Week 15 - My Birthday!!!!

So this week John was feeling a lot better and good because it was the run up to my birthday in Peru. Here is week numero 15:

Day 1 Monday - This morning we decided to go for a stroll down to the beach, however the way we originally planned left us stuck on a road as no paths led down so we had to take another route. The second route took us down a staircase in the cliff side and onto the beach of 'death'. We named it that way by us due to the large amount of dead animals found on the beach, jelly fish, crabs and two birds. Not the nicest of beaches we have seen on our travels. We then walked back which got our appetites going for lunch.

After lunch we finally got the call that there was enough wind for us to go paragliding! So we packed the camera and headed down to the Parque del Amor were we took off tandem style. It was actually a really smooth ride but still seemed 'un-real'. We highly recommend this for anyone....they even take dogs up. (Imagine Rocky up there).

Day 2 Tuesday - Today we went for lunch at Maria's house (Johns grandparents maid) which gave us a look at the shanty towns in Lima. Apparently most people do not even have running water, and the houses reach all the way up the hillside, so we had to take a very scary coca taxi back down (rocky ride). Maria's house was by far one of the nicest in the barrio as was funded by there daughter who is now a professor at the university. We ended up getting back home late that afternoon as the journey was long.

Day 3 Wednesday - We accompanied John's Nan this morning to Magdalena, an area of Lima where shopping is very cheap. It was very good for spices, condiments and food stuff in general but we decided for the rest (clothes and jewlrey) was not as nice as other places we had seen.

In the afternoon we tried baking some cookies in the cooker where just a mere half turned out edible.

Day 4 Thursday - We were up nice and early today as were heading for Lunahuana. We ended up getting three buses and one taxi there taking us a total of 4 hours. When we arrived in the little village we were greeted by the intense heat there and surrounded by vineyards for sweet wines and pisco. The river Canete runs along this village and we found an english speaking guide to do white water rafting. It was just us two in the boat and the guide and the 50minute journey was so much fun. We even had a swim in a natural pool. After we tried some of the famous and highly recommended prawns fished from the local river which were lovely. The journey home was another 3 buses and a taxi and we arrived late in the evening.

Day 5 Friday - My birthday today and was awoken by my parents on skype singing happy birthday and some surprise birthday gifts! (I even got a gift from the monster dog). I then recieved a surprise breakfast from the parker family!

After my special lunch we went to a salon to get my nails done and hair done for the fiesta that evening and I even convinced John to get his hair done for my birthday!

In the evening I had a nice fiesta with Johns family, lots of nice food and a chocolate cake specially made bye Johns Auntie Tati.

Day 6 Saturday - Late morning we took a taxi to Parque del Amor and walked along the coast till Larcomar where we ate lunch at a chinese. We then walked up to Parque de Kennerdy where we found a handicraft fair going on so we took a look around. After our mooching we ended up at the english pub (which apparently is run by a texan) with me ordering a cafe and John with a beer.

Day 7 Sunday - In the morning we took a ride down to Palvos Rosado where we mooched around the centre full of cheap fakes. We were looking for a specific present for a friend but where un able to find it but instead purchased some music.

For lunch we ate out a little cafe with Johns grandparents. It was very cute and quiant and I managed to have a vegetarian dish! Lasagne!

In the evening we were invited to a girls 22nd birthday party, a family friend.

Miss you all
Vicky and John