The whirlwind that is Lima

It has been a few days and we have been fairly busy. Our friends decided to prolong their stay in Lima. We have been having fun with them at night and working hard at school during the day, so something had to give- sorry!
This week we went to dinner with a couple from Lima who spoke minimal english. You would think that would make for a pretty quiet evening, but fortunately Sarah is getting pretty good in spanish and at the reduced rate of speed I was able to understand most of it, and even participate a little. We went to a parrilla in Barranco and had a great meal, I think I like the meat (especially the chorizo) better here than Argentina. Blasphemy!!!
Wednesday was the highlight of my week. After class a group of us met up and headed out for a little parapente-ing. For those of you not in the know, a parapente is similar to a parachute, a hanglider, and a kite. You stand on the edge of a cliff attached to a guy and parachute thing already full of wind. Then you take a few running steps off the cliff and you are flying! I had a great time with spectacular views and a few scary moments- my guide decided to do a few acrobatic maneuvers- and a beautiful landing 15 minutes later right back where I started. Amazing! Others, however, were not so lucky. Brent and Nate both took off smoothly but apparently had eaten too many cookies, because both of them ended up down on the beach and had to cab it back up the cliff with their guides. Needless to say they got a bit of teasing. My guide was Marco Antonio Mercado www.tandemperu.com and I would recommend him without a doubt. Interestingly, there were no releases signed before we took the jump. I have a sneaking suspicion that all casualties from this sport are drug out into the sea and never mentioned again-that would be bad for the tourist trade! Anyway our group made it back safe and sound.
The rest of the week was spent preparing for our test today. Brent and I both passed with flying colors, Brent flew a little higher than me and brought in a 94, I didn't hit the beach, but I was a bit lower with an 87.4. I am not as good as Brent in the oral section (that's what she said...ha), but do a little better with the grammer.
Tonight unfortunately Brent is not feeling well and has a bit of a fever so he will be unable to join the rest of us for a night of celebration and carousing; we will just have to have fun without him!
Later!