The fun never ends

Me and the chef


Everyone at the club


In our funny hats

Best Friends

Having fun

A bunch of Johanna’s friends rent a beach house every summer and enjoy it when they are not working. They invited us down for the night and we grilled food and drank beer all day and night. Even though we have the language barrier we still were able to communicate and had a lot of fun as you can see.

Another great afternoon

On Thursday I was getting off from work and heading to the market to buy some chicken for lunch when I received a call from Johanna. She said her parents wanted to take us to a restaurant in Callo for lunch. I was very excited, no cooking today. Callo is a city/district of Lima about 45 minutes north and it is the main port for Peru. We had a nice drive up and the little town was great. We ate lunch at a small restaurant near the beach and had Ceviche, Chita Frita (fried Chita fish) and Tiradito (a different type of ceviche). It was all extremely good but the regular ceviche is still one of my favorites. After lunch we walked down to the beach and much to my surprise there was no sand, only fist size rocks. Even so, people still flock to this "beach" and lay on the rock to get sun. Johanna and her sister Sonia both frequented this beach during the summer because it was fairly close to their house. When asked about lying on rocks, they said you have to prepare you site by finding the flat rocks and make a smooth surface and then put your towel down. Every once and a while they would feel a sharp pain in their back so they would find the bothersome rock and turn it over and problem solved. Wow, this really seems like a lot of work. The up side to all of this is you do not get sand in every crevice imaginable like you would at a normal beach. It was quite an experience and the little town of Callo was very nice. There were hugh beautiful homes on the beach and there was no traffic, just a nice little town.

The Vacation is Over

Well the vacation is over, I got a job. I went to interview for a teaching job in an institute and I got hired the same day. I started today with training and with that came my first outing by myself. I took a bus from the house to my new job with no problem and I was very proud of myself. Those of you who know the transportation system in Lima know that taking a bus (the right one) can be a little tricky and not so comfortable sometimes. But I persevered and was able to get to work on time and not get lost. My training is for 3 days (9am to 12pm) and I have to sit in on a couple of classes to observe. After that they turn me loose to teach English to business men and women in the area. They are only going to allow me to work part time so I am also going to teach private lessons. There are 7 of us in this training class and we are from all over the world. There is one American, Canadian, Irish, Italian and 3 Peruvians. It is kind of nice to meet some people that speak English and understand what I say (Johanna does not get me sometimes).

We also celebrated Sra. Sonia's birthday yesterday. Nothing too big but there was a lot of cake and laughter. Her mother, brother and sister all came over and we sat around and talked while trying to eat two cakes. That is Tio Coco in the grey shirt with no head, the pictures of him are on another camera. It was a great time.

A Day at the Beach

Ceviche

Choros a la Chalaca

Today was a day of relaxation. We went to Punta Hermosa beach which is about 30 minutes south of Lima. The beaches are a little different than Florida because the sand is black and the water is freezing cold. There were a lot of people and umbrellas as you can see. After a very short swim and relaxing in the sun we went to a restaurant on the beach and ate ceviche (fish cooked in lime juice) and choros a la chalaca (steamed clams). It was a great way to spend a Saturday.

More Pictures

Our Colombia Trip

We are back from our trip to Colombia and we were sad to leave. Medellin was a beautiful city with lots of green everywhere. The people were very nice and I think they were a little surprised to see an American. I felt like a movie star because people were staring at me everywhere we went. We stayed at Bibiana's parents house in the country (Finca) and they were the most gracious hosts. They welcomed us into their house and we were treated like kings. We stayed in the Finca for 5 of our 8 days and it was like a resort. The grass was manicured like a golf course and they employee a house keeper so we were waited on the entire time. It was amazing. We stayed in a hotel for three nights and toured the city. We rode a zip line acorss a lake, climed 649 steps to the top of a hugh rock, rode a skyride to the top of a mountain, and partied at night. The most a amazing thing for me was the skyride. The government built this as part of their subway system and it allows people from this particular mountain to travel into the city to work. The area at the top has always been a very bad area and I am told the Police would think twice before they went there. But since they built the skyride the people have cleaned up the area and treat outsiders with a lot of respect. I am told that they feel more important and take pride in the fact that people want to go to the area now. The view was pretty amazing also. We took a ton of pictures and I have attached just a few.

Going to Colombia

It is Saturday morning and we are getting ready to take a trip to Medellin Colombia. I did not say anything until now because I wanted to tell mom first. I knew she would be a little worried, white man in Colombia, but we talked and I think she is okay. Our friend Bibiana is from Medellin and we are going to visit her home town. Johanna, Sra. Sonia, and I will be meeting her and her husband Jose at the Medellin airport and off to the races from their. Johanna's mom is turning 60 years old this month and her daughters and their good looking husbands are sending her to Medellin as her present. She loves to travel and has never been to Colombia so when Johanna told her she screamed with joy, literrally screamed. We are all very excited and anxious to see the country. We will be back in 8 days with many pictures and stories.

Sr. Juan's 61st B-Day

Last night we were able to use Skype for the first time and we talked to Sonia and the kids. You can see Aliah smiling brightly as we were making funny faces back and forth to each other. Today we took Sr. Juan to lunch at a place called "Moche" for his birthday. He says they serve the best cuy in Lima so that was the place to go. Johanna took a picture of my plate and can anyone guess what cuy translates to in English? A little hint, some of you may have had one as a pet when you were a child. That is right it is guinea pig. Sound gross but it was very good, it tastes like chicken.

We Have Internet

We finally have our internet hooked up. I never realized how convenient it is to have the internet in the house until I did not have it. Our cable is the one on the left I think.

Everything was a little rocky at first but we are moved into the new apartment and I think things are settling down. The apartment is a lot bigger than we expected and it is in a very nice and quiet neighborhood. The pictures are backwards so work from the crazy power lines to the bathroom. I took the next picture from the street and our apartment is upstairs and you can see the door in the top right. When you first walk in you are in the room with the book shelf on the wall. This is the living room and there is a daybed for a couch and the laundry room (a big sink) off to the left. Next you walk down a long hallway and into the kitchen. This is the picture with Johanna's back and her best friend Giovana. The kitchen is a very nice a size and everything we have and need fit perfectly. At the end of the apartment is the bedroom. Not a whole lot of closet space but again we were able to fit everything we needed. And finally the bathroom. To give you an idea of the layout it is all one ling line and for size I measured the kitchen at 13'x9'. Like I said it is a lot bigger than we expected.