Art Walk, Cevicheria Barra Maretazo, and Cat Cafe (Lima Peru)

 Konrad saw an app that listed a walking tour to see some cool street art so we decided to check it out. We enjoy managing our own tours b/c we can go as quickly or slowly as we want, plus then it's free :)  We ended up walking for about 3.6 miles and enjoyed seeing some cool things. 

Cam found an open swing at a park and took advantage of it 

We found the ocean again :)

This old church was covered in big black birds...it was a little creepy

Let the street art begin:

Such a pretty view

We found a cute little shop selling soft serve.  Unfortunately it was also near a huge tree where so many stinky birds lived so we got our ice cream and walked quickly away from the nasty smell

Konrad made it into the art :)

Cam's restaurant

When we were done we got an Uber to head back to our neighborhood.  We ended up sitting in traffic for a bit, so much stinky exhaust.  It ended up raining a tiny bit during the drive.  

We went out to eat and a yummy Peruvian place, Cevicheria Barra Maretazo, and I got to try my first ceviche, mushroom ceviche, and it was so delicious.  I also ordered oriental fried rice which Camryn enjoyed (just the rice no veggies made it into her stomach) and some fried wontons filled with cheese (reminded me of a quesadilla/mozzarella stick) and she ate those as well.  Konrad ordered a seafood soup that he liked as well.  

Then we headed across the street to a Cat Cafe (Gatu Cafe) and had dessert (I was so full, but it was yummy!) so that Camryn could play with the cats.  We got there just after 7:00 but she had to wait until 7:30 to go in to play with the cats.  

They had a great time playing with the cats and I enjoyed watching them from the cafe side...didn't want to have an allergic reaction and feel gross the rest of the night.  

Then we came home and talked to the kids.  It was so good to see their faces and hear their voices :)

Church, Huaca Pucllana Site Museum, Parque del Amor (Lima Peru)

I checked where the closest LDS church building was and was so happy to see that it was only a 9 minute walk away.  We were a few minutes late b/c we missed the street (one direction was named one thing and the other direction was the one we needed but I didn't know to look both ways for different names :)) 

The chapel was a long skinny room, that would eventually be turned into about 5 classrooms for 2nd hour.  There were 8 chairs per row, 20 rows total, and most seats were taken.  Obviously it was all in Spanish (except one testimony that was in English) and about 1/2 way through we opened up google translate to see if it could transcribe for us in real time and it could.  There were some funny translations :) I was also able to use the wifi b/c the password is the same as at home :)

Cute little chapel:

One little flower on this tree as we walked home

Then we walked over to Huaca Pucllana to see the ancient ruins.  You can only view the ruins if you take a tour.  Our guide taught us a lot about the people that build these ruins around 400 BC, way before the Inca's came to Peru.  He said there were about 30 civilizations before the Inca's came.  

These ruins were hidden until 1981 when the dig began.  They are still working the site and he said they plan to be done in 2050.

They were build this way with space between brick to accommodate earthquakes 

It's crazy to me that its just right in the middle of the city!

This was all a temple, so no one actually lived here, other than maybe the Shaman

This is a tomb that was discovered, but the mummies are reproductions: 

Cam was there because she heard there were llamas and we found them!!!

This guys teeth cracked us up!  How does he eat???

Cute girl with cute cacti

Loving that she is into doing fun hairstyles and that she has her own style for clothes as well

Our guide also told us a bit about the weather in Lima.  the last time there was a big rainstorm was in the 1970's where it rained for 10 hours.  He said the only reason the temple is still standing is b/c it doesn't rain.  If it rained the temple would turn to mud and disappear.  He said it is sunny in the summer for 3 months (Dec-Feb) and cloudy the rest of the year.  And we agree.  It has been cloudy with thick clouds/fog since we have been here.  I think we have seen the sunshine once, it's crazy.  I thought we would be wearing shorts, knowing the temps were high 60's and low 70's, but it is chilly.  Pants and jackets are a must.  I wore shorts and a t-shirt and flip flops the first day and I was okay, but everyone else was bundled in coats...they must have thought I was crazy!

After the temple ruins we grabbed an Uber to go to Parque del Amor.  I was excited to go and see the ocean, but didn't realize it would be from so high up!

I loved the mosaic bench that had running throughout the park:

flowers were so pretty!

This is the odd sculpture of to people kissing that is in the park.  It is massive!

There is a spot on the fence were people leave locks and luckily someone was selling locks so we could leave one (Cam was so bummed we didn't know about it so that we could have brought a lock, so she was excited when Konrad appeared with one in his hand)

Cute girl with the ocean and paragliders behind her:

It was chilly but that didn't stop us from getting some crepes and a Nutella milkshake for Cam

We walked back to the apartment and decided to go up to the 12th floor to check out the roof top pool that we thought we'd be able to use (not realizing that the sun doesn't actually come out...ooh but random side note the UV here is insane and there is quite a bit of UV even though the clouds.  It will say the UV is at 12 even when we can't see any blue sky!)

The view from the roof:

The pool:

The city lights reflect off the clouds/fog so it doesn't ever get fully dark at night.  This picture was taken at 10:00 at night and the sun set at 6:00.