Feast of the Immaculate Conception - Woohoo! another day off...

Nothing says happy birthday like a multitool/ religous icon key-chain/fingernail clipper, file and beer bottle opener...

Art students

Mural 1

Mural 2

Mural 3

Pigeon lady

Mandolin street player

Big hat

Dozing

Market steps

Roof dogs

Ooooh baby, scratch right there!!!

All lined up

Holy hand grenade of Antioch tree ornaments...

From our house cloudscape

Still life Rich is working on

Our neighbor took this photo  of the storm on Frday  night

Well, we named him what we thought fit until  Rich asked the lady... His name is Fuser (Fooser)

He is far  bigger than any photo shows him, very friendly but really hates little interloper dogs.

Abnormally large peaches for Peru 

'Tis the season to plant flowers and get the garden in 

Christmas ornaments for sale across the plaza

Nativity pieces

Nativity scene moss and other fixings, they use this in lieu of fake snow/cotton.

Papayas roughly the  size of a human head

We found out on Sunday that Monday was a national holiday, “The Feast of the Immaculate Conception.” We completely forgot about it so we were happy to have another day of R&R. We had lunch at our favorite Ceviche place and Rich asked one of the waitresses if she would be willing to sit for him to paint. Victoria is very excited to sit for him and give it a go.

 Tuesday we were back to work and Rich taught his Isaiah class. There are two brothers that come that are completely socially awkward, but they ask the most profound questions and know all kinds of obscure information. They are really remarkable.

Wednesday, Victoria and her cousin Susan showed up for Rich to paint. They are both very friendly and personable and we enjoyed visiting with them. They had a fun time and want to continue. Thursday we had some trouble with the hard drive we were loading our images on. We have told Salt Lake that the disk is a problem, but of course it worked fine for them. Julie spent over an hour working to get the disk functioning properly and starting and re-starting the computer several times because the disk messed up the computer too. She was so frustrated that we had to go to lunch at El Paisa, the ceviche restaurant again.  Julie calmed down and we had a wonderful lunch and had incredible service from Susan. Their service has always been excellent, but they are both extra attentive now. What sweet girls.

It sounds like all we do is have days off and go to lunch! Not true, we do work and are very busy; however, we did find a good Indian restaurant for lunch on Friday. The food was actually spicy and very tasty. They didn’t have Naan, but beggars can’t be choosers. Enough about our culinary adventures for the week!

Rich’s Quechua teacher Charo brought back a party favor for him from her father’s birthday party. Party favors are usually a little ugly epoxy figurine of a boy or girl with phrases and sayings.  The favor from Charo is a nail clipper, nail file, bottle opener and keychain with the image of “The Flagellation of Christ.” Nothing says "Happy Birthday," like a religious icon, nail file  and clipper with a bottle opener that dangles from you car  keys... How can you ever forget?

Friday night we had a spectacular storm. The thunder and lightning were amazing and the rain and hail were deafening. The street in front of our apartment was a river, what a night. There was still hail on the ground this morning when we went out 10:30. We found that there is a new Canasta grocery store right near our work. It’s been there about three months and has most anything we need. We also shop at the Orion grocery store which we walk right by every day. We were pretty excited to find coconut milk in the Canasta. We had to bring it from Lima last time we were there.  What a find, we do love curry. 

Christmas decorations are going up around town, and most of the schools got out on Friday for the beginning of summer vacation. It just feels wrong; to see tinsel, lights and Santa decorations next to plants for your yard, swimming suits and towels for the beaches. 

We hope you are all staying safe and warm and enjoying the Christmas Spirit.