June 22nd, 2010: I met this really kind woman that owned a cross between a coffee shop and a grocery store in Chiclayo. Since she worked 7 days a week 16 hours a day, it was always easy to go to her place to hang out and practice my Spanish – especially since she doesn’t know any English. They use a lot of different words down here and I am still trying to adjust. Teaching me not just Spanish, she taught me how to make Cerviche – a meal with raw fish, shrimp, peppers, onions soaked in lemon juice. Making a big plate, I forced myself to eat everything but the shrimp…I can only do so much kindness. Will I make Cerviche again?…no. Will I make it for someone else?...perhaps my enemies or a hungry conman.
Yes, I was able to sit at a table face to face with a conman who tried to take advantage of my kindness. He informed me he worked for Carnival Cruises as a cook and needed to practice his English so that he could out of the kitchen and make more money as a server. Working for an international hotel chain in my past life, I knew exactly what he was saying, hitting my weak spot. So I agreed to help him with his English for about 30 minutes prior to my meeting my friends.
He invited me for a soda while I wrote some common phrases that is important for servers like, “where is my tip?“ “this is not my table” and other important things we all love to hear. Coming back to the table with the soda he said the shop had no change for his 100 Soles (about $35 USD). The already red dim light that was shinning in my brain just jumped to a full red light…hmm…so did he just want a free soda I thought? - a lot of work for a free soda. Then it clicked, as he asked if I had change for a 100 Soles. This place is notorious for bad bills so I am told. Instead of leaving I decided to stay – worse case scenario, he couldn’t take anything since I had nothing on me…almost nothing. I told him not to worry about it and bought the soda.
Then he tried a different route to swindle me of my money. Now he told me he was leaving to Ecuador tomorrow afternoon and asked if I has some US dollars (Ecuador’s currency is the US dollar) I could exchange with him – when down the street there are a whole slew of money exchangers standing in the street with brick sized wads of cash. I wanted to laugh at his stupidity and was enjoying everything he was throwing at me without doing it the easy way by just attempting to beat me up for it. Thinking about it...I wonder if he was hungry?
Showing posts with label Chiclayo. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Chiclayo. Show all posts
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Sunday, June 20, 2010
You really never know a woman till you she her…
June 20th, 2010: Sitting at a park within the city with a billion others, I relaxed and people watched…my specialty. A woman caught my attention that seemed quite attractive as she was standing there dressed conservatively as if she was out of an clothing advertisement for Banana Republic. She seemed to be waiting for someone. When her friend arrived she exposed her smile…you really never know a women till you see her smile. I had to laugh.
She had the most “bling” I have ever seen in a woman’s mouth. Her upper grill was all gold except for the two next to the front teeth which were silver. The teeth even seemed smaller than normal sized teeth so she could fit more in her mouth…amazingly scary and funny at the same time.
I must add this to my requirement list for my future wife…no excessive amounts of gold or silver front teeth. If we are meant to be…buy her a set of dentures for any holiday that you can buy them something, even if it is not an obligatory holiday to exchange gifts like Saint Patrick’s day.
She had the most “bling” I have ever seen in a woman’s mouth. Her upper grill was all gold except for the two next to the front teeth which were silver. The teeth even seemed smaller than normal sized teeth so she could fit more in her mouth…amazingly scary and funny at the same time.
I must add this to my requirement list for my future wife…no excessive amounts of gold or silver front teeth. If we are meant to be…buy her a set of dentures for any holiday that you can buy them something, even if it is not an obligatory holiday to exchange gifts like Saint Patrick’s day.
Peruvian mud piles
June 19th, 2010: Didn’t make it to ruins of Chan Chan…ended up changing my mind at the bus station going to Chiclayo instead, a town a few hours prior to the Chan Chan ruins. Here I had my first true experience to visit some Peruvian archaeological sites named Sipan and Tucume. After day one…I feel already knocked out…from boredom. So far, I don’t think I care too much for the archaeological sites in the Americans. The ruins really force you to use your imagination - of coarse when a lot of them are made of mud piles and not stone…which obviously lacks the ability to be very effective against the elements after 1000’s or so years.
You can really see a lot from a window
June 18th, 2010: Wow…as always, I prefer taking a bus during the day and today’s ride enforced this. Even though I don’t save on accommodations as I would on the night bus, I treat the day bus as if I was an immobile senor on a world tour looking through the window…and truthfully, it is not all that bad - if you can keep your eyes open long enough.
On the bus today I saw some amazing contraptions to sell guava (I think), these giant disgustingly healthy green bean looking things looking things genetically altered to grow 1,000,000 times its normal size. The 15 or 20 women selling them were standing there outside the bus were looking as if they were going to lynch someone with a smile. They were all holding a long wooden stick practically twice the height of them with a plastic container on the end in which some guava was strapped to so that the 4 foot tall grown women and 3 foot tall teenagers can lift it up to the double-decker bus windows with the plastic container to conveniently drop your payment in.
The terrain in this area is so flat and so dry with such large cracks in the soil that you could reach your arm into or happily lose an annoying girlfriends miniature dog. If you are lucky enough you could twist your ankle in one of the cracks and perhaps get an opportunity to sue someone, “North American Style.” But this is South America, so I don’t think it would get too far in a court of law.
I seem to be drawn to flat desserts…when there is no or very little greenery, just the multiple shades of browns and grays of sand or dirt. If you took the state of Iowa and tore out every living thing and all there was left was some dirt and a few scrubby bushes to catch some of the blowing garbage…you would have a good idea what Northwestern Peru looks like. It is amazing that so many people live out here in this unworkable land with the houses made out of scraps whether it is made out of bricks, manufactured wood or wooden sticks found by the characters from the book that stars three little pigs.
You can really see a lot from a window – all sorts of windows…cars, buses, planes, trains, homes and hotels. You just need to open those eyes and look.
On the bus today I saw some amazing contraptions to sell guava (I think), these giant disgustingly healthy green bean looking things looking things genetically altered to grow 1,000,000 times its normal size. The 15 or 20 women selling them were standing there outside the bus were looking as if they were going to lynch someone with a smile. They were all holding a long wooden stick practically twice the height of them with a plastic container on the end in which some guava was strapped to so that the 4 foot tall grown women and 3 foot tall teenagers can lift it up to the double-decker bus windows with the plastic container to conveniently drop your payment in.
The terrain in this area is so flat and so dry with such large cracks in the soil that you could reach your arm into or happily lose an annoying girlfriends miniature dog. If you are lucky enough you could twist your ankle in one of the cracks and perhaps get an opportunity to sue someone, “North American Style.” But this is South America, so I don’t think it would get too far in a court of law.
I seem to be drawn to flat desserts…when there is no or very little greenery, just the multiple shades of browns and grays of sand or dirt. If you took the state of Iowa and tore out every living thing and all there was left was some dirt and a few scrubby bushes to catch some of the blowing garbage…you would have a good idea what Northwestern Peru looks like. It is amazing that so many people live out here in this unworkable land with the houses made out of scraps whether it is made out of bricks, manufactured wood or wooden sticks found by the characters from the book that stars three little pigs.
You can really see a lot from a window – all sorts of windows…cars, buses, planes, trains, homes and hotels. You just need to open those eyes and look.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
