Day 2 of confinement in Lima

Dawn broke over the mountains that surround Lima on our second day of confinement.  At least, we do not have to stay in the room, we can roam around the hotel, although the one restaurant that is open only has limited hours (but the food is good), and the gym is now closed.  

The hotel moved three of their stationary bicycles outside, which is both creative and nice!  In fact, I have found that the people of Peru are nice, helpful, kind, and remarkably level headed.  

I have seen no panic buying of toilet paper, and the line at the bank was very calm and well managed.

The stores continue to be well stocked (picture of the many types of dried chilies....  too bad I can’t bring some back). We are in a very nice part of town, and there are rumors that other parts are not as quiet, with people breaking curfew (which is now from 8 pm to 5 am)) and the military getting involved.  Here, while there are a few soldiers with machine guns on the street, they seem to only be at the one major intersection and are stopping mostly cars.  

We keep trying to make the best of a bad situation and our little group is mostly upbeat, although we can tell that nerves are getting frayed......

One of the Smith women organized a singing group and we spent a lovely hour learning new rounds, some pretty, some silly.

It was delightful.  We are planning on doing it every evening until this ends.....

Tomorrow at lunch, we’ll also have a “Spanish table,” where one of the participants, who happens to be a Spanish professor from Smith, will work with those of us that need help...

It’s nice to see that the US press is picking up our plight, which may put some pressure on the incompetent State Department.   Below is from the NY Times - mostly about people stuck in Morocco, but also mentioning Peru.