Jess and I arrived in Lima, Peru, late last night after our one night stop-over in Salt Lake City. Although there were a few hassles at customs in the US, we arrived with no real problems (and so did our bags!).
We found a great little hostel run by a woman who is basically renting out rooms in her highrise apartment in central Lima to tourists. There´s a kitchen, a lukewarm shower, and a nice view of the city from the balcony -- a pretty good deal for $5 per night each. You can never go wrong with the prices down here.
Although we´re going to have many interesting experiences during the year, our first day was really interesting. As we were getting up, we heard people chanting slogans in the streets outside our buiding. The old "a people united will never be defeated" chant was one of them, so we made sure to hurry up and get on to the street to see what was going on. Last night, as we were riding in the taxi to the hostel, we passed a protest in a small plaza, according to the driver, it was one of the many union strikes happening in Lima recently.
Down on the street, after walking a few blocks, we quickly became a part of a large crowd of people, some of whom were carrying huge signs and balloons, heading towards the Plaza del 2 de Mayo. Judging by the pamphlets, slogans, and speakers addressing the masses, there is a considerable amount of unrest in Peru with the Toledo government. Apparently, Toledo has been sold on the neoliberal "Washington Consensus" of national debt management through reckless privatization of public industries and the deregulation of foreign and domestic firms operating in Peru. This has spelled nothing but trouble for average Peruvians (don´t worry about the rich -- they´re fine). Additionally, corruption and cronyism is a common complaint against Toledo. Many Peruvians believed he could change the country, as he is the first Peruvian president with indigenous roots; but his rule has been a far cry from the comparably economically prosperous but corrupt years of the former civilian president, Alberto Fujimori.
After standing around by the crowd for a while, we decided to head to the Plaza de Armas to change some money and eat. While wandering around the presidential palace, two guards approached us. They were surprisingly friendly: they were trying out their English on us as we tried our Spanish out on them. When they found out that I am studying politics, they both rolled their eyes and laughed. They then told us that the centre of Lima around the plaza was being closed off because of what they called "the mobilization" and recommended we avoid the crowds and get back to our hostel to watch "problemas" unfold on TV as opposed to being there in person.
We weren´t overly worried about anything happening for some strange reason, so we headed to the catacombs of the Monasterio e Iglesia de San Francisco and spent a few hours wandering around an old church and looking at thousands of old skulls and bones. When we left the catacombs, the plaza was eerily empty: there were only military and security people around, save us two. Expecting trouble, the army had blocked off all entry to the plaza and the palace. Strangely, outside the blockades, it was Lima as usual, the people simply going about their business, not really paying attention to the "problemas" expected by the government´s forces. Tonite, we´re going to watch the news and see what happens.
We´ll be in Lima for a few more days at least, visiting "my" nuns and, hopefully, the orphanage we´ve been sending money to for the past two years. Then we´ll likely be heading toward Tarma and Huancayo, up in the Andean higlands ... brrr.
We´ll post some photos soon.
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