, I want to remain positive.  I have two interview-free days coming up, and I want to enjoy them to the fullest. 

    Chau for now!