Sally spends January in Peru with her friend Erasmo

Sally has spent January in Lima with Erasmo and his family, and loved every minute of it. He celebrated his birthday on January 16th, and Sally was the very first person to wish him many happy returns. Here she is, the night before his birthday. She's admiring Erasmo's Pisco Sour; she would have liked to have one too, but Erasmo reminded her that she's much too young to have anything with alcohol in it. Sally had fruit juice instead.



Erasmo's mom and sisters have joined everybody in this photo - doesn't this look like a happy way to celebrate?

Here we see Sally with Erasmo's birthday cake the next day. It looks delicious! You can also see the rest of his birthday lunch, which featured duck and ceviche and a nice bottle of wine. (Again, Sally had a nice glass of fruit juice, but Erasmo let her have a sip out of his glass, just to try it. She liked the fruit juice better.)

Here are some more pictures of Erasmo's family during his birthday lunch. You can see his cousin Roberto and his Aunt Mary on the left. Aunt Mary is working on a new outfit for Sally; Sally is trying everything on to make sure it fits properly before Aunt Mary finishes hemming.

Here's a picture of everybody around the birthday table. You can see Erasmo's mom Lilia, his sister Liriola, his Aunt Mary, his sister Lucía, his aunt María Esther, his uncle and his cousin (both named Roberto).

Next, Erasmo took Sally to visit the Magic Circuit: a whole series of fountains, all lit up night so it looks like a fairy playground. Sally got soaking wet, of course, but had a wonderful time running through the spray. After that she was a little chilly, and had to put on her coat and hat to warm up a little.

The labrynth was her favourite place; from this picture it looks as if every kid in Lima is running through the spray!

The circuit is even mentioned in the Guiness Book of World Records.

Erasmo also took Sally to visit the main plaza in Lima. As you can see, Aunt Mary finished Sally's new outfit in time for the occasion. The little bag is exactly what she needed: she's carrying her sunblock in it, along with some emergency money. She also has some emergency phone numbers, some candies given to her by Erasmo's mom, and, most importantly, her passport.


The yellow building is the Presidential Palace, and you can see the cathedral as well. In Latin America, all the most important buildings are built around the edge of a plaza. Sometimes the plaza looks like a little park, and sometimes it is mostly paved or cobbled.

Now, Sally's getting ready to fly to Brazil to visit Vanda. She needs her yellow fever shot, but after that she's good to go. She's really going to miss Erasmo and his family, though!