More Apartment Checks & Plaza de Armas

This week we finished checking the Este Zone Apartments and started on the Primavera Zone.  We will finish Primavera next week and that will be the end of our work with the mission since we will be going home in four weeks.

We went with Hans Poma again this week.  It was his 27th birthday so we gave hime some candy for his birthday. He is a great young man.  We have learned to love so many of the people here in our mission.

Our first stop. Florence de Mora. 

Elder Melendez from Lima and Elder Ardrade from Arequipa, Peru. 

They have a cute mascot in their room. 

The missionary apartment is light blue, their landlady has the darker
blue house with a tienda in front.

Elder Quiroz from Bolivia and Elder Zavalaga from Arequipa, Peru.

Inside their apartment. It has cement floors but was very clean.

The tienda next door.

More scenes in Florencia de Mora.

Outside their apartment

Elder Palomino from Peru and Elder Norton from Atlanta, Georgia.
La Merced ward.  Carlos Jesus is their mission leader. 

We love how they decorate their walls.

A pretty view of the mountains from their apartment.

Plastic for recycling.

An old Toyota Tercel. They can sure keep cars running for years down here.

Elder Peek from outside his apartment.

Elder Peek from California & Elder Prada from Lima. The young man
in the middle is their landlady's son.  They live downstairs.  He is 15 and
plans to serve a mission.  These Elders are good examples for him.

A minion.

Many of the Elders display flags of their countries.  They are
proud of their heritage.

Their landlady.  They have two dogs. This is Chester.
The one below is Scott.  He is one of those hairless dogs.
We found out they are Egyptian.

Bill likes to buy drinks for the Elders.

A house under construction.  You can see a worker by the door.

Some people work really hard to add landscaping to the small areas in
front of their homes.

These young men were training these roosters to fight.

Outside the Zone Leader's apartment in Tahuantinsuyo (Esperanza).

Elder Morote from Atlanta, Georgia (his Dad is from Peru and his
mother from Guatemala) and Elder Salinas from Lima.

Their landlady, downstairs, has a lovely home.

The Elders in Tahuantinsuyo 2 live above this restaurant owned by a member.
They weren't home so we will have to catch them next week.  The restaurant
was very clean and the food looked good.  We have seen her in the temple.

Our last two Elders for the day, Elder Laime from Lima
and Elder Irrazabal from Argentina.  Elder irrazabal's
mother died a couple of months ago but he is strong
and a great missionary.

We went to the Plaza de Armas for lunch at McDonald's because we wanted to pick up some things at the Mercado.  We also walked to the Apiat and took some pictures of the busy streets.

A book fair.

We ran into this sweet mother from the temple, Silvana Abanto. She was shopping
with her daughter, Ashly. Ashley leaves on Tuesday for her mission to Quito, Ecuador.

This is Adolfo Velasquez.  He and his wife are both blind.  They
come to the temple often.  He stands on the street by the Mercado
every day selling things.  We always give him a little money. He is
very self sufficient. 

There are lots of places to eat in the Mercado but we haven't tried them.

Fresh squeezed juice. 

Lots and lots of shoes.

Purses

Jeans 

Socks (medias) 1 sol a pair (30 cents)

This little gal is one of our favorites.  She has a little souvenir shop
in the Apiat.  We have bought lots of things from her and she is always
so friendly and helpful.

On Wednesday there was bus strike. Many of the workers and patrons could not get to the temple.  They rely on the buses for transportation.  The temple was dead.  We were supposed to have the 7:00 PM session but President Casos canceled it and closed the temple at 7:00 since there were no patrons and the workers that were there needed to get back home.  Bill helped a couple with taxi fare.  

It was fun getting home early.  Bill and I decided to put a quick dinner together and sit and watch the Presidential Debate on our SlingBox.  I do believe this is the worst election we have ever experienced in our lives.  So much dirt and mud slinging.  I can't stand either one of them. We are really glad we have missed most of it here in Peru.  

Broccoli Cheese soup, watermelon & mousse de lemon.