Day1—Thursday, June 30th—Pisco

el cesar
Originally uploaded by rswells.

I described the initial part of this day in a previous post. Pisco didn’t offer too much besides a bad night’s sleep at our hostal, El Cesar, a private tech school named “Bill Gates,” a surprisingly photogenic cemetery, and a seafood dinner that didn’t sit so well in my stomach. In the afternoon, we started what turned out to be a wild goose chase with the post office being the object pursued.* We asked about six people for its whereabouts and they all gave us different answers. One man contended that the post office no longer existed. We eventually found it and I went up to the counter to ask the lady for some stamps that I could put on some postcards that I wanted to send to the states. I asked for 20. The price? 93 soles.**

After dinner, the energies took on some relaxing tones as Tali and I sat around the Plaza de Armas, just chatting and watching the people watch the people come and go. A young boy around age 8 soon came upon us armed with a basket of small candies and intent to sell. We tried to shrug him off, but he started talking to us, asking us where we where from, how it could be that Tali is from Peru***, why we didn’t want to buy his candies, why I didn’t want to buy a little chocolate for my lady friend. The kid wouldn’t stop, so I suggested that he go play with the other children over there. He said he couldn’t because he was working. He kept repeating the same phrase over and over, “Cómprame, p.” We were intent on not buying, just as he was intent on selling. Finally, Tali and I got up from our spot and left the plaza. As we walked away, the boy said, “I hope someone robs you!”

On a side note, my father turned 50 on this day back in Kansas City.

*The same phenomenon took a hold of us in Ica a few days later.
**Roughly $30****
***Indeed, this child was one of the seemingly innumerable Peruvians who put on looks of sheer incredulity when Tali said that she was from Lima.
****Roughly equal to the cost of a one-way bus ticket from Lima to Cuzco, with the ride lasting at least 24 hours.