Backtrack: April 21 - 26 ❤ Lima with Juan & Blenda's Family

Note: Juan and Blenda's family is large, so if I forget names, forget the correct relationship of the family member, or anything like that, I'm sorry!!!  I plead Small Family Syndrome!!!  I've never had to remember who's related to who and who's name is what and what their nicknames are, etc. etc... :)  

The day I got into Lima, I think all we did was eat and sleep.  Although if I remember correctly, I think we ate pollo a la brasa, which deserves a mention just because it's SO good!!!

My second day turned out to be Good Friday and Estefania (one of the Juan and Blenda's twin sisters) and Doris (Juan and Blenda's mamita) were in a play at their church, the Salvation Army.  Josselyn (the other twin), Raul (her fiance), and Micaela and I went with them to the church to be a good audience.  I ended up taping the performance up until my camera ran out of space.

Estefania and Micaela before the church play.

Josselyn and Micaela waiting for the play to start.

Estefania in the church performance.

Doris in the church performance.

After the performance, Josselyn, Raul and Micaela went home since Micaela was a bit sick, but I stayed with Doris and Estefania to eat lunch at the church.  They served fish, rice, salad and juice.  It was tasty, but not nearly as good as the food that Doris makes at her lunch stall or what Josselyn or Juan cooks.  I met Aunt Sonia and her two sons.  I only remember her son Luis' name because Estefania and I spent some time with him later in my stay.  I also met all of Estefania's church friends to whom she introduced me as either her sister-in-law or Juan's girlfriend.  :)  She's the cutest ever.

We left with some other people and since we were all thirsty and trying to break a large bill, we went to a store and bought 3 liters of Inka Cola and drank most of it between the lot of us.  With the broken bill, we paid for the tickets to get home...and two or three combis later, we made it there.  

On Saturday I spent the day with Estefania.  We went to eat lunch at Doris' lunch stall...I call it a stall just because it's a space in an open-air market with three tables set up on one side of the kitchen and stools set up at a counter at the other side.  After we ate, we went walking around the area a bit.  As we were walking along we heard a man say something like, "Look at those sisters," and Estefania grabbed my arm tighter and said, "We're sisters!!!"  Okay, I'll say it again...she's the cutest!!!  When we got home, we decided to watch a movie and eat ice cream.  I wasn't meaning to, but I fell asleep watching the movie.  We all ate dinner later and then I helped Estefania bring in clothes that had been drying on clotheslines on the roof.  

On Sunday, I didn't get up in time to go to church with everyone, but I wasn't alone.  Josselyn was there with Micaela.  We ate breakfast together and then I started to pack my suitcases.  I wanted to see what I could fit in my suitcase and what I needed to mail home.  After Doris and Estefania came home from church, we went over to their cousin's house to have lunch.  Almost everyone went to the store, except Estefania and I stayed at the house with her cousin's son.  He was adorable.  After we failed to find a movie all of us wanted to watch, he brought out some Play-Doh and told us to make a house.  After my house miserably failed, I decided to make a turtle.  He told us to make flowers next and I took a picture of him with his flower.  Estefania told me that he could draw really well, so he asked me what he should draw.  We told him to draw a helicopter, a car, and an elephant.  He did draw really well!!!

My Play-Doh turtle.  :)

Their cousin's son with his Play-Doh flower.  He's such a sweetheart!!!

After they came back from the store, a bunch more people showed up and I don't remember the bulk of who was who.  We had ceviche to start off with.  It was really good, but I have to say, the parts with the skin still on them, I wasn't sure what to do with.  They told me to eat them, but to me it wasn't as good as the other parts.  Other than that we had chicken, rice, and a spicy side dish.  It was so good.  Estefania asked me if I wanted to go with her to her church youth group and I said yes, so we left the get-together early.  We got on a bus and a woman got on telling a story about how she was down on her luck and needed surgery.  She came around asking for money and when Estefania gave her a few coins, she asked if we were sisters.  Estefania enthusiastically said, "Yes!!!"  She then told me that everyone thought we looked like sisters.  :)

Once we got to where her church group was held, Luis was the only one in the room.  He asked us if we wanted to go to a Christian concert where they were taping the group for a DVD.  He told us he had gone the night before and that it was a good show and really cheap.  Really cheap meant 3 soles to enter, which is about $1.  Crazy!!!  We had to take a few more buses and on one of the buses, Luis asked me what my favorite thing about Juan was.  I thought a second and told him that it was his generosity, not just to me but to everyone.  He looked at me with wide eyes and said, "Wow, I thought you were going to say his big arms or something like that.  Haha.  The concert was pretty entertaining and there were some really good singers.  Luis' girlfriend joined us a bit after the concert began.  We ended up leaving before the end of the concert because they started repeating songs they had sung earlier, most likely to take the best of the two for the DVD.  We took a taxi and when Luis and his girlfriend went inside the store at a gas station to break a large bill, Estefania told me that his girlfriend makes more money than he does and that she pays for a lot of things.  :)  When they both got back in, his girlfriend started asking me questions in English.  She said she wanted to practice her English.  We saw Doris and Papito Arturo (Blenda's father) walking toward us, so we waited for them.  Luis introduced his girlfriend to Doris and she asked him what happened to the other one.  Uh...awkward moment.  Haha.  We managed to pull out of that awkwardness and said goodbye to Luis and his girlfriend.

On Monday, my last full day in Lima, I went with Josselyn and Micaela to go eat at Doris' lunch stall.  I was pushing Micaela around in her stroller to keep her from fussing.  When Raul came to eat with his coworkers and Estefania came to eat after she finished school, I got some help with Micaela while Josselyn was helping Doris.  I was sad that it was the last lunch I would eat with them at Doris' kitchen...but just for that trip because surely I will be back!!!  After lunch I went with Josselyn and Estefania to the post office.  They helped me pack all my items into a box that the woman at the post office gave to me and it all just barely fit.  After mailing the package, we were all dying from laughter, sadly at the expense of Juan.  Josselyn said that Juan has a lot of eyebrows, so much so that he has a "cejote" or a unibrow.  She asked me what I thought of Juan's eyebrows and I started to say that he does have a lot of eyebrows.  They both busted up laughing and I couldn't help but join in.  She said amidst her laughter that she thought I would have disagreed and said he didn't have big eyebrows.  Pobre Juancito (Poor little Juan), but it was a nice moment that brought me closer to the twins before I had to leave.  I said goodbye to Estefania and Doris before they went to sleep because they were waking up early to go to school and to work.  Doris arranged for me to go with Juan's cousin to the airport in her taxi service since Daniel had gotten into a car accident with a combi.

In the morning, I woke up when Estefania and Doris were getting ready and gave them sleepy goodbye hugs and kisses.  Pretty soon it was time for me to get ready to go and Josselyn helped me take my things down to her cousin's van when she came for us.  I was a little bit nervous because I hadn't planned on losing time because of traffic.  The other times I had gone to the airport had been in the wee hours of the morning and there hadn't been any traffic.  I regretted not planning to leave earlier, but we got to the airport safely.  I said goodbye to Josselyn and Micaela and thanked their cousin for the ride.  I rushed to check in for my flight and only breathed a sigh of relief once I got to my gate with some minutes to spare.

Next stop: Quito, Ecuador...