Trip to Lima -
When we arrived in Lima on February 15, we were issued tourist visas valid for 90 days. While in Lima we were taken to the immigration office by a Church representative and applied for resident visas. We were notified last week that our application had been approved and that we needed to come to Lima to finalize the paperwork, be photographed and fingerprinted.

We flew to Lima on Tuesday, April and returned to Huaraz on Thursday, April 3. The airline that services Huaraz, LCPERU, only flies on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. That may be increased as the tourism season in this area (May - September) picks up. The plane leaves Huaraz at 10:00 a.m. and arrives in Lima about an hour later. The return flight leaves Lima at 8:25 a.m. Both our flights were delayed an hour due to early morning fog in Lima.

The fare was US$220. RT per person. The Church paid for this since we had to go to Lima to pick up our resident visas. The carnet (card)  we were issued is good for one year so we will have to return to Lima next year to renew for our remaining months.

These photos show the airport facility here in Huaraz. It is small but clean and modern as you can see from the photos. The plane, a Dash 8 turboprop, seats 32 -34 passengers but both of our flights were less than half full.

At the airport with Huascarán Mountain in the background. This mountain is 22,400 ft. and the 4th highest mountain in the Western Hemisphere.

The airport terminal for Huaraz.

Inside the terminal.  What do you think, Jill--will JetBlue fly here?

The Dash 8 turboprop that took us to Lima and back.

Boarding in Huaraz.  Who is that important guy?

The runway here is almost two miles long, but the pilot did not need all of it to take off. The airport is actually in a very small town named Anta which is about 30 minutes taxi ride from Huaraz. The fare is 35 soles, about US$12.50 one way. The valley from Huaraz widens at this point and there is plenty of room to take off and land. The view of the snow-capped Andes from the airplane is pretty spectacular. (Perhaps all these details will be useful to those who may be planning to visit us.)

As Tony said, the main purpose of the trip was to get our legal papers, but the second purpose was to do a little shopping in the 'big city" of Lima.  So when we arrived Tuesday, we checked into our hotel, ate lunch at a Chifa (Chinese restaurant) and went to the Distribution Center by the temple to buy simplified hymn books and assorted stuff.  Across from the temple was a small store that sells book covers, etc. I was excited to find a great addition to my nativity set collection.  (See picture below.) The box-like one we got at the airport.  There was a beautiful one for $400 US but we passed on that one.

The bird, the box and the egg.

The bird opens to show nativity.

The box opens to display the nativity.

Wednesday we went with Graciela to get our carnets.  She was pleasantly surprised that it only took 2 1/2 hours to complete everything--partly because of our age.  They let the elderly, special needs people and pregnant women go to the front of the lines or have special lines for them.  One small perk for being old!

In the afternoon we went to Jockey Plaza--a HUGE mall, similar to US malls.  They have a little bit of everything.  Most of their larger stores are chains from Chile but they have US stores as well.  We ate lunch in the food court and had burgers from Burger King.  

The huge food court in the mall.

Watching a soccer game on a giant screen in the food court.

 While Tony was getting the food, I was looking for a table since it was very crowded.  A lady motioned for me to join her and said she was almost finished and we could have that table.  She asked all the usual questions (where from, why here, how long, etc.) and when I explained what we were doing she got all excited.  She said she is trying to write a book about her family and went to her church and asked her priest if she could see their records.  He told her no.  Then, someone told her about Family Search on the internet and she has been able to find some of her records there.  She said, so your Family Search is good for us Catholics too!  It was exciting to hear of someone that is using the program.

Lego store in Lima.

We went looking for an area rug for our front room and finally found one that is imported from Egypt.  We think it adds some color and style to our front room.  The salesman rolled it up and wrapped it in plastic and Tony carried it around for the rest of our shopping.

The rug from Egypt.

Then we went to the grocery store and found a few things that we haven't been able to buy here, like a paper towel holder and some canned corn--the corn here is huge and ugly and some other things.  Next door was a Home Depot equivalent where we found a filter for the fan over our stove. But the biggest find of all was in a little store with no name  that the taxi driver drove us to--chocolate chips!!  I bought a whole big bag--I think she usually sells them by the 1/2 cup or so and some powdered sugar.  I have looked everywhere for baking soda and finally found some the other day at a drug store.  Just one of the interesting things about living abroad.

We were beat so went back to the hotel and went to bed so we could get up at 5:00 to be ready to go to the airport at 6:00 and then wait for almost four hours before the plane took off.  As my brother Bob says--hurry up to wait!

As soon as we got home I thought of a bunch of other things I wished we had purchased but we will survive without them.  I also realized that I am really happy that we are assigned here and not in Lima, even if there are more imported things there.  It was hot, much more crowded and the traffic was horrendous--possibly even worse than here, if that is possible.  We are in the right place.