Waki

During the week Waki, owner of Lamoni Tours, told us that on Saturday he would take us on a tour of Lima for free. Waki and Lamoni Tours does all of the transportation for all four of the missions here in Lima. He provides transportaion for the missionaries from the MTC to the offices. From the offices to the airport, etc. He told us that if any family or friends came down he would have by far the least expensive transportation from Lima to Cuzco and Machu Picchu. Karen and I along with the 2 elders working in the office headed out. He first took us to the ocean and down by the water. Then off to Pachacamac. From there he took us to a Columbian restaurant to eat. Waki paid for everything. We had a very fun and enlightening time. Unfortunately we didn't see much of Lima as we spent most of our time at Pachacamac.

Pachacamac

Pachacamac is a site where several cultures existed starting in 200 AD. Next came the Huaris in about 680 AD. Pachacamac means world creater. He was a god of fire and the earth. The peope tried to keep him appeased to avoid his anger displayed in the form of earthquakes. It was always a very important relegious site with pyramids and temples. The Incas took over after the Huaris in about 1450 AD. They built the long structue Acllahuasi (house of the chosen women). The most beautiful girls between ages 8 and 20 lived there. The rulers would go there and select their brides, often more than one. Some of the girls were chosen to be sacrifices. If a girl did not get chosen she had a choice of staying there and becoming a mamacuna and then would teach the other girls or she could return to her home and family and have a family of her own. The Incas built the sun temple here and it is still pretty much in tact. We climbed to the top of it. The Incas used a zig zag walkway to their temples and structures. When the Spanish conquered the Incas they sent a force to Pachacamac and destroyed the "god" thus ending the worship of Pachacamac.

The ancient cultures built this highway which extended from Argentina to Ecuador. It is the llama highway.

These hills are the beginning of the Andes Mountains

Countryside surrounding Pachacamac

The Pachacamac ruins are situated southeast of Lima about 25 miles and between the city of Lurin and the ocean. Karen was afraid that she would never get to see what it looked like outside of Lima or any country or where crops were grown. The picture of the rows of crops are red chile peppers. They are very hot.

Notice the picture above, you can see an island off the coast out in the ocean. Also that is the Panamanian highway.
The picture to the right shows some men on horses getting ready to play polo. Click on the picture to view.

Columbian restaurant

After we returned from Pachacamac, Waki took us to this little Columbian restaurant to eat. We first were served an appetizer that consisted of small flat fried cakes, like our pan cakes, made from mashed bananas and corn meal with fried sliced sausages in the middle of the platter. We were given a couple of small dishes of pico de gallo, like ours only chopped very fine. The main dish was a white corn cake fried then split and a filling of chicken/beef/white cheese. Very filling and very, very good. We had hoped to get some bunuelos, a fried corn ball with cheese, but they did not feel like making them. We also were served a pitcher of a juice like beverage. It was very tasty and resembled apple cider with pulp. It is made partially from the stalks of sugar cane that is boiled then sqeezed. The inside of the restaurant only had a couple of tables. The cooking area was very small.

P day with the Anderson's

As we have gone to the Area office to home evening with the other
American couples we met Brother and Sister Anderson. Only they aren't an American couple. Brother Anderson is from Canada. Sister Anderson is Peruvian. They have been married 30+ years. They are actually snow birds. During the winter they live in Peru. In the summer they live in Canada. For Christmas our group is
helping a branch over by the temple. We divided up assignments
and Karen volunteered to be in charge of the treets. Sister Anderson is helping Karen. So Saturday we went to Chorillos with the Anderson to a store that sells in bulk. A store very much like Sams Club or Costco. That is where we bought the candy.

After buying our treets we stopped at a small restaurant that specializes in fish. Across the street was this fire station. The building is all red.

The Andersons speak English, Spanish, French, some German and some Russian. They work in the temple on Thursdays.

Overlooking ocean at Chorillos

After lunch we walked a couple of blocks to look at the ocean from

Chorillos. Looking back along the shore you can see Miraflores.
Notice the trycycle like taxi.

Inka Market

We spent a couple of hours at the Inka Market. There are
thousands of little shops or spaces where they sell their wares.

Karen bought a little Peruvian decorated purse, some post cards, a Peruvian Nativity Set and a figurine of a couple sitting on a bench with the woman holding a small child on her lap. While we were there we saw some dancers.

We walked back from the Inka Market to the Andersons house. We walked down this beautiful tree lined walkway with 3 lanes of traffice on both sides of us.

Sunset into the Pacific Ocean

Not far from where we were was a light house.

Yesterday on our P day we watched the sun slowly sink into the ocean. We had spent a complete day going to Miraflores and Chorillos. The sunset was off the coast of Miraflores. We were on our way home after spending the day with the Anderson's. Click on the pictures to see in more detail.

Office Christmas tree

Yesterday Karen and I and the elders put up the office Christmas tree. We found several boxes in our storage closet. When we took the tree out of the box Karen thought we were going to have Charly Browns tree. But it turned out quite nice.

Keep off the Grass

When we went to the water park there were these signs everywhere. The sign does not say what you think. It says to stay off the grass. Karen was actually taking a picture and stepped back off the sidewalk about a foot at the most and a police officer came up and told her to get back on the sidewalk.

Karens new found friends

Karen has this knack of meeting these people when we are out in public. She always says good morning or good evening to everyone she sees. This mother with her children became instant friends of Karen. The kids, Marcos, Liann and Elena, there was another sister but she didn't want her picture taken, loved Karen and just wanted to talk to her and help her with her Spanish. We saw all of these people last night at the Water Park