Wednesday evening after leaving the pink district we went on a bit of a city tour before dinner. We went to the city center and saw union members striking in the plaza - which apparently is a common occurrence. We learned that the fountain in the center of the plaza gets filled with Pisco - the "national alcoholic drink of choice" every June 16th and people come and fill up their glasses and celebrate. We learned that that statue in the middle of the plaza was supposed to have a flame on the top of the ladies head, but that the artist misunderstood and put a llama on her head, because the word for "flame" and "llama" is the same in Spanish.

The president's house is on one side of the plaza surrounded by secret service dressed in uniform. They did not want to take pictures with us and took their jobs very seriously. Seeing people making out everywhere reminded me that only in the US do we take sexuality so seriously and conservatively. Everywhere else it's just an accepted part of human nature.

We walked around and came to a very famous church. There is a wall next to the church that was used to separate the blacks and whites space. The black people were not allowed in the square for a long time. There was a long street leading up to the church with balconies. Apparently this was the first street they built balconies on and it turned into a cultural phenomenon because the women would hang out on them and watch the city go by. It was the first time women were really seen in public. Also on this street were a group of young construction workers who were watching us. They were enamored with Anndrea and asked to take a picture with her. She kindly obliged.

Right off of this street was an old train station. It has since been renovated but back when it was in use, the only train that came through it was a train from a poor town. So, in order to stop the influx of poverty into the city because they thought it was causing a downfall in the economy, they closed the train station. The poor people from that town had no other way to enter the city at that time.

When we arrive to the church Donato explained that it is famous because it is the oldest church in Lima. It was built by the indigenous people for use by the Spanish. It was created with interlocking architecture - the bricks connect to themselves a little like legos so they can withstand the earthquakes and don't need glue/cement. As a "f*** you" the indigenous people carved indigenous faces into the church architecture. This church also holds a shrine to a black saint, and has catacombs underneath the entire foundation. They do tours of the catacombs on certain days - we did not see them.

Walking to dinner we walked through a very touristy market. It was bustling and people were everywhere. Renata was in front with Donato. I stayed in back to make sure we didn't have any stragglers. As we were walking I noticed a slinky man in a blue polo with long stringy black hair and piercing black eyes. He was sort of circling our group like a vulture so I kept an eye on him. After he was more than obviously suspicious, I made direct eye contact with him but he still wouldn't back off. I told Nehemiah and Tim who helped me watch for him. Nehemiah said he also saw someone else that was scoping us out and who was working with the blue shirted man. He followed us into a store and into a church as well. Renata told the group to put their bags on their fronts and stay alert, and we left the market. We were clearly easy targets and I'm surprised one of us didn't get mugged or kidnapped.

That night concluded with Donato and Anndrea, hand in hand, singing sister act.