We're here!

---

Greetings from Perù! It´s a sunny day in Lima, which apparently is a rare occurance, so we´ll be a little brief!

Lima is wonderful, a lot cleaner than we expected. It´s right on the coast, and yesterday we saw the ocean, among other things. It´s most always very hazy and cool here, which is why we got excited to open the curtains and see sun this morning. Even at night, though, the temperatures are mild.

We were out in the center of Lima last night trying to find a sweater store and a restaurant and we heard loud reggaeton music playing, so we went over to investigate and found a huge rally for one of the presidential candidates, Alan Garcìa. Police were stationed around in riot gear, and streets were blocked, but the event was peaceful as far as we saw. One of the chants was ¨sin odio y sin violencia¨ (without hate and without violence). We stayed for awhile and listened to music and heard Alan speak. We even met some friends, a law student named Hans and a guy who recognized Iowa because of the band Slipknot. When we left the rally and stopped at a food stand, a boy looked at Ben for a long time before asking him to say something in English, then wanted to see some American money. We distributed some quarters and taught them about the states on the backs of them!

We are doing great, the hotel is nice, and we are healthy. And now we are off to find a way down to the beach and walk, get to a sweater store, and probably venture downtown again. Tonight is our last night in Lima, so we will try to find a bus ticket south to Pisco or somewhere around there today also. We will be en route to Bolivia soon!

Miss and love you all!

Mariel and Ben

---