In the area of Lima where we live it is very dusty, barren and dry. The hills near us don't have any type of vegetation on them.  Just rock, dirt and more rock.  The city is just one large conglomeration of buildings and streets.  There is no measurable rainfall in Lima even though it drizzles but no real accumulation.  The Peruvians are very resourceful people, so to make a dry and dusty place green and healthy they plant trees, bushes, flowers, etc., wherever they can find space.  We are very, very fortunate to live near a beautiful park right around the corner from our apartment.  This is where I go to walk and run.  It even has an outside shrine to the Virgin Mary. Here are some pictures of it.

When I finish walking/running I go pay my respects and devotion to the Virgin Mary.  Those are real flowers by the shrine.

As you can imagine, everyone congregates in this park, especially with their dogs.  I love the signs they put up all over the park that say:  "If your dog poops just make sure that you don't leave it. Clean it up".  People are really good about cleaning up after their animals.

The name of the park is "Los Gemelos" or "The Twins" because there is a lot of double symmetry in it's design.

Sixty-six percent of Peru is covered by jungle or rain forest.  It produces every kind of fruit and vegetable you can imagine.  It has over 3000 varieties of potatoes and over 50 varieties of corn (choclo).   Here are just a few of the fruits that we eat everyday and they just have a better flavor and are sweeter than in the US.

Here are two of my favorite pieces of fruit that I try to eat everyday.  One is called a tuna and the other is a granadilla.  These fruits has lots of seeds but you eat them also.  The granadilla has a hard shell like an egg and inside it has a green, gelatin-like fruit. The tuna is oval shaped like an oversized egg and has little cactus spines on it.  The fruit is either a dark purple red or a lime color inside.

We love their "little bananas" here.  Can eat enough of them.

How about a cucumber melon fruit?  Has a little taste of cucumber and cantaloupe.  Not really sweet but so refreshing in the summer.

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Their "jungle pineapple" is the best ever.  Much, much smaller than the Hawaiian one, but so, so sweet.  

The tangerines, with or without seeds, are eaten by everyone in Peru.  Love em!

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My favorite are the mangoes.  Can't eat enough of them.  They are so beautiful when fully ripe.

Last, but not least, is the apple.  Peru has so many different types.  They have an Israeli apple that we like and this one which is called the "market apple".  A cross between a gala, delicious and a fuji apple.  

When we go to the temple in Ogden it takes us five minutes to drive from our home to the temple.  Going to the temple in Lima, Peru is totally different.  

We leave our apartment at 7:00 am.  First, we walk a half an hour to get to the first bus stop to buy our tickets.

Then we walk down to the correct boarding area to get on the bus.

After boarding the first bus it takes us about 45 minutes to get to our second bus stop in the center of Lima where the temple is located.

We then get off the bus and walk to our next bus stop about ten minutes away to buy our tickets from the ticket lady.

We then get on the second bus that takes us to and lets us off right in front of the temple.  This takes about an hour. Lots of traffic.

After our temple session we always eat a delicious, healthy lunch in the cafeteria.  Yummy.

After lunch we get back on the buses and head back to the mission offices to finish out the day.

Working with and supporting our missionaries is such a wonderful blessing.  We get to know each and everyone personally.  They are always doing kind things for us.  This beautiful bouquet of flowers was given to us by Elder Foutz just before he went home from his mission.  For us, it represents and symbolizes all the beauty, radiance, elegance and good that our missionaries portray.  We thank them for their love and kindness.  What a treat.

We love to walk by all the street stands that cook and sell different types of food.  We never get tired of walking by them and watching how the vendors cook and prepare the food they are selling.  It's really, really hard not to stop and try out every single thing they are selling.  It's smells soooo good.  We love to see all of these stands in such a large city like Lima.  There is such a variety.