- tons of jehova's witnesses were on vacation in peru at the same time i was. in fact, i'm seeing a lot of them here in santiago as well. i can tell cuz they all have this distinct name tag styles. first they come to my door on sundays, now they're following me on vacation. i may just have to convert.
- i've been mistaken for japanese (which is not new for me whilst traveling). what is new is that this dutch dude thought i looked like his cousin (who is dutch and white). i look so much like his cousin that he started talking to me in dutch.
- the skyline of peru is riddled with re-bar sticking straight up into the sky. the reason is taxes. once ur building is finished, you begin to pay taxes. so peruvians - not surprisingly - stop just short of finishing their buildings as to avoid paying property taxes. the result is that the cities look war-torn or 3rd-worldish.
- stop signs, traffic lights, and traffic lanes are all ignored. ALL ignored. it's one of those seemingly lawless places in the world (from a traffic perspective). strangely enuf, there don't seem to be many traffic accidents. are we wasting our time sitting at stoplights? are they really keeping us safer?
- peruvians don't stand in line. they push and shove until they get up to the front of the line or can't progress any further. drives us americans ape sh*t, but peruvians don't seem to mind.
- pisco sour is their national alcoholic drink. made with a sour grape liquor, some lemon juice, sugar, an eggwhite - ick!!! - for froth and some bitters to add some color and, well, bitterness, the drink is quenching but too sweet for my tastes.
- the native andean language is pretty close to japanese. go figure.
- appears that the tallest guys are 5'5" to 5'6". and the women are about 2-3 inches shorter. i'm a giant at 5'10". (5'8" if you want the truth)
Monday, November 16, 2009
PERUsals
some parting thoughts on peru:
