Lima: all about food and running (which allows more food!)





Tio Bigote, working his magic

     There are seven “maravillas” or wonders of PUCP. Squirrels are one, since they are rarely seen on campus. The deer are another, which are the campus pets, and are seen all the time. Tío Bigote (literally Uncle Mustache) is another wonder of the school. He sets up shop every weekday (I’m not sure about the weekends) to feed the crowds of hungry and devoted supporters of his sandwiches. I have recently discovered the tastiness, and have also become a fan. I have tried the chicken with egg and the cheeseburger. All the sandwiches come with papitas, which are thin, short, crunchy French fries (I guess). Yumm! It’s fun to watch him work. His wife and son (maybe) help him every day, serving the customers and taking money and whatnot. I have yet to figure out what the other 4 wonders are…

my chicken with egg sandwich!

Allison and I running!

     I ran in my first track meet in Peru last weekend! I was supposed to run the 5k on Saturday, but the coach didn’t get me to the check-in table on time. I looked over at the track and thought, “these girls are running the 5k, and I’m not with them…” There wasn’t an announcement on the speakers and the coach didn’t realize it was past time. He felt so bad. All was well, however, because he had just so happened to register me for the 10k race the next day! I clearly and purposefully asked not to run that one. But it was fun! Well, kind of. I ran 25 laps around the track… not my kind of race. Put me on a cross country course or in the woods, and I’ll run a 10k for ya. But around a track? Ok it wasn’t THAT bad, but I’m not doing it again. I got to run with my friend Allison, from Massachusetts! And I came in 2^nd though! That was cool! Got a medal and everything! There were only 4 girls running, and the first girl ran an amazing 35 minutes (!! 12 minutes faster than me), but it was great. The coach wants me to run it again, at the next track meet, but I might have to disappoint him. Twenty five laps = too much.



first visit: La Princesa! (name of the chocolate/peanute butter bar in pieces)



      We discovered a D’Onofrio shop in Miraflores (more up-scale, touristy district) that makes animal-shaped ice cream! D’Onofrio is an ice cream company (maybe owned now by Nestle) here that also does chocolate bars and such. There is actually a D’Onofrio factory a short walk up the road from our house! Anyway, really good ice cream! I’ve been to this special location twice so far. This may become a once a week adventure!

      I’ve been in Perú for almost 7 weeks! Wow! Lauren and I are still living with the Rosales family, which was kind of up in the air for a few days. The relationships we have with the family are improving, in the direction of feeling more welcome in the home. We really do enjoy living here, we just wish we were more a part of the family. It’s just been hard with lack of conversations (save with sister Carmen) and lack of time spent together, because the family is busy. We’re working on that though, just trying to be blessings to them, taking initiative with conversations and loving them.

     School is going well! The few grades that I’ve received have been good or pretty good. It’s still just a lot of reading though, and it takes a long time to do. Mid-terms are coming up in a few weeks! I’m also excited for the coming weeks because they should include more traveling outside of Lima, and some much-awaited and exciting visits (from Eric and my Mom! And Annie, a dear friend living in Perú about 9 hours away!)

     Sorry for the lack of posts, I will keep them coming more regularly! Thanks to all of you who are reading and keeping up with me and praying for me while I’m here! I’m definitely very thankful for it!

Love,

Sarah