"On the Trail"

The Journals from the Road

Saturday, Dec 2, 2000: Views of the worlds of Lima! --Lima, Peru

Video:
A view from Cerro de San Cristobal, Lima, Peru

Hello Friends,

Alberto Sr. had been telling me for a while that we need to go to the top of this hill called Cerro de San Cristobal where one can get a view of the entire city of Lima. Since it was Saturday there would be no school visits and I was feeling like a little more exercise than the usual finger workouts at the cybercafé. So I asked Beto Jr. if he would take Frank and I to the top of the hill. Beto, is a very cool 17 year old, thoughtful, smart, helpful, generous,and from what I hear, a great singer.

The three of us got some breakfast and then hopped on a bus to the bottom of the hill and then started hiking to the top. We passed many precariously perched shacks and a massive garbage dump on the way up. Almost at the top we met up with some of Betos bro`s from the neighborhood (homeboys, bros, etc here called patas-literally paws, always walking together). They decided to go back to the top with us.

It was a spectacular view. We could get a view of the city cemetary (square miles!!), the center, the district of Rimac, and all the major roads in and out of the city. It was well worth the climb. We took a bunch of pictures up on top and then headed down. About halfway down some boys decided to chuck rocks at us from above. We faced them, walked backwards, and dodged them as they dropped around us. Then we hurried on down the hill. The guys said they were just ignorant kids who didn´t know the possible effects of their actions. I was bugged but figured I would let it go. On the way back we passed by a monastery called Almeda de los Descalzos.

That afternoon I took Caroline and her cousin Everleen to Parque del Avion and we played frisbee, frisbee golf, and hide and go seek. We had a lot of fun!! Then it was time to leave and my fun decreased as the girls transmuted into professional candy beggers, and ¨10 more minutes¨ rang in my ears. Actually,this might be an childhood instinct, that all children whip out at the end of a good time, the ¨Just One More¨instict. Oh, well, we still had fun.

That night Janet and I went out for a movie. We went to Miraflores, a higher class part of Lima. It was like I was back in the states, a completely different world, with high-tech black light bowling alleys, high prices, and fast food reigning as king. After we paid for the movie Janet realized that she didn´t have her coin purse. We retraced our steps and asked a number of guards if they had seen it. Most of them laughed and said that we would never find it. But when we asked the fellow at the ticket counter he smiled and pulled out her purse, complete with coins, saying that someone had just turned it in. I just had to share that little story of good people helping out even those they may never meet, and in the middle of Lima, Peru. The movie was made in Spain and very Spanish but between my improving vocabulary and Janet´s help I could understand most of the flying Spanish accents. It was called Solas. I would recommend it. It is a ´people in relationships´ movie and a bit dark but a story of goodness and patience being stronger than bitterness and anger.

Different worlds in the same city,

TAD

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