I hobbled over to the finish line near Lima’s Kennedy Parque on Sunday morning, where only one feline dared to be out. It was the Lima 2026 Marathon. This annual event brings throngs of people to the city. Some are serious athletes (like the winner below), but others go for the fun. The runners represented several countries as well as […]
Limathon
Birds and beetles
While walking to school each morning, I imagine bumping into Dr, Doolittle as there is such an abundance of birds. There’s usually a pair of vermilion flycatchers, glowing like Dorothy ruby red slippers on a wire. Obnoxiously loud mitred parrots chatter in the palms, trying to create new homes as they are refugees with wings being displaced due to deforestation. […]
Bucket list
I live as if you only die once. I can think of three vivid days when I thought I would die, of have that infamous kick- the-bucket day. Once in Vietnam, another in Thailand, the third, going inside an abandoned mine in Peru. There were countless defying death days in China, where I’d risk my life just by crossing the […]
Time Travel
A week has seven days, 168 hours or 10,080 minutes theoretically. But in Peru, you can cram in thousands of years. More than potatoes or ceviche stands or presidential candidates, this country has history. Start with sexy women…no, not those pious women but sexy women, the tourist-friendly pronunciation of Sacsayhuaman, the citadel on the northeorthen outskirts of Cusco, not Costco, […]
Ollantay-something
I can’t remember where I put my phone, how to do long division, or the password to LATAM airlines, or the name of this hummingbird, yet alone how to pronounce Ollantayambo. It’s an ancient city outside of Machu Picchu, Peru. But in the middle of the ancient ruins in the Ollantay-something, I AM able to remember a face I hadn’t […]
Why I didn’t get my grading done on Sunday.
Excuses, excuses. My dog didn’t eat my red pen (not that I have a dog), the internet didn’t break, nor any other phoney boloney. I headed to San Mateo (about three hours outside of Lima) to reset my hard drive. This time of year is particularly spectacular on the lush outskirts of Lima. Pictures and words can’t do it justice. […]
queso
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Cognitive Test for the Rest of Us
If you’re old enough that you still remember what a phone book and Facebook are, see if you can answer these questions: Where are your house keys? What’s the password to your Frequent Flyer account? What’s the 6 digit code the airline just sent to your email so you can access your account, but can only retrieve if you close […]
How not to get robbed in Chile
I sent a photo to the affordable tour guide in Valporaiso so he’d recognize me at the meeting place. His response? How about I meet you at the bus station? You look too Hollywood. You’ll get robbed by or scammed. That’s all it took for me to put personal safety over penny-pinching and sign up for a cram- in-a-can sardine […]
Shake Things Up: Santiago’s Museums
The house was like an eclectic museum frozen in the seventies, filled with the avant garde items of that era which are now as outdated as dippity-do. Every inch of every wall covered with art, each piece having its own story. Secret doors, carvings from exotic islands, pottery from Portugal, glassware from Mexico, relics from French ships, portraits of his […]