Of Earthquakes and Illness in Lima - oh yeah, and Chili's

Sorry I am a bit late getting to this, but I have been sick all week. Yes, it has been quite a week. Let's start at the beginning.

We wanted to take a little vacation to 1)commemorate our surviving a year in Peru and 2)to get out of town for a bit.

We decided to go to Lima,because we didn't really know where else to go for not a lot of money, and even talked about tagging on a day trip to Ica. We heard the sea lions there are pretty cool. Well, as usual, life got away from us and we never did plan the Ica leg of the journey. (The Lord's hand perhaps?)

We took the night bus, leaving Monday night at 10:30. I had not been feeling well for a few days, but not having any major issues - just felt overly tired. We were on the second level of the bus, in the back. About midnight, I thought "I'm going to throw up". I could not have been more inconveniently situated. I slowly began to make my way up to the front of the bus praying that I would not throw up on any of the nice Peruvians who were now sleeping so soundly. I made it down the stairs (the bus is moving, mind you - no, weaving would be a more accurate description) and managed to get the little bathroom door open right as everything came out. Nice. Have you ever thrown up in a moving target? It's very difficult. I did that off and on all night - fortunately with less substance each time. And right now you are thanking me for the lovely image - but read on - enough of that. All that you need to know now is I remained sick the entire trip.

We made it to Lima Tuesday morning about 7am, and went to our hotel. The family let me sleep for a few hours since I had not slept all night. We spent the day out and about in Lima, the most memorable experiences being lunch at McDonald's and dinner at Chili's. (I, of course am not eating - unless a margarita counts.)Check out these signs from inside Chili's. "San Marcos, TX" - should that be allowed? I don't think so.

On a side note, pre-earthquake, I was going to do a post entitled, "Where in the world are the Ferguson's?" and post these pictures from Chili's but since we had to let everyone know we were ok, it blew the game. :) But try the margaritas anyway. They are still the best you can get down here. And the chips and salsa aren't too bad either. Are they Justin?

Our second and last day in Lima was spent at Jockey Plaza - an americanish mall with movie theater, Pizza Hut, shopping - you get the picture. We breakfasted at Dunkin Donuts, lunched at Pizza Hut and took in a movie. What movie you ask? Why Harry Potter 5 - in Spanish. We broke down and did it - it was better than nothing. It helped to know the story - I actually enjoyed it and the dubbed over voices were good - not whiny - which is what we usually get.

We returned to the hotel after the movie to rest (I really needed to lay down). This was around 4 or 5pm. The kids and John watched t.v. while I snoozed. John woke me up around 6:30 to head out to Chili's one more time. (Yes - it is our favorite restaurant - in Texas and out.) And while I was in the bathroom, everything started shaking. I think, "great, an earthquake - and I'm in the bathroom", just as John says "guys! Don't..." and then Kevin says "It's an earthquake!". I joined the rest of the family in the doorway to our room. The shaking went on for a while - it felt like a long time to us. I kept looking at the floor and then John. We were both wondering the same thing - should we run down stairs - six flights with 5 kids - or should we stay? I was watching the floor to see if any cracks were beginning - none. And then it stopped. The news said the quake lasted for 2 minutes - it felt like longer.

As soon as everything was still, we did run the 6 flights down and got outside. A ton of people were out on the street. We got a taxi to head on to Chili's.(What would you do after an earthquake) Our taxi driver was freaking out a bit- he asked "did you feel that???". Yes, we felt it, on the 6th floor, we definitely felt it. He had been driving at the time- I guess it's weird to be driving when an earthquake hits. As we drove, we saw bits of plaster and a little bit of broken glass, but mainly just saw a lot of people on cell phones with worried expressions.

We had our one more meal at Chili's (or everybody but me did - still unable to keep stuff down). Our taxi guy back to the hotel crossed himself and kissed his crucifix as he drove by a church and then asked us, "did you feel the tremor?". Yes, we did. We headed back to the hotel to get our bags and then on to the bus station to catch our 10:30 bus back to Trujillo. We had no idea how big the quake had been until we arrived home around 7:30am to 6 messages on our answering machine wondering if we were ok.

That's when I sent out the email, and then went to bed, still sick, for the rest of the day and all night.

And that's our story. Did I leave anything out?

John has a better detailed post about the earthquake itself on his blog, RUF in Peru

And now I leave you with one last sign from Chili's....


For us - this week - Lima was like no place else.