LA FLACA MARIPOSA OR THE SKINNY BUTTERFLY – PERU 1978

After a phone call, from Peru, last week, I am reminded of a colourful character from my days gone by. At this point, I must interrupt my chain of thoughts from our time in Scotland, to write about this memory of my youth. If I don’t, the glimpse of her will fade, as surely as my clutch continues to “slip”. Until eventually, all that will be left, is an empty void, where my mind, once was. La Flaca, as I will call her, was the best friend of Deysi, at the time of my arrival in Peru. Now, I’m not saying, La  Flaca was skinny, but let’s just say “she had to jump around in the shower to get wet”. Her and Deysi combined, at this point, did not even fill one good size dress! She was beautiful, and very much free as a butterfly; which accounts for the other part of her name, “MARIPOSA”.

To us, she was and still is, part of the family. To this day, she is present, each and every time we travel home. And has been with us for all great events in our life. A great many of the “events” in our life came from my impulsive and fast living lifestyle. Usually our memorable times resulted in some festivities, and La Flaca Mariposa enjoyed a good party. I met her, the first time, shortly after my arrival in Peru. This on the occasion of a weekend party, with my friends, at our bachelor residence in Arequipa.

We had a big old mansion of a place, on a street named Garcilaso de la Vega just off the city Center. It was shared by four single guys, on the weekends when we came down from the mountains. This house had a reputation as “party central” long before my arrival on scene. Nonetheless, I got blamed for things that had happened in this house, before I had arrived in Peru. I was innocent of most of the things, that happened in our house, even though , I was blamed for everything. 

Anyway, back to my memory. At this time I had only been in Peru for a couple of weeks, when it was decided that we should have a party and introduce me to Arequipa. I had just met Deysi, up at work, but could already see, she had her eyes on me. It was early in our acquaintance, and I had not yet got up the courage to speak to her, let alone ask her out, but did manage to invite her to our party. Perhaps my friend Wolka from the Colca made the invite for me. I did not expect her to come, as I felt that anyone as beautiful as her would be busy on a Saturday night. 

But miracles do happen, a couple of hours into the festivities, Deysi arrives with her friend/chaperone La Flaca. They were by far the two most beautiful girls at the party, and soon became the Center of attention for all the male attendees. Everyone was hovering around them, and soon I felt a touch of jealousy. Both of them, basically, ignored me and pretended that I didn’t exist. Up to this point, I had been living the life of a monk, keeping myself free from the evils of wine, women and song! 

I finally got close to the two beauties and Deysi introduced me to La Flaca. She told me her buddy came with her to protect her virtues from the horrible gringo. Further, she said that without accompaniment, she would not have come near this house of sin. Well I thought, “whatever, at least she is here”. And that is how I met La Flaca Mariposa. She was smiling then, and was smiling, every time our lives crossed, to now. Little did I know that from this one brief encounter, would I develop a lifelong friendship with the best friend of my life partner. Personally, I think Deysi brought her to check me out and see if I was suitable to pursue. 

As it happened, La Flaca was a co-conspirator in taming and domesticating me. I remember one time, maybe a week or two after the party, when the two of them planned to teach me a lesson. It was during an evening, where I was “counselling” a young, misguided soul. Completely innocent and only talking, I was sitting at an outdoor pub, waiting to catch sight of Deysi. What I did not know was that she and La Flaca approached from a different path and observed me with another lady. Not realizing, that I was something like a missionary, they came up with their evil plan. La Flaca called her enamorado and got him to call a cousin to meet them downtown. 

From there, the four of them waltzed around town, in and out of all the places where they could be seen by myself or my friends. Myself, all the while, waiting patiently for them to show up, so I could end my counselling work and join them. Innocently, I waited and waited. Finally, one of my roommates arrives and tells me that Deysi was in a club, dancing with another guy. “How could she”, my heart cried out! I was devastated. “What did I do to deserve such treatment”? Later I found out that they had seen me fully engaged with another woman. And not realizing, that I was innocent, they decided to give me a lesson. Upon understanding their huge mistake, they both apologized deeply. Eventually, I forgave them. Trust me! My counselling work was done! Never again did I stray. 

Many of our early dates included La Flaca and Deysi’s little sister, Lalitas. I spent most of my time with three of the most beautiful girls in Peru, at my side. We ate, drank, laughed and partied our way around Arequipa. La Flaca, at this point was being relentlessly pursued by a lovesick boy (Auggie). So, in a lot of cases, he also accompanied us on our forays around town. Throw in a couple of Lalita’s friends, a younger brother (Che) and his girlfriend, and we had quite a party group on most weekends.

Often we ended our evenings, by stopping in at the rotisserie chicken place, Rico Pollo, where we would pick up 6 or 8 chickens, potatoes and a fiery hot sauce. Sometimes it would be the Chinese food place, la Chifa Siulla, where we would buy everything on the menu. The owner loved us, we were by far his biggest sales of the night. He would make us sit and have a drink with him before we went home. Once we arrived, we would wake all of Deysi’s family up, and have a feast. It was always well after midnight when we finished. Little brother Che, would stay up until, not one last crumb remained to be eaten. I often suspected that he had a tapeworm. Geezus could he eat! That now ends the first memories of la Flaca Mariposa. She is always in our thoughts.