lock jaw night vision

I have been very busy.
Last Thursday after class I took a bus to Centro Lima. People told me I shouldn't go there alone. I guess I figured it'd be ok, since I had nothing else to do. It is beautiful. In a weird way. It is very smoggy, and a lot of the buildings are discolored because of it, but there are so many old buildings and small streets, and food is so cheap. you can have a meal with an apetizer, entre, drink, and desert for under 3 dollars. So, I ate, and then figured I was done with the touristy part, and headed off towards an area which i read was a little sketchy. Its hard to know what that means, does it mean for moms from reno with walt disney hats and little kids? So, i embark on a journey through some small steets, and immediatly, only two blocks from the historical center of town, two guys start yelling at me as i walk by, in bad english, return to your country, and something about guns, probably because i am an american they figure i think i am tough and love guns. I dont give them the attention they want or let them know that I am scared and continue walking. But, I think about how maybe I should come back when I am not alone, or maybe in the morning, instead of when it is almost dark. So, I turn a corner to start heading back, and this half man, half woman, half full of drugs-looking person starts following me, so i speed up and so does he, but then finally she is not behind me. Then, I look forward, and you know how sometimes you get that weird feeling that something is not right? Well, I see this guy who is walking towards me, and staring at me, and I get this feeling. I am on the right side of the sidewalk and there is a building maybe 1 meter to my right, and as walking forward, i start slowly walking towards the wall, as he is doing the same as he is coming towards me. At the second to last second, he cuts over towards me, and tries to grab my arm, and maybe he was on drugs because he was fairly slow, i use that last small amount of space between me and the wall to dart out of his reach, and as i look back, i see another bigger guy, who looks normal behind me, and I am glad, as because of him, i feel that I was not robbed. I have heard many stories of people being robbed downtown, often times at knife point, and often times having everything stolen, includin their clothing, leaving them standing there naked. So, even less at ease, i figure that since I am far from home, i should stay down there a little longer, but stick to the touristy streets. After being asked for money many times, and being offered cocain and other drugs, I head for my destination of Polvos Azules, a large (about the size of the downtown Huntington Beach, or Palm Street in San Luis parking structure) black market, to buy some DVDs. I get 5 dvds for 15 soles, which is $5.35, and take the two buses I need to return to my house. Although this was the first time I have been seriously scared in my life of being robbed or beaten up, or maybe worse, Centro Lima is very beautiful and interesting. I want to go back, but maybe with someone who knows the area, or earlier in the morning. It is weird thinking of the description of the area from The Motorcycle Diaries, when the city center was not connected to the surrounding suburbs...now lima stretches in 50 KM, at least, in every direction except to the West, where it meets with Callao and then the sea.
(For some pics of Centro Lima, look here...http://machuasnu.blogspot.com/2007/07/downtown-lima.html)

At my school, ICPNA, it is very easy to meet Peruvians, as they are taking English classes, and I know enlish. I went to Lunch with two girls I met, and then had nothing to do, so I went to ones town, a district of lima about 30 minutes south in a bus. It is very historic (read this...http://www.toolkitparticipation.nl/cases/26), as it was started in the 1970s by people emigrating from the andes because of terrorism, poverty, and hope for a better life. It grew very quickly, and now has close to 350,000 inhabitants. IT reminds me of a northern baja, California town, with tons of stray dogs, unpaved roads, and people playing soccer in the streets. We walked around in this town, Villa El Salvador, which is rad, because its an area most upper class peruvians are scared to visit, and luckily because I have a friend there I was able to see what it is like to live in a one of the biggest shanty towns in South America. I met her Grandmother and Aunt, and even though they are a relatively poor family, her Abuela made me Dinner, and my friend showed me pictures of her life. Her Dad lives in LA as a furniture maker, and she will move there soon to attend college. She is lucky. Her house was one of the nicer I had seen in the area, yet inside it had a plane concrete floor, an ok dinner table, with plastic backyard type chairs and very little else. The house was clean, but the stairs to the second floor were also concrete and uncovered by a roof, which i guess is OK, as Lima hardly revieves any precipitation. I used the bathroom and saw that they did not even have a toilet seat. This made me realize how much I take for granted. I took a bus back to my house, and sat in the backyard and read a book and drank a beer, as i thought about the three armed body gaurds out front of my large, walled house, as i could hardly believe i had, in one hour past, been in area where the houses are built as the family can afford more bricks. I read that Villa el Salvador, although so poor, has the highest literacy rate in Peru.

it also looks like they have a pretty good skateboard park !!! (http://www.concretedisciples.com/skateparksdb/skateparks_display.php?id=3515)
look at pictures of V El S here, http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&rlz=&q=villa+el+salvador&um=1&ie=UTF-8

The next day, saturday, i went to the beach 70km of centro Lima, at a housing community where my family here has a house. I surfed for the second time since being here and it was much easier to paddle, so i think my shoulder is getting stronger, slowley, after breaking my collarbone. I took a nap for about 15 minutes, and even though its Fall, got pretty red, its weird, because even though its not super hot, the sun is very strong.

I went to sleep early, and the next day i left with a friend and her family to a town in eastern lima, about a half an hour east from my house, which is also in eastern lima, which is named Chosica. Although in lima, it feels far away and the air is much drier. It is nice to see how people are different when a little farther away from comerical lima.

This weekend i went to the andes, and it was amazing, i will have to write about it soon, while the details are fresh in my head.