Lima adventures

So it’s Wednesday Morning and so much has happened since my last blog entry. On Saturday, we went to Lima for a fiesta/fundraiser… and we ended up staying in Lima for 4 days to buy the computers Monday/ Tuesday. On Sunday, we went to walk around Lima and went to Miraflores / Baranco. This day was the first time we’d adventured to the Touristy/ Gringo part of Lima. Miraflores / Baranco reminded me of a mixture of two things I’ve lived before. Firstly, the architecture, colors of the houses and general atmosphere reminded me of impressions I got from the thousands of Brazilian Paintings hanging on the walls in my parents’ house. The area also reminded me of where I used to live in Hong Kong—shiny glass condos, overlooking the ocean, scattered in fancy restaurants and exclusive clubs. This is the Gringo part of Lima. On the one hand, it was comforting to be in a place where not everyone stared at us and I didn’t feel as out of place- but on the other hand, I did. I did because we have been living in the exact opposite world for the last 3 weeks, where a latte and Muffin at Starbucks (20 + soles) is about as much as some of the combi drivers make in a day, or for us, that buys the 3 people in our team’s lunches. In a Peruvian context, that is crazy. It’s Gringo friendly and Gringo Prices and it excludes a lot of people. On the other hand, how different is it in North America where not everyone can spend 7 dollars on a Latte and a Muffin every week.

The other amazing thing about those parts of Lima and the Airport (where we went at Midnight to pick up Matt’s dad) is how well they are taken care of with plush grass, tropical plants, clean streets and trash cans, shiny glass windows and a new metropolitan bus line These areas are so different from other parts of Lima and even more different from where we are living… most of those services are not available at all. It also became clear our Peruvian friends (Joseph and Isaac) were treated so differently than we were when we entered those areas. Matt and I could enter freely into the Airport; Joseph was asked for a Passport and told to use another door. Like the walls in Cieneguilla, there is an air exclusivity to a lot of the places we went, which excludes some and accepts others. These are the observations I made while we were out in Lima.

On another day, I will write about the saga of getting the money into Peru and to buy the computers.

Katie