So I've barely gotten started on this blog and I already feel like I am way behind. Today is Saturday and I left off writing on Monday and a lot has happened. Lets get started.
On Tuesday I got up, had breakfast at the hostel and decided that today I would try riding the Metropolitano, the high speed, dedicated lane bus service, to Barranco in the far east of Lima, along the Pacific Ocean. I wanted to go there because the order of priests, the Mission Society of St James, that facilitated David's adoption had their Peru headquarters in a compound there. I had recently found the correct address by emailing the order at their main office in Boston. I walked several blocks across a park and some city streets to the underground facility that housed the Central station of the Metropolitano, figured out how to buy a prepaid card and load it with a credit, not as easy as it sounds because the instructions were all in Spanish and my Spanish is poor to none, and went to the gate that buses to Barranco left from. The line to board was relatively short so I felt sure I would get on the next bus, not so - the buses were extremely full, and pushing in was all but impossible for any but a few. Finally on about the fifth bus I got in and was on my way. The ride was great and fast - no stopping five times per block to pick up passengers - only a quick stop every few minutes at a raised station platform to pick up and let people off. Soon, after about 25 minutes to a half hour, I arrived at my Barranco station, exited the train and started in the direction that my map program indicated I would find the road that the St James compound was on. To my surprise everything went smoothly and soon I was standing in front of the compound door, I rang the buzzer and was let in and pointed toward the office where I waited for someone to find the receptionist. She soon arrived and in my broken Spanish and her broken English we established that David and I would return in two days, Thursday, to see one of the priests who spoke English and who might remember David's adoption. It was all very smooth, especially for a visitor to a country he didn't know and who didn't speak the language. I stopped in a little shop on the way back to the Metropolitiano and had coffee and a sweet roll to celebrate my success, easily got back on the metro and was back at the 1900 Hostel before noon.
David was to arrive from the states at around 10:30 PM and as I had promised to meet him at the airport with a cab. I knew it would be a late night so I decided to take a nap after my morning excursion. I woke up a few hours later and went out for lunch and a walk, a nice meal at a ceviche restaurant and a walk around a different part of Central Lima. I got back to the hostel, read a bit and talked to some new friends and soon it was 8 PM and time to leave for the airport. In a little more than and hour I was at the airport and settled in for the wait. David's plane arrived early and he soon popped out of the door from security and when I noticed him he was looking around a bit worried that he saw no one to meet him, a feeling I know well from many arrivals in different countries. I called to him, he saw me, and we greeted each other. He was in a great mood, probably amazed that he was finally back in his country of birth. We gathered up his things, found our taxi driver, loaded up and were soon on the road back to our hostel in Central Lima. David turned out to be even more excited about being in Peru than I had initially guessed. He never stopped smiling or being amazed by what he was seeing the whole way back to the hostel, at one point he was half out of the taxi window taking a picture of the passing scene. We arrived, checked him into the room, went out to get a late pizza and then had a beer at the hostel and talked till 1 PM.
We both slept in a bit the next day, had breakfast and decided to go for a walking tour of the historical center of Lima. It was a laid back day as we walked around, watched a rally of pensioners against government cuts, no shades of home here, visit centuries old churches, the old central square, the Plaza de Armes, from where the Spanish Viceroys and now the Peruvian presidents rule and where we watched the changing of the guard ceremony at the National Palace, strolled down pedestrian streets, ate lunch, and visited the Museum of the Congress and the Inquisition. I still have no idea why those last two were grouped together in the same building, except that maybe they both met in the same area. After a pleasant and full day out we walked back to the hostel, napped, had a few beers and dinner, talked to some of the other guests and were in bed at a reasonable hour. The next day we had to get up early in order to get to Barranco to see if there was a Padre from the Mission Society of St. James who could be of help to us in finding David's father. We had an address for his father from another of the mission priests who was unfortunately on home leave but we had been warned several times that it was notoriously hard to find addresses in the far flung poorer section of Lima where his father lived. Everyone we talked to told us to seek help before we went there on our own.
The next morning we rose just after 6 AM and were at the Metropolitano Central Station by a bit past 7 AM, just in time to push our way into a train to Barranco. We arrived at the Barranco station and easily found our way to the St James compound, but when we rang the gate bell we got no answer for a long time until finally a cook, who spoke no English, came to the door and it took a bit of asking in our broken Spanish to get her to understand that we had been told to return in order to talk to one of the English speaking priest. Finally, we were directed to the priests dining room where we met one Father Adrian, a friendly Irish priest who was probably in his late 70's and who had been serving in Peru for nearly 50 years. We explained our problem as clearly as possible and, more or less, begged for help getting to the area where David's father lived. We had found the right priest - as soon as he clearly understood our problem, especially our lack of good Spanish, he directed us to come back at the same time the next day to go along with him on the ride to his parish, he said he would make a detour for us and take us to the parish hall in the area called Huaycan, where David's father lived. Father Adrian said that he thought that, from there, someone at the parish hall could help us locate the exact address. He also told us that the area we were going to was vast and that addresses were particularly hard to find because it was still being built up and expanded. It was great news - as much as could have been expected - and we left very upbeat and excited about the prospects for the next day.
As we walked back toward the Metropolitano we realized we were hungry - we hadn't bothered to eat before going to the St James Society, so we changed direction and walked toward the downtown of Barranco, but it turns out that early breakfast isn't a big thing there. There were plenty of restaurants but none of them were open. Finally, we found a street vendor selling tea and egg sandwiches near another Metropolitano station and we chowed down, while trying to figure out what to do next. We decided to go to the next town along the ocean, Miriflores, which is know as an upscale beach town and take a walk down to the beach. Again, we found out some things are more easily said than done. After about an hour of walking through streets filled with high rise apartments we finally came to an overlook where we could see the ocean, several hundred very vertical feet below. We walked along the park the wound around the cliff's edge but found no paths down, clearly we were going to need transportation down. So we found a taxi and took a tour of the beach area below the cliff. It turns out most, maybe all, of the beaches are rock not sand, not quite the thing for strolling or sunbathing. After our beach excursion we had the taxi let us off at a flower market we had seen earlier from the bus. We spent some time strolling around looking at all the plants and cut flowers and as we were leaving noticed a little lunch place attached to the market compound and chose to eat lunch there. After a good full lunch we walked over to the Metropolitano station and headed back to hostel. At the hostel I rested and worked a little on this blog, and David joined a free hostel walking tour of the old city. David returned a few hours later and was having a Pisco Sour, the national, and strong, drink of Peru with the rest of the walking tour group when I joined him in the common room/bar. I had a drink with him, we played pool a little, had dinner and slept early. The next day, Friday, we figured might be a busy day.
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