Travels, a finish, and time for some reading

 I spent the last week in Lima, Peru on a business trip. It was my first trip to South America and I was a little nervous as I boarded the plane with my limited knowledge of Spanish and Peruvian culture. All turned out well and I had a good week of meetings, amazing food, and a little sightseeing at the end.

The Peruvians I met were all very nice and the culture of their country is very interesting - a mix of native people, Spaniards, Chinese, and Japanese make up the country. The city of Lima, with 8 million people, is full of traffic, shopping, and crime as well, which limited my mobility a bit. I did get to a couple museums and went on 2 1/2 day trips to see the city and some nearby ruins, but there is more I would like to have explored. 

I only saw a very small part of the country and would really like to return in the future to see more and visit Machu Picchu. 

With 4 flights and about 18 hours on the plane, I had time to finish a cross stitch project and a book! The project has been a work in progress for a while - I usually take it over to my neighbor's house when we stitch and watch TV. It is a Mill Hill kit called Paisley Pumpkin. 

The book I finished was The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. It is a two-story plot line and I really only cared about one of the stories. When that was resolved with 150 pages remaining, I lost most of my interest in it but I did finish it before getting on the plane yesterday. I don't think I have enough interest in it to read the next two in the series. I started Whiskey Island by Emilie Richards while I waited in the airport. I am already 200 pages into it and am enjoying it far better. 

Once I get caught up on sleep, I plan to spend some time in the sewing room to finish up a couple things I left half done last week. Off now to spend some time with my husband, who did a great job this week keeping all the kid activities straight and the house fairly clean :)