It’s summer here and we’ve been capitalizing on the good weather by doing lots of fun outdoorsy stuff. Â One of our adventures this week was a trip to Granja Arriero (Arriero Farm), a small farm/petting zoo an hour outside of Lima, near Pachacamac. Â Nia’s obsessed with animals as of late, so I knew this would be a HUGE HIT. Â What I didn’t expect was all the fun we’d have with other Peruvian children!
Due to the fact that it’s summer break, there was a whole group of kids there. Â I was touched by how sweet they were to Nia, bringing animals over for her to pet and being patient with her crazy antics (aka: ADD tendencies). Â A couple of them even decided to stay with us the entire time we were there! Â Here she is petting a cuy (guinea pig). Â This will probably be someone’s dinner soon, as cuy is crazy-popular here in Peru. Â Peruvians are always shocked when I tell them that we keep Guinea Pigs as pets in the US. Â I have yet to try one, but I feel it wouldn’t be right to leave Peru without at least a bite. Â I’ll keep you posted.
Dogs are Nia’s favorite animal of the moment, but the bunnies and guinea pigs seemed to capture her attention quite nicely as well. Â That is, until she saw someone holding a cell phone….
And as usual, she managed to use her charm to acquire the cell phone for her enjoyment. Â Honestly, I am amazed at how frequently people hand over their phones to my child!
Nia’s other obsession of the moment is “Big Kids”. Â Basically, if there are older kids doing something interesting, then she’s eager to try it too. Â Here she is giving it a go on a rope swing. Â I do admire how willing she is to try things though – she’s definitely a risk taker!
It was a lovely afternoon and we plan to venture back again next summer (and maybe even take Daddy along too).
