Still Learning New Things

So even when you have 3 days left in a country you've lived in for 10 weeks, you still learn new things each day about it's culture, traditions, food, language, etc.

Despite having witnessed Carolyn receive a big glass of warm milk with a drop of coffee in it after ordering "Cafe con leche" I just must have completely blanked out this morning when I went cafe searching and finally settled on a place and ordered cafe con leche.

The first thing he brought me was a giant glass of steaming whole milk. 

Then he brought the shot glass of the concentrated, almost Expresso-like coffee syrup. I know that typically in Peru when coffee is served, you give yourself a small pouring of the concentrated coffee and then add hot water to your liking. Well, I guess ordering cafe con leche is the same exact concept but using steamed milk instead of water. 

Don't get me wrong, it was delicious. I tried to not think about the fact that I was drinking liquid fat but instead to focus on "milk has protein!" and "this is a treat- you're only here for two more days and in the states coffee drinks are so dang expensive so you'd better enjoy this while you can." 

The little cookie they brought with it was pretty yummy, too. I had some time to just sit and read and it was a great start to the day. 

Our work load is dwindling, so I stole away for a minute today to snap some photos of the place I've been living before I start packing up and it starts looking lonely!

My bed!

Closet

Photo wall!

shower of don't-you-dare-touch-anything-but-the-tip-of-the-plastic-on-the-knob for fear of electrocution 

Who sat on that toilet seat?

Same person who pulled the flusher so hard it disconnected from the chain.

"The hangout"

The TV with no cable. 

So that's where I lived for the past 2 and a half months. And today I continued my ventures out from the house trying to see everything in Lima before I take off. There's a huge mall (reminds me of a mutli-level, indoor-outdoor Destin Commons) called Jockey Plaza that's not too far from us. I was fairly certain I knew which bus to take and thank goodness I was right.

But that didn't mean I wasn't constantly scooting up to the edge of my seat to look out the window to try and sneak a peak of a road sign to get my bearings, only to tell myself, "Calm down, you look like such a gringo." Anyway, I finally got there and walked around for a bit, grabbed a sandwich, drooled over the ice cream/gelato/fruit juice or smoothie stands that were in between just about every store. 

Gives a sense of the indoor-outdoor feeling

I found not one, but TWO stores selling CAT stuff. One just featured their products, but the other was a store completely devoted to the CAT clothing/shoe/handbag line. They've got some really nice stuff- no wonder it's so popular here!

THE Caterpillar store

And getting home from Jockey was...an adventure. 

I exited a different exit than I came in, partly because I knew that to get home I needed to go in the opposite direction and partly because Jockey plaza was a confusing place to navigate. I made my way to where all the buses were stopping and luckily I see a bus pull up immediately that says "Benavides" on the side (the main street that I live near) and so I ask the cobrador if the bus is going towards Benavides and he just shakes is head and yells something as they drive away. Rats. So at this point I'm thinking there's probably not much use waiting at this exit because it seems like the buses I need are going the opposite direction. I look out over about 8 lanes of traffic with a fence-lined median and no pedestrian bridge in sight and think- crossing this highway doesn't seem to be the approved solution to this situation. My second clue was that taxis I were asking were quoting me relatively expensive fairs, leading me to believe that they were headed in the opposite direction and it was going to mean a bit of extra driving through the traffic to get turned around and headed towards my place. 

All that to say, I headed back inside Jockey Plaza and tried out a different exit. This time, I chose the same one through which I entered. Back on territory I recognized, retracing my steps. That's a start.

There were lots of buses, most of them running routes that would eventually take them down a street I could at least picture on a map so I knew that if worst came to worst I could get on one of those and get off at an intersection with a street near me and take about a mile walk home. 

These buses seemed to wait until full before leaving, and no new ones were pulling up with any frequency, so right as one driver yelled that they were about to leave  (the equivalent of an "ALL ABOARD" shout at a train station) I asked him for confirmation that we would pass the cross street at which I needed to get off and he told me yep, hop on. 

Traffic was pretty bad and in that moment I did miss the streets of Marietta or Athens, driving my own car and not having the constant music of horns playing in the background, but it turned out to be a relatively pleasant ride. I was sitting back to back with the driver so I got to look out over the bus full of  Peruvians and study their faces and features and habits for one of the last times. People were getting on and off during the whole ride, but my favorite passengers were these two old women best friends who were chatting it up the whole time. They reminded me of my grandmothers, with their clothes and chatter and old skin worn soft from age. 

Stopped at a red light, I happened to glance out the window and realized we were at an intersection with a street that I often take on my runs, so I just hopped off there and took a familiar route home. It was a decently long walk but it wasn't too cold and I had my tunes playing. 

So fast forward to our next event of the night. Laura and Brenda had invited us over to their apartment for one last hoo-rah of a casual get-together. They made pisco sours (some of the best I've had in Peru!) and we just got to hang out and spend some time together outside of the office!

"You both did the skinny arm" -Laura

Carolyn, Eddie and Mauricio (the new intern!)

Notice the pictures on the wall in the background of the picture above. Brenda took all of those- so talented!

We headed out a bit later and they took us to a cool, low-key place in Barranco. It had a nice, rustic feel to it. The wood on their stairs, bannisters, railings, floors, tables, chairs and sign out front was nicely aged and well cared for and their wall decorations were neat, old black and white photographs. 

The girls of the summer minus Laurita and Momo

We had a lot of fun just being together, talking, dancing and welcoming the new intern, Mauricio, into the group. Kissed my last Thursday night in Lima goodbye and said hello to my last Friday all in the same outing.