While we were only in Peru for one month it felt like home. We saw and did so many incredible things in this beautiful country. Our family is forever grateful for the friends we have met and for the experiences we had.

We spent most of our last few weeks hanging out around the Miraflores area of Lima which is where our Airbnb was. Here in Lima there is a very cool mall, Lacomar. It is built into the side of the hill, with a park on top of it. Many of the stores sell expensive outdoorsy gear or just expensive clothing in general. There is a food court where the boys had tasty ice cream bars.

We also went to a kids percussion musical performance in a theater near by. They played the cohone which is a wood box that you sit on and slap with your hands. The kids also played a few other interesting instruments, sang and danced. It was fun to see how talented they were.

Our family took a day trip to see the Plaza de Armas in Lima. The architecture around the square was really awesome. We got to see the palace where the president of Peru lives. There was a military band playing music just inside the palaces gates that we listened to for a while. We then walked around some of the local markets and had lunch at a really great Chinese restaurant.

On the way back we decided to take the city bus back to Kennedy Park. The bus reminded us of taking the subway in China. We kept saying at each stop that there is no way another person can get on. Sure enough at each stop three or four more people crammed in while nobody seemed to get off. We hung out in Kennedy park for a while. The kids played on the playground while we watched all of the stray cats.

In our last week we got to see three events at the panamerican games in Lima the marathon, beach volleyball, and soccer.On Friday, we went to see beach volleyball at a newly constructed facility not far from our apartment. We were able to see both the men’s and women’s U.S. teams play. Jace Pardon even stopped for a photo with the boys after the match. She and her partner went on to win the Gold at these games.On Saturday, we saw the marathon where two Peruvians won. Gladys Tejeda won in a new Panamerica Games record time.

On Monday, we caught the end of the Mexico Vs. Panama soccer game and then we watched Argentina beat Ecuador 3-2. It was so exciting and all of the players were very talented. While we watched a great game, Mason enjoyed running up and down the aisles pretending he was a bus going up and down the switchback road to Machu Picchu.On the way home, we saw a Independence Day dance festival. Chelsea and Cooper went to check it out….well, kind of. The music was very loud so we watched the dancers warm up outside of the stadium.On Friday, Tom broke part of his filling in a tooth out while he was eating a peanut. We were so nervous about visiting a foreign dentist, but wow did we have an amazing experience at Oral Reveal Dental Clinic. It was about $30 USD for an appointment/diagnosis, an x-ray, and a temporary fill for his tooth. The clinic was incredibly clean and modern and we had no problems (except Tom not understanding the diagnosis in Spanish). After the holiday weekend, we returned on Tuesday and he got a more semi-permanent enamel fix for free! The staff were so nice. And the dentist gave us hugs before we left. We want to go back to Peru for all of our dental work!

Off to Chile for the month of August. We look forward to another great adventure but sure will miss Peru!