The Devil's Bartender

Blues al aire libre

First, the good news. 

Me and the guys played a helluva set at an outdoor concert on Friday, my last official night of living in Chiclayo.  After only two practices together we were all full of piss and vinegar and it was a freakin great show.  All blues, all the time.  There are more pictues here but alas, no audio: http://chiclayo.2night.com/home.asp?Canal=Adventure&AlbumID=19945&Titulo=Rock+and+reggae+%40+Estirpe+Campera&Fecha=Vie+28+de+Enero

And now for the bad news.

I got robbed blind last night on the overnight bus to Lima.  They had a bag check on a fairly nice bus so i figured that was more secure than bringing valuables on board and being robbed as I slept.  In the morning i discovered that someone had stolen my passport, about $300, and my digital camera.  Chiclayo is known as 'La Ciudad de la Amnistad' (the city of friendship) and a student of mine in the first week i was there said it should be called 'the city of friendly thieves'.  True to his prophetic words, the thief left my second wallet that had my driver's license and visa card in it. So after i visit the Canadian consulate tomorrow i should be fine.  Broke and pissed off, but fine. I guess I've just gotten comfortable here and let my gaurd down so this was a much needed wake up call. 

A friend of Jose's and his girlfriend took us out tonight for beers and then to a very expensive Italian restaurant.  For a guy with no money, I'm doing all right.

Eat yer heart out, Perringer!!!

Yesterday was my last day of work and let me tell ya, it feels great.  I'll miss some of the students and teachers but the school itself I can do without for a while.  This is a picture of me and some of the students.  (I had just finished doing a music class with Dido's 'Thank You' in case you're wondering about the notes on the board...)

The Final Countdown!

It's probably beacuse i'm leaving but i'm really enjoying Chiclayo.  Hell, i'm even enjoying work!  Teaching has been a lot of fun this week and the weekend was even better.  From a cancelled camping trip to the beach, to the world's shitiest strip club, and then spending a Sunday in a high class Country Club.

Cont'd...

Filling in the Gaps

Since nothing out of the ordinary happened this week I'm just going to fill in the gaps with answers to some of the more general questions people have asked...

From sleeping my life away to partying with Hunter S. Thompson

Once again i was ready to party on Friday night at 9pm but it was a bit early so I lay down for a few minutes.  And once again, i woke up 9am!  These early morning are killing my Friday nights.  But I made up for it on Saturday by partying twice as hard with guy who makes Hunter S. Thompson look like a lightweight!

Paradise take 2

So then we went out for dinner, met some more of the guys from the hostal, and went out for a few beers.  One thing led to another and I missed my bus so that meant another night of partying!  It was fun, but the town was quiet since it was the Tuesday after Christmas.  I caught a bus the next morning for Villcabamba and ended up in paradise.

Villcabamba is a quiet village in the Andes and the hostal I went to is about 2km outside of the town so it's completely quiet.  Wood cabins, flagstone paths, gardens, pool, restaurant with good food, and a bar where the 20 or so backpackers got together in after a big dinner.  It was another really funny night. 

The following day I went for a hike on Moncando and it turned out to be a spectacular and challenging hike.  After getting to the first summit the next 2 hours are spent along the crest of a small mountain range and the path is only about 50 cm in places.  Great buzz!!  I got back to the hostal and had a quick dip in the pool just before it started to rain (Good thing it didn't rain while i was hiking.  It would have been murderous.)  Had one last fine meal and said my goodbyes before heading into the village of Villcabamba for a quick tour.  An Equdorian guy from the hostal invited me to join him for a beer so of course, I had to be polite...  It's a beautiful village and I'm sorry I didn't get a chance to see more of it.

Three overnight buses back to Chiclayo, slept all day, and then went out to Pto. Eten on the back of a truck arriving  at 11:55 to ring in the New Year with a few of the other ex-pat teachers and big gang of Peruvians.  It was a good night.  A good gang of people, bar-b-qued chicken, shitty Latin American dance music until I pulled out a guitar and got a jam going, guys peeking over walls to watch their buddy make out with a drunk chick, lots of good clean fun. Got home around 7am and went back to the beach late the next afternoon. 

An now it's back to reality and thankfully, there's only one more month of it.

From Paradise to Chiclayo

The last night i was in cuenca the French guy took me to meet his girlfriend and she showed up with their 6 month old son! He had never said anything about him so i was shocked. So that explained why the guy was there for 2 years and why he was having such a hard time making the decision to go back to France. At 21 years old, i had to feel bad for the guy. The girl, 18, seemed delighted with the whole situation.

We then went out