Lima, The Capital

I woke up at 6:45; I did not set my alarm because I wanted to sleep in, but alas, my body said otherwise. I packed my bag, shoving in all of my new purchases, hoping my bag would not be too big for the flight. After breakfast, we loaded the bus and drive to the airport.

The airport is quite small; there are only 5 gates in one terminal. We waited in the cramped seating area for some time, plus our flight was delayed for a short time. I was a little nervous because I was supposed to meet Braulio in Lima, and I hopped I had communicated effectively to make sure he was on time and where he needed to be. Braulio is my roommate Rhett Barton’s friend from Lima. Rhett served in Lima on his mission, and Braulio was a ward mission leader in one of his areas.

We touched down late, and it took forever to get our luggage, which added to my worries. We finally passed the exit and was greeted by a short and smiling, clean-cut chico who only knew me through Facebook. He was so happy to see us (and I him); Rhett had given me some gifts for him and other people in his mission, so I was glad the plan was working out. He rode with us on our bus to our hotel. We chatted the whole time, in troubled Spanish from my end and decent English on his. He narrated descriptions of the areas we passed through as we weaved our way through Lima.

When we got to our hotel, he hung out with us for a bit until he had to go to work at the Peru MTC. The hotel is extravagant, again. It is the same hotel as Cusco. The Sonesta hotels are apparently several hundred dollars a night, and I love the luxury. We have a bidet (I had to look up how to spell that) in our bathroom, which I have been scared to use because I do not want to get soaked in toilet water. We went upstairs to check out the rooftop pool and gym, which we are excited to use if it isn’t freezing cold. Then Braulio needed to get going, so we took another picture and parted ways. I’m hoping to see him again on Wednesday, where he offered to show us the MTC.

For dinner, we walked several blocks down Av. Conquistadores to a main center of this part of town. There were several American restaurants that lined the round about: TGI Fridays, McDonalds, Chili’s.  About half of us decided to go to Chili’s for a reminder of home.

I don’t think they liked us there; they seated us in the far corner of the restaurant right next to the bathrooms. It was Aniko’s birthday dinner, so we sang “Happy Birthday” to her and made a temporary ruckus. We did not get the best of service, either. We asked to separate the checks, but because they didn’t have any change, they still made us pay in couples, which was really annoying.

When we got back to our hotel, I did some laundry and watched Gossip Girl with Nate and Erin. Well, I actually fell asleep watching Gossip Girl, but I was there. We went up to go swimming, but it was too cold for me. Nate jumped in, made Natalie jump in, then pressured Aniko in. I was half asleep, so I did not get too involved.

I went to bed shortly after. I read a chapter or two out of my book, which is getting intense. Also, I pretty much dumped my suitcase out, hoping I can reorganize my stuff so my case will weigh less. As I lied in bed, I realized I could breathe better than I did in Cusco. Before I would go to bed and get short of breath, but down here at sea level, the breathing is easy.