Peru - Lima III

Yup, still here, as the passport situation doesn´t give us much freedom to travel. I mean, we could go wherever within Peru, but it wouldn´t be the wisest thing to do only having copies. Fortunately I was able to withdraw money from the bank, i.e. cash advance, but I spent a good part of that on the hepatitis shots (A & B, $70).

Oh well, I´m set now, for the next five years at least. And the clinic I went to was much nicer than the Pima clinic in Tucson, I didn´t check the vile, but I´m confident it wasn´t expired, it´s not like I´m in Nogales, hee, hee. Anyway, I´m getting a lot of reading done because we hang out at the house a lot. Which is fine by me. However, last night, we spent way too much money going out, for really no reason other than being in a place as expensive as any U.S. bar, but that situation must be avoided at all costs, the expenses I mean, but I was able to dance with some lovely Peruvian ladies.

The previous night we treated ourselves to an American night in, eating two Domino´s Pizzas and renting a movie (French, AMELIE, very very good) from Blockbuster´s. It´s incredible how far the American culture has spread. In fact this family is more American than us. They all work from Dawn ´till Dusk, have memberships at private heath clubs, vacation once in a great while, have one car per person, don´t know the names of their neighbors, don´t recycle ect. The only thing different is their maid (indentured servant) who waits hand and foot by day.

It´s a awkward situation for me because I´m not exactly used to someone cleaning up after me. Then again, the maid, named Kamu, is probably living much better off here than where she´s from as the social schism is vast in these countries, middle class is almost non existent. Not to sound overly critical, but the daughters seem to live somewhat sheltered upper class lives, not really appreciating their condition, perhaps taking things for granted. They work at least, the oldest Claudia is some business executive for Procter and Gamble here in Lima; the middle one, Rita is a green lawyer working in public affairs but getting paid well, and the youngest, Marcela is finishing school in Psycology, in fact interning in some mental clinic. Scott has some strange non-romantic, semi-platonic relationship with her that I really don´t understand, but some things of his I just won´t understand. Anyway, it keeps him occupied while I read and write this Email. The mother, Pia, doesn´t work, but did, and is always in a hurry to be somewhere while the father, Wilbert (It must be a native Inca name or something), works as an engineering consultant for irrigation and water systems. They keep busy and have been more than hospitable to us, for which I am most grateful. I´m mostly glad to have some time to read.

As for any other news, we´re planning to head out sometime next week, towards where the grandparents of this family live, that is if we get our passports. I´ll probably need a new passport before the trip is over because I´ve almost filled all the pages. I guess I´ll have to stop by an embassy soon to find out how it works. As for Brazil, they´re supposed to issue an 90 tourist visa, which should be renewable, but we´ll see how the first 90 days goes.