Today we went to Rodrigo’s school program. It was a lot of fun to see and today we were even able to understand some of it as they sang in English. There was dancing and singing, and of course we all thought that Rodrigo did an excellent job on the drums.

No this is not a race car driver (even though the drivers here do drive like it). This is actually the uniforms that the gas station attendants have to wear.

The school program today only lasted a little over 30 minutes. Below are some highlights from the performance.

If you were wondering who this is a picture of it is Nina’s son Guillermo (Miguel’s nephew). He did great as well and it was a treat to see that he was performing at the same time.

It may have looked like Rodrigo was not paying attention here but I am sure he was just giving some helpful advice to a fellow student during the performance.

After the performance we went to the Municipalidad distrital de sachaca. From the top it gave us a great view of the city. I really think Rodrigo enjoyed the climb to the top only because he had Eric to carry him up.

We then went downtown to one of the churches to walk around inside.

Look closely at this nativity scene which was located inside the church. I don’t remember hearing about anyone coming to visit baby Jesus in a hot wheels pickup truck.

After seeing the church we went shopping in down town Arequipa. As you can tell Rodrigo was having a blast while we were shopping….

In the afternoon we got to visit Miguel’s work, Cerro Verde which is a subsidiary of Freeport. Cerro Verde is a mine that extracts copper from the ground. We had a great tour guide, “Miguel.” However, getting into the mine was quite a process. After filling out forms, watching a safety video, turning over our passports, and passing a health exam, we were ready to tour the facilities.

Look at the great gear we got to wear!

This photo is of one of the two mines located at the site.

Here is a photo of one of the secondary rock crushers.

The liquid below is a solution of sulfuric acid and copper. From here the solution is pumped to another place and separated.

The mine made their own dam in order to have a supply of water for their various process. If you think there is a lot of water there now wait for a few more years and there will be much more. Miguel told us most of the area here would be under water then, to a point that is.

In the evening we all went to the Arequipa Club for dinner. It was great food with an amazing atmosphere and who better to spend it with than family.

It is hard to believe that our vacation is coming to a close. We have had an amazing time and are so thankful for the opportunity. We have really gelled together as a family through our many adventures. This will be our last posting while in Peru (unless we get ambitious and have internet tomorrow) but we plan on continuing to share our many stores with our faithful viewers. Also, we do have a full day of travel (and I do mean a full day of over 24 hrs in airports and flying time).

We would like thank Miguel’s family for putting up with us over the last two weeks. Also, Miguel’s mom for letting us stay in her house.

Now lets start the countdown to the next Peru trip!!! 🙂