Hallowed Be Thy Name

I think that we have managed to establish a sufficiently vibrant group dynamic (not my words unfortunately, but let's be real, only about 3% of this blog is original material. This phrase finds its roots in the timeless call and repeat song 'Hey Li Lee Li Lee' by The Limelighters for those who are interested. And I know one person who is.) for me to create titles that have little or nothing to do with the subsequent discourse. The title also comes from a song, though instead of mid-20th century folk music, I have chosen a line from my favourite British metal band Iron Maiden. Phew! Now we're ready.

After announcing my plans to live in Peru for six months, people tossed around a lot of different words to describe me...

Brave

Noble

Courageous

Mustache

Hero

While I wholeheartedly agree with each of these descriptions there is an important one that was omitted...

Party Animal

Last night looked like it was shaping up to be another Casona party by way of Paris, but there turned out to be a decent mix of nationalities. And more importantly, people who speak English. I have no problem with speaking Spanish, but after using it all day at the office, it is relaxing to be able to revert to my native tongue. Anyhow, there were about 40 of us drinking in the bar and discussing: soccer, long tennis matches, the lion burger place in Arizona (?), and even the merits of keeping chicken eggs unrefrigerated (that's how they do it here). I enjoyed my first Peruvian Pisco Sour, and it was certainly delicious. Fresh squeezed lime juice, simple syrup, bitters, good quality Pisco, and of course an unrefrigerated egg white certainly makes for a frothy, suave concoction. We also consumed a fair amount of Cristal Pilsner and Cusqueno. Both are 5% alchohol pilsners, and nothing really to write home about. Irony alert!

Around Two Minutes to Midnight we all left the Casona to go to 'Help,' a warehouse-sized bar/music venue. Kike (Charles Eric) and Juan (Jean) wanted to see this band that was covering songs from another band they like. I immediately forgot both band names (and the bar name, in fact). A short taxi ride later we arrived outside Help, and fortunately we were already on the list because there was a huge line. I was puzzled...how could so many people be waiting for entry into this tiny door which must lead to a tiny bar? Well, after walking in the door, passing the hot dog grill on the right side of the hall, and brushing aside a curtain, the huge expanse that is Help was revealed to me. 1200 people fit inside the place, and about 1150 showed up on Thursday. The band was a lot of fun. They had a brass section (for some reason, brass sections always push all the right buttons for me) in addition to about 15 other guys on stage. Big band. The music was very upbeat with lots of jumping, hand raising, and enthusiastic lyric chanting. There were also two jester-like characters on stilts. You know, typical concert. I stayed until about 2am and then headed back with another American. Everyone else stayed until 5am but I had to get some rest for work. Before grabbing a taxi I bought one of the hot dogs I spied on the way in. They are nuclear red, and in addition to mustard, ketchup, and sour cream, they were served with the ever present 'aji,' the all purpose pepper sauce of Lima. The frank had a good snap, the aji a good kick, and the sour cream a smooth shimmy. That's really all you can ask for.

Today I will be translating a proposal for donations from Spanish to English. I find translating to be sometimes fun (when it feels like a puzzle) and sometimes tedious (when it feels like a puzzle with too many pieces. Corners first!). Fortunately, it's almost the weekend when I am sure there will be more good food, more French people, more dogs in sweaters, more smog, more napkins which are insufficient for adequate cleansing (ok, I have a beef with the napkins here. There seems to be only one variety of napkin. Envision a piece of one ply toilet paper. Increase its surface area by 100%, imprint a pebble texture onto the surface, and fold diagonally into a triangle. You receive one with most meals. Good luck with those ribs, Diego.), more near death experiences with drivers, more beautiful views of the ocean, more jam but not peanut butter (I thought it was universal), and surprises. And hopefully more material for the blog. Otherwise I'll have to Run to the Hills.