Trasvestites & Midgets... I'm serious

This weekend was a lot of fun. I went out with Rubie to this discoteca called Vocé on Thursday night and danced the night away. That night the discoteca was having some sort of fashion show of lingerie, so scantily clad girls, some with big wings like VS models, were walking across the stage for a while.  Around the dance floor were also a couple transvestites all dressed up in gaudy jumpsuits, wigs and makeup and to top it all off – two midgets dressed up like munchkin mayors in the Wizard of Oz. No joke. Like, really, you thought your club needed transvestites AND midgets? It was all very bizarre but created kind of a “hip” atmosphere – one helluva spectacle that’s for sure.

Friday night was our designated Pasta Night for the group and we went over to the house of the Peruvians that live near Parque Kennedy. Kirt and Matt got busy in the kitchen and cooked two amazing pasta dishes – one with pesto and one with bacon, while we all hung out. Then we headed over to Tayta and met up with a few of Matt’s Peruvian friends. We talked, danced and hit up the Casita for some late night sandwich de pollo after being yelled at by some Peruvian guy to “get out of his country”. That’s really the first time I’ve encountered open hostility toward us in the context of us being foreign (although I’m convinced the mean ladies at the photocopy room on campus are holding something against us). I felt very alienated. The fact that it was the first and only time I had ever felt so isolated as a foreigner makes me appreciate how welcomed we usually are in Peru, which is the total opposite of what Peruvian immigrants must face in the US, in light of the general hostility toward Latin-American immigrants found in American society.

Saturday night Julia and I met up with a group of her friends from class and they took us to La Marina to go to discotecas. La Marina was really sketchy and we do not plan on a repeat visit. The discoteca, aside from being almost empty, was populated mainly by older people (couples in their 30’s and 40’s). Towards the end, a band started playing which had male back-up dancers/singers, one of which was wearing a really tight sparkly black shirt so we were amused. Good people watching, but not a place I’d want to go again to hang out again.

The next two days are holidays because of APEC, an Asian-Latin America summit taking place mainly in Lima and in some other large cities in Peru. Everything is being shut down – it’s an obligatory holiday in which no one is paid and shops must receive permits to stay in operation. They are also closing down some important streets in the city so it’s good we decided to take advantage of the break to leave Lima. We’re leaving in about 30 minutes for Chiclayo and Trujillo so I’ll have stuff to write about when we get back. Besos…