"The Strangest Saddest City"

Yo soy en Barranco cerca la playa

Hola mi amigos,

     I have arrived in Lima Peru!  After a long day of travel and anticipation, I jumped in a taxi (but without my bags because my connecting flight left too soon for my bag to make the plane in Bogota) and headed to Barranco, Lima, Peru.  Barranco is one of 42 districts in Lima, known for it's music, art, and nightlife.  This little city is absolutely teeming with life.  The streets are crowded with people walking, running, playing sports, playing instruments, it is beautiful.  Something I learned very quickly is that pedestrians do NOT have the right of way! Another interesting part of the roads of Lima, there are almost no stop signs or traffic lights.  Instead cars just honk their horns and inch their way through the intersections.  It is incredibly noisy, but after a week I am already tuning out the noise of traffic.

     On my first night I stayed at a hostel, located under "The Bridge of Sorrows" which is nested at the bottom of an urban valley, on a steep slope that empties into the beach.  Moments after arriving, and I mean maybe 5 minutes, I am unpacking and hear someone say "I think you're in my bunk".  To my surprise (and his) it was my friend from the Marines that I did not expect to see for at least a week.  We went out for dinner and drinks with a local who has been very helpful showing us around her city.  The next day we went to a music and food festival in the town square, then found an apartment which we are living in for the next few weeks while I visit universities and study the desert region of Peru. My bag was also delivered this day!!!

     Food here is incredible.  It is cheap, fast, fresh, and delicious.  When I say cheap, I mean about $4 US for an appetizer, salad, entree, desert, and beverage (alcoholic even).  Cuisine is the backbone of Peruvian identity and culture.  They have a lot of pride in food production, and preparation, as they should.  Because of this, there is little processed foods, preservatives, etc.  The government, which is not looked highly upon by Peruvians, even fight against mega corporations because they know that the true wealth is in the quality of the food, not speed, convenience, or profit. CEVICHE!-------->


     I am working on my Spanish, and picking it up poco un poco (little by little), but wish I had learned more prior to arriving.  I know important words and phrases necessary to eat, purchase, find, and live but feel I am missing out on casual conversation with the population I came to learn from. I am avoiding typical tourist traps that speak in English as I feel they do not pressure me to struggle through learning the language.  Most people enjoy watching me struggle and are extremely patient, helping me pronounce words correctly and structuring my sentences properly. It has been fun, and each day gets easier.  I keep a journal with me at all times, noting any funny experiences, new phrases and words I learn, and write down any phrases I expect to need throughout the day.

     I have made contact with some friends of friends who are very active in organic foods and the healing power of food vs. medicine, and we have had some interesting conversation.  They have been incredibly helpful with navigating this city and becoming familiar with the history and culture of the Peruvian people.  I am also in contact with an Engineering University, and will be visiting fog harvesting nets on the border of Lima in the coming weeks. Fog nets are vital to the poorer areas of Lima, where access to water is most scarce.  For the most part water is sourced from glacier melt in the Andes, but as these recede due to climate change, creating or finding another source of water capture is necessary.

Photo credit: National Geographic "Peru fog catchers"

     There are many parks in this city, and are as highly used everyday as Central Park on the nicest day of the year.  Water is on display everywhere, which was unexpected also.  Considering this is the driest desert on Earth, with less than a centimeter of rainfall annually, I assumed Lima would be nothing but buildings, rocks, and sand.  Fountains are found on every block, displaying the power and control the people have over their most treasured and least renewable resource.

     Fog rolls in and blankets the entire city for the majority of the day.  In Herman Melville's 'Moby Dick', he describes Lima as "the strangest, saddest city", and rightfully so.  There is something majestic about the fog, it is so dense and vast, that it is no wonder that eventually it would be tapped into as a resource.  I went running the other day, along the edge of huge cliffs that overlook the ocean.  It was absolutely beautiful, but as I made my way back into the city area I could not catch my breath due to the overwhelming amount of car exhaust and smog that fills the air.

     In Lima the architecture is an interesting mix of modern and old.  Many of the older buildings (1600's) have so much detail it is difficult to comprehend.  I can't help but imagine what it must have been like living in those times, a community filled with master craftsmen and artisans, creating a magnificent city on the ruins of what was already an architectural marvel.  With the amount of labor and money invested in this city, combined with the water and fog issues even then, I can't help but wonder why you would make this area the capitol of your country.  From more research, I have learned that when the Spanish took control of the city, it was mid-January, right in the middle of their summer of blue skies.  By the time the fogs came around too much infrastructure was developed and money invested to move to another location.

    Well mi amigos, I must go meet my next new friend who will show me more of the city.  If you are interested in seeing pictures, please feel free to check out my Facebook page @ facebook.com/showcasejack and look at the mobile or recent upload section.  I will eventually upload pictures to this site but first I need to learn how to ask for a USB cord for my phone! Haha.

Chao,
Jack
    












UA-46555229-1