Follow up on the money thing: I made sure that I sent a really nice, hand-written thank you note (in careful Minnesotan) to Alberto to thank him for the fabulous dinner at Huaca Pucllana Restaurant. Check out the envelope. I sent it from the Miraflores Post Office to his address in Miraflores six blocks away (You know why; it just looks more cool and formal with a stamp on it). It cost S. 2.40. Yes, that's right, almost a dollar to send a thank you note six blocks. So, smile bigger the next time you see your neighborhood USA mail delivery professional, okay?
Why a hand-written thank you note and not just an e-mail or nada at all? Because I, as I suspect do we all, spend much of my excess cerebral processing capacity trying to figure out who my real friends are and how to let them know it (shout out to any home vandals or their family members that might be reading this -- Not My Friend). So I spent most of Friday afternoon being taken out to lunch by my two new Fabulosa Amigas, Drs. Julia Avila and Adelaida Vargas. Okay, we did stay up late Friday night analyzing their flow cytometric immunophenotyping cases and talking about optimizing antibody panels and FACS-DIVA histogram analysis software but that's besides the point. They picked me up at the hotel on Saturday morning and spent the whole day touring me and Peruvian Gourmet feeding me all over Lima Central (that's pronounced with some rolling of the "r" and the "l"!). They wouldn't let me pay for anything which felt kind of uncomfortable because I know that they probably hope that I am going to tell someone that the Flow Cytometry Lab needs more money but, hey, you all know that I am pretty honest about that kind of stuff and, guess what, the Flow Cytometry Lab here DOES need more money. Technicalities aside, Central Lima is lovely although heavily weighted to the Catholic Church version of Peruvian history and dotted by USA culture and pickpockets (note the photo of me with my bolsa (purse) firmly gripped in front of my pudenda (oh, you know what body part I mean) as instructed to me by my hosts). We even went on a fun bus tour and inspected the original adobe ramparts built by Francisco Pizarro, his soldiers and slaves to defend themselves against the indigenous Peruvians who wanted their land, their gold and their women back.
Speaking of friends, my good friend Dr. Quinones is shipping me off the Huancayo for a few days. Her plan is that Caleb will translate for me there so that I can tell them in a language that they don't want to understand that they need to improve the quality of their laboratory. My good friend Guadalupe who works at the hotel thinks that I am being sent to Huancayo because I am being punished for something. I have thought about this carefully and I actually think that Dr. Quinones' motives are genuine and appropriate: 1. Huancayo looks like a very cool place for me and Caleb to see. 2. The quality of the microscope slide specimens sent from Huancayo is not terribly good. 3. Sometimes it is easier to accept what might be perceived as criticism from your friends as what might sound like good advice from a visitor from another planet (Minnesota). Thus, blogging might decrease as internet might not be available in the interior. Stay tuned.
Saturday's word? Aceita which means oil (like the oil for the microscope objective that I hope Caleb will remember to bring) and which I can't ever pronounce correctly. Today's word? Lluvia which means rain which it does not do in Lima but when I try to pronounce the word it comes out sounding like the Spanish word for Thursday (Jueves) or the Spanish word for eggs (heuvos). So it goes.
Lluvia?
ReplyDelete