October 8, 2011
Julie and I had such an interesting time when we went downtown last holiday that we figured we would give it another go.
We ventured out from Plaza Mayor and went east.
Yes, we were actually there. Julie reminds me that "we" are seldom in pictures.
It is interesting how varied the shops and business are.
This is an Internet Cafe...soft drinks but no coffee.
This diner "in the dark" did not seem to have much going on...
but the "almost on the sidewalk" cafe seemed to be doing well.
We braved a deep fried churro with creme filling.
The "kitchen" of this Chinese restaurant was right at the edge of the sidewalk. Anyone could have stuck their hand in the pot and had a free sample. Maybe that's where the "special" flavoring comes from.
People do whatever they can to eek out a living.
Some have rather limited offerings.
This entrepeneur had a bathroom scale, and for 7 cents you could check your weight. Perhaps he was doing promotionals for Jenny Craig.
This guy seemed to have given up. The cup fastened to his guitar was empty and I never saw him play. Great gig if you can stay alive.
I think that this little girl realized she would never get ahead unless she did well in school and stuck with it. When Julie and I came back by 10 minutes later she was still hard at work practicing the letter "A".
Another guy "gone to the dogs".
These must be the retired bunch.
One of the things that drew us towards the east was a better look at the hillside. The top of San Cristobal hill offers a great view of all Lima on a reasonably clear day but it is an area "non-locals" should not go into. Nice that my new camera has a 14x zoom.
There were also several churches we wanted to see but this one was closed until evening Mass. We continued our wandering eastward in the hopes of seeing other historical churches.
These guys thought it was cool that a foreigner was interested in their game. They offered to let me join in their card game but they would not tell me the rules. Knowing that it was a betting game I decided not to accept their offer.
We kept walking further away from the town center, not realizing that this tiny carpenter's shop was the last sign of productivity in the neighborhood.
The sights were equally interesting...
but as we continued...
we noticed that...
the city was losing life.
There were fewer people about.
and we were now the attraction for them...
something seldom seen in their part of the city.
Then Julie and I both had the revelation that we were no longer in the safety of the holiday or tourist crowd. We had ventured too far.
Luckily, we experienced no physical harm, just some heckling from a few exremely rude neighbors. A quick taxi ride took up back to Plaza Mayor.
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