Lima Historica y mas

   Day three of classes began today with a new subject from Andres. Today instead of the subjunctive we began working on the imperative or command forms. I had done this topic once before in my earlier classes of Spanish but this refresher was very informative and helpful because I forgot most of the information and wasn't comfortable enough to use it in conversation until today. Andres helped us by presenting it in a different way giving us tags to place all over the room where the words could be used. I liked this way of moving into the topic because it allowed us to not only learn a few new verbs but got us up and moving while showing us the forms in a fun way. I still wouldn't say I'm a professional at the form but hopefully after doing my homework and working on it in class again tomorrow I will feel more solidified with the form. 

    Then after our two hours with Andres Romeo came in and to his surprise we had to leave at 12 o clock today. I guess there was a bit of an issue with the schedule because he thought we were leaving early next week but it wasn't a problem. So instead of having both conversation and culture class today we just had the conversation class today where we talked a little about food and about jobs. Again this class was one I really enjoyed because of the challenge that speaking presents. I was a little sad that we didn't get to do the culture class today because I really enjoy history and culture but it was ok because the reason I missed it was because I had to go experience it first-hand.

    So after class we headed to historic Lima located more towards the center of the city and our first stop on this trip was the House of Congress. In the Limenan congress there are 130 representatives from 8 different political parties. Our guide also told us that the congress only meets on two days and the other days the work in there offices at the House of Congress. The one big difference, I learned, between Americas congress and theirs is unicameral meaning they only have one house unlike the US which has two, the Senate and the House of Representatives.

  After visiting Congress we went to the Museo De Inquisicion. This museum was very interesting as it showed how the Inquisition was conducted in Peru. For example the indigenous people were not prosecuted in Peru during this time. The museum we went to which was just down the street from the House of Congress had actually held trials and we visited the torture chambers where we saw how they tortured people to get them to bend to the will of the church. Also I learned that the Auto de fe was a term for the public demonstration of the punishments from the Inquisition trials. After the Inquisition museum we had one final museum for the day. El museo de Sitio Bodega y Cuadra  was a republican era house that had been built over the top of a colonial house and know one knew until they tried to expand the house and the construction workers found the ruins of the colonial house beneath.

El Museo de Sitio Bodega y Cuadra

  At the time when they discovered the ruins there was actually a river running right behind where the owners wanted to expand but now there is a street and houses which shows how the city has grown and changed. But back when the the river was still there they built a 2 kilometer long wall to stop the site of the ruins from flooding. I loved this museum because I showed a really different view of both the colonial and republican time periods. Lastly on our way to the bus we got to see Plaza Mayor quickly and even a quick view made me want to return.

 Back at my host family's home my host mother made me a delicious dinner with a classic Peruvian side dish called "Papas a la Huacaina" which come from a part of the sierras of  Peru. Another great day hasta luego.