Piura

This small city is not a huge tourist town. We haven't seen very many other non-Peruvians, and Karis has been getting a lot of stares. But it is also a really nice city. People are outside and active, and there is a noticeable relaxed feel here. We have been taking advantage of the siesta in the early afternoons. It's nice, naps.

We did go out and enjoy the city, though. We arrived on Saturday evening. After getting our stiff put away at the hostel, we headed out for some real food. All we had eaten that day was junk food on the bus, snacks from convenient stores. It was nice to have a salad. After, we enjoyed some live music in the plaza. It's all very reggae tone here.

On Sunday, we went over to Plaza de Armas, the main square, where every Sunday there is a ceremonial raising of the flag and a parade. We saw part of the parade on the drive over, but it was all in Spanish, so I don't know what the signs said. The part that was going on when we got to the Plaza was all military. We think there must be a military school in town, because there's were a lot of kids. But the band was pretty good.

We walked around town for a bit, enjoying the relaxing Sunday afternoon. There was some other event happening as well, though we didn't know what. Something to do with the church. But there were told of groups creating these street art murals out of crushed flower petals, some of them dyed. They were pretty cool. We mosied on further and found a slate park. We watched the kid for a while. They were pretty cute, the little ones. One little boy - he was 5, Tanya asked - kept going back and forth down and up this hill, riding right in front of us. One time, while going across in front of us, he went, "Mirar! Mirar!" (Look! Look!) And he did this tiny little wheely. It was so cute!!

We continued walking for a while before enjoying our siesta. The rest of the day was spurt of like that. Nap, World Cup, dinner.

Monday was market day. We took a cab to a place for collectivo, tacos that take multiple customers to the same spot for a lower fare. This is mostly common for places that are more than 20 minutes away or out of town. We went to the small city of Catacao and spent a while shipping for Peruvian souvenirs. We found some unique treasures.

Our evening was much the same as the previous two. It was nice to have a few days of relaxation, especially knowing what is coming next. Lima, here we come!

P.S. I'm loving all three IncaKola!!