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waiter at the Hotel de Turistas for 30 years, quite a
long time ago. This hotel was part of several run by the
government and was always the best in town with very superior
service. Somehow this headwaiter had recognized Lucho who
offered him some books he had about being a waiter. Lucho then
said he had been watching all the waiters and that certain
ones had made mistakes. He urged him to come and get the books
to improve his staff. I didn't mention that he's now in his
late 70's and doesn't hear well anymore. Here he was watching
all of them and making mental notes. Another note is that
Rosalia ordered some kind of a soup made out of a cow's
stomach and seemed to enjoy it.
The changes in the city were not
all good. It has always been a large place, 2nd in
Peru behind Lima, but in the last ten years a flood of
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people have come down from smaller towns hoping to get
work but causing tremendous competition for that scarce
commodity. Most of the people we visited had jobs, but the pay
was miniscule due to the competition - a buyers' market. With
it the amount of people and traffic has increased greatly in
the last 13 years since I was last there, and there's honking,
congestion, and sad to say, air pollution. Misti cannot be
seen so clearly as before. It seemed like 9 out of 10 cars
were Dae Woo's converted to taxis which did mean that they
were very cheap for tourists as well as locals, but a negative
presence for the city.
Another friend, Victor Paredes,
explained that it doesn't help to retire after 30 years as the
law demands since it's impossible to get by on the tiny
government pension - you just have to go out and find another
job. What is so strik |
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ing is that everyone works very hard without expecting
to get very far up the ladder, and yet they remain good
natured, friendly, and philosophical. When you know Peruvians
for a little while they can really make you feel as if you're
a part of their family.
Another day we went out to an
old mill in Sabandia, in the countryside which had recently
been restored and is running.. An alpaca grazed on the grass.
It was so peaceful sitting there in the old, old stone
building, listening to the water and watching a farmer herd up
his cows to go in to the barn. He ran quickly and lightly as
many men here are able to, but the moment seemed frozen in
time, as sometimes happens on afternoons in the Andes. Cool
shade, hot sun, deep blue sky, a kind of peace - the
present blends perfectly into a hundred memories of past
afternoons in the Sierra.
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