Gamarra or Gomorrah?

I was taken to a most fascinating part of Lima yesterday, called Gamarra. It's almost a city within a city, except that no-one lives there. It consists of at least 70 city blocks in which almost the sole business is the selling (mostly) and manufacture of clothing and other textiles. This is just one part of one street.


Here's a map of the zone:


There are some parts not marked on the map, so the 70 blocks I counted is probably an underestimate.

A typical "storefront" might look like this:


When you get inside, there's a maze of maybe a couple of hundred locales, small shops, usually staffed by a single person, many no bigger than a walk-in closet.


(These are actually a bit on the large side.)

Gamarra has the reputation for being a bit dodgy, but also as a place where you can find any kind of clothing that you want, at decent quality and at reasonable prices. Because of its size, it's a huge economic generator for the city of Lima.

Just taking the bus

If you've travelled in the developing world, nothing here will be a surprise, but if you haven't, here's how taking the bus in Lima is different from at home.

First, instead of a single bus company run by the city, there is a multiplicity of private companies. There are sometimes markings of where buses are going to stop, but it can also also be a matter of just knowing where to go. The buses come in different sizes and are usually a bit garishly decorated.



There are two employees on most buses, a driver and a conductor. The conductor has two jobs: to take your money and to act as a tout, since his bus is competing for your bum with other companies' buses. So when the bus stops, the conductor hops off (sometimes dodging other buses) and shouts out the main destinations, at least I guess that's what he's saying, since it kind of becomes a slurred chant.

So yesterday I wanted to go to the Lima suburb of Miraflores, so when the guy shouted "Miraflores", I knew he was my man. Unlike at home, you don't pay immediately as you get on, you just find a place and eventually the conductor will come looking for your fare. Some seem better than others at remembering who has paid already. When you pay you get a little wisp of a ticket, which it may or may not be important to hold on to. I saw one petulant woman just throw hers on the floor.

You pay by distance, though I haven't figured out that system yet, and I don't know if all companies charge the same...likely yes. In any case, to us the fare would seem quite cheap...my 45 minute ride to Miraflores cost 1.20 soles or around 45 cents.

The other thing is, there's a bit of Alice in Wonderland going on because the names of streets are not always what they're called. The other day I my friend told me to meet her at Arequipa and Cuba (and to ask the conductor to call out "Cuba"), which he did, and a good thing too, because the street sign said Avenida Alejandro something.

Peruvian buffet

My friend took me to a Peruvian buffet the other day...here are some of the dishes.



I had eaten part of this one before I thought of taking a picture. Here's what's left: rolled up thing in upper left is a tequeño (like a fried wonton containing ham); red thing is rocoto relleno (red pepper stuffed with meat, raisins, cheese, and something really hot that gave me the hiccups); in the middle antecuchos (beef heart).



Clockwise from upper left: aji de pollo, arroz con pollo (rice with chicken), frejol (beans), cau cau (a stew made with tripe--fortunately not too much); and camote (a kind of tuber).


This one was my friend's--I didn't eat all of these myself. Some duplications here. Clockwise from top left: chamfaina, aji de pollo, arroz con pollo, and cau cau.



Here are some desserts. The orange one is flan, the purplish one I don't know the specific name of, but it's made from blue corn. There was also arroz con leche (rice with milk).

How not to strike a false note in Peru

I´ve noticed that it´s almost de rigeur for merchants in Peru to scrutinize any bill you give them to check if it´s counterfeit or not (so far I haven´t had the bad luck to be stuck with a nota falsa). But I didn´t know what clues they were looking for. Today I went to the currency museum and was shown a video on how to spot fake bills. The very existence of this video (which I watched with several dozen kids on a school tour) is somewhat striking. For the Canadian or other western government to make such an admission about the debasement of its currency would be a severe loss of face, or worse. But I guess here they have to deal with the situation as it is, hence the public education.

So here´s a primer on spotting counterfeits:

• The number 10 on the right side of the bill should change in colour from purpole to green as you tilt it away from you.
• Hard to see in this picture, but if you hold the bill up to the light you should see an embedded vertical strip (the locations vary slightly, but it will intersect the word RESERVA)
• The hologram to the right of DIEZ NUEVO SOLES should display the number 10 when tilted the right way
• The watermark underneath BANCO CENTRAL should look like the main picture )a bit subtle)
• If you´re experienced enough, you can tell by the quality of the paper (or so they claim)

Surprisingly, there are also counterfeit coins in circulation.

The Hustler

Didn´t do too much yesterday, just tried to get over the shock of realizing that I´m going to be away for 6 months...some would call it homesickness. Feels better today. I still can´t connect to the wifi at my hotel with my netbook, but for some reason I now can with the Kindle, so I can download the Globe and Mail and keep up on events. I haven´t looked for new digs though...I can get by with internet cafes I guess. There´s one that´s adjacent to the hotel even. And now that I´ve gotten them to bring me my juice at breakfast without banana added, things are truly looking up!

Yesterday I was sitting on the steps of the Convento San Francisco...known for its catacombs...when this young dude came over to talk to me. I´ve been around long enough to know that when strangers...particularly young men...are overly friendly there is usually some fiddle that they´re trying to play, usually involving one´s money. This is too bad because if someone is genuinely friendly you assume the worst of them too. Anyway this guy made out like he wanted to be some kind of tour guide, asking me what I liked about Lima, etc. Asked me if I had a girlfriend, and said I should try a Peruvian girl...perhaps this was a veiled attempt to act as procurer. Anyway when I finally got tired of this and got up to go to see the catacombs he asked if I wanted some cocaine. I think they guy was just an all round hustler...what´s called a jinotero in some countries.

If my punctuation seems a bit off in this posting, it´s because I´m using an English keyboard that has been configured to produce Spanish characters, so some of the regular keys aren´t doing what you´d expect...no brackets, dashes, colons for me today.

Peru, like the country

Well, I'm back in South America, in Lima, Peru. I arrived last night at around 11.

So I went through Immigration and asked the agent for an 183-day stamp. He asked me what I was going to do for six months and when I said "vacation" he seemed to look askance at that: "30 days is a vacation", he said. Then he asked me what I did for a living and whether I intended to work here. I said "programmer" ("bum¨ woul be more accurate) and "no". Anyway I got my six month stamp but with a stern warning that the visa did not permit me to work and that if I were caught working I would be expelled and never allowed back in. Obviously he didn't understand my aversion to gainful employment.

Customs was uneventful. You have to press a button that displays a green or red light and if you get red your bags are checked. I got green. I suppose I could have been busted for carrying four memory cards for my camera instead of the prescribed two.

When I exited Customs the "taxi" from my hotel was waiting: in reality a young man with a van who works for the hotel. No matter, he got me there, cost 40 soles ($14). When I got there a small bait-and-switch took place: I had reserved a room with bathroom but none were available. At midnight I wasn't going to look around for better so I took it. Supposedly the room I wanted will be available today.

The hotel looks to be a big old mansion that is now a rabbit warren of hotel rooms. Charming enough, I guess. I don't know how long I'll stay there, though: I'm having trouble connecting to the internet, both on my laptop and Kindle. The laptop appears to connect and the signal strength is "Very Good" but I can't load any pages. I'm addicted enough that I don't know if I can handle it without access. Right now I'm at an internet cafe (cost 1 sol--35 cents--per hour).

The temperature is in the mid-20s...woo hoo...and even last night when I arrived it was 19--a change from those cold nights in the mountains. I think it was -10 or something when I left Toronto, and I gather from my friends' Facebook comments that it snowed again yesterday in amounts that may or may not have been a snowstorm (in Toronto, you never can tell).

Some pictures from the last trip

Here are some pictures from my last trip, posted to Facebook; you don't need to be a Facebook member to view them.

• Valparaiso
  
• Valparaiso street art
• Arequipa