I get it. Classes on the
weekdays from Monday through Friday from 9 in the morning to 12:30 in the
afternoon. You’d expect the weekend to be a little more lenient, but it’s not.
If anything, we get up a lot earlier in the day than the rest of the week. It
also doesn’t help that I’m not typically a morning person, so getting up
earlier than I have to can be quite a drag.
It’s 7 in the morning and I’m making
my way out the door to catch the bus at Avenida Pierre Thomas. It was going to
be a relatively short day today, so I was thankful for that. We hop on the bus
and take it to Plaza de Armas in the Zocalo district of Lima. Our first stop
was a tour of the Palacio de Gobierno which was absolutely beautiful. Stepping
into the palace made you feel like you were stepping into the Palace of Versailles.
Everything was glistening in elegance and gold, marble floors and renaissance décor.
The guards were motionless. They were like the guards you hear about at
Buckingham Palace. They wouldn’t budge. I had the need to itch their noses for
them honestly it bugged me that much. All I knew was that I could never do that
in a millions years. Even if I was compensated for life with government
benefits, which I can only imagine can be so much. But this was Peru. It’s been
through its fair share of corruption, so I wouldn’t be too shocked if they
received a lot of benefits under the table. Must be worth it to sweat in that
suit.
A flattering picture of me.
We make our way out of the
Palacio and back out to the Plaza de Armas. Despite the usual cloudiness of
Lima, the sight was beautiful and refreshing. Our next stop was a tour of the
cathedral where the remains of Francisco Pizarro laid. Now that was pretty cool
stuff. The inside of this cathedral was phenomenal. It was large and open with
a sort of gothic presence to it. As we got in deeper into the cathedral, we
came across the lower catacombs where other important people were buried. There
was also an assortment of skulls.
We exited the cathedral to
take a half an hour break until the beginning ceremony of the changing of the
guards outside the courtyard of Palacio de Gobierno. During my break, I decided
to make a stop at Roky’s for a small club sandwich to satiate my appetite for
the time being. The club sandwich ended up consisting of four large slices of
bread, layered on top of each other with assortment of meats and cheeses in
between. It wasn’t that I was intimidated by the sandwich but more or less that
my host dad Carlos had promised to prepare ceviche for lunch later on when I
return. Oh well. I completely destroy the sandwich and tossed the fries for my
friends to scour over.
Time has elapsed and it’s time
for the changing of the guards. We rendezvous over to a corner to watch the
entire ceremony commence. A pleasant show, but I could not help but feel pity
for these poor guards who were probably fighting severe swass from the
uncontrollable heat that’s constantly bestowed upon them every day. Still don’t
think I could do this job. As if I needed any more convincing.
The show ends and we hop onto
the bus home. A few of us decide to head to La Lucha to have lunch, so I tagged
along for a milkshake. I wasn’t going to get anything because 1) I had already
had Roky’s and 2) because I have ceviche ready for me at home. But I wanted to
socialize. I sat down at a table outside with some friends to enjoy my
strawberry milkshake. I was in my happy place because I love strawberries. But
my friend Lexi seemed to be having a bad day for some reason and I wanted to
console her. To make matters worse, she had just ordered a sandwich in which
she specifically asked for no meat because she was in a vegetarian mood. She
received her sandwich to find out that they gave her a sandwich full of meat.
So, I had to step in and I also wanted to make Lexi’s day a little better so I
brought up the sandwich to the counter and asked nicely that my friend had
requested a vegetarian sandwich. The lady was coherent with my request and
apologized and placed a new order for Lexi for a vegetarian sandwich. Ah, I
felt so happy that transaction went through as smoothly as it did because it
could have been ugly. Lexi thanked me as I rejoined the table of friends. I
finally return home to Carlos and his maid who had prepared the table with
ceviche with another course of rice and chicken. Honestly, I was going to throw
up because I had just eaten Roky’s but I really wanted to try the ceviche. And
the ceviche was spectacular. Best ceviche in Peru.
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