June 21,     Happy Father’s Day!!!

Today was our connection day! Yeah!!! We were up and about after a short night for me. I was awakened at 0200 until around 0500. Anyway, we connected with my mother and her husband on a WhatsApp video. It seems they had severe thunderstorms across Kansas throughout the night. Maybe I was channeling back home and that was why I didn’t sleep well.🤔😂🤣 Needless to say, I went back to bed for about 40 min. Then we had our Javas and breakfast of oatmeal and yogurt.

We then connected via Zoom with our church back home. Those very storms had caused the church building to lose electrical power. This meant that everyone was on Zoom! So we stayed on a little longer, fellowshipping with all. After we finished, we made some salami and cheese sandwiches with sliced veggies. After we finished eating we went for a walkabout and shopping. Jeff saw a recipe on his feed that we wanted to try tomorrow – “Steak Bites” – so we bought the “fixin”s for it. We went to the mall grocery store and got steps first then bought our supplies. We left the mall and went to a shop in the next block for two empanadas: one Brisket, and one Arabe. Now we went back to our place. We prepped our steak for tomorrow.

Afternoon turned to evening, so we heated those empanadas and had them for supper. They were both good but the Arabe one had the rocoto pepper chopped in it and was spicy, better. We then talked with Jeff’s sister and her husband. (My sister was busy with her family.) We watched a movie before bed.

     June 22,  Happiest Birthday to THREE of our Nephews!!! 

This day we had a connection day of another sort. I attempted to find out about my passport. I called the Passport number from the E-mail. I finally got through only to be sent to another number, the embassy in Lima, because I’m in Peru. When I talked to someone there I was told I would need to send an E-mail explaining everything. So I did that. Next I just have to wait for a response! So frustrating. Anyway, during this whole process we had our Javas and breakfast of scrambled eggs and veggies on a shared small hoagie-type bun. Jeff also attempted to reach out for a future project/itinerary, but he did not reach anyone. SOOO we wait.

We set out for a walkabout taking in the scenery, but ended at another grocer – Franco, near the dentist office. We acquired our items and then stopped at the Asian store for tongs that our place doesn’t have. We need them to turn the steak bites. They were less than a dollar to buy and donate. We went back to our place and made our steak bites and sauteed some veggies to have with them for our “lunner”. It all turned out super-duper!!!

After we finished we decided to go back out for more of a walkabout. We went to the Plaza de Armas and enjoyed the golden hour of light, just before sundown. There was less traffic as Sunday seems to play out here. We happened to see the shoestring seller. That is a call back for us to when we were here 20+ years ago and seeing the same thing. One guy who is just selling shoelaces. Only difference – twenty years ago the salesman was carrying them. This guy has them in a shopping cart. Maybe it is the same guy!?? 😆😆 As always, though, questions.

Anyway, we headed back to our place as it was turning way cooler and less light. As we were ½ block from there, I did not judge an irregular curb correctly and went down! Thankfully it was just a banged knee and small puncture wound!! Back at our place, I iced my knee after I showered and cleaned off the dust. What a couple of strange days…but simple living, just someplace else.