Life has been busy and, for a while, rather uneventful. Not bad...just nothing of any import to really write about. However, then Semana Santa started. Semana Santa is Holy Week (literally "Saint Week"). Of course, it's not very clear to me why it's called Holy Week, since we only get two days off from work. Sure, some people are going to church each day of this week leading up to Easter, but that isn't important. In my opinion, either the name needs to be changed or the Peruvian government needs to give us off the entire week. People keep laughing when I say this, but I'm serious!
Anyway, I happily took the extra two days off and we decided to relax. Wednesday night we went out to celebrate one of Arturo's friend's birthdays. I've been very little fun since I started working -- in bed by 10:00 p.m. with no exceptions. So, I decided to just stay out late and let the night flow. The night ended by dancing salsa and merengie (or trying to) until 4:00 a.m. Impressive, eh? Needless to say, much of Thursday was spent sleeping and recuperating. (NOTE: the photo included in this blog is a reenactment of the evening, played by actors and not the real dancers)
Friday morning and early afternoon was spent helping Arturo's parents move some of their things to Arturo's brother's apartment. They have sold their enormous three-floor house, since it's just the two of them, and they have bought an apartment. The only tricky part is that they have to be out of their house in a couple of weeks and their new apartment won't be ready until December. So, the bulk of their things will be stored at Arturo's brother while they move into a smaller, temporary apartment for the next six months or so (just don't ask any details about the interim apartment since they haven't found one yet).
After finishing with the parents, we took off for our Semana Santa trip. Just a two-day trip to the small mountain town of Canta, a couple hours' drive from Lima. We had everything we needed and were ready! Two hours into the trip we hit a bit of a bump in the road. This is, of course, after me screaming and covering my face for most of the previous hour. Peruvian drivers just don't seem to be scared of a passing other cars while driving on a narrow road with a sheer drop off of a rocky cliff and no guard rail. Arturo was an amazing driver, always keeping his eyes on the road and staying calm in the face of oncoming traffic. Anyway, about that bump in the road. There was a small avalanche of rocks up the road and - since there is only one way to go - we had to turn back around. As we turned around, we felt disappointed, but still excited to be on holiday. Then, the excitement grew as we noticed a campground about 30 minutes down the road. We pulled in, paid our 12 soles (about $5) and looked around with satisfaction. There were barbecue pits, a playground, two pools, and loads of flat grass to pitch our tent on. Just as we finished, it began to rain so we skipped the bbq idea and bought sandwiches and hot dogs at the food stand. We used our headlamps to do a little reading and fell asleep around 9:00 p.m.
The next day we rose to a bright, sunny day and decided we needed to do something else. We started driving in the direction of Lima and Arturo came up with the excellent idea of going to La Punta in Callao, a small district (sort of like a state) just next to Lima. La Punta is a beautiful neighborhood along a beach, with incredibly preserved colonial architecture, and the original wall of defense along the coast, built by the Spaniards and then, eventually, used by the Peruvians to win their independence. We walked around, feeling relaxed and hours away from the hustle and bustle of Lima (when in fact we were just an hour away). We had a delicious lunch of fresh ceviche and fried fish, wandered around the boardwalk, and then took a 40 minute boat ride to see some of the sights. Nearby is Palomino Island, where a sea lion community lives. You can take a day-long tour - including swimming with the sea lions! - but we missed the 9 a.m. 
departure. Instead, we took a lovely little boat ride around (with no sea lions) and then went over to the Real Felipe, the walled fortress. Although the two hour tour of the museum/fortress was way too long and way too hot, it was a fascinating piece of history. You can read more at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Real_Felipe. We came back to our apartment where we washed away the dust and watched a movie. All in a all, a pretty good weekend. The best part is...it's not over yet! We have one more day...
