Falta un mes

So this morning (yesterday morning), our program had a cultural activity.  We went on a tour of Villa El Salvador, a district here in Lima and the district where Deporte y Vida is.  We started out by picking up our guide, Pedro, who has lived in Villa El Salvador his whole life and he was there when it was first being organized as a community.  We went to a parroquia (parish).  While there, we learned about a project that helps elderly that are in extreme poverty.  Some people live there (it's like an assisted living place), but some people just go and "hang out."  There are classes there where they can learn to read and write and they also have craft workshops.  The elderly make crafts and sell them in order to raise money for the project.  We didn't stay there long, but I would've loved to sit down and talk with them all.  They were all so cute and friendly.  They were so happy to have all of us there and I got several kisses from little old ladies. :)  It was adorable.

Anyway, then we went to a park that is in Villa El Salvador, Parque Zonal Huascar.  The park was a very nice.  I've heard the kids at Deporte y Vida talk about the park several times and you can see it at the bottom of the hill from Deporte y Vida.  I didn't know what to expect going to the park, but it's actually really nice!  There are a lot of jungle gyms and even a few carnival rides.  There's a small zoo and there's a lake that you can ride swan boats on. :)  We actually saw a few of the Deporte y Vida kids there with their schools.  They were happy to see us and I'm sure they felt cool in front of their classmates because they knew the gringos. :)

Playground

Parrots!  There were some birds that could
say "Hola" to us.  It was cool.

Peacock

Turtles

Monkeys

Llama

The lake in the park

Anyway, needless to say, the park was pretty fun.  After the park, we went to Deporte y Vida, but not the one we go to.  There are actually three sites for Deporte y Vida and we went to the first site that was opened in 2000.  Gerri, the woman who started Deporte y Vida, talked about the project for a little bit.  She obviously believes in education a lot and she started to talk about public funding for education, etc.  Well, Pedro, our guide and a political figure, was there while we she was discussing all of this and they got in a long debate about politics and education.  It was interesting, but also hard to follow.  It got a little long winded in my opinion, but it was still good.  After the debate, we drove through the industrial park of Villa El Salvador.  Villa El Salvador constructs the majority of the furniture that is sold in Lima and by the looks of it, I believe it.  Every other shop on the street was a shop for furniture.  Also, the factories for Saga Falabella and Ripley's (two major department stores) are in Villa El Salvador.  Villa El Salvador is actually a very organized district and it has been since it's beginnings.  Other districts have modeled themselves after Villa El Salvador.  Also, on a side note, did you know that in 2007 Peru had the fastest growing economy.  They are still growing today, too, but not as rapidly.

After the tour, Tonisha and I went grocery shopping for the ingredients that we needed to make this banana/peanut butter dessert.  Just so you know, peanut butter is really expensive in Peru and also, they don't have Reese's Pieces (or at least there weren't any at the stores we went to).  After that I came home and just relaxed until Tonisha came over!!  We had a sleepover and it was the best thing ever!  Her grandma came and visited last week and she was so kind to bring us Cinnamon Toast Crunch from the states.  We started out the night by making our delicious dessert.  It contained peanut butter, banana, chocolate ice cream, Reese's Pieces (we substituted those for Chin Chin, which are essentially M&Ms).  While we put that in the freezer, we started watching Las Locuras del Emperador (Emperor's New Groove) in Spanish, we opened the box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch and started eating it dry.  We both haven't seen the movie in a long time so it was nice to watch it.  We stopped it halfway through in order to have a dinner break.  And what did we eat for dinner?  Cinnamon Toast Crunch with milk!!!!  We didn't even take the time to sit at the table before we started chowing down on it.  We stood there in the kitchen and ate pretty much the whole box!  Also, we gave some to my host mom and I told her it was the best cereal in the world.  She did like it a lot and she agreed that it was the best in the world.  I don't know if she was just playing along with the fact that it was the best, but she did like it.  Tonisha and I then watched the rest of Emperor's New Groove and then watch Crazy, Stupid, Love.  I love that movie and it just reminded me of how Mark and I saw it in the theaters and laughed when noone else did.  After the movies, Tonisha and I ate our dessert (let's just say we didn't have a healthy eating night) and it, too, was delicious.  We started the movie Just Like Heaven after that, but then both of us got REALLY sleepy, so we went to bed.  Overall, it was an amazing night and for your entertainment, here are some pictures: =)

Tonisha using the blender :)

Yay for Cinnamon Toast Crunch!!

Our nastily delicious dessert!

Sorry for the late post!  Also, I hope you all enjoyed your 11/11/11 and Veteran's Day yesterday!!  Also, yesterday was the "I have one month left in Peru" day!  So, technically, now I have less than a month left!  Crazy!  Time has flown!