The Traveling Mom

As most of you probably already know, my mom made the trek down here for a few days to see Lima! It was an amazing weekend and I had so much fun showing her my city! I packed a lot of activities in 3 days and by the end we were both so exhausted, but it was worth it!

Thursday night/Friday morning she got to the hotel around midnight and she walked in and had the best gift for me (other than herself, of course)....she walked through the entire Houston and Lima airport with a bag of chips and salsa in hand from an amazing Texmex restaurant in Houston. I'm sure it was really annoying to have to carry that all over, but it was sooooooo worth it!! So we spent a while talking and eating chips and salsa late into the night and I was so happy. 

It's just so beautiful

Friday morning we woke up early to grab breakfast near our hotel before our bike tour! We shared an omelette and some churros for breakfast, and come to think of it I'm pretty sure we shared every meal we got that weekend. The bike tour was really fun, we met people traveling from all over the US (I realized I need to meet a guy in software because I've met so many people from software companies traveling) and got to see my city from an extremely touristy view. I already knew a lot of the information the guide told us, but I learned a lot as well!

Of course we had churros for breakfast!

All ready to ride the city!

Parque de Amor was so beautiful with all these murals!

And the ocean view sure helped!

:)

After our bike ride around Miraflores and Barranco, we headed to Punto Azul for some amazing ceviche and my mom's first chilcano! (Hint: she liked it...a lot). Unfortunately we had to squeeze all our drinking in on Friday because since it was election weekend here in Peru, apparently it's dry. So basically we travelled back to prohibition and it was sad, because there were a lot of places I wanted to take her to enjoy some drinks and we weren't able to do that :( That night we went to Larcomar mall (which apparently is the 2nd most visited place in Peru after Machu Picchu which I have no idea why) for dinner and enjoyed some tequeños and the traditional Lomo Saltado dish with a pisco sour and Chilcano. We then proceeded to drag ourselves back to our hotel and pass out. It was a long day.

Her first Chilcano changed her life

Saturday morning we headed to Central Lima to see the changing of the guards and some of the churches down there. Remember that time I went to see the changing of the guards and missed it because of a taxi and a sketchy walk? Yeah, well I finally got to see it and it was kind of funny actually. It was choreographed not like I expected for a changing of the guards. But we also got to go in a few old Catholic churches and we went to see the catacombs again! Yay!

Some secret service lookin-people outside changing of the guards

The band that played the music

You can see the top of their guns during their dance (lol)

One of the altars 

A life sized version (if not bigger) of Jesus

Another extravagant altar

The ceiling is so cool

After central Lima we went to have lunch with my host family and had another traditional dish: Ají de gallina. My mom was worried about not knowing what my family was saying but since so many of them know English, I knew it wouldn't be a problem. She really enjoyed getting to know them and I'm glad she finally got to meet my host family and see my home!

My awesome parents 

Family <3

After we finally left around 5, we walked through my campus so she could see my school and went to drop off all my souvenirs she took home for me off at the hotel and headed to Parque de las Aguas. This was a ton of fun and the water show was amazing! Last time I came we missed the show because of stupid taxis and traffic again, but this time we waited for the next show and it was definitely worth it! It was a lot of fun walking around to all the fountains and people watching. We even went to buy a churro while walking around and the lady behind the counter asked if I had money. Obviously I have money or else I wouldn't be ordering it! Made no sense to us. After the park, we went to have some of the best sushi ever. It was late and they were about to close but it was the best sushi ever. Seriously. Yum.

We had fun recording the fountains in different ways

We waited for the fountain to turn blue

The water tunnel is always my favorite

Sunday we went and had breakfast (that came with some fries...weird) and walked to some ruins that are in Lima and waited around for it to open. Turns out, they were closed since it was election day. Disappointed, we walked around the outside a bit to try to see some of it. Since my mom was so upset that it was closed, I made her climb a tree to see the ruins. It was hilarious to say the least. 

She's a regular ole Huckleberry Finn

After that disappointment, we went and shopped a little bit (a lot) and found my graduation dress!! Phew! That is one less thing I have to worry about on the day I have to prepare when I get back. We then enjoyed some of the drinks we bought on Friday in the room before heading to Barranco to touch the Pacific ocean and to watch the sunset. She didn't believe me when I said it was cold. Then we went back to grab some ceviche at Punto Azul again before she had to head to the airport, but apparently they were closed for dinner that night. Very disappointing. So we walked around and found this little restaurant and enjoyed some ceviche and picarones (a donut dessert made of sweet potatoes). It was yummy, yet again, and then we went back to shower and finish packing up before I saw her off to the airport. :( But I have less than 3 weeks until I see her again, so it's really not too terrible.

Trying not to get taken out by the ice cold waves

I love you mom and thank you so much for traveling out of your comfort zone to see me!! <3