A Day Off in Lima at Parque de la Amistad

One of the perks of the Foreign Service is that you get American holidays PLUS the host country's holidays off, which generally adds up to about 20 days per year (not including vacation days!). My favorite ones are the American holidays, since the kids still have school and John and I get to hang out alone, but the Peruvian holidays aren't bad either. We had Tuesday off and knew we wanted to do something with our friends, who suggested the Parque de la Amistad. It's in the center of Lima, so relatively convenient for people living on the coast or in the Andes like us (that's sarcasm, mostly).

Jack dressed "handsome" for his girls on Tuesday.

Parque de la Amistad is a sort of mini-amusement park, with a lake with paddle boat rides, a steam engine that goes around the park, playgrounds, and other various amusements like face painting. It was crowded due to the holiday, but not too crazy, and the kids had a great time until it was time to leave, at which point we all became the worst parents in history. Before the park, we went to one of two Thai restaurants in Lima, Siam. It has decent Thai food, if you're looking for a change of pace.

John is the one waving. Will was obsessed with this train.

Entry to the park is free, but you pay for each attraction separately. It was 10 soles (around $3) for face painting, and I think the boat ride was a dollar or two per person. As in Russia, these types of parks are usually a little run down. They had to bail the water out of the paddle boats before we got in. I laughed when Jack said, "Look Mom, a baby fish! Oh, never mind. That's a piece of trash."

Will was probably worried we were going to capsize.

All in all it was a fun time for the kids. It got a little tough with Will, who hadn't napped and did not want to get off that steam train. The playground was also crowded enough that it was hard to keep an eye on the kids, and I do get a little nervous about that (Lima is a relatively safe city, but a friend had a scary incident with a stranger at a restaurant, so I prefer to have the kids in my line of sight at all times). Being there reminded me a little of the post-apocalyptic Disneyland in Yekaterinburg (John's nickname for Mayakovskogo Park - see very sad, very empty train below).

Note the animal statues for decoration.

Sure, it's no Disneyland, but it was a fun way to spend an afternoon in Lima, even in the middle of "winter."