First day in Lima

Looking for accomodations at 1:30am escorted by a clueless taxi driver we found "full" (technical Spanish word for "no vacancies") places, $150 a night hotels, and finally when our driver figured out what we really wanted, Hostel Melody that rents rooms by the hour $12 for 10 hours). Which was good cause we only wanted a little sleep. (By the hour? and I could hear them cleaning rooms in the early morning.)

We had lambs head soup with lamb foot and tripes for breakfast in the market. I think my beard attracts people wanting to know who we were and why. The first conversations with Peruvians (my age) were as if I'd never left. The same topics -- how "tranquillo" life is here and how crazy in the US. People who seem content living in "poverty and squalor" astonished at why Americans live the way they do. Later on we med a woman who returned to Peru after 15 years in Boca Raton with family, bought an apartment and a slightly upscale restaurant in Miraflores where we had lunch ($2). They just couldn't stomach the USA and all its craziness any more. Her Husband and 2 boys (born in the US) were running the business. They all seemed so relieved and happy to be here rather than there. So are we!

We took a cab over to David Weber's place --it's an organization that teaches linguistics and literacy to Peruvians in cooperation with a local university. There are apartments for the students and families while they are here for the five month course. Nearly brand new and very posh, in Surco the newest upscale neighborhood of Lima. Very nice, peaceful, safe and secure. And only $10 a day!

JJ banged his head violently as we boarded our first collectivo and made for Miraflores, the place where backpackers used to congregate in Lima. We were looking to network, but didn't hook up with anyone. It still seems like I never left this place, sitting in a park where I used to sit watching latino life pass by before me. How could I have ever keft this place? Oh yeah, Wycliffe Bible Translators sent me home. I am "incompatible." Much of that incompatibility was that I prefer latino culture to the uptight American culture of the missionaries, and was building my own house off the mission base. I'm more incompatible with Amerika than ever before! It's wonderful to be here again.

We just hung out in Miraflores for the afternoon, taking in the sights, smells, sounds, and tastes of Peru. JJ had a contact with the Canadian American expatriates society which was meeting at the Bar Ayawaska that evening, but as I am not much for cold contacts I let him go to that one. It turns out that the Bar Ayawaska is obscenely plush. He paid $6.50 for one drink and left. I'm so glad I didn't go.