Dispatch from Hostal el Patio

     We're only fourteen degrees south of the equator, but the weather feels like an Olympian summer day--mid-sixties and overcast.
     We spent a lot of today walking around the city.  Surprisingly we didn't get lost, but we made quite a few unnecessary loops and detours.  First thing after we set out, we went to a bank and got out some soles.  We then wandered around the city for a while, looking for the South American Exploreres Club--they were fairly useless in directing us even to a place to eat, but we got to see a small portion of the city as we wandered. 
     This evening one of the nearby parks had a night-market, and there were vendors out and crowds of people and a surprising number of cats lounging in the flower beds.  Everybody seems to stay up and go out late in Lima.
     Crossing the street is an ordeal, because in the few places where there is a traffic light the crush of people weaving togther is bewildering, and when there isn't a crosslight the best thing to do is to find a small break in traffic and then walk briskly right behind the car that is at the front of the break.  Car horns honk with regularity, and seemingly at nothing.
     In an hour or two we are going to head out for dinner, and maybe to listen to some music. 
     Happy day of the dead!