Well.

    I meant to write this update yesterday, but then my computer decided to erase its hard drive.  It currently refuses to acknowledge the presence of its hard drive, which is very curious, since the hard drive still looks attached to me.

    The stakes are higher since I have my un-backed-up research analysis, research grant spending spreadsheets, and travel photos on that laptop.    However, I have chosen to trust God with this not-very-happy situation.

    Also, this morning, I received another email telling me my application to receive my research grant money has been denied.  I feel like I'm getting several dozen cheeseburgers thrown at me at the same time, but, again, I am choosing to trust God with this one.

    I think He'll do a much better job of handling it than I would've...

    On to my update...

    Friday, I decided to actually get out of the house and do some tourism-type stuff.  First, I visited Huaca Huallamarca (a set of over-zealously restored pre-Inca ruins), located in the heart of business district San Isidro.  San Isidro is actually a very nice residential area, as well.  I have never spent too much time there, apart from jaunts between Javier Prado and Avenida Arequipa, two of the main thoroughfares, so I never had noticed its calm side streets and tranquil shopping areas.

    I saw boutiques.

    I saw US-style corner convenience stores.

    I saw antique shops (what a taste of home for me!).

    The ruins were nice--Huaca Huallamarca is a step pyramid with a ramp, but it's not very big at all, and its on-site museum isn't much to talk about.  It's apparently alluminated at night, which probably would've made it more interesting.  The most interesting part for me was remembering that one of my old professors at Universidad Ricardo Palma told me her daughter had gotten a concussion when she fell off the ruins while riding her bike over them...Peruvians and taking care of national monuments and all that good stuff.

    More interesting to me was El Parque del Bosque del Olivar (the Park of the Olive Grove Woods).  It is a lawn and bike path that curve around a 450-year-old olive grove the Spanish planted here soon after the Conquest.  The twisted, gnarled, squat trees with their silvery, shimmery, dust-covered leaves made for a tranquil atmosphere.

    The pigeons and senior citizens sitting in the park seemed to think so, anyway.

    However, I had things to see and places to go, so I caught a bus to the Center of Lima, where I planned to catch the Club de la Union's daily menu for lunch.  The Club de la Union is a well-known restaurant right off the Plaza Mayor of Lima, and I had always written it off as well out of my price range.  However, the last time I was in the Center, I saw their daily, 4-course menu was only $7.  Not too shabby, considering its fame and the items on that particular list (I think it was crayfish chowder, fish in mushroom sauce, and creme brulee, if I remember correctly.).

    Well, apparently on weekends, they don't have a daily menu.  Which made me very sad.  However, I was determined to find a new, interesting meal experience, since this was my "day off," so I walked down to the Alameda de la Chabuca Granda, a large pedestrians-only street that skirts the Rio Rimac for a couple of blocks.  Usually, it's crowded by artisans and vendors of traditional street foods--picarones (fried pumpkin donut rings), anticuchos (marinated beef heart shish kabob), and arroz zambito (rice pudding with extra cinnamon, raisins, pecans, coconut, and brown sugar).

    However, it was too early in the day for the pushcart vendors to be out, so only the annoying "buy my finger puppets for an outrageous tourists-only price" ambulantes were there to hawk their wares with me as the target.

    "Well, nothing lost," I mumbled to myself, and determined I would eat a late lunch at the Columbian restaurant Yuka and I always passed on Aviacion in San Luis two years ago.

    It took two buses to get there, but I finally was jetting down Aviacion, looking, looking...and not finding the restaurant.  Suddenly, things started looking really sketchy--garbage in the streets, grime-covered mechanic shops all around--and I knew I had gone too far.

    I quickly hopped off the bus, murmuring to the cobrador, "I must've gone too far," and then I proceeded to race-walk all the way back down Aviacion (to the nice section) and then up into recognizable territory and Salamanca.  It was more than two miles, probably closer to three.

    But the exercise was good...

    I ended up treating myself to a leche asada (type of custard pudding) at a little pasteleria, and then I went home and had the seco de res (beef in cilantro sauce) and veggies Sra. Mercy had prepared for me.  It was around 4:30.  Kelsey and I had a great time chatting away and then went to her parents' house for pizza and conversation group.

    We ended up staying and chatting after the group was officially over, and I didn't get home til after midnight.

    Thank God I didn't turn into a pumpkin, though...

    Saturday, I preferred to sleep in after my late night of conversing in conversation group.  It was too late in the morning to do anything noteworthy, so I hung out with Kelsey some more and played with the boys' mouse, Bigotes.  After lunch (chicken milanesa and Peruvian mashed potatoes and salad), Kelsey and I shared some paneton I had gotten to celebrate Fiestas Patrias.

    I ended the day by going to Jockey Plaza, eating an ice cream cone, wandering around the mall, and watching The Proposal, which I found a sweet way to end the evening.

    Sunday, I went to church with the Cooleys and some of the Americans staying with them for the day.  Camino de Vida was hosting Tommy Tenney, a speaker whose name I actually recognized, which excited me greatly.    His sermon was about--surprise, surprise!--Esther, and it was their egood and made me cry.

    Not too much of a challenge, maybe, but refreshing, nonetheless.

    I hope I'm not the only one who finds a good tear-jerking message refreshing...

    After the service, we all headed down to Rustica in Barranco to eat.  It was an interesting ride, since one of the Cooleys' friends, a North American living south of Lima, was the driver.  I don't know if I would have the guts to drive on Liman streets.  Maybe I'll have to find out some day...

    Rustica was great, though.  Not an unexpected finding, but I was really impressed by the seafood they pulled out for Sunday.  It's buffet-style, so you can try dips and dabs of many different dishes.  I had a bowl of chupe de pescado y camarones (fish and crayfish chowder), a dab of sudado de mariscos (stewed seafood), arroz con mariscos (rice and seafood), causa rellena (my favorite Peruvian dish ), soltero (cooked veggies and cheese salad), and arroz con leche (rice pudding).  All very, very good.

    After that, we wandered around an art fair being held in Barranco's plaza, and then we crossed the Bridge of Sighs and wandered down to the ocean overlook, where two men with a guitar and a cajon serenaded us and made the scene just that much more romantic and amazing.

    - perfectly-timed sigh - 

    After that, we went back to the Cooleys', where Becky and I played dominoes while Kelsey read.  Sammy tried to "help" us play dominoes, but he's a bit young yet to grasp the concept of the game.    He preferred to turn over un-picked up tiles and take away the ones we had already laid out. 

    Finally, at the right moment, I headed off to Shalom for their evening service.  It's beginning to feel more and more like home in some ways.    Some people actually remember me and give me big hugs, which makes me feel loved.  One thing I definitely don't receive enough of in Peru is hugs.  They oh-so-rock.

    A good ending to a great day, except for the fact that my interviews were put off even further...more on that in a few paragraphs...

    Monday, as I have mentioned, my computer gave me a big scare and another thing to commit fully into God's hands.  After talking with my brother, I'm intent on finding someone either here or in Michigan who can make my computer give me back my data...especially those summer-research-related documents and the pictures I haven't backed up yet.

    That fiasco took up a good portion of the morning, and in the afternoon, I went to visit Corina and Cristian.

    Corina has still not had her baby.  Apparently, the doctors gave her a due date that was two weeks early.  I'm hoping little Valentina sees the light of day before I leave for the States, because I really, really want to meet her!

    On our way to Cristian's furniture workshop to say hello, we ran into Rosita.  I haven't seen her for a good year and a half or so, and back then she was unwell, so it was good to see her lucid and well.  I had time to visit her house, chat, and pray with her sick aunt before it was time for me to head down to Villa El Salvador...

    ...where the pastor had arranged more interviews for me!!!!!  I got two done that evening, and the family fed me chicharron to celebrate Night of Peruvian Cookery, a holiday promoted by Inca Kola to celebrate the eve of Fiestas Patrias, Peruvian Independence Day.

    The family whose members I interviewed was very gracious.  Not surprising, considering they are from the highlands originally.  They invited me over to lunch for Wednesday and told me they'll give me charqui (a whole baby lamb freeze-dried into jerky, made in the Andean highlands) before I leave for the States.

    "Put that and some olluco (Peruvian tuber that's kind of like potatoes) into your suitcase, and you'll be able to make Peruvian food when you return to your country," they said.

    Not sure what Customs would think of that, but it was a kind gesture.

    I am very content with my interviews, since I only have three left, and they're all scheduled for tomorrow, Wednesday.  That means I'll have a week left for visiting friends, hanging around Lima, and doing any last-minute shopping before I head back to the States.

    Here's hoping that everything (my interviews, my computer issues, my grant money issues) will all work out before the end...