Last night was quite the party in the 'hood. Lots of thumping Peruvian music to fall asleep to (again, lots of noise works to my advantage in helping me fall asleep). The party outside ended at 2:30 am; then, I heard a series of loud booms at 3:15 am. This was the only time I really considered leaving Lima early. I hugged my pillow as my heart raced 1,000/mph. I felt like I was in the worst neighborhood in Chicago.
Our breakfast was super-fancy this morning, Lara told me. We had a slice of ham on our bread. Irma was busy all morning making two huge vats of rice and beans for the soup kitchen where she volunteers every Sunday. Here we are, in a home with no hot water and tons of roaches, and Irma is still doing what she can to help other people. Pretty cool.
I asked Irma about the loud booming noises last night. She said they were fireworks, as last night was a fiesta. Whew! No need to change my flight to an earlier departure. What a scaredy-cat I am.Today I visited Zone R for the first time. Lara, Luz and I took another 15 cent crazy/loco bus trip to the very end of the line. Not even moto-taxis come to Zone R.
By the way, we two gringos (Lara and Sandy) 
cannot go anywhere alone without a Peruvian joining us. Irma is too protective and won't let us. Fine with me - I trust her as I see the stares and cat calls we get everywhere we go. I have yet to see another fair skinned person here other than Lara or me...and Lara really stands out as a 6'1" young woman!After the morning in Zone R and an afternoon of tutoring, we ended the day with bread, faux Nutella (purchased and shared by our Frenchman, Arnaud) and tea.
