Day 8- Lima

Today, I woke up at 7:30 to get ready to begin class by 9am. We only had our language class from 9-10 and no culture class since we had a day full of activities planned. Our itinerary:

11:00 am- Tour in the Government Palace, including watching the changing of the guards, a half hour ceremony for when the guards clock out.

12:30 - 1:00pm- Lunch time

1:00pm- Museo de la Iglesia San Francisco (catacumbas)

2:30 pm- Congreso

4:00 pm- Museo de la Santa Inquisición.

5:30 pm-  Walk around the Plaza de Armas o Plaza Mayor, including La catedral de Lima, Palacio Arzobispal de Lima, el Jiron de la Unión, etc.

The night before, I had a fever and very bad stomach pains. When I woke up this morning, I felt better starting around 8am. When class ended, I hadn't been sick for 2 hours, which was actually really good so I decided I should try to see the city. We got on a 20-minute metro ride and my stomach started hurting really badly again, so I told Monica I should rest. Her mother took me to the pharmacy once we got off the train, and I bought some pills and a bottle of Frutti Flex, which contains electrolytes and other nutrients. I wasn't feeling good enough to walk around the Government Palace, so I sat down with Tara, who was also sick, while the others attended the tour. Monica told us we should wait an hour until they were all done, but I knew I needed to go home and rest so Tara and I took a cab back to Miraflores. I had already told my host family I might be back early, depending on how I felt, so I went home and rest. Once I slept for a few hours, I felt much better. The medicine also seemed to help a lot, too. However, I was still sick and needed to take it easy. I was upset that I had missed out on a full day of activities, as well as the Plaza de Armas and many famous buildings in Lima. I hope that I'll be able to go back with Tara another time and explore.

I obviously didn't do much for the rest of the night, but I had a wonderful conversation with my host father about music. We have almost the same taste and both love rock and blues the most. I also learned that he's seen the Beatles in concert (as well as many other great bands, including Santana), which is probably the coolest thing ever. I played cards with him and Alvaro and took it easy the rest of the night.