Thursday Sept 17

Up early at 0615 for cycling. Rained all the way there. I was concerned about riding in such heavy rain, but like going hunting, you don't know what the weather will be like at the spot until you are there. As on cue the rain stopped when we got to the ready point and we rode for about 1.5 hours. Some climbs were pretty good but manageable. We went through the town of El Retiro and it was pretty quaint.

We had breakfast thereafter. There are two kinds of arepa, white corn and yellow corn (choclo'). The yellow is better I think. Also had chorizo which is dried, much different than here. Also finally had a good cup of tinto (coffee black).

Fruits and flowers here are amazing, Trees with white leaves (Guayacan) are very pretty. I'd have taken a picture but they are located here and there and we did not stop.

That afternoon, friend Samuel picked us up to have lunch with a group of friends. We went to Puro Peru, which I was happy to see since I had found out about Peruvian cuisine. Counting me there were 6 professional men, all about 50 (I'm the baby). One of them Jaime was an attorney, fluent in English.

We had several dishes. The ceviche was awesome, big chunks of fish. Also have a limonada, which is a fresh limeade. Fried shrimp, arroz Peruvana which was better than the other night. Excellent. There was a filet of fish with a good sauce. There was a beef dish, very spicy. Dessert were a pudding "like a Milky Way" as Samuel said, and a good cheesecake. We ordered several dishes and passed them around. Good sample. Excellent place, all open aired just like many of the restaurants here (no need for air conditioning).

That afternoon we were back in the apartment. Gilbert helped me with some Spanish. Difference btwn Espada (sword) and Espalda (back). At the Botero Exhibit, we had seen pictures of the Virgin Mary with a sword painted on. Gilbert said this was to signify Luke 2 "when sorrow will pierce your heart like a sword". I read the verse in the Sagrada Biblia in the apartment.

Later O said we were going to visit a young girl where he was going to give her a medical check as a favor. WE went to this nice apartment and met her mother C and then the girl game in. She was 13 years old. Oscar said she was OK, recommended that she monitor what she eats, no big problems.

I found out on the way over that one of the reason's O wanted to go there was to talk to the mother, which he did privately.

Then we went to H's apartment .

The apartment they lived in was out of a movie. It was on the 15th floor of one of the higher ares of the surrounding mountains. The balcony goes all around the full floor. There was probably more balcony space outside than most apartments have space inside. Three bedrooms plus a nice study with a glass desk. In the master bath, the toilet and shower were hidden behind frosted glass doors. CD's hidden behind TV. Closets hidden behind wall decorations.

We had dinner which was very nice: the Aji chicken soup, salad with pears, tomatoes, and cordonis (which I called huevos pequenos, little eggs). As the server heard me say this, she couldn't help but start laughing out loud :)

We also had a chicken casserole and a tasty jugo (juice) Lula. Finished with orange sherbert with orange slices on top. There were pretty flowers in the apt. which smelled really good.

Afterwards, I ended up talking with K (en Espanol). She has a passport from Spain so it is easy for her to travel throughout European Union. H is working on getting one as well.

H liked reading business books like me. We discussed the book Outliers which we both liked a lot. He gave me some other book ideas.

The good night had to come to an end. An interesting look into other people's lives. I