After lunch, I had plans to go with Renzo to see the Museo de la Nacion, a free and highly acclaimed museum of the history of Peru. But Renzo never showed up... so after taking a brief nap, I decided to go to the historic center of Lima and see where the day took me. That is my favorite type of excursion: to have a vague plan and learn something new.
I asked some police officers which bus to take, and eventually found the correct one. This is a decently difficult task in Lima because there are mini-buses, huge buses, school buses, and every kind of bus with hundreds or thousands of different routes. I was very proud of myself for getting on the correct one. :D I got a nice window seat for a little while, but gave it to an old woman when she got on and she was very pleased.
I went to the back of the bus to find a new seat, and sat next to a middle-aged man. At one point, I asked him where we were, and he started telling me about all the monuments and buildings we were passing. At first this made me nervous and I was very wary of him, although I appreciated the information. He offered to accompany me at my stop, and I was even more wary. But I felt safe with my pepper spray and it was a very populous area, so I wasn't thinking I was about to get kidnapped.
As much as I support indigenous rights and anti-transnational mining sentiments, I cannot get involved in protests abroad because I don't know all about the issue and it could be very dangerous. I really hope the people from Puno get what they want and that the Peruvian government doesn't give more freedom to mining companies. Yes, the companies provide jobs, but they pay very poorly, don't take health considerations for the workers, take most of the money and minerals to other countries, and wreck the natural beauty of the Andes in the process. Watch this short Youtube clip if you do not believe me, or do a Google map search of Cerro de Pasco for the most visible example. I want to go to Puno before I leave Peru, so I am hoping the protests end soon with positive results.
Once it had gotten dark, he told me that it's really not safe to be out much later because groups of drunken people or robbers are roaming about. So he brought me to a bus stop and helped me find the right bus to take home. :) I recognized the name of the street on the bus, so I knew it was good. Only at this point did we exchange names! His name is Ricardo and he told me he has a wife and three daughters who would also like to meet me and show me around Callao. :) I was a little embarrassed that I hadn't told him my name before even though he was obviously helping me for hours. We exchange email information and my bus arrived.
The bus ride home was interesting. There was a ton of traffic, honking, and pollution flowing through the open windows. At one traffic jam, I heard the bus driver yell something that I think was "Catch him!" and then saw a guy running off the bus and disappearing into the crowd. A bunch of people on the bus stood up suddenly to see him go, I guess wondering if they should go after him. I thought he had robbed someone on the bus, but no one was upset about a lost item, so I think he just took the money from the bus driver. It's a good thing I was paying attention, because I kept a much safer hold on my purse after that.
A man got on the bus and started playing the charango and pan pipes, including "Llorando se fue". It was really beautiful and so entertaining, so I gave him some money and so did some other people on the bus. I asked him if he could play one more song, and so he did. :)
When I got home, I was wiped out from only getting a few hours of sleep on Weds night and from all the walking. I made myself some spaghetti, wrote my overdue blogs, and passed out.
YAY, now my blogs are up to date. :D
I used to identify as agnostic, but then I realized I was doing it for the same reasons that I wanting to identify as bi when I'm actually gay. I just didn't want to be thought of as "that atheist." I had been too ingrained to think of atheists as rude, callous harpies prone to very loud religious arguments. But then I realized atheists are perfectly nice people, and now I'm happy to identify as atheist. I really do not think there is a higher power out there, at least not one that has any bearing on our lives. It's ridiculous that people say, "But you can't PROVE that God doesn't exist!" The burden of proof should be on the ones making up the story, not the ones waiting for evidence.
ReplyDeleteI get tracts at Harris Teeter sometimes. Once I got one from a man who went to Bible Baptist, my old Christian school. It's really very insulting. It just makes you think: "What, do I look so bad that I need to be 'witnessed to?'" Lol, maybe they see my gay mannerisms and think, "Oh what horrible sin he is caught up in! Let me love the sinner and hate the sin by giving him a tract that says he needs heaven but only implies that he's going to hell."