I was on Chase Jarvis's awesome blog today and I saw a video posted where famous actor Kevin Spacey explains to what seem to be students about what it takes to achieve our goals in life. Very motivational words!
The video is short but well worth a watch. I highly recommend it!
Last Sunday was Zdenka's youngest brother's first communion at their church in Breña. Just like many things related to religion this was something new to me, something I had never experienced before and it was very interesting to witness. According to Wikipedia (which is probably not a great source to quote in terms of credibility but it should be),
"The First Communion is a Catholic Church ceremony for a person's first reception of the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. Catholics believe this event to be very important, as the Eucharist is one of the central focuses of the Catholic Church".
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Here is a photo that was taken last Sunday while Zdenka and I were having a late breakfast at some cafe in the famous Plaza San Martin, located in the heart of Downtown Lima (officially known as Cercado de Lima).
This plaza is frequented daily by many tourists who also visit the principal plaza known as the Plaza de Armas (officially named Plaza Mayor de Lima) where the presidential palace and the municipality building of Lima are located. This area is also popular to many residents of Lima who visit the plazas which are linked by a very old and well known street called Jiron de la Union. Jiron de la Union is a commercial street that spans several blocks and is closed off to vehicular traffic. Here people are free to roam as they peruse the many stores and restaurants.
Plaza San Martin has a short history in comparison to the rest of Lima, in that it was constructed in the early 1900's following the subsequent demolition of San Juan de Dios hospital as well as a railroad station. The plaza was inaugurated in July of 1921 in homage to the 100th anniversary of Peru's Independence. The statue in the center of the Plaza was the result of a competition where Spanish artist/sculptor Mariano Benlliure won with his masterpiece which depicted war hero Jose de San Martin during his travels through the Andes, hence the name of the plaza as Plaza San Martin.
The buildings that enclose the plaza were constructed in gradual order and all share the same Neocolonial design being what was at the time popular.
**Edit** Here is an old photo of the Plaza San Martin
This plaza is frequented daily by many tourists who also visit the principal plaza known as the Plaza de Armas (officially named Plaza Mayor de Lima) where the presidential palace and the municipality building of Lima are located. This area is also popular to many residents of Lima who visit the plazas which are linked by a very old and well known street called Jiron de la Union. Jiron de la Union is a commercial street that spans several blocks and is closed off to vehicular traffic. Here people are free to roam as they peruse the many stores and restaurants.
Plaza San Martin has a short history in comparison to the rest of Lima, in that it was constructed in the early 1900's following the subsequent demolition of San Juan de Dios hospital as well as a railroad station. The plaza was inaugurated in July of 1921 in homage to the 100th anniversary of Peru's Independence. The statue in the center of the Plaza was the result of a competition where Spanish artist/sculptor Mariano Benlliure won with his masterpiece which depicted war hero Jose de San Martin during his travels through the Andes, hence the name of the plaza as Plaza San Martin.
The buildings that enclose the plaza were constructed in gradual order and all share the same Neocolonial design being what was at the time popular.
**Edit** Here is an old photo of the Plaza San Martin
Last weekend Zdenka and I went to a well known clinic in Jesus Maria called "INPPARES", which is an acronym for Instituto Peruano de Paternidad Responsable or Peruvian Institute of Responsible Paternity. The clinic is popular in Lima mostly for testing pregnancy and paternity, aside from other things however, we were there to get a 3D/4D Ultrasound of our six month baby Rosemary.
In the US a 4D Ultrasound can range in price from as low as $50 to $200 depending on which private clinic you attend. Here in Peru the cost situation is about the same, depending on where you go you will pay anywhere from S./150 to S./200 (remember that the Peruvian Sol is 2.78 to 1 US Dollar). For us the 4D cost S./190 and that included gender determination, a DVD copy of the session (which I have included below), a 3D photo in a nice glass picture frame, a full diagnostic of the babies health, and the babies heart rate. Now a 4D is not necessary and serves more of a novel function for the couple but I have been told does have some benefits.
The session was 10 minutes long and the video footage was displayed on a large flat-screen LCD. Below is the video from that session.
We have all heard this kind of inspirational prose before and while it might seem redundant to highlight one of the most commonly known and feared truths, the message still seems to resonate within us as our minds urge our bodies to take action, to make something worthwhile happen.
I personally never seem to tire from reading and hearing this message as it serves as a reminder to take advantage of what has been given to me. Below is but just a paragraph or two of duChemin's post but I highly recommend going to his site and reading the rest.
"I had breakfast with a close friend of mine yesterday and it’s that meeting that is making me write this, because I can’t keep it in this morning. His wife, one of my favourite people on the planet, is fighting for her life against inoperable brain cancer. She’s fighting, but she’s not well, and the doctors are talking in terms of quality of life, not healing, not remission. My heart is breaking for her. My heart is breaking for him. A young couple that, like all of us, thinks they have forever together, have all the time in the world to chase their dreams. But we don’t. None of us do. It’s an illusion.
Life is short. We seem to think that we’ll live forever. We spend time and money as though we’ll always be here. We buy shiny things as though they matter and are worth the debt and stress of attachment. We put off the so-called “trip of a lifetime” for another year, because we all assume we have another year. We don’t tell the ones we love how much we love them often enough because we assume there’s always tomorrow. And we fear. Oh, do we fear. We stick it out in miserable jobs and situations because we’re afraid of the risk of stepping out. We don’t reach high enough or far enough because we’re worried we’ll fail, forgetting – or never realizing – that it’s better to fail spectacularly while reaching for the stars than it is to succeed at something we never really wanted in the first place."
Here is a recent photo I took last week. This photo was taken at an urban chicken farm well within the brick and concrete confines of Lima's old city center. In the city it's not uncommon to find many people who raise livestock within their property and it's also not uncommon to hear a rooster's wake-up call at 4am along with honking horns.
The chicken plays an important role in the limeñans diet and is therefore a core ingredient in most dishes served in the restaurants and homes with seafood and fish competing alongside it.
These however are roosters in the photo and are raised for the traditional and controversial "cock fights", a sport (if you can call it that) that was brought by the Spanish during their conquest / colonialization of the Americas.
The chicken plays an important role in the limeñans diet and is therefore a core ingredient in most dishes served in the restaurants and homes with seafood and fish competing alongside it.
These however are roosters in the photo and are raised for the traditional and controversial "cock fights", a sport (if you can call it that) that was brought by the Spanish during their conquest / colonialization of the Americas.
Special thanks to blogger Juancho over at Camina El Autor, for posting this video made by PBS he discovered recently. The film is from the PBS TV show "A Moment of Luxury" hosted by Bill Stubbs, which has visited Lima to highlight some of the cities beautiful interiors of some of it's oldest buildings, along with other popular sites. The good news is that it's in English, something not always available on this site when it comes to videos.
The video is fairly interesting for it's footage and information if you can overlook all the additional side commentary.
Watch the full episode. See more Moment of Luxury.
