sunday, february 20, 2005 - lima - 12:05 am

sitting at the airport in lima. trying to piece together the last 7 days. i am exhausted. i am a sweaty mess thanks to the higher temps and humidity here in lima. quite frankly, i am grouchy. but first the good stuff.

after a fair amount of walking through the same market over and over this (saturday) morning,

the three of us finally were all awake and together and ready to go. we dumped our packs at the hotel desk and headed off for food. empanadas were eaten and it was off to the plaza de armas for more spending and trying to finally see the cathedral. luckily, we stumbled into an art fair in one of the chapels at iglesia de la compania. (uh…moneychanger alert.) some of the art was phenomenal. i fell in love with this one artist and settled on 2 pictures (down from 5.) i could have bought 20.

one picture i bought from hage.

we rushed to the cathedral across the plaza and spent about 20 minutes inside. i had never seen a colonial style cathedral before. gray blocks with white plaster vaulted ceilings. and all the gold leafing one would expect from the latin culture. again, no cameras allowed.

shhhhh. don't tell anyone.

from the cathedral, we grabbed our packs, hailed a cab, and were off to the airport. it was time to say goodbye to a city i came to love through some pretty intense dislike just 7 days earlier. we killed a bit of time at the airport and then we flew, via lanperu, to the capital city of lima. what followed was truly unexpected.

once in lima, we decided that since we had about 8 hours to kill, we would take a cab into lima and check it out. as it so happens, we ended up in miraflores, an upscale area that was recommended to us by a guy at the airport who just wanted money. good thing is , he was right. miraflores was very nice. the cab dropped us at a park where there was a sidewalk art fair going on. we perused the artwork briefly, but were inevitably drawn to a circle of people where two men were performing a play of sorts. i only understood a bit of it, but it was nice to see that kind of art in such a public space.

muerte of a salesman?

at the play, olivia met a guy named robert. robert and his buddy, rasec, invited us to dinner with them and proceeded to walk us around this very lovely part of such a surprisingly western city. when compared to the rest of the country, that is. we ate chicken and fries and then walked to the beach, picking up some cusquena along the way. when we got to the coast, i was a bit surprised that we weren't on the beach, per se, but rather on a sidewalk high overlooking the pacific ocean. even though it was now dark, the view was incredible.

the pacific from miraflores.

we moved south along the water line through a shopping center full of people. speaking of which, not only were there a ton of people out enjoying the balmy summer weather, but i have come to suspect that miraflores is, in fact, the make-out capital of south america. i guess the phrase "get a room" just doesn't translate.

we settled down on a patch of grass just steps from a cliff a hundred or so feet over the beach. we sat and talked (a term i use loosely given mine and art's inability to speak spanish and robert and rasec's lack of english.) but it was fun to slowly understand what it was like to live the more urban peruvian lifestyle. it was then that it hit me that these were really the first peruanos we had talked to at length. it really was a perfect ending to such a crazy trip.

olivia, robert, rasec, art.

lima, or at least what we saw of it, could very well be an american city. it reminded me very much of parts of los angeles and was a far cry from any of the rest of peru that we experienced. on our way to miraflores, we passed numerous mcdonald's, a t.g.i.friday's, a starbuck's and at least 3 blockbuster videos. this of course, prompted me to want to wander in and rent a flick just to see if my card would work.

yes, the capital of peru may have been the perfect step to reacclimatize to the american life. that is, if we, in fact needed to reacclimatize after a mere 8 days. the point is, lima is so cosmopolitan and unlike what i have come to expect, it just seemed odd. lovely, but odd. but i guess it's naïve to think that most countries of moderate size aren't varied to that degree.

on to the real fun.

back at the airport, all was going well until we got in line to pay our departure tax…a $28.24 departure tax! $28.24 to leave the country.****** so it was another trip to the atm to withdraw more cash so that we could hurry up and stand in the worst immigration line ever. i think i have failed to mention to this point that, in peru, there is no concept of first-come/first-serve, and therefore, no concept of "a line." even though we were clearly queued in stall-like lines, countless people would dart from line #2 to desk #3. or from line #5 to desk #3. guess which line i was in. (hint: it rhymes with tree.)

well, we finally cleared immigration and security and i sat there sweating and fuming. how could a country that i have enjoyed so much leave me with such a proverbial knee to the groin? i guess peru didn't realize that i hold grudges for the stupidest of things. and this was a stupid, stupid thing.

digression. despite the last few hours of utter chaos at jorge chavez international airport, the trip has proved a resounding success. barring any typical, cade-like craziness in houston or logan, it will have gone off without a hitch. well, one tiny hitch: a massive sunburn. okay, maybe a few hitches. but i say, as my new favorite peruvian beer declares: "va para ti." not sure it applies, but i say it anyway.

buenos noches. muchas gracias. y adios.

******that's right. a country where you can have a 4 course dinner for 3 for under US$10, charges nearly $30 just to leave the airport. this, after we had already paid a $5 tax to leave cusco. i certainly hope that this money goes to feed some of their starving children.

prolouge - 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - epilogue