Lima - this is a long one
After our trip to the theater after our arrival we took cabs to the Pacific ocean which was about 20 blocks away. We walked through a nice park on a cliff above the ocean. We saw the huge statue of Christ in the distance and the surfers in wet suits just ~200 ft below us. We walked to a nice shopping mall where we ate dinner. I had tiradito, a less fussy ceviche dish that one of the embassy employees had told us about. It was quite good.
From Cusco to Lima we
flew over the Andes Mountains and then as we were
landing in Lima at sea level we passed some
fishing boats - maybe catching the fish for my
tiradito. Here's the group that went for the walk
along the coast. The bright blob in the
background is the statue of Christ.
Here is our hotel,
which was adequate but not nearly as nice as the
one in Cusco- outside, inside and the lovely view
Some scenes around
our hotel. We stayed in the Miraflores area of
Lima which is a nice residential area. It was
safe to walk alone in the day but not at night.
After out first night
in Lima when I got almost a full 8 hours of sleep
bedtime became later and later. After opening
night we went to a Chinese Restaurant with
Embassy folks and the director of the dance
festival and as we were leaving we passed a
Casino so we played slots for about an hour.
Susan, who you see playing here, actually made
some money. Everyone else lost everything
although I don't think anyone played more than
$5.00. Then we met up with Dana and went to a gay
bar called BoBo Bar and danced for a while.
After the Friday
night performance we went to the Embassy Public
Affairs Officer beautiful house for a nice dinner
party. Dana has some wonderful friends in Peru
and they were invited as well. After this party
many of us went to a lesbian bar called Twin
Life. In this picture you see fashion designer
Miragolas, lighting designer Qui Que, his
girlfriend Desiree, then Mecho, who helped me
navigate the huge computer mall and has a great
sense of humor (Miragolas is his girlfriend),
Richard from MIT and dancer Shu Chen. Dana's love
interest, a Japanese Peruvian guy named Johan who
is also very nice, is in the back behind Desiree.
Saturday we went on a
city tour with a guide. We went to a museum of
ancient artifacts, the main square and then to
the catacombs under the Church of San Francisco
used for burials and a hiding space from pirates,
Unfortunately we could not take any pictures in
the church (last picture).
I think it was
Saturday that the techies - Sara, Susan, Richard
and I - performed a dance we choreographed mostly
using dance movements that we liked from Dana's
choreography. We used the laundrymat song from
Dr. Horrible's Video Blog and it lasted two
minutes. The company thoroughly enjoyed it and
hopefully I can get a video of it from one of the
dancers. This picture is from Miyako's
collection.
Saturday night was
the final performance and afterwards we went to a
really nice restaurant near the hotel where I ate
ravioli and a cappuccino parfait (ice cream).
Then the whole company went back to Twin Life
bar. That night it was packed and very loud so we
mostly sat on the sofas outside what I would call
a dance cavern and people watched while drinking
our favorite Cusquena beer.
Sunday was the day
for shopping, which I had done none of in Lima,
and leaving. The best shopping we were told was
at the Inca Market about 7 blocks from the hotel.
And it was. The goods ranged from cheap trinkets
and silly tshirts to beads to textiles to
religious art to fine silver jewelry. You had to
do a little bit of bargaining but not too much. I
found prices were pretty consistent for the same
goods in the various stores. Sara was good at
finding the unusual stuff in Cusco and she did
the same in Lima. I bought some nice things from
the guy in the rust colored scarf. I like the way
he sort of blends in with his wares. From the
market we went and at falafel at an Arab-Peruvian
restaurant.
Before heading to the
airport we piled into 4 taxis and had a scary
crazy ride to Tati's parents beautiful home for
snacks and dessert. Tati's mother served all
sorts of unusual fruit desserts and wonderful
cakes and pisco rum, straight up. For some reason
my favorite was the relatively bland but
delicious artichoke salad tea sandwich.
So it was a great trip. Dana's dancers are all
great to travel with - fun and no drama. There
were a couple of illnesses and mishaps. Sarah the
dancer had a stomach flu after the Cusco
performance but was well agin by the first Lima
performance. Richard the MIT student had some
stomach pains the first morning in Lima and as a
precaution Dana sent him to the Anglo-Peruvian
Hospital where they discovered he had
appendicitis. He was operated on that night and
two days later was back to normal. The Embassy
staff was very helpful in getting him the best
care possible. Sara from MIT had her purse stolen
in a restaurant. We were all sitting in a group
of tables around hers and saw nothing. They were
good. Her passport and iPhone were stolen and she
and Dana stayed a extra day in Lima to get
everything settled. The police were very
responsive and helpful but alas the thief was
long gone. I had a cold and lost a red alpaca
scarf that I had bought in Machu Picchu. But
luckily Dana found it at the BoBo bar the last
night we were there. He had become friends with
the doorman. He was also a good friend of the
owner of Twin Life by the time we left.
I would definitely go to Peru again in a
heartbeat. I need to see more of Lima and some of
the more ancient archeological sites in Peru. I
would also love spending more time with Dana's
amazing friends from Lima.
ICPNA
Here are some press sites:
interview
pictures
more pictures
Some shots around the school and theater:
Dana being interviewed for a local dance blog
Ceasar and Fernando were part of the theater
crew. These guys were great.
Diplomatic Affairs
We arrived Tuesday morning and after settling into the hotel (which is sparse but has the most important amenity - wireless) Dana, Sara, Connie and I were whisked away by a cultural attache named Jose Carlos to the US embassy to meet the ambassador. Security was very tight but once inside it was just like any other office building, except that there were certain elevators we were not allowed to use. There was an official photographer waiting with the ambassador to take our picture as soon as we walked in which was fun. He sent me the picture which was great. It is so much better than anything I could do.
We talked to the ambassador for about 20 minutes about dance, movies, arts funding, real estate in Washington and the unrest in the north of Peru. He said he was planning to attend the performance Thursday, which he did. I stood next to one of the secret service men during the performance. There was one situated on either side of the audience and then several outside the entrance to the theater.
Here's the impressive embassy building from the outside: