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A Different Side of Lima

I flew back to Lima and made it back to Paola's house in time to see my new friend, Rama, before she flew back to Paris that night.  It was good to see her.  I feel like I have known her for years which is a reflection on what an incredible person she is.

Paola is also an incredible person!  She just opens her heart and her home to all of us!  We are very grateful!

After Rama left for the airport, Paola's friend, John Carlos, gave me a tarot card reading.  He was taping a TV interview the next day.  His ability is unbelievable.  The reading was fun and very interesting.  Sounds like I have some exciting things coming my way in the near future!

On Thursday evening, we went to a party for Paola's 40th high school reunion class.  The party was on the 19th floor of a secured building in Miraflores - an absolutely beautiful apartment with a great view.  Paola had gone to a private school (which is pretty normal here) with the same 25 girls since kindergarten.  And I thought I had had life long friends!  About 20 showed up at the party and since 3 had died, the turn out was phenomenal.  Many came in from around the world - US, Europe, Australia etc. for this event.    Wonderful, sophisticated
ladies!  Several were career or entreprenuer women, school teachers etc.  One from Australia is a marketing manager for Sun Microsystems.  Reminded me
of all my wonderful long time school friends and the great times we've had when we get together.  I am so fortunate to have you all in my life!

I spent some additional time in Miraflores which is the more affluent part of Lima with its own "downtown" area.  It is a wonderful part of town and reminds me a bit of Cherry Creek with its nice houses and boutique shops except that it is bordered by the ocean.  It is well patrolled, so rather a safe neighborhood.  It definitely is home to the upper crust.  I could live here. However, it is not very representative of Peru even though Lima is home to 9 of the 20 millon people in Peru.  This is where most tourists and business people stay when they come to Lima, so there is a lot of English being spoken on the streets.

Paola's daughter and granddaughter were in town from Bogota, Columbia.  They came over to visit, so I got to meet them.  If I get up to Bogota, I am to stay with them!  I took a 4 generation photo with Paola, her mom, her daughter and
granddaughter.  Family is very important throughout Peru.  Many of the families (not Paola's) start at very young ages. Many are grandparents in their thirties or forties.  They can't believe I am 50!

I got the opportunity to go to the theatre on Friday night to see "The Flight of the Condor" with Paola's 'sister' and many of her family.  It was incredible!  The theatre was in a big auditorium in one of the museums.  The show was similar to a cirque-de-sole show with a Peruvian theme.  The talent was fantastic - acrobats, dancers, jugglers, contortionists etc - with a mime to entertain between acts.  The talent came from all over the world, but the music, set and costumes were from the ancient civilizations of Peru with some of the Nazca Line figures being projected as a back drop.  Very interesting.  You really felt like you went back in time. 

I think my favorite act was the actual flight of the condor.  A guy flew around the stage while holding on to suspended white cloth.  He, with a woman, performed various tricks as they flew across stage. When the cloth flew behind him, it looked like wings and it was easy to imagine him as a flying condor! 

One of the skits between acts was a re-enactment of of the Rocky boxing fight.  The mime took people from the audience and to the music of Rocky, conducted a boxing match in slow motion!  It was so funny! 

I took a long walk around Paola's house.  It was a beautiful day with the sun shining at times (rare in winter).  It reminded me of winter in California with the nip in the air and the warmth of the sun.  Paola lives in an older, rather elegant and stately neighborhood.  Most houses have an enclosed (locked) front courtyard and backyard.  Many have garage type doors which appear to be mahogony or other lighter color wood.  Like most neighborhoods, some people maintain their house while others don't, but most were very well kept.  Most homes have maids, gardeners and nannies since so much of the work is manual (even laundry).  The neighborhoods hire a security guard who stays in a little booth on the block.  He is available to run short errands (i.e. get cigarettes), get taxis, help you back out of your yard or hold your keys while you are gone.  The neighborhood has small grocery shops intermixed between the houses and the entire neighborhood is bordered by 4 lane boulevards which are lined with small shops specializing in one or two items.  Very quaint and nice.  It is really fun to be able to experience true home life rather than hotel life!

I will be in Lima a few more days, so will add additional stuff here.  As you can see, I have been busy updating my blog.  I am finally getting photos uploaded onto the computer in Kodakgallery.com, so at least you will have some photos to look at.  I still have to solve the issue of getting them onto these pages.  I'll send
the www address soon or you can go to www.kodakgallery.com and look for my album.  I have made it open to the public.

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