Footprints across the globe

The wide streets and avenues of Lima have set the appropriate stage for an active city. Lima is the capital and largest city in Peru with a population of 9 million people. Sitting on the wings of its streets are usually traditional restaurants, inexpensive hotels, casinos, variety of nightclubs, convenient stores, and banks. The rhythm of the people moving through the facilities is fast paced, engaging and absorbing. If you listen in to the noise, you will hear a Cobrador (a drivers personal cashier) of a combi or micro, (local bus) hanging by the bus, calling out their route directly at you, even when you are walking the opposite direction. You will also be in contact with a genuine smile, and a face behind it doing the best to persuade you into their restaurant. There are also officers in the middle of the streets controlling traffic with whistles and drivers using their honks as signals. This is just a verse from the song.

It is my second night in Lima, and I already know that the people own their city. The time is 6:30 P.M, rush hour, and I am walking to eat anywhere nice. They see someone different so they are all shooting stares. I am staring back because I want to analyze the neighbors that I will be sharing common space with for the next 5 months. As it appears, the young adults here in Lima are in tune with style. The boys are usually short, average weight, tanned and dark haired. You will see more than two wearing hipster gear like, converses, DC shoes, shorts, and vintage wayfarer sunglasses. The girls vary in height, tanned, curly hair and the nosiest. Many wear fit & flare rose print dresses, tight tops with faded jeans or leggings.

I finally gave into a smile and a decent price to go into a Chifa restaurant called Tao Tao. Chifa is a very popular Chinese/Peruvian food prepared with both Chinese and Peruvian ingredients. It only took me a sip of chicha morada, (a local drink made with purple corn and pineapple) to see people run into the streets from all corners. This is another verse from the song. Peru, Peru, Peru, Peru, the people were chanting. The Peruvian national football team had beaten their Chilean rivals, 1 – 0. I took two steps outside to see, and ended up being lifted in the air by the people, who cheerfully passed me through the crowds. When they put me back on the ground, I knew they had put me right in the heart of their culture.