WE ESCAPE TO THE SOUTH AND THE BEACH – PERU 2012, PART V

I start this post, having just fled from an earthquake in Ica. We had to interrupt our planned continuation to Bubbaloo’s home town of Arequipa. 100% because of the uncertainty of the situation in Ica after the earthquake. We had grabbed the first transport from Ica to “anywhere”. Mostly out of uncertainty with transport and infrastructure issues. This happened to be an early morning bus trip to Lima. We had thrown our bags together and fled for the bus depot. I might say, Ol’ JimboRed was a wreck! He was a bag of nerves, after two days surviving the “Inca Two Step”. And, on top of that, a midnight earthquake. Bubbaloo pushed me along with her usual encouragement. Words like, “come on you weakling, suck it up buddy, or you wanna be left behind?”

A stop in Lima was an unexpected pleasure. After Arequipa, Lima was probably our favorite place to visit. We had only departed there, 5 days previously. It was huge, cosmopolitan, yet still had much to offer those seeking history and adventure. Since the years that we had first came here, Lima had developed into the business hub of South America. Along with this new status, followed, art, culture, entertainment and FOOD. Lima was quickly being recognized as a new source of the mysterious and exotic. For those reasons, we never passed up a chance to stay in Lima and snoop around. Ultimately, it took us two days to get ourselves rerouted to Bubbaloo’s home. However, we made good use of the time.

Before I leave, I have one memory of that short interlude in Lima. We decided on a look around the Exposition Park in Miraflores. The park was built for the Peruvian exposition in 1872, in commemoration of the Centennial of Peru’s independence. It now houses the Museum of Art as well as other sights and structures dating back to the Exposition. Once again, we were accompanied by R’zo, son of our friend Gi. He took us around the side of the park, to an underground parkade. We went from the parkade up a back set of stairs and into the park. It seemed quite amazing, but somehow we were the only visitors in the park on that fine morning. It was like magic. We snooped around, took photos, and enjoyed the buildings that remained on site from 140 years earlier. Incredibly there were no tourists “photo bombing” our pictures.

Suddenly we hear a commotion in the distance. R’zo had been accosted by some sort of security police. He was in deep conversation with them. Bubbaloo kind of moves closer to hear what is going on. I thought, that maybe, we had been provided a guard to show us around. However, that was not the case. R’zo explains that they were there to kick us out. It appears like the park was not yet open for visitors. Apparently, the guard was quite perturbed to learn how we got in there. Where we entered was to be kept locked. In any event we were herded out of there. Indeed it was slightly embarrassing. Later, we got a good laugh from it. It made us realize, why there were no crowds! And actually, we did get a free private tour of the park!

We walked around Miraflores, ate, drank, partied and snooped. Words cannot describe it, as well as can pictures. Therefore I will stop this part of the narrative here, and add a slideshow of our time in Lima. After that we will head deeper south into Peru.

And then we were back in the sky, two days after our panicked exit from Ica. Our destination was Arequipa. Bubbaloo’s family lived here. That is, those that still remained in Peru. It was the place where we had met and joined our spirits together, so many years before. Arequipa was our base for all travel in Peru. On this occasion we planned for a few days in Arequipa. After that we had visions of a couple of weeks on the beach. Bubbaloo’s friend La Flaca Mariposa, had her “feelers” out trying to find some rental accommodations. However, in the end it was Coco that finally found us a beach house. This even though he was posted to the jungle in Maldonado. It was in the same town, Mejia, that we stayed in during our honeymoon in 1978.

At this point I will skip over our arrival in Arequipa and head straight to the beach. I will return later to Arequipa and write about our time there. Anyway, very quickly, we gathered our bags and set off for the beach. We were going to stay 2 weeks and planned on having everyone down for some beach time. It was now mid February 2012. The plan was, to spend the last two weeks of summer holidays at the ocean. We gathered up, our inevitable travelling companions, Reggie, A-ron and L-ra and away we went. Coco, our nephew had to work. Was he pissed! My god Ol’ JimboRed was looking forward to some beach time. I seriously pumped some iron in the couple days before we left. Desperately trying to get some shape back in this sagging body.

Mejia is a small beach village on the southern coast of Peru. It was pretty much straight west of Arequipa and a bit south. The trip took about 2 hours. It was not that long in distance. Nonetheless, winding down out of the mountains, from Arequipa, onto the Atacama desert, was torturous. Once you got close to the ocean, another long and twisting descent faced you. At the edge of the Atacama was an escarpment that rose hundreds of feet above the ocean. Not only was it slow to navigate, but also extremely dangerous. The highway was very narrow, and very steep. You went as fast as the slowest truck in front of you. I never descended this piece of highway, without becoming very religious. I might have been silent for the second time on this trip. The first being the earthquake a few days earlier.

At last we arrive. The place we had rented was on the south side of town, approximately 1 km walk from the beach. It was a three bedroom, one floor, reasonably modern house, with a pool. Although not on the beach, it overlooked the ocean. It was located high on a cliff, that faced the town and the ocean. There was nothing to block the views. The evening sunsets were spectacular. The cost was not outrageous. If I remember we paid about 1000 Soles per week. Or about $300.00 US. There was a wall extending around three sides of the property. And, of course, the fourth side was on the cliff. It had a huge locked gate for secure car parking. The best thing about it, was that it came with its own miniature swimming pool. Beautiful!

None the less, I did suffer insults about our pool, as soon as I shared the pictures on-line. People said hurtful things like, “is that the seal tank” or “wow an outdoor bathtub, hahaha” or “don’t fall in there Jimbo, you are going to make it overflow, hahahaha”. They hurt my feelings bad, however, I put it all down to jealousy. The first order of business was to fill the “seal tank” with water from a hose connected to the house. This was not a quick moving operation. If I remember it took a few hours, to even cover Ol’ JimboRed’s body. Anyway, we unpacked. The twins, A-ron and L-ra, were bouncing off the walls! Neither knew how to swim, however, that was no barrier to them. “Fill it up Tio and get out of the way, we want in there!”

Finally, the pool was full enough to swim in, albeit mighty cold with water from the house. Bubbaloo gave the twins their first pool safety lesson. They listened, but I can guarantee, never heard one word of what their aunt was telling them. These kids were very different in there approach to the unknown. A-ron was very cautious. He didn’t take well to being put in the pool and held while being taught how to swim. He was more the inflatable tube around his stomach and jumping in from the pool deck. L-ra on the other hand was quite adventurous. She jumped in, held onto JimboRed or Bubbaloo, and attempted to swim from the first minute. Within an hour this girl could float and swim! It was amazing. She had no fear.

I remember early on when A-ron had mastered the sport of holding his inflatable tightly and jumping in from the deck. At one point, L-ra wanted to try. She grabbed an inflatable and took a mighty jump. However, no one had told her to hold on tight. She jumped up, hit the water and slid right thru to the bottom of the pool. When she didn’t resurface immediately, I had to reach down and pull her out. She came out gasping and sputtering. A-ron, nearly wet himself, he thought it was so funny. He rolled around on the deck laughing and gasping, until someone told him that he wasn’t being nice! Remember these two little kids were probably less than 4 years old at the time. My god were they funny.

And did these twins have energy! Their morning started with a walk to the edge of town to purchase the daily bread. After breakfast they donned their beach attire and once again walked the kilometre to the beach. Once at the beach they played all day. After that they walked back uphill to the house. Then came a swim, dinner and to close their day they then walked back down to the Central Park, to play with the rest of the children. Then back to the house, and into bed. Their legs were about 2 feet long and yet, they put a few miles on them each day. Finally it was bed time. They both collapsed in exhaustion. They were immediately asleep and didn’t move until; the next morning.

When morning arrived they were up once again to repeat the cycle back and forth to the beach. Never once did they whimper. Ol’ JimboRed complained more than them. After breakfast we walked to the beach. The walk took us thru town and onto the main beach at Mejia. This was the same beach Bubbaloo and I played on during our honeymoon 34 years earlier. It was formed of a dark volcanic sand and stretched for a few hundred miles north and south. This particular place held many memories for us. The walk to our beach was about one km, and took us about 1/2 hour. We carried beach stuff and some small toys. We would purchase food and drinks from the local vendors on the beach.

Each day we rented a square four sided beach umbrella or shade, and a few beach chairs. They were set up in rows along the beach and could be rented for a very modest sum. We could then spread out our towels, bags, clothes and toys. In front of us were a steady line of vendors displaying their wares. Most of them sold food from the local restaurants. Others sold drinks, snacks, ice creams, and some sold beach toys. The difference in 2012 from our earlier visits, was that everything seemed so much more organized now. All of the vendors wore uniforms. The beach was cleaned each morning, life guard stations were staffed and everything seemed to have an order. We arrived and the playing started.

The twins were so much fun. Just watching them run around, laughing and screaming, made old JimboRed tired. They had endless energy. And endless appetites. L-ra could eat an ice cream every hour. She started her day with a coating of sunscreen, applied by her mom or aunt. Over this she applied a coating of ice cream. Soon you could not tell the difference between ice cream and sunscreen. Both seemed to blend into a white mess all over her face. These children not only ate ice cream but alternated it with empanadas. All of it washed down with Inca Cola. Soon their cousin arrived, with Nono and the lovely Juli. Bubbaloo’s brother Arnie and Big Sole’ came with them. Bubbaloo’s younger brother JA had arrived earlier. We now had a full party house. It was rocking!

Each day we had lunch in one of the restaurants near the beach. The food was from the sea. it was fresh and delicious. I remember my first meal. It was a big piece of fried Corvina with fresh cut fries. My God, it may have rivalled any piece of fish I had ever eaten before or since. After lunch, it was back to the beach for another round of games. I might add here, that, Ol’ Jimbored and Bubbaloo did sneak in one or two naps. The energy and excitement of the children, quickly tired us out. We needed to rest, because soon we would be walking back to our house. And that would not be the end, because then the kids would want another round of playing and swimming in the pool. It tires me just remembering it.

It could be said that JimboRed teased the children incessantly. I remember Bubbaloo scolding me often. She would say things like, “you big bully, leave those children alone!” Or, “you want your butt kicked?” And, “don’t make me come over there buddy! “You feeling me?” But these kids were not defenseless. Without question they gave as good as they got. They were not letting some old gringo take them down. A-ron, especially, did not miss a chance to pick on his old uncle. If I could have caught him, I would have given him a good old fashioned butt kicking. Alas he was far too fast for me.

Nor was it all fun and games. At one point JimboRed had to go to work. Bubbaloo’s brother Arnie was with us. He had suffered a devastating back and leg injury a few years prior and had mobility issues. So one day, on our way back home, JimboRed had to give him walking lessons. My God, my best intentions were a waste. Bubbaloo picked on me for being insensitive. The rest thought I was weird! Only, Arnie appreciated me trying to help him out. Anyway, I think a picture is worth a thousand words.

An amazing thing happened on this trip. Usually we would have been exhausted after eating, drinking and frolicking on the beach all day. We would have been whining about the long hill climb back to our beach house. Not this time though. Especially the children. As much as they loved the beach, they just couldn’t wait to get back for another play around the pool. When it came time to pack up and head back, you did not have to tell them twice. They would have run all the way back, if Ol’ JimboRed could have kept up with them. One day on our return walk we seen the most amazing sight. Just about mid town we encountered what turned out to be a parade. You could hear the commotion coming for a couple of blocks.

As it turned out we were walking into the local Mardi Gras festival. It just so happens that it is celebrated in late February. What we encountered, may have been less spectacular than those festivals held in Rio or even Lima. However it was, nonetheless, spectacular in its own right. What we encountered was a loud, boisterous, somewhat drunken group of revellers, bobbing and weaving to some headache inducing music. At first, we may have been a little alarmed. But soon you realized that this parade was all about having fun, dancing a bit, and drinking a little. We stopped to watch and were soon invited to participate. As we all know, there is nothing that Ol’ Jimbored likes as much as a little dancing. NOT. Anyway, it was good fun. I will let the pictures speak for me.

I had an interesting revelation as I wrote this memory. I was trying to keep events in some sort of chronological order, but failed. However, I then realized that if I just wrote of my memories of one day, and that pretty much covered all of our days. Every day held the same activities. Some days there were more of us and other days, less. Nothing else basically changed. Each day after returning from the beach, we gathered on the patio and told tall tales. This was one of my favorite times. One of us was the designated cook for each evening meal. As always, Bubbaloo seemed to be designated more often than the rest of us. JimboRed cooked his famous BBQ pork, on the small barbecue that came with the house. Arnie told tales of family history. Again, pictures speak far better than words.

There is another memory that sticks in my mind of this time at the beach. This one is not one of my fondest. And, of course, Ol’ JimboRed was at the centre. It seems that I was innocently sitting at the wall, by the pool, looking out over the ocean. I am minding my own business and all is at peace with the world. Well, Ol’ Bubbaloo sees me all relaxed and decides to put me too work. She yells out to me, “hey you, can you get my carry-on bag sitting on the wall out there, shake it out and bring it to me”? I don’t see any risk here, so I just say, “sure right away”. I saunter over. Pick it up, lean far out over the cliff and shake it out. Immediately my blood runs cold. My bowels turn to liquid. “What the hell”, I think.

When I shook the bag, out came a bunch of things that didn’t seem like dirt or sand. They immediately plunged over the cliff and down into the rocks below. I panic. “Hold it now”, I think, “how can I possibly be blamed for this”. “Didn’t she just tell me to shake her bag over the cliff?” Quickly, I peer down to see if there is any way I can repel down the cliff face. Just looking over the edge gave me vertigo. I suddenly knew that I was in deep shit. I look for someone else to blame it on. A-ron was there. But he was already on his way in, too “rat me out”. Let me just say, she pretty much lost her shit over this one. And of course I was to blame. I stood there like a whipped dog.

As I have said before, we tried to have all of the family with us at the beach. And quite a crowd it turned out to be. At different times we had Arnie (brother), Big Sole’ (sister in law), Lil’ Sole’ (niece), Nono (nephew), Juli (niece), Tiago (great nephew), Reggie (niece), L-ra and A-ron, (twins) and JA (brother). Where everybody slept is beyond me, however it all worked out. These Peruvian women were masters of logistics. In fact everything seemed to work very smooth. Sadly the twins father, Coco, had to work at the airforce base, in the Amazon Jungle. Therefore, unable to join us on this trip. One other thing I remember from this trip was, that it was here, where Little Sole’ decided she would come to Canada to study. And she did!

Finally, after a full day of walking, eating, swimming, playing and more playing, our day was over. The hell you say? What about the park. And sure enough, if you are not already tired of “one day in the life”. Then I have something amazing to say. Just when you thought we could not possibly crowd anything else into a day, we did. The twins now needed their final play of the day. Unbelievably, that consisted of yet another walk to the centre of town. It seemed that there was a playground where all the kids congregated each night. In spite of everything they had done already, they still needed their third trip downtown. They repeated this every day we were there, until the last day of February. Suddenly all the kids vanished, because, simply put, summer holidays were officially over. Now go home! And everyone did!

So, downtown we went. By this time my butt was obviously dragging on the ground. However, walk we did! Finally, at last after three round trips to town, we were home. The twins said goodnight and hit the bed. Immediately they were asleep. I guarantee, they did not beat JimboRed to bed, by more than seconds. That same day was reenacted each day that we remained there. Once again, I took hundreds and hundreds of photos. And once again, I am so happy that I did. I have looked at the photos, for this part of our trip, many times over the years, and always find a long hidden memory, to chuckle about.

With that final thought I will conclude this memory. Once again it is long and, I suspect, somewhat tedious. However, I did want to capture my memory before it slips away into the blank spaces of my mind. Before I leave, I want to add that during our stay at the beach in Mejia, Peru we did make a couple of small day trips. These I will write about later. For now I am spent. Remember “memory is a poet, not a historian”. Parts of this memory happened on different days. I wrote about them as if they occurred on one day. Only too be able to show, what a typical day looked like. Therefore,if any pieces are out of order, or mixed up, please understand the purpose of this post . In some ways they are a reflection of how I remember that trip. Everything jammed into one typical day.