On the Malecon

Last Thursday, we moved to another condo right across the street from the ocean, near the "Parque del Amor." The children have been spending even more time at the park than before, we are within walking distance of Larco Mar (ritzy shopping) but haven't all gone there, and we have tried a few new restaurants. The street is called "Malecon Cisneros" with "malecon" meaning something like "waterfront." The area reminds me a lot of downtown Chicago. We're just facing West instead of the water being to the East, and it's an ocean rather than a lake.

When we moved, we fully expected this to be the last place we stayed in Lima. Instead, it has taken over a week to get the children's new birth certificates. We got the final adoption decree last Monday, and sent it by courier to Andahuaylas. The delivery wasn't made until Wednesday. The children's original birth certificates were in two places, both districts in Andahuaylas, because apparently the mother had lived in different places when they were born. The man whom we had hired and given power of attorney went to one (smaller) office, and the man there was reluctant to issue the new certificates, because he hadn't done it before. So our representative went to the more central district, and the staff there processed one certificate. He then went back to the other man on Thursday morning, but that man had taken off work for a long weekend, because Friday was his birthday. He didn't issue the other two certificates until Monday afternoon, and they are now on their way to Lima.

They are supposed to arrive at the courier company office by 11 a.m. Our attorneys will take us there to wait for them, and then we will rush over to a noon appointment at the U.S. embassy to get passports (which can take a couple hours). From there, we will hurry to the doctor's office for immunizations and a final checkup. All that has to be done before we can apply for the visas, which usually take 2-3 days to be issued. Of course, the embassy will be closed on Thursday because of the Thanksgiving holiday. We can only show up at the embassy first thing Friday morning with the doctor's report and beg and plead for them to issue the visas quickly. The other Villa Hope families that arrived a week before us and a week after us have both finished and gone home. The ones adopting from a Lima orphanage only stayed three weeks in Peru--so it can happen quickly. Just not in our case. Happy birthday, government dude!

Chrissy went parasailing over the weekend. She has parasailed before, in Mexico as a teenager, being towed behind a boat. Here, you go with a professional seated behind you and controlling the sail. The wind is strong enough off the ocean to just take off. You start running toward the cliff, but the wind is actually lifting you up before you jump. You drop about 10-20 feet and then start upwards. She enjoyed the ride, and they gave her a guide who spoke English. They fly very close to the cliff face and the high-rises, all over the park.

We finally visited the Parque de las Reservas, with the "Magic Waters" circuit of fountains. The children enjoyed it for a little bit, but were all tired, and we didn't stay very long. It is clearly the must-see place in Lima.

A longer visit was to "Divercity" a children's museum/play place at the biggest mall in Lima, Jockey Plaza. Last Friday, we arrived before the 4 p.m. afternoon opening and stayed until nearly 9 p.m. In the city, there are about 30 places where the children can go (with parents having to stay outside). Some of the places teach the children jobs, like being a firefighter, making paper towels in a factory, grooming dogs, or washing cars. They earn play money from working. Then, they can use their money to have fun at the futbol stadium (kicking goals in a small space), driving a car, taking a class in art or dancing, or going on a river rafting ride. It took a while for our children to warm up and understand how it all worked. They were mostly fascinated with the money at first. You start with some cash and some of your money in a bank account, which you can get via an ATM. They just wanted to keep going to the ATM. But after they tried a few of the places, they wanted to do more. The boys were tall enough to attend driving school and get a license, so they could drive the cars on a small track. Joel was better than Jordy at noticing when there was a red light. Overall, this is a really neat concept and the children wanted to go back.

Chrissy and I have taken a few opportunities to go out and eat or shop with just Alex. He is a little overwhelmed by constantly having three other children around. There are times we play with just one of the other children at a time, but when we go out, it seems they either all want to go or all want to stay home.

Play-D0 and Legos have been a huge hit. At Jockey Plaza, we bought a Lego Creator set that can be made into a plane, a helicopter, or a boat and the boys have taken it apart and rebuilt it several times. Reyna has partcipated too, but she tends to play with the Play-Do more.