Ciao!

Peru adventures

05.02.2004

Having not posted during my entire week in Peru (25 April to 1 May), here's an update on my (mis)adventures w/ some amazing people.

» Day 1

By the time LAB flight 926 arrived at Lima International, we were slightly tired & hungry. Met by charter bus that took us to Sol de Oro hotel in Miraflores (downtown Lima). Registration, a refund of the airport tax costs, and a $100 allowance awaited us.

After a short half hour to settle into our more-than-comfortable rooms, most of the Bolivia crew gathered for a trip out to LarcoMar, a touristy shopping & restaurant district facing the ocean — just a few blocks from the hotel. Finally agreed on Mango's, a sea-food place, and began drinking pisco sours — which would become the week's centerpiece activity.

Even the La Paz crew was in culture shock our first night in Lima. This was a major city. It's 8 million population dwarfs the entire country of Bolivia. Jay was first to point out, in awe, that LarcoMar had a movie theater w/ more than one screen (it had nine, actually). Parts of Lima remind me of a weird mix between Chicago & Buenos Aires.

We ran back to the hotel, for the 8pm welcome. Pisco sours had been advertised. Non-Bolivia Fulbrighters were gathering, and there were awkward efforts at mingling. Time dragged, and there were no pisco sours. Members of the Ecuador crew had a bottle of Grant's, so I tried whiskey for the first time (didn't like it).

Jay, Lindsay, & I decided to run to the store for a case of Cusqueña beer. By the time we got back, the pisco sours had been served and the "party" broken up. We decided to skip beer drinking, and go out w/ new people so's not to seem clickish (the three of us live in La Paz). Disaster. We ended up the three of us alone at LarcoMar — and decided beer wasn't such a bad idea after all.

» Day 2

Early morning buffet breakfast, w/ much-missed waffles & pancakes, strong coffee, and cereal. Here, the mingling finally began. Plus, this was an amazing five-star hotel. And since we were on our own for dinners, everyone woke up for breakfast every day. The idea was simple: eat a big breakfast, fill up at lunch, eat cheap food for dinner, keep as much of the $100 as possible.

The morning was a slow starter. The typical going around the table as everyone introduced themselves. An overview of what Fulbright is, etc. Followed by lunch. Sometime between lunch and the 3pm panel presentation, my roommate (Phillip, a sociology PhD candidate working on political violence in Colombia) & I wrote our presentations.

The panel went well enough. All but one of the panelists were social science PhD candidates, so these were the least-prepared presentations — no PowerPoint, no overheads, just talking for 10-15 minutes. Somehow, people seemed interested.

Followed by a coffee break. Thankfully, we had a coffee break twice a day. Not that my fellow Fellows' presentations were boring, but we were waking up around 7am every morning & staying out late every night.

After the second set of presentations (including Jay's 45 minute talk on Bolivian modernist art), we prepared for the big reception on the 12th floor. The US ambassador to Peru made an appearance. The nearly three dozen of us mostly just sat around drinking free pisco sours. Phillip (who's much shorter than I first thought) & I talked at length about operationalization of variables and other stuff two lonely behavioralist social scientists talk about.

The evening was capped off w/ another run to LarcoMar. By now, the group was less clickish, and we enjoyed getting to know all these interesting people, eating pizza by the ocean.

» Day 3

Overslept. Missed the entire first session (anthropology); caught most of the second (health). But plenty of time for the lunch buffet before the tour of Lima.

Two charter buses picked us up, and we headed out through Miraflores, San Isidro, and other neighborhoods heading towards Plaza de Armas, the central plaza. Our tour guide had a great dry wit, which made for fun facts. We learned that each of the city's neighborhoods has its own independent municipal government. That the US ambassador lives in a huge downtown mansion near Washington Plaza, where a statue of Washington watches the ambassador 24 hours a day. We learned that Lima residents paint their buildings w/ bright colors because it's cheaper than buying depression pills. And that the all-female transit police seem genetically engineered to only know one phrase: "Give me your driver's license!"

We toured the central cathedral, one of the oldest in America. Saw the bones of Alejandro Pizarro, referred to as "the conqueror" by our guide. Went into an old Franciscan Monastery, including one of the oldest libraries in the New World, as well as creepy catacombs.

In the evening, a group gathered for a walk down the calle de las pizzas. It's a narrow street off Avenida Oscar Benavides. It's a continuation on the bad Latin American business model of putting all the same type of restaurants in the same small space. A row of nearly identical (though quite lovely) pizza restaurants (though they do serve other things), w/ hanging gardens. Waiters lined the sides of the pedestrian mall, hawking their menus, assaulting passersby w/ offers of free pisco sours. We finally settled on a place, and enjoyed our meal.

From there, a group went back to LarcoMar to see Starsky & Hutch, which met few people's expectations.

» Day 4

Managed to crawl downstairs for a 7am breakfast & chit-chat, before our trip out of Lima. We also had to pack & abandon our hotel rooms, but we finally boarded the large bus, heading out south.

Our first stop was Pachacamac, a set of pre-Inca ruins — although the Incas later built their own religious center on the hill above. It was amazing. This giant Andean religious monument overlooking the ocean. Except they practiced human sacrifices. The Inca toured his empire, looked for the most beautiful, intelligent girls, took them back to Pachacamac. Here, they made his hundreds of outfits, and prepared themselves for eventual sacrifice as virgins. Now. This just seems a bad idea, genetically. Take the best female genes in the realm, prevent them from reproducing, then kill them. Explains why so few Andean women are attractive.

We got to the lovely Hotel Paracas w/ just enough time to settle into our hotel rooms, and get our free pisco sours before lunch. This included a lengthy conversation on sex & dating advice, blogs, and their relationship.

After a brief dip in the pool, met up w/ most of the crew in the hotel's bar. It was happy hour, and we wanted cheap pisco sours. More conversations about sex & dating & whatnot. Also, several good discussions on indie music. You know, all the things you'd expect "intellectuals" to discuss. There was talk of going into town (Pisco) to find a discoteca, which quickly fell through once we realized that town was far away & there were no cabs. Rather than join Bart (the Fulbright alumn anthropologist) in crashing a local party, Amber, Lindsay, Heather, and I decided to rejoin the rest of the party at the hotel's karaoke bar.

Perhaps one of the funnest evenings, as everyone went crazy singing some long lost 80s greats (perhaps for good reason) like White Snake. But I got to get up and sing Madonna's "Like A Virgin," Johny Cash's "Sunday Morning Comin' Down," and The Carpenter's "Superstar" (mom would be proud). We also got to enjoy the crazy American middle-aged woman who made us laugh, or want to fight her, or just feel sad for her. The singing continued until well past 3am, in a little bar on the end of a dock, on the South Pacific.

» Day 5

Somehow — not sure yet how — I managed to drag myself out of bed around 5am. This isn't a feat because I was hung over. First, I can hold my drink. Second, I don't drink that much. But because I normally don't wake up before noon — and this was now 4 of 5 days waking up before 8am.

Two boats took us out to the Islas Ballestas, where we enjoyed watching boobies, sea lions, even penguins. The little boats jumped the ocean waves outs towards the cluster of rocks that make up the "islands," before slowly going 'round the guano-topped rocks. Our boat was lucky to have Dan, an ornithologist (he studies birds in Amazon Peru) to point out different species. Breathtaking.

Those who missed the boats were quite irritable, and didn't want to hear about our trip. Though they did require less coffee to keep them going.

From there, we headed out to see more of the Paracas National Preserve. Stopping twice, once to see the ocean. The other time to see a bird sanctuary — although we only saw three flamingos & a solitary hawk. A sandstorm started blowing, and we wanted to start heading back. The Paracas area is one of the most arid deserts in the Andean coastal region.

We rolled up to Casa Hacienda San José for lunch & a peña exhibit of Afro-Peruvian music. More pisco sours, followed by an amazing lunch. Then some dancing lessons.

Later, we toured the centuries-old hacienda, led by the great-grandson of a former slave who'd worked there. The tour included the old Jesuit-built chapel & the underground secret passages used to escape from pirates. After the guided tour, Jay, Amber, & I went out our own little archaeological expedition of the hacienda grounds. We discovered that sports had been played near the giant chimneys at least several decades ago. Perhaps they drank beer.

Finally, headed back to Lima and Sol de Oro, to check back into the same rooms we left two days before. After showers, I decided to dye my hair red. First we went out for falafel. Then, Amber worked on my hair while we watched Gilmore Girls on WB. Then it was time for bed.

» Day 6

Back to having presentations after breakfast. The organizers smartly put the most interesting presentations last. Dominated by biologists studying interesting animals in the Amazon areas of the Andes, including colorful pictures. Followed, of course, by long & obligatory goodbye-and-thanks-for-coming speeches. And then came our last hotel lunch.

Some took naps, or went shopping. I looked for a cheap bookbag to avoid upcoming airport hassles (my small "carry-on" bag doesn't fit the carry-on size requirements). Then, gather up Jay, Amber, and Lindsay for sauna & jacuzzi time. After the refreshing experience that's sauna & jacuzzi, we went out to last night's falafel place, gathering up other stragglers.

Then, time to go crazy at a discoteca. Unfortunately, this took some time. Someone suggested Posada del Angel in Barranco (another Lima neighborhood), advertising it as "very bohemian, w/ good music" by someone who'd been there the night before. While it was bohemian, most didn't consider the open-mic-style guitarist/singer "good music" — certainly not danceable. But we ordered a round of drinks, then got to playing an interesting game.

The game involves giving someone a choice between three persons. Then they have to specify which of those three they'd: A) choose to sleep w/ once, but never see again; B) marry, but never touch; or C) throw off a cliff. Many interesting personal revelations.

From there, we finally decided to try our luck looking for an actual discoteca. Since Barranco is a bohemian, nightlife district. I can't remember the name of the place we found, but it was playing some great Madonna 80s dance tunes, so we stayed there. DJ had heavy preference for the 80s, but w/ great taste. Even some Aztec Camera, a blast from the past (whipped me into a dance frenzy). At Rebecca's request (for me), he also played The Pixies' "Here Comes Your Man" — which made the night complete.

Tired, sweaty, we took a micro back to Miraflores, and our hotel. Fell asleep quite soundly, and missed all the non-Bolivian Fulbrighters who left for the airport early in the morning.

» Day 7

The Bolivian group gathered together in the lobby for a farewell to the few Fulbrighters (all in Peru) still left, and the organizational staff. Then, off to the airport for expensive fast food, while we waited for our flight back to La Paz. Had a great conversation w/ Jacob about his experience at The Poncho Eco-Village (which is not at all an eco-village, but just a green-washed tourist trap) & snagged an invite to his upcoming Cochabamba wedding.

By the time we landed in El Alto, we were ready to get back to our respective apartments & work projects. Sad as it was to leave people I spent an entire week w/. Watching School of Rock on DVD w/ Jay & Caroline was a nice transition back into my paceño life.

Posted by Miguel at 10:08 PM

Comments

Posted by: Stephanie at May 3, 2004 04:06 AM

Posted by: tom at May 3, 2004 01:49 PM

Posted by: J.Scott Barnard at May 5, 2004 10:28 AM

Posted by: Steve Webster at May 10, 2004 05:06 PM

Posted by: Miguel at May 10, 2004 06:47 PM