Jewish in Lima

From Easter Island I made my way to Lima (Peru), with an overnight stop in Santiago. Still painfully daunted by the language barrier, I couldn't muster the courage to go out for a proper dinner or breakfast and made do with snacks from the nearest corner shop.

In Lima I found myself staying in an Israeli haunt - I must have failed to read between the lines of my guidebook. On arrival I asked a question in English and was met with blank faces until they realised I was speaking neither Hebrew nor Spanish. Israeli backpackers tend to stick together, but I was befriended by a girl called Amira who included me in their adventures. From an email (I couldn't find the apostrophe key):

"Fell in with a bunch of Israelis, and as it happened, last Friday was the Jewish New Years, so off off I went to celebrate with them.  Only problem was that the hosts were iffy about letting a Jewish girl called Christian come to the show, so we doubted if theyd be happy about a Roman Catholic Aussie.  As a precaution, we conconcocted a new identity for myself:  I became Guy Feldman for the night, mother an Israeli Jew, father an Australian, and we emigrated to Australia when I was five - hence my complete lack of Hebrew.  Unfortunately, I didnt need to use my false identity, but Im sure the fact that I had someone translating into my ear constantly drew some notice.  The Israelis were all prettyndty disappointed my the event:  for a start they had to *pay*, which is unheard of for a religious celebration, and there wasnt a great deal of food, nor was it very tasty.  But it could just be that Israelis like to whinge.  I had a good time, theyve got some funky songs, and I got to wear a skull cap for a while, but it kept falling off ...  guess I wasnt mean to be a Jew."

Perhaps I wasn't meant to be a Jew (or a Christian, it now seems!), but my haggling ability was nearing Israeli levels. I knew I needed to back off when Amira raved to her friends about the good deal I had extracted from a taxi driver. We had gone to the zoo together (this sounds like a date - it could have been a date - but I was too uncertain and she too reserved so nothing happened ... alas!) and while they had some cool animals, the conditions were pretty awful.

Parque de Las Leyendas

I was getting more comfortable with my limited Spanish and could just about manage the basics. My next challenge was coming to terms with the many con-people out to take advantage of the naive traveller. I had expected touts trying to sell me stuff, and pickpockets or bag-slashers, but many who approached me were much more subtle, with a blurring of commercial transactions and social relationship that confounded my simple brain (this came to a head in Cuba - stay tuned). I nearly lost US$100 in what I suspect was a counterfeiting scam, rather than a black market currency exchange. And a very friendly couple in the Plaza de Armas called me "Super Man" and wanted help with their English grammar - perhaps they were legit? Funnily enough, I did actually see a guy in full Super Man costume striding through the streets later on.

I had a pretty open itinerary from here on. My next flight wasn't until late December from the southern tip of Chile. Amira invited me to head north with her friends, but I didn't fancy being a hanger-on without Hebrew, so headed to the bus station happily on my own.

Ossuary in the catacombs under the Basílica y Convento de San Francisco