Wednesday, June 29th: Holiday!

Wednesday, June 29th is a holiday in Peru for San Pablo and San Pedro, so I didn't have work. My host mom made delicious noodles and chicken with red sauce for lunch! I was starving! I went to the grocery store and bought Inca Kola for all of us. :)

Then we went on a drive to Chorrillos for their festival of fisherman, because one of the saints is the saint of fisherman. We passed by the cliffs on the sea which have ivy growing on them, giving Lima the name "La Costa Verde" (green coast).

We passed some dogs playing in the flowers on the beach. :D

More cliffs. There were a few paths and staircases up the cliffs to the streets above, but they did not look very safe. There was only a small wall to protect against rockslides.

Beautiful Chorrillos, at the bottom of the cliffs. I liked the romantic statues.

We went out onto the dock to see the fish markets. There were a ton of people selling things and crowding the dock, but it was a really great atmosphere. The live band was so cool that I had to videotape one of their songs. It was like a cross between Latin music and Pretty Lights.

The fish! My host family said this would be a safe place to eat ceviche but I think I'd better stick to restaurants with refrigeration when I eat raw fish.

Boat procession accompanied by loud-sound-only fireworks.

So cool.

Then my host family took me to see a famous site known for a friar's suicide because he fell in love with a woman and, although he didn't do anything with her, felt like he had betrayed God and jumped to his death on the rocks. I expected this story to be from the 1800s, but my host dad said it was like 1920s. Damn. A restaurant was built there called "the Friar's Jump" and men reenact the dive at 6pm sharp every day for money. On the holiday, though, they did it continuous. But they jump into the water, not the rocks, and then quickly scale the cliffs to ask for money from tourists. It was extremely cold that day so I was impressed at how they dove in.

Then we took the car up to the top of the cliffs to attend the street fair. I could only get blurry pictures, but it was an extremely crowded mass of people, hundreds of vendors selling nearly everything including huge knives for $5 and lots of coats, and tons of food and comedy shows. Beautiful fireworks were shown down the street and I bought some ice cream and enjoyed the night.

I'll be updating my blog soon to make up for the last week. Although I know it's best to live in the present, I know I'll forget the cool details of last week if I don't write about them. :)