Just another boring day

Lima – Saturday
April 27^th – Breakfast

I went out to dinner
after the last post. There is a world famous chef, Nobu, who has a
place in Las Vegas. It is one of those places that a reservation way
in advance is a good suggestion, and if you have an American Express
Black card, that is also a good suggestion. This prices are sky high,
but his product is about the bet and most innovative Sushi that side
of Japan. He has the freshest, best packed on ice in Tokyo and flown
to him for that night’s dinner. Well he stated with a restaurant
here in Lima, and I made sure to go there for a meal. I want to rave
about it, but it was just good. The seafood was fresh (of course) but
I didn’t find that the suggested dishes made my mouth dance. I
tried to order some sushi that in any sushi place you can get, this
place needed an interpreter and a description on how the item is
prepared. Amma Ebi is raw shrimp, Ebi is cooked shrimp. My Amma came
cooked. The woman sitting next to me at the bar said she came here
twice a week and suggested a Scallop sushi. It was good, but more
ceviche on rice than sushi. I suppose that I will just have to wait
for my American Express Black card to come in the mail to find out
just how good Nobu is.

The hotel’s A/C is
either refrigerate or stifle.

In the morning I
decided to revisit the central square and watch the changing of the
guard at the Governor’s residence. When I was there my first days
in Peru, I got there in time to see the marching band, march away.
This time I allotted enough time to be there for the entire thing. I
found the worst taxi in the city. The driver was good, but the poor
car should have been shot and left at the side of the road. It
coughed and sputtered to get going, and Lima has a lot of stop
lights, none of them synchronized. Once it got rolling it seemed OK,
but getting going never was a sure bet. We did make it though.

Do you ever read
those State Department traveler’s advisories? Usually in the top
sentence or two is “Avoid large crowds and protests”. I don’t
know what it is, but the sound of horns blaring, pots banging and
people chanting is like a Siren’s song to me. The ship has to go
there, even though I know it is less than smart. So I find myself in
the midst or a huge protest. At the public market place riot – or –
a fire broke out and the city shut it down for 13 days – or – 3
weeks (I had 2 sources hence the differing reports). The protest was
against the shutting down of people’s lively hoods. Whistles,
horns, pots and pans, yelling and a crowd so packed you couldn’t
fall down. If you fainted, the people pressing around you would keep
you on your feet. Like an eel I slipped through the crowd towards the
main square only to run into a phalanx of police in riot gear, backed
up by crown control fencing, backed up by riot police on horse back,
backed up by armored water cannon vehicle. Now it was getting
interesting.

I tried to play the
“I’m just a tourist” card and failed with a very emphatic
police woman that where I wanted to go was not where she wanted me to
be. I remembered from ski lift lines, if you want to get on, go for
the edges of the crowd. I wiggled and wobbled back through the
protest and started looking at the next street down, still pretty
strict. Around the corner I watched shop keepers and business men get
past. I didn’t quite fit that demographic. The next street a tour
guide showed his badge to a uniformed officer and I just slipped in
to the rear of that group. Past the first ring of security.

Next I sat and
watched as school children on a field trip and a few tourists pointed
to the Cathedral and got past that ring. I waited stealthy like a
Puma and at the moment the uniformed keeper outer wasn’t paying
close attention, slid in like butter. Now there was a small waist
high barrier between me and the gate to the governor’s house, but
it was totally devoid of any living thing and totally exposed. A
virtual (wo)man’s land. I’d never make it. The horsemen would be
on me before I could waddle 10 feet. I had satisfy my curiosity from
where I was. But I did take it as a minor accomplishment.

Where thousands of
people stood the last time I was here, there was only 6 or 8 mounted
police. It was so odd. If it was a movie, there would have been
tumble weeds and dust blowing across the plaza.