Peru celebrates its independence day on the 28th of July.  

They have a big celebration in central Lima at the Presidential Palace. We tried to get to the activities but when we arrived they had everything fenced off for security reasons.  We ended walking through the streets with all of the thousands of people and took the following pictures.

Even the dogs get dressed up for independence day.

Where there is an independence day celebration there has to be horses.

As we walked through the streets we came upon these two unique dancers all painted and dressed up to entertain the crowds.  They had really unique dance routines, both modern and traditional.  The "green guy" really had all the moves.

We decided to visit China Town since we were so close.

  
























If you visit China Town in Lima then you have to try Min Pao. Delicious!

Right next to China Town is the central market so we took a few pictures inside.

Guinea pig (cuy), anyone?  Skinned and already to fry and eat.

Lima has so much to offer and so much to see.  Love the colonial architecture.

Ruth wanted to celebrate the 4th of July at the Mission Offices. We decided to buy a red, white and blue frosting cake, but we ended up with chocolate cake with red cherries on top! The baker forgot to make the red, white and blue frosting cake!

Ruth and I before we start cutting the cake and giving it to others.

Jefferson, our office driver, was the first one to get a piece of cake.

Our mission psychologist, Miguel, and our cleaning lady, Meche, loved it!

When the office Elders saw the cake they sang the National Anthem before they ate their piece (Elders Madder, Edwards & Valenzuela).

Several Sister missionaries came into the office and little by little the cake slowly disappeared.

Ruth made this wall decoration out of toilet paper rolls to help us remember the 4th of July the rest of the day.