BACK IN CUSCO

It´s Sunday in Cusco and very hot. My apartment is near the centre but up a hill, which is less than Churchill in Morningside but here feels like Ben Nevis for me. It´s easy coming down but will need taxis home at night. I like the apartment.It´s in a very safe area, and has a nice court yard where I can sit. There are other apartments round the courtyard, though I´ve not met anyone yet; only the owner who lives in the building too with his family.

The flight from Amsterdam was long and tiring as usual. I had two Russians beside me who spoke good English and were on their way back to work as oilmen in Peru. Could have been offshore but didn´t like to ask in view of all the trouble hereabouts with oil explorations in the Amazon. They were nice guys who drank loads of wine and slept when they were not drinking or eating.

Got speaking to a guy from Cork who was on his way to a wedding in Cusco with his father. Apparently his brother got married in Lima last year and at the wedding his cousin got off with the brides maid and now they are getting married here in Cusco. I think the guy is hoping his luck will be in this time round. We had a chat about Roy K. who is also a Corkman for those of you not up in these things, and agreed that things can´t get much worse, so we wished him good luck as we flew over the Atlantic.

Lima is as polluted as ever, if not more so, but its nice and warm. The sun came out yesterday and you could see clear blue sky for a while. The Limenos were running around shouting to each other to look up, "mira el cielo azul amigos"!!! What with that and going to see State of Play ( called "Los Secretos del Poder" in Peru) it was quite an exciting day all round.

My taxi driver from the airport was telling me that the mafiosa are taking over eveywhere in Lima and corruption all around us. He drives a battered old taxi. He,s been my taxi man a few times now and I keep hoping he will have bought a new taxi each time but no he seems to like the one he has too much. His grandfather was Italian and so he speaks good Italian. I asked if his grandfather was mafia too, and he didn´t seem to mind too much, but he pointed out that he came from Sardinia where there is no mafia allowed.

On the flight from Lima to Cusco this morning I met a Dutchman who is working for a dredging company in Calloa which is the port in Lima. I reckon he will have a lifetime,s work dredging the Pacific. He likes life in Lima and his company provide a flat in what seems like a gated community from how he described it. It a pity to cut oneself off from the locals like that. His loss I guess, though I reckon he must be well rewarded for his troubles. And so it goes on. If anyone wants to know more about what goes on I can only recommend you to read "Open Veins of Latin America" by Eduardo Galeano. Well worth the effort. All about how we pillaged and plundered the place and continue to do today.