More gray days

Sunday afternoon in Lima. The vast numbers of you who follow this blog regularly have heard me say before that Sunday is the best day of the week here, because there's less traffic and general craziness. People gather with their families and have long, late lunches. The surfers go to the beach. Many shops shut down, but most restaurants, grocery stores, and large chain stores are open. So it's a fun time to be out and about.

However, this time of year, every day of the week tends to take on the same gray chill. This past month has been particularly morose weather-wise, which is completely normal for this time of year. Still, it gets old.

Today, we went to the beach, because Britt and Addison wanted to go surfing. Valerie was getting over the flu, so wrapped up in layers and stayed well away from the cold water.

Most of the beaches around Lima are rock beaches. The stones are very pretty and colorful as you can see in the photo above. They are hard on your feet, big as potatoes, and just as colorful as our favorite Peruvian roots and tubers.

Even in winter, the beach is a popular place to be on the weekends. Many people come to surf, either using long boards (my preference) like those shown in the photo above, or the smaller, lighter pointy ended ones that Britt and Addison are trying to tame. Others just come to take in the ocean air, walk along the beaches, go for a jog, or chat with friends. There are snack vendors and surf schools that take out groups or rent equipment. It's not unlike the atmosphere you find at a ski resort. People enjoying the sport and the outdoors with a good dose of friendly comraderie.

After the guys were done surfing, the sun made a rare and very welcome appearance. We rushed home to let the guys shower and drop off the dog, then jumped back into the car and followed the sun, which was sitting above a beachside restaurant called Costa Verde, which none of us had ever tried. It was big and bright, and the kind of place where you find multiple generations of families gathering around a big table and serving themselves heaping plates of fish, ceviche, and criolla food from a bountiful buffet. There were also numerous tables of tourists. Indeed, according to a certificate on the restaurant wall, Costa Verde is in the Guiness Book of World Records for offering the most varied buffet in the world. We weren't quite up to all that, and just ordered a la carte. Either way, we were also presented with live entertainment in the form of a singer, small band, and variety of dancers presenting music and dances from different regions of Peru. You may have noticed in this blog that we often stumble across traditional dancers, music, and parades. They are an everpresent fact of life in this nation of colorful traditions.