More New Friends

Today we looked in the want ads for an apartment. There were about 10 possibles within our budget; around $200-$400 (furnished). Tomorrow we head out with a real-estate agent to see some places.

We also met some new friends. They are part of Jean and Edgar's family. Alfredo and Ruth married just one month before ourselves. The batteries died on my camera so no snapshot.

Alfredo is an accountant and together he and his wife operate a rather large gym where people come to work out.

Alfredo's comments during the day came back often to what the future holds for his two daughters; both are college grads who can't get work in their area. I think he was pointing a finger or two at universities that graduate students with few prospects of getting any work. He tells me that as I get to know people here I will find former students in Computer Science hanging around the school because they have no work. We'll see.

Given the general difficulty of finding work in Peru, unemployed graduates are not a surprise. However, colleges have some kind of responsibility to offer programs with some potential for employment even if it means that the kids have to go to Lima (not a welcome suggestion to parents here).

Independence Day

Today, our first full day in Arequipa, is Peru's Independence Day. We were taken to eat in a restaurant called the Traditions of Arequipa

Tradiciones Arequipeñas

Today everyone was encouraged to eat Peruvian food. Here are a couple of plates. The first is ceviche which is a raw fish salad with boiled potato and yam, toasted corn and a bit of salad. Those of you who want to try this can go the the restaurant Machu Picchu in Newburgh and ask for it. People who eat ceviche for the first time are always presently surprised.

ceviche

The second plate is chicharon. Those pieces of bacon are over an inch thick. As well there is some corn (they like their corn kernels big) and a kind of potato that doesn't have a starchy texture called chuño.

chicharon

The food is quite reasonably priced for being one of the most popular restaurants in Arequipa and it being Independence Day. Our share of the meal was $16 including tip.

Here is a picture of ourselves and Ernesto, the head of the department where Andy will be located.
Olga, Andy and Ernesto


All of a sudden then was a lot of commotion when a well-known Peruvian rock star showed up. So many people crowded around him that he went out into the parking lot so people could take photos and the people eating wouldn't be bothered. Standing at his left is Giuliana, a new friend.
Pedro Suarez-Vertiz and our friend Giuliana

We are back in our room and tomorrow we start to look for a place to live.

Finally, Arequipa

We took an overnight bus from Lima to Arequipa. The weather, more than anything else, got to us in Lima. We both left very sick. The bus ride was pleasant enough. The seats really do recline and we were served dinner and breakfast. However, I should mention, in case anyone plans to make the same trip, that the toilets on the bus are only for peeing and the first stop where you can get to a bathroom is 10 hours out of Lima.

We drove along the coast all night and it rained. It was the humidity more than anything that gave Lima its depressing feeling. Coming from Lima to Arequipa was like leaving Mordor to come to the Shire. In any event, when the bus turned inland to start its climb to Arequipa the sun showed itself and things just went from better to better.

We arrived around 10:30AM, the hotel came to pick us up at the bus station and you open the door to the balcony of our room and this is what you see

El Volcan Misty

We went to sleep for the rest of the day. We went to do a bit of shopping in the evening and went back to bed.

An Old Friend

On Wednesday we visited Sadako Kohatsu. She is the widow of a childhood friend of Olga and her brother and sister - Julio Kohatsu. She still runs the family business and her three kids (that's Yoko below) are seeing how they will make their living. Yoko has studied pastry making in a cooking school of Lima and was very impressed with The Tea Room of New Paltz website.

Yoko Kohatsu

By the way Andres, Andres Kohatsu asked me if you were still reading... It seems they remember you well.

Lima has an incredible array of cooking schools. If I were to say watch out, it would for the acceptance and appreciation of Peruvian cooking in the States. I'll show you some dishes in a later blog entry.

Anyway, here we are sitting in Sadako's dining room enjoying pastries from one of the family bakeries.



Twice since I have been here I have eaten too much; once at a meal when I ate too much at that meal and that night a Sadako's when I had eaten a big meal in the Argentinian restaurant just a few hours earlier. In both cases my stomach got quite upset. The food was fine, just too much. Now I eat much more circumspectly.

Lunch in Barrancos

It is now Wednesday and we have been visiting Angie Fernandez for a few days now - Angela is a friend of Olga's since her time in San Francisco (and Andres' godmother). Angie has retired and moved back to Lima to be near her family



Olga and Angie

Today we went to eat lunch in a charming restaurant near Angela's mother's home. We have not been disappointed by any of the food we've eaten here.

Olga was not feeling well so had substancia de res - (substance of beef, a soup). The restaurant had a very high ceiling and its walls covered with memorabilia of Maradonna (el 10) and other things Argentinian. The picture is of an old ad for some kind of headache relief.

Peruvians and their Health

You will never meet a group of people who know so much about the non-nutritional value of each thing they eat. Pineapple for breakfast when you know you're going to eat a big meal later. People offering annis tea just in case. They have a personal favourite remedy for anything that ails you or might ail you. There is a reason for this almost anal attention to personal well-being - few have health insurance and are just a chill away from disaster. You just can't take any risks with your health. It never rains in
Lima but the temperature is in the 50s now and the humidity close to 80% so it is easy to catch a cold if you are not careful.

For the first time in my life I have had people telling me of the benefits to the bacterial flora in my stomach from consuming flax seed water.

Callao and Lima

Today we went into Callao where Olga was born and grew up. It is hard to describe how distressed the whole area around the main market seemed. Dogs no thicker than mats lying in the street; stress on every face we saw. We walked pasted Olga's home (down a long passage which we didn't enter) I didn't bring my camera but I don't think I'd have had the heart to take it out.

There are 4 or more types of public transport in Lima. The biggest vehicles are buses like those we are familiar with. Next come the microbuses - bigger ones called coasters that hold 20+ people and smaller ones called combis that hold up to 10 people. These buses follow regular routes just like normal buses but are much faster than regular buses. Both cost about the same, between 20 and 40 cents depending on the distance you travel.

Next come the collectives (collectivos). These are 1960s Chevrolets and Fords (ours was a 1964 Fairlane). They make longer runs between Callao and Lima. They follow a fixed route and have no mufflers. Olga reached to put on seat belt and the driver called out not to touch it ("esta sucio", It's dirty). Of course, it hadn't been touched in years. A collectivo from Lima to Callao (20 km) is 65 cents. Gasoline costs $4.00/gallon. How do they make any money?

Then come the taxis. Some are new and shiny, others have been through hell. Lots are Chinese. This should be good advertising for Chinese cars; if they can survive as taxis in Lima they can survive anywhere. Most taxi rides cost less than $2.00; a long ride is $3.00 and to come to Callao from Lima is about $6.00.

Lima, at least its center, is a real show of son et lumiere. We watched the changing of the guard at the Presidential Palace, the beautiful facades of the old buildings lit with spots from the ground and behind the various columns. The guard wears helmets similar to those of the Germans in the first world war. We also saw others wearing what look like Spanish home guard hats from the time of Franco except that they were green. What is remarkable however is just how many police there are on the street. They are literally everywhere. It seemed to me as though all 8 million Limenians were also in the street.

Seen in the rear window of a taxi "In memory of my father and sister, Dante and Anna".

A Highschool Reunion

Olga made a party for her high school friends. Olga went to night school and many of the people in the class were working at the time so were older than her (and still are). We made a big barbecue in the front yard of Pilar. That's Pilar dancing with Olga.

Olga and Pilar

Let's see if I can remember their names - Front: Nelly, Judith, Juanita, Olga, Rosa; Back: Pilar, Rosa, ?, Hortencia. Juanita also has the last name Kanashiro but she and Olga are not related.



Well, the party was a great success. There were three men there and we talked about this and that. Why the evangelist churches are dominating the Catholic church in all of Latin America, for example. Olga and her friends kept up a constantly high decibel level from start to end talking about old times. Olga went to night school and may be the youngest person there. Some of these women are well into their seventies.

This same group met 18 months ago when Olga visited Peru. They met in the center of Lima and went to a restaurant. At the time Pilar's daughter said, "I'd really like to be on that street corner where you meet to see all the termites falling from the dead wood." No dead wood here; hardly a grey hair in the place!!

Local Child Care

We went to a fiesta today; a fund-raiser for a preschool. It looked just about perfect to me - 4 to 7 kids per class. The theme was the food from the four regions of Peru - jungle, mountains, coastal desert and the sea. The kids were appropriately dressed and the food was great, all prepared by the parents.

The little girl with the microphone is Kiara, Beto's grand daughter.

Myself, Beto and his son Tonio (Kiara's father)

Next Stop Lima

We arrived in Lima 4 hours early. All the baggage was there and we were through immigration and customs quickly. They have a "roll-the-dice" mechanism for deciding who gets inspected by customs. You push a button and it randomly causes a red or green light to come on. If red then you get the fifth degree but if green then you pass on without inspection. For any of you coming this way - good luck!

Looking around the airport we didn't see our friend, Beto (short for Alberto). I sat down with my PC, turned it on and found a wireless network, set up a VPN connection to New York and then used my Skype account to call the house in Lima and find out where he was - outside the airport building apparently, waiting for us. I also called the kids so we were headed for Beto's home with no worries.

The next day we visited "La Punta". It is a rather exclusive part of Callao, the town where Olga was born. La Punta separates the ocean from a bay and on the bay side there is both a rowing and a yacht club as well as a big naval school.


Callao, by the rowing club


Spending money in Peru is easy. $1.00 is around s/ 3.1 (soles). What is nice is that for many things what we pay for something in dollars, the Peruvians pay in soles but the same number. So many things (restaurants, for example) are about 1/3 their cost in the US. One hour of internet access costs s/ 1.0 (1 sol) or about 35 cents. I bought a used cell phone with an original-equipment battery charger for s/ 50.0 ($16.00). It works fine but I need a lot of practice. This reduction in many costs is important to us because we are planning to live on half-salary this year and it seems like it will be possible to do so and live well at the same time.

Last night we visited friends we knew when we lived in Brazil in 1979 - Jean and Edgar Vera. Edgar is a math prof in San Marcos - the oldest university in the Americas. They are very gentle people, especially with each other. Jean has a nephew whose name is Sandro Leon. Jean told me you can see him on U-Tube. He is very nice and I am sure very talented. Check him out. He sings and plays Peruvian/Brazilian soft-rock fusion acoustically.

Sandro Leon

Peruvians eat their main meal of the day at lunch time. Last night we went out with Jean and Edgar to a near-by cafe and had a slice of swiss-chard pie and wine and tea for us all. You find very nice restaurants in the most unexpected places.

Up, Up and Away

We arrived at the San Jose airport three hours early like we were told. Our flight was via Bogota and taking off at the same time as a direct flight to Lima. We asked if we could switch airplanes and go directly. Then three things happened in quick succession (and without any pushing on our part):

• The agent behind the counter quickly said "Yes, no extra charge"!! When have any of you last heard those words from an airline?
  
• One of our bags was 20 pounds overweight - "No charge"!!! Twice in one day, I was getting dizzy.
  
• Before we had time to think, out comes her cell phone, "Perhaps you would like to call someone in Lima and tell them of your change of plans"!!!!! Not very often you'll see me speechless but there I was.
  
  

So, if you are flying in Latin America, anywhere between Toronto and Buenos Aires then Olga and I can't say enough nice things about TACA. Not to mention that on international flights the food and drink are free. TACA is an example of how all Central America can benefit from more interconnectedness such as that which the free-trade agreement will bring. In the past there were separate, marginal airlines in each of these countries.

Now TACA, from El Salvador, has absorbed all of them and everyone has benefited by the quality and breadth of service.

Polemic from Paradise before the US eats it up (or so some say)

Our last few days in San Jose were busy seeing people, saying goodbye. We went with to a huge tex-mex restaurant called Lone Star - what else? Javier and Lupe (picture below) have been great to us and we owe them many thanks.

Javier and Lupe

Javier says that you can tell a Spaniard from others by the fact that he puts his bread beside his plate instead of on the side of the plate. Well we are staying with a family in Callao whose name is Ancieta, Basque to the core, and sure enough Beto puts his bread beside his plate!

Of course we talked (and argued) about the free-trade agreement between the US and all Central American countries (only Costa Rica hasn't signed on yet). Costa Ricans have the view that they will be dominated by the US and so it is a poor deal for them. What they fail (or choose not) to see is that it opens opportunities for them to dominate their neighbours (using the same logic they use in reasoning about the US; specifically that a bigger, better developed country can benefit more than a smaller, weaker country).

Costa Rica is the most advanced, most secure country in Central America. Of course they are going to benefit from better access to local, neighbouring markets.

One Man's Paradise Is ...

We are in Puerto Viejo on the Caribbean coast. Four hours by bus from San Jose. Deliciously hot but with a good sea breeze. At least in July. Puerto Viejo is near the border with Panama. It is not particularly cheap but all you want - good food, excellent really; clean accommodations; lots and lots of bars - is right there. It would be better if we were 40 years younger but such is life.





The music here is reggaeton, reggae and calipso. Only reggae approximates the pace of life here. The other two styles are out of tune. What struck me as missing was East African music with its "Hawaiian guitar-like" sound. We ate in a restaurant called Chili Rojo (below) whose owner had grown up in Kenya. When I asked about Swahili music he was able to oblige.




The town is full of young tourists and local workers. We didn't meet any Costa Rican people who worked here, only Nicaraguans and other foreigners. Curious!!!

Something about living on a tropical beach. As long as there is a good on-shore breeze you can ignore the heat (sit in the shade but in the breeze) and the mosquitoes (they don't like the wind). However, without the breeze it becomes unpleasant to say the least. We slept at night without a mosquito net, turned off the fan around 1AM and with the doors wide open.








However, the water was not for swimming. The rip-tide was very strong. You need to go a few miles down the beach from our hotel to swim safely. The surfers are happy though.

Puerto Viejo is going to change, become more domesticated, civilized, up-market. The real-estate people will certainly be happy but for now, if you want a tropical beach experience with great food, good transportation and internet access then keep it in mind.

Just a pretty flower but no one knew what kind it was.

Old Friends, New Faces

On our first full day in Costa Rica we managed to see a lot of old friends and meet some new people. We went to our old neighbourhhood where we lived in 1991. Here is a picture of our old house.

Our next door neighbour, Dona Nisida, is 92 years old and was expecting our visit. She is in good spirits with a sharp mind and still gets out to see the neighbours. She quietly told us she uses a cane when outside the house.

We passed the girls' old school. It looked the same although Sabanilla, the town, has grown a lot with a big Mas x Menos supermarket (now called Mas x Menos / Walmart) and an even bigger branch of the Banco Nacional.

Andy and Javier visited the university and met Gabriela Marin, the director of the graduate program in computing. Javier mentioned that we plan to spend the year in Arequipa. Gabriela said "Con Ernesto?" ("With Ernesto?"). How did she know?? The director of the department where Andy will work in Peru is Ernesto Cuadros.

Last night we went to the home of Michael Josephy. Michael is a Canadian who went to Costa Rica years ago as a CUSO volunteer. He stayed, married and now has 3 children. Andy and Michael knew each other when they were both grad students in mathematics. His two oldest are both in college and the youngest and liveliest kept us well entertained. She wants and deserves to be taken more seriously.

Today we are off the the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica. The link to the hotel is a bit is in the previous post.

First Day in Costa Rica

Our first day in Costa Rica. We are staying with Javier and Lupe Gainza; friends from our sabbatical leave in 1991. We flew TACA. It was a really nice flight, nothing went wrong, we left and arrived early and it was the cheapest going. I can recommend TACA or LACSA to anyone flying in and around Central or Latin America.

We stayed near Miami airport last night. We had two choices - return the rental car the night before and use the hotel shuttle to get to the airport or drive to the rental place in the morning and use their shuttle. We chose the latter and are glad we did. Instead of fighting with 20 other people for a place on the hotel shuttle we had no problems at the car rental agency.

I got the robot out of my bag today. We'll give it a workout tomorrow. The sample, built-in programs work.

On Thursday we are going to Puerto Viejo on the Atlantic coast. We'll stay at the Banana Azul.

Leaving the US

We just spent our last night in the US sleeping in postage stamp-sized room. There is 10 inches between the end of the bed and the chest or drawers.

We had a great visit with Ester, Olga's sister, in Palm Coast (the fastest growing town in Florida, or so we've been told). As you can see, I have a new image.

We made our bus reservations for the trip from Lima to Arequipa. You really ought to take the virtual tour ("tour virtual") of the bus so click here.

Our first full day in Florida. Very lazy. After 40 years, Andy went to a barber shop for a haircut.

The twins - Andy and his brother-in-law, Hector.

At the end of the day, time to relax.

Drive to Florida

We had a really nice visit with Walter and Diana; lots of talk about kids and stuff. Walter and Diana are about to be double grand parents. You know the old saying, "double or nothing". They get the double and we get the nothing.

The drive down to Florida was uneventful. We had barbequed pork in South Caroline. We won't try it again. The field peas were good though.

Leaving New Paltz

Our journey started at 10:55PM on the 3rd. We drove into town and stayed at the Silberger's. Olga was looking forward to not sleeping on a rock-hard futon. No luck.

One last visit to Hot Bagels and we were off by 9AM on the 4th. We spent the night with Diana and Walter Wilson in Virginia. We didn't get lost until we got inside their home.