Adventures in Peru

the last day of carnival, some time after ash wednesday.

a peruvian girl started talking to me in the park. she had a petition, at first i thought she wanted me to sign it. she never asked, she only asked other peruvians. we walked until meeting up with her co-worker who had also made a friend. we all went and got drunk. then we had lunch.

went to the concert in the main plaza. several thousand people turned out.

for dinner we went to a karaoke bar and drank beer instead. then for dessert we drank sangria.

returned to the plaza for the last act. it ended with fireworks.

i think i will need to experience a full brazillian carnival while i still have a liver. i only imagine that it is more grand. that the party lasts more hours per day.

also. going out with peruvians is expensive. the girls do not pay a dime. with 3 guys and 5 girls the guys bought the drinks and payed for the cabs. even when everyone but one girl was done drinking, she ordered another round (for everyone.) then instead of paying for it, she demanded that i pay for it. i thought it was very comical. my spanish is terrible, but i knew what she was wanting me to do. that was one time that acting dumb was a great idea. i ended up chipping in a bit, only slightly more than the value of my drink.
note to bethany. you would LOVE northern peru. everything is turkey turkey turkey. it is on nearly every menu. at almost every sandwich shops. you can get a turkey sandwich 365 days a year. they also make all the traditional peruvian food with turkey substituted.

the ugly:
i lost my traveling hat. i lost it in trujillo. i am really hoping that i left it in the hostel i was at. but i think it fell off getting in or out of the cab to the bus station. i sat down on the bus, and went to take off my cap, it was GONE.

the bad:
i will not be going to iquitos. appearently if i am going to travel there with any baggage i can only do so from lima. the flights from northern peru, where i am, to iquitos are passanger only. who would have thought?
i also learnt that the slow boats are not just unpredictably slow, but it is not a good idea to carry anything onto them. everyone i have talked to that has done it, save for one, has had large amounts of stuff go missing. and me having just started my shopping spree.

the good:
i have no more rush. i get to move at the pase of me. i have as long as i want in cajamarca.
and when i go back to lima i will have a stop over in trujillo, i really hope that the hostel has my hat in a lost and found or something. i would love to get that hat back.

the story of the hat.
i have done many things to keep that hat. including long discussions with people who have stolen it, explaning how my late grandfather/dad/uncle gave me that hat. it worked everytime.
i had to punch an irish girl in the face. the was really determined to keep my hat. she almost liked it more than me. she kept telling me if i wanted it to fight her for it. after she shoved me a bit i punched her shoulder, she punched my face, i punched her face. she gave me that hat. she wasn’t expeting me to actually fight for the hat.
i have climbed over a cliff edge in the colca canyon to get it. the wind took it off my head, i was lucky because it had be caught by a ‘rock’. i removed my gear and climbed down the side of the cliff, grabbed my hat screaming and dropping it again. the same ‘rock’ caught my had again. i also had some thorns in my hand. this time a carefully removed the had to see that it was not ontop of a rock, but a small cactus! sweet jesus.
and now, with 2 weeks left, it is gone.