Come fly with me let’s float down to Peru
In llama land there’s a one man band and he’ll toot his flute for you
Having allowed myself to be far too much of a hermit this contract (seriously I’ve left the ship once) I somewhat forced myself to head into town today, especially since I’d not gotten off the ship the last time I was here, and kind of kicked myself for. I mean really, how often do you get to say you’ve been to Peru? Wait…I guess I shouldn’t answer my own question on that one.
Anyway, it was a 45 minute shuttle ride into the city, and there’s no other option but that shuttle as the port city itself is simply too risky. Even the locals don’t walk the streets near the ship – apparently in that area it’s not a question of whether you’ll get mugged just a question of when. So…shuttle it was. As will surprise no one who knows me even remotely well, I fell asleep on the shuttle ride out (honestly, that’s why I don’t drive, I cannot stay awake in moving vehicles, and that’s a rather terrifying concept when one is behind a wheel!) – but I pulled myself back to reality just as we were about to be dropped off, which is a good thing, because otherwise I would have ended up back at the port which would have defeated the point.
The shuttle dropped us off at Meyelfloures, which had the most interesting concept for a mall that I’ve yet seen. When you look across the street you see nothing but the sea, but when you walk over to railings and look over the edge, below you is a three story outdoor mall. Impressive really. You can’t see even the top of a store from the street.
Seeing almost instantly that I wasn’t going to find the multicoloured sneakers I had my mind set on (I’m convinced that those are in the market I couldn’t get to today and I have people looking out for them tomorrow), I was content enough to just amble in the sunshine and people watch. I’m trying very hard to save money this contract (see the entry about California if you want to guess why) so unless something jumps up and down on top of my head (er…metaphorically speaking) and screams ‘take me home’ well, I wasn’t about to buy anything.
I stayed awake on the shuttle ride home – amazing I know – and was able to see a bit more of the rest of the city; what’s outside the glistening statuary and clean streets of the main district.
It’s always an eye-opener, no matter how many times I see it.
As the bus rumbled by the shabby tired-looking buildings and dust-choked cluttered streets I found myself thinking of that day in Puerto Rico, when Amras and I stood with our water bottles leaning on a wall looking over what could only be called the worst part of town. Saying little, just…staring…and thinking…
That’s how over half the world lives Sis…
Yeah…how lucky are we?
How lucky are we…