Magical Circuit of the Water

It is definitely summer here in Lima!  We had a little heatwave earlier this week, but it has cooled down for now, for which I am grateful.  On Sunday, I went with Luis to the "Circuito Magico del Agua"- a sort of fountain-themed amusement park.  Kids can get wet in some of the fountains, and there is generally a cooling spray of water wafting over the entire place, which is pleasant.  My translation in the subject is akward word-by-word, but its literally what the place is caled.  There was a special show in which images were projected onto a waterfall- was pretty cool (complete with music). 

Here is a photo of me silhouetted in front of a giant fountain.  And I am so technologically inept today that I cannot figure out how to rotate this 90 degrees counterclockwise.  Swivel your heads to the right, por favor.

Next photo:  Luis and me in front of a neon fountain.  Cant see the fountain very well, but its there.

And that is about as exciting as it gets here in Lima.

Huancayo

Im here in the central Andes (6 hours from Lima by bus) in a city called Huancayo.  EDAPROSPO just opened a new office here in October- their first office outside of metropolitan Lima. 

Not so many gringos here- I think I have maybe seen five in the last four days.  I went to the big Sunday market yesterday- stalls line both sides of a major street and it literally went on for miles.  Sad to say, they were selling the same junk (touristy and practical) that I have seen everywhere.  Here is a not-so-great photo I took at the market:

The weather here is sorta nuts- it rains one minute and then theres intense sunshine the next.  Its chilly, too- in the high fifties because of the elevation.  Gotta bring the raincoat with me at all times.

There is not a whole lot to this place, as evidenced by the photos I took from the roof of my hotel - this is downtown.

Some nice hills in the background, but thats about it.  The next photo is of part of the main church in the central square (happens to be right in front of my hotel).

The dome is kinda cool, I must admit.  I was pretty bored this weekend and when I tired of roaming the streets while being harassed by Peruvian men, I found the local mall with the only movie theater.  Leave it to me to find it- civilization!  I saw "Gulliver`s Travels" dubbed in Spanish.  It was really bad, but a nice little escape for an hour and a half.

I return to Lima on Thursday and I dont think Ill be missing this place.

Bolivia Trip

Click here to see my Picasa album from La Paz and Lake Titicaca.

Had a fun New Years in La Paz with my friend Julie (she is on her second Kiva Fellows placement- she was in Peru for her last one). We went to a fancy restaurant with a bunch of expats living in La Paz.  Did the twelve grapes (you eat one for each upcoming month of 2011) and made our twelve wishes.

We then spent three days and two nights at Lake Titicaca ( a three hour drive from La Paz).  There was awesome hiking at Isla del Sol in the lake, but the elevation is so intense that it makes any kind of exercise really difficult.   But, still managed to walk around a bit and take a few photos :-).