Now that we´ve recovered from our fears that we would be subject to ruin, theft, and packs of wild dogs roaming the street in Lima, travelling companion Dan and I are trying to plan ahead for the remaining legs of our trip in Peru and actually see some of the city. Both efforts, however, are made more difficult by our new nemisis, earthquake.
First of all, it is incredibly hard to get any actually reliable news about what is going on in Peru because the international news media is far more interested in repeatedly hitting us on the head with exclamations and horrors than offering any useful information. While I agree that yes, it is newsworthy that DEAD BODIES LITTER THE STREETS IN PERU or LOOTING AND RIOTING RUNS RAMPANT ON PAN AMERICAN HIGHWAY, perhaps it might be more helpful to offer us specific information about places to avoid, or places that have been rendered dangerous or seismically unsound by recent developments? Anyone? No such luck, though--reporters seem to be so busy luxuriating in the pathos that they can´t be bothered to shoehorn in a nice, simple rundown of the places where everything is still business as usual and the places we should give a wide bearth. Fortuantely, word of mouth from other tourists is much more reliable. Yesterday we met some Hawaiian tourists who were in Cusco during the quake and they told us the city is fine, so we´re headed there tomorrow morning. So next time I write, don´t be surprised if I have altitude sickness!
Sightseeing is also made difficult by earthquake. Yesterday I took a taxi to the Museo de la Nacion in central Lima, eager for an afternoon of Peruvian history and culture. Unfortunately, earthquake busted some of the windows so it was closed. Earthquake! There were actually a lot of locals roaming around inside, so I considered sneaking in under the guise of going to the bathroom. I ultimately abandoned this plan, though, because I don´t exactly blend in here. I don´t know what I was expecting, but the combination of my blinding whiteness and extreme height (I have not yet seen any woman who is as tall as I am, and only a few men) makes me really stick out. All the guidebooks say you should try to look like a local by walking purposefully and not looking at maps or taking photos, but when you sort of resemble a slim, hairless abominable snowman plowing through the crowd I think the jig is up, touristwise. So I just left the museum, and spent the rest of the afternoon walking around town with Dan. We went to a place called Narky´s, which could only be described as ¨Peruvian Benigans¨ to sample Peru´s signature drink, the pisco sour. I´m not saying anything against pisco, but when I run my own country, one of the qualities I´m going to look for in a national drink is ¨does not contain egg white.¨ The pisco sour falls far short of this requirement, unfortunately. Still, it got me tipsy enough that I managed to lose my gloves, adding them to the list of items I leave behind in Peru (which also includes my copy of Marco Polo´s Travels and some skin off my left ankle).
We have managed to do a few touristy things. Yesterday Dan and I stumbled upon the Parque del Amor. It´s this pretty, Gaudi-esque mosaic park on a cliff above the sea with all these different pick up lines and thoughts about love scattered around on tiles. Dan took note of some lines he might be able to use on Peruvian women and I made a note to watch for any Peruvian men who tell me my eyes have the depth of the sea. I demand that any potential suitors have enough game not to have to resort to taking pickup lines from local benches! Then we met up with the rest of our hiking group and went to an indigenous dance performance in a nearby neighborhood. It was good fun, except at some point the MC caught on that we weren´t from around here (how did he know?!) and demanded that we come up and participate in a big group dance. Dan and I enthusiastically bounded onstage, only to be subject to what seemed to be about 20 minutes of vigorous aerobics and possibly a game of London Bridge. We got a big cheer from the crowd when we told them we were from NYC, though, so that was nice. Then we all went out for some karaoke. I am determined to perfect one Spanish karaoke song during my time here, so we´ll see how that goes.
Today Dan and I blearily made our way to a local monestary that was rumored to have amazing catacombs. I had ambitions of matching Anna, catacomb for catacomb, but when we got down there, Dan and I both simultaneously realized that the combination of recent seismic activity plus confined underground space full of bones equals terror. I barely held it together, and sort of maybe shoved a few teens out of the way as I rushed to exit.
It´s our last night in Lima, which is okay because while I´m grateful to Lima for not succumbing to earthquake, it´s the grayest city I have every been in. And keep in mind that I lived in Chicago for four years and England for one, so that´s saying something. Bring on Cusco and its rich supply of ruins, so that I may be enchanted by them, and then possibly trip over them!
2 comments:
That was a very interesting and amusing post. It was good to hear from you and that you are doing well. I like the way you describe your adventures so far. you don't say if you speak Spanish, but I assume that you do, don't you? Too bad the museum was closed!
this looks cool to watch
Post a Comment