This weekend in Lima, I saw something rather unusual. It wasn’t seeing a guy getting beat up downtown –which I did see–near the used bookstore street–about five guys pummeling one guy. Yep, just another day in the Lima city center. The unusual thing I saw in Lima wasn’t the rare yellow-tailed oriole–which I also saw– the bird looking like a […]
lluvia
Census
I was walking home from work on Lima’s ocean, the roaring of the waves making it hard to hear athe call. “Buenos Noches, Miss.” It was Samuel, the doorman at my building. He’s from Venezuela but has a larger English vocabulary than our American president. “I hate to bother you, but there’s a woman from the Census Bureau here. She […]
Lil’ Machu Pichu
I don’t know why it’s called this, either. I guess the name is an oddity, like GrapeNuts, Buffalo Wings, and autotheft, a word which continues to baffle my language learners, who envision an object stealing itself. Anyway, I went to Not-so-Macho last weekend, which is about a three-hour ride north of Lima, and a five-hour schlep back thanks to honking […]
Cantamarca
You can learn a lot of Spanish from a cow, especially when you cross paths with one. Or two. Or more cows than you can count. I learned that last week when I joined the Red de Montanistas hiking group to Canta, a Peruvian town where cow pies are plentiful and oxygen is not. Honestly? I don’t even know where […]
Toil
His scythe is from a past century; his muscles from hard work, not a protein drink. He doesn’t have the luxury to complain about headlines or Facebook posts. He was a reminder about how most folks in Peru live. Hard work with no paid vacation, Lazy Boy chairs or coffee breaks. While parts of Peru are gorgeous , rural areas […]
Urubamba
It’s a sham. Gift registries for our friends who get married, but what about the gal who remains single? in China, she’s called a leftover woman. At prayer meetings, she’s prayed for as if her singleness is leprecy. In my book? She’s called a kindred spirit. In spite of the amount of periwinkle taffeta bridesmaids dresses she has purchased (with […]
Wild Ones
Being typical Peruvians, piranha do prefer chicken.
Knock Out Smile
Life abroad is the daily grind, but with an adapter plug. That is, until you need major dental work. Major as in getting all of one’s teeth knocked out, as I had to do.
God’s Day Off
I look at the locked gate on the cathedral and smirk. “Why is it closed? I mean, this is Semana Santa, Holy Week. Churches should be open, right?” My Peruvian friend, with better English than my Spanish, scratches his chin and explains. “Catholic church is strange religion. God is dead today. He die Good Friday. But don’t worry,” he smiled, […]
Prayers Oraciones
I can’t open newspapers without wanting to rip out my eyeballs. Tariffs in China. Measles in America. Shooting of bus drivers in Lima. All I can say is this: the world doesn’t need political pundits. The world needs prayer. Instead of plucking out my optic orbs over the headlines, I decided to hike with my group to Cruz del Papa […]