Our school Christmas party was last night and we had a good time. It is at a nice restaurant in San Isidro and all the teachers and staff go, so there is a huge group of us. It is fun to get dressed up and to see everyone else all decked out. Here are the girls - Anne, me, and Reada.
Tim and Dave were enjoying each other's company last night. They look like a scary Christmas card picture.
My parents were visiting the same time that Dave's mom was here from Texas, so we had to get together for a true family dinner and have our Lima family meet our home family. We took our parents to dinner at a great Peruvian restaurant and had a really nice time. Here is the whole gang: Dave, his mom Janice, Reada, Tim, me, Mom and Dad
Reada's birthday was this past Thursday and since we had family dinner Wednesday night, I decided we needed to start celebrating early. I made a yummy Betty Crocker cake (thanks to the commissary) and I didn't have any candles, so Tim and Dave decided that she should blow out the flame on the lighter I use to light my gas stove.
Mom and Dad were heading back to Maine on Wednesday, so I took Tuesday off from school and we went on a tour of Central Lima. I haven't been down to Central Lima during the day since right when I first moved here, so it was nice to go back and see it all again in the light of day. We started out in Plaza San Martin, which is just as lovely during the day as it is all lit up at night.
We then went to the Plaza de Armas and did a tour of the cathedral. Francisco Pizarro is buried here in an elaborate tomb with gold covered walls. It is pretty impressive, especially for someone who treated the natives so horribly. 
We had a great tour guide in the cathedral who spoke English well and gave us tons of information about the cathedral. I'm not really a huge fan of Catholic art (it just seems like too much most of the time), but the interior of the cathedral in Lima is really gorgeous. There are 8 altars along the sides of the nave and each has a different style and architecture. They are pretty ornate, but I found them fascinating, instead of ostentatious. I can really appreciate the craftsmanship that goes into creating them and it was so interesting to see how different they all are.
We finished the tour by checking out some of the Inca ruins that are in the middle of Lima. These are actually pretty close to where I live. Our tour guide said he used to play in these ruins when he was a kid, before anyone really cared about preserving them. Now they are considered historic sites and are well taken care of. It is amazing to think about the length of Peruvian history. The United States is so young compared to even Lima. It is pretty incredible!
I've become a big fan of the Mirabus Tour in Lima. I went on one for my birthday last year and loved it, and the tour my parents and I went on last week was even better. It is a great way to see Central Lima at night (safely) and all lit up. I'm beginning to believe that Lima really is a beautiful city, at least parts of it. Here is the cathedral in the Plaza de Armas.
San Martin is a great hero in the history of Lima and Peru and this plaza is named after him. It is right around the corner from the Plaza de Armas and, while all the buildings in the Plaza de Armas are this beautiful orange/yellow color, all the ones in Plaza San Martin are white and are very striking.
My parents and I went to Santiago, Chile for Thanksgiving and had a great time. The weather was amazing - sunny and in the 70s/80s. Santiago is a nice city - very European compared to Lima, so that made me happy. Things just seem more organized and there are lots of beautiful buildings and parks. Every city in South America has a Plaza de Armas, with a church, and Santiago's Plaza de Armas is really beautiful. It isn't a wide open as some others I've seen, but there are lots of trees and it feels very cozy. The cathedral is beautiful and they light it up really nicely at night. And the best part was there were some pedestrian streets leading into the Plaza. I love pedestrian streets!! For some reason, to me they seem to signify a well-developed city. Lima doesn't have any and I wish they did. But the ones in Santiago were great and we walked on them a lot. 
There is a beautiful park in Santiago called Santa Lucia and we spent a very happy morning there, wandering around and enjoying the sites. It was built on this hill and every time you go up a little higher, there is something new to see. It is really great!! Here we are in front of the fountain on the first level of the park. It was such a nice morning.
Chile is know for its good wine, so I was determined to go to a vineyard while we were in Santiago. Mom and Dad aren't wine drinkers, but they were willing to check it out (and they both even sampled some wine, though neither one like it - I just don't get it!). We went to Concha y Torro, the largest vineyard in Chile. They produce a lot of different wines that end up in stores around the world. We actually drink one of their wines pretty regularly at family dinner in Lima. We had a great tour of the vineyard and got to sample some nice wines. It was a beautiful day and it was nice to see outside of the city a bit. The vineyard was huge and very impressive.
