Back in the Saddle Again

Lima Peru Feb. 28th 2007

Well here I am again in South America! For those of you who are just reading this, I spent October through December in Quito, Ecuador learning Spanish and working at El Centro de Muchacho Trabajador. After coming back to the states over Christmas, I got a job working as a Carpenter for Stewart Perry Construction (I’ve got a connection in management that helped me land the job). And after two months of 730 30 degree mornings, and as many bruised thumbs, I decided it was time for a change. Don’t get me wrong, I loved the work there, but the winds of travel were blowing at my back and I was itching to move. I got accepted to UAB School of Medicine in January, and had about 6 months before the real work began again in my life.

So where did I decide to go?

Lima, Peru

But Lima is only the beginning. Using the money that I saved working this winter, combined with a little help from my dad, granddad, and mom, Stewart and I are going to begin a three month long trek northward towards the United States via bus, boat, and foot. (We are taking a small flight over a part of Colombia due to kidnapping woes, but this is the only airfare we are using). I have a budget of 25-30 dollars a day (room and travel included), and no agenda but the road in front of me. Along the way I will be studying Spanish, and writing in this blog ever other day. Should internet availability be an issue here where infrastructure is not always the first thing on the government’s mind, I will back fill when I get the chance.

All that being said, what am I up to? I got into Lima late Tuesday night around 1 o’clock in the morning. The trip began with a great start as our non-stop Atlanta to Lima flight was on a Delta 767 ER planes! For those of you who are not seasoned travellers, the ER does not mean that there is an emergency room in the back of the plane. No, ER stands for extended range. Each of these beauties is brand new, and all coach seats are made entirely out of leather. The reading lights have lenses to put the light exactly where you want it, and there is HUGE leg room. My knees never once touched the seat in front of me NOT once during the entire 6 hour flight, for those of you over 6 feet you can understand what a miracle this is. To top it off each of the seats has a touch screen video player that allows you to select from 20-30 new releases, TV Shows, Games, or weather. So this was great. On the flight to Atlanta I sat next to a pediatrician from Colombia, and on the flight to Lima I sat next to a neurologist from Chicago. I guess they were they to remind me that I have to come back.

When I got into Lima and exited the airport, sure as rain there were 30 different people offering hotels, taxis, trips, etc. I read the entire section on Lima in my guide book on the way down here, and so I knew how much the taxi ride was supposed to cost (which is an absolute necessity when travelling in a city you don’t know in SA). So as this taxi driver speeds through the red lights at one in the morning along the deserted streets of Lima, I started to have a strange feeling come over me. I felt like I was back home, or back where I was supposed to be. I don’t know whether it was the bumpiness of the road, dirt in the streets, having to haggle down from 30 to 10 dollars for my taxi, getting solicited by every vendor in the airport, or the faded buildings, but it all felt natural. Back in South America, where nothing is sure until its done, where you can talk your way out of (or into) anything, where if you want something you go out and get it without fear of repercussion, where life is laidback, where formality is a thing for the aristocrats, where I want to be.

We made our way to my Hostal in a part of Lima called Miraflores. From what my guide books told me, this is the nice trendy happening part of Lima, and for the most part they are correct. This also means that it is going to be the rich and expensive part of Lima. When deciding to stay in these portions of a city in South America, it is my opinion that you need to be conscious of where you are in relation to the rest of the city. The street that I am on has old leafy trees along the sidewalk; leading three blocks away from a gorgeous park with new playgrounds, surrounded by umbrella covered outdoor cafes serving Pisco sours and cappuccinos. The shops and bars the branch off from this park all have menus in Spanish with English subtitles, serving international favourites like hamburgers, French fries, and your favourite German beer on tap. The prices reflect this importation of culture, meals costing from 10 to 20 dollars. There is even a Starbucks, McDonalds, and KFC surrounding this beautiful quaint park. You still very much feel like you are in a South American city, but it has money. This is not representative of how the greater 8 million inhabitants of Lima, or Peru in general live, which is something you need to keep in mind when making value judgements about the nature of a city and its problems. Regardless, it is fun to hang out in these portions of the city, and hopefully they will be the seed from which a larger more affluent population can grow. When you make a decision to stay in this portion of a city, it is because 1.) Easier access to mobility and travel, 2.) It is safer, and 3.) This is where a majority of the Hotels and Hostals are located, so you really have little other options.

One of the major differences between Quito and Lima is the weather. Quito was 10,000 feet high, bathed in a cold rain and temperatures that never got above 70. This kind of left a sour taste in my mouth for South American weather in general. In Lima, on the contrary, we are just at the ending of summer, where average daily highs are around 80. As I rode in the Taxi from the Airport, we took the highway that runs right along the Pacific Ocean. Rolling down my window, I felt the characteristically universal smell of salt water, and a warm humid air blew through the musty taxi. It was refreshing after flying out of Birmingham at about 40 degrees, to have the heat and humidity. I think the humidity actually reminded me of the south in the summer as I began to sweat just sitting there without working for the first time in months.

Apart from the newer section of Miraflores in Lima, there is also a downtown historical section with buildings dating back to the 1800s and some the 1700s. Predominant Victorian architecture is in this section of 4 to 5 story buildings, and here is where you find the main churches, parliament buildings, large Plazas, and presidential residences. The split between downtown Lima and Miraflores is not unlike that of La Mariscal and El Centro Historico in Quito (for those that read earlier blogs).

Yesterday, I picked up a taxi in Miraflores to take into downtown Lima to see some of the churches and older buildings. The taxi driver this time was actually a woman, which I am not saying out of sexism, but this honestly is the first female taxi driver that I have ever seen in South America after possibly hundreds of taxi rides. We get to chatting and she is pushing some ruins south of the city that she wants me to go see (with her driving of course), and she gives me her card (lots of taxi drivers here have cards that they give to tourists so that they can give rides outside of the cities and charge larger than normal fees/rip off). She drops me off at the main plaza, or Plaza de Armas. I go in to check out the main church of Lima where and as I’m walking around inside, I reach down to feel my pants pockets I realize that my cell phone is gone. After frantically searching my backpack and around the church I can’t find it anywhere. As a side note I don’t use the phone down here, it is more just for emergencies, but all the numbers, and the loss of a phone is huge. I called the phone several times from a phone booth to no avail. As I am sitting there in the phone booth I go through my pockets one last time, and all I find is that card the taxi driver gave me. I decide to call for the heck of it, and low and behold she has my phone! She agrees to come back and pick me up and give my phone back, at 330 in front of the main church of the Plaza de Armas. Of course she is late (because she is South American of course, not because she is a woman, of course) and I sit out in the sun waiting for her to come. I am trapped, because if I go inside to use the phone I might miss her on this very busy street, and if I go into the shade she might not see me. So I wait until she finally shows at 430 phone in hand. By the way, as a result of being forced to sit out in the sun I now have a huge sunburn on my face, so now I really look like a gringo. Along the way back we stopped at a police station and I gave a testimony (in Spanish) about how she gave my phone back to me, so that she gets brownie points with her company.

Till later
M3

Blog Point.

1.) I’ve decided that despite my very close trimmed scruff, I need to break down and shave, to look cleaner cut. Case and Point- Yesterday while on the steps waiting for my taxi to come, I had two different kids come up to me and offer to sell me drugs. Taken aback by the first, I was just amused by the second. I don’t know what it was, but I must have looked like I needed some, because why else would I be sitting out in the sun burning my face off? Nonetheless I politely declined. Experience like that - Only in South America baby.

2.)I LOVE that roller blading is still very very popular here.