Fase 2..what was fase 2 again? Digging the trench in the middle... right?

Yellow zone..in spite of the rains

Wakta river

 Subiendo esa calle...topamos contra la pared (a tumbar..supongo) de la Universidad de Piura...detras creo que hay un jardin interior...para el proyecto de parque botánico...ya hay algunas plantas en la zona...El Ficus que ven..esos cactus...y algunas en la calle de las Pizzas...que son como enredaderas con florecitas "pourpres"...Ese edificio de la derecha es el único que me parece interesante, de un punto de vista arquitectural...unos 3 pisos..con pitch roofs..creo.....todo el resto del bloque, no corresponde a las nuevas normas arquitecturales...

 

Estas son chapas de desagüe...Imaginense! Este es lo que queda del Wakta! No se como son los desagues aquí en Miraflores. Supongo que es une tubo o un canal en el que solo fluyen aguas residuales y que hacen tiempo que no llegan agua del Rimac...ya que se chuparon el Wakta hasta el hueso. Como lo dice la cancion Larco de Frágil..."El rio ya no trae agua". 

Como lo veo? Un pequeño arroyo...donde el agua cristalina fluye con el dulce sonido relajante de las aguas......con guijarros...y un poco de arena centellante en el fondo...

 Este bar cerro...y de hecho nunca fui...

Eau

Tema serio del día: El Agua. (Pongan su cara de serios!)

He sacado las conclusiones siguientes.

11)      No es recomendable tomar agua del caño purificada con algunas gotas de cloro. Durante los problemas de agua del año pasado pasaron algunos días en que no encontraba agua embotellada. Entonces, puse a hervir agua del caño y le añadí las gotas de cloro siguiendo (con precisión) las instrucciones de la botella.

Tome esa agua durante dos periodos. Cada periodo era de dos a tres días seguidos.

No vomité y no me dio diarrea, me quitó la sed, pero al segundo o tercer día me sentía algo raro. El cloro probablemente. El agua clorada sabe raro.

Esto de la purificación del agua con cloro es una medida de emergencia pero no es bueno como costumbre regular.

22)      Tampoco me va bien con el agua del caño simplemente hervida. La que SEDAPAL nos ofrece aquí en el departamento. He estado tomando esa agua hervida hace más de un mes pero siento que algo anda mal con mi cuerpo. Es muy leve. Un ligero dolor de garganta. El sentimiento que algunas bacterias están entrando a mi cuerpo de esa manera.

No tengo diarrea, no vomito pero tengo el sentimiento que algo está mal con esa agua.

Vi un documental de la planta de la Atarjea de SEDAPAL en el cual un ingeniero aseguraba que las aguas que salían de ahí eran potables. Eso supone que se podría tomar agua sin hervir en los tubos que salen de la planta. Bueno..me gustaría verlo tomar un vaso.

En algunas ocasiones, he tomado agua del caño sin hervir. Una vez, sin pensar, me hice un té con agua calentada al microondas. Donde tenía la mente?

Al minuto, me empecé a sentir mal, me acosté, me subió una especie de fiebre y empecé a delirar cólericamente en mi cabeza.…después vomité.

No pues. NUNCA tomen agua del caño sin hervir en Lima.

Las aguas que tenemos aquí en Miraflores están mal. No se casí nada del tema. No soy químico, no soy doctor, ni ingeniero en purificación de la aguas pero mi cuerpo me dice que tengo que cambiar de agua.

No sé si el agua del Rimac está contaminada con químicos de alguna actividad minera o industrial o bacterias. Yo he escuchado decir que el agua del caño tiene coliformes fecales. Todos los pueblecitos y asentamientos de allá arriba evacuan sus aguas residuales en el Rimac. No cuentan con plantas de depuración. Algo me dice que el problema principal son los coliformes fecales.

Y claro, cada hogar, industria….. arriba en nuestra amada cuenca, también produce otro tipo de residuos. El cloro que la gente usa, el shampoo, la pasta dental, el detergente lava ropa, liquido lavaplatos, pinturas, thinner que la gente usa cuando pinta, productos para limpiar carros…y todas la cosas que se les occurran que pueden acabar en el desagüe de nuestro querido Rimac. Y eso es una gran pena para nostros, los Rimaqueños.

Ya que se fue P.P.K. hoy día proclamaremos la independencia de la region del Rimac. Será un estado estricto, no permisivo y perfectionista! Trabajaremos para tener una transparencia total y pureza total de las Aguas del Rimac desde nuestras cumbre nevadas del Ticlio hasta la desembocadura!

Quizás alguien pueda ayudarnos a escoger e utilizar productos de higiene eficiente u otros que sean “rio amigables”. Yo ne se mucho de eso tampoco. Alguien quizás tenga que tomar autoridad y retirar algunos productos del mercado.

En teoría la planta de la Aterjea, purifica y potabiliza esta agua. Que tan buena es esa purificación? No tan buena al parecer. No se mucho de eso.

No sé si le añaden cloro o “fluoride” como en algunos lugares del mundo. Es posible.

Ya cerramos esa puerta por el momento. Hasta que se purifique la cuenca del Rimac en su totalidad…y eso…pues….no se cuanto tiempo demorará..pero seamos realistas…imagínense purificar la totalidad de la cuenca, educar a la gente (Yo incluido), quizás construir la infraestructura necesaria…  

Entonces, que agua tomamos?

Existen varias puertas abiertas. Varias opciones.

Tomaremos algunos días para reflexionar sobre ese tema.

Debriefing. (Date of the trip: 2 of april 2018)

Departure: 2:09PM

Arrival: 6:21PM

Distance: 9.8KM (6.08Miles)

Type: Mountain bike. (Mountain Gear. Borath Aluminium.)

Gear: Cap. Blue short sleaved shirt. Undies. Cargo blue shorts. Sandals. Cell phone. Key set. Camera. Wallet. A map of Lima and a note with street names (As I was going to unexplored territory). My small backpack. An organic apple. Bottle of water, 2/5 full.

--

Stepped out, looked around briefly, got on the saddle and went my way at a slow speed, relaxed…eventually rushing a couple of times in certain situations. It wasn´t a race and I wanted to enjoy my free time (long full moon holliday bridge) riding at low speed, taking time to look around. Besides, speed can become dangerous when biking in a city. As a matter of fact I´ve been starting to think that bikers should be obliged to respect a code and that the police should be able to control us and eventually, put fines if we infrict the code. (I´m not talking about a bike permit with a test.). Very often, as bikers, we become “prepotentes”, “wild” and “drunk on speed” and we sometimes tend to forget some rules like, giving the pedestrian the priority on the sidewalk, respecting the arrows on the cycling paths…and..respect for the green lights…well that´s a privilege that we have over cars. Sometimes we burn the red lights and cheat using the pedestrian crossing which is already green …or go against the traffic. We should have a certain code, I guess.

Anyway. I rolled on the side walk of 28. There´s no other choice. There´s a bike path but it´s in the other direction. So..zig.zagging through the people at a slow speed, sometimes very slow. Untill I arrived at the crossing of Reducto. There´s still that construction site at that corner. A few bikers going through the bike lanes. Tow girls waiting for the green light..like me. A very long red light! I watched it count down from 15 to 0 on red and then it went to a 90 seconds count down still in red. Now I get it. There are only two numbers on the green light. It´s doesn´t do three digits numbers! Now…that´s not right!

I passed and stopped for a while in the middle of the crossing in a safe place, as I waited again. Went way slowly on Reducto. Good thing on that segment of Reducto, is that it´s very slow slope down. It´s insignificant…but I stopped pedaling for a while seeing how far I could go and I was still going faster than pedestrians…with that silly music in my head…”they see me rolling they hating” as I saw this woman laughing on the cell phone.

I got to the bridge. I stopped and wanted to take a pic of the Bajada Armendariz so you can see the sea and the Bajada Armendariz..but I was stopped on the road and thought that I showed that place many times.  Countless people, going from Miraflores to Barranco, probably take that same picture..so I restarted pedaling, passed that dangerous spot where the cars come fast with no problem.

I was in Barranco. Arrived at the red light, made my way throught the cars and the sidewalk to the front red light line.  That´s another small advantage we have on cars. I didn´t wait for the green light and stepped on the side walk. Rolled on the side walk for a while and jumped the sidewalk to get back on the road. Got to that other segment with a little “faux pas” as I hesitated at the crossing. I hesitated between sticking to the road or taking the pedestrian crossing. I took the pedestrian crossing.

Miguel Grau. A bike rider passed in front of me at great speed. Noticed these two caucasian people walking on the sidewalk. That buildings are full of graffitis. We see that eye that is everywhere and that recurrent diamond tag. It´s a whole different world from Miraflores. The people you see are different aswell. They are “bohemians”.

I stopped to check my tires. I forgot to do that on the way out. My back wheel was fine but my front wheel was a tad low. It was ok. Not a problem..no need for a pit stop. It´s always very important for us bikers to keep both wheels inflated to the full. It reduces effort.

I got close to the center and turned left at that light as I had planned. A little street. I had to roll on the sidewalk slow because it was counter direction. Turned right as planned and rolled on that Street for a while.

I saw a humming bird flying around next to flower. Noticed a few murals. One of a humming bird and that was no coincidence. I arrived at that big road with the bus lane behind that pedestrian street in the center of Barranco. I´m not sure. I don´t remember well. But I kept going deep into these tinny Llttle streets of these “barrios”.

At one point I arrived to Surco frontier. The street got wider and I could finally get out of the sidewalk. Another world. There where many dogs in the street, mototaxis and some of the constructions are more humble. We see a few houses which are just bricks, with the roof tops unfinished like in manny places of Lima. I passed in front of a bodega that had dead featherless chickens hanging in line. I was revulsed. I stopped to take a picture of that message at a corner. As a kid mumbled something positive to me.

"There is no Planet B"

I had to go on the sidewalk again. I arrived at a school with kids getting out I guess, as a friendly dog got exited at my site and started to follow me. Kept going untill I got to Camino Real. At that cross I put my foot on the ground, among the stray dogs, an old man and a few vatos that where around. I checked if I could go through that little passage next to the cemetery I had spotted on the map at home. It was a dead end street so I thought I should avoid it.

I kept rolling, turned left, and got to that other street I had spotted previously. It was closed by a grid and the gate keeper told me to take the parallel…so I did. I got into that other street with a grid and stopped to take that picture of an abandonned car as that dog in the picture barked at me.

I arrived at a dead end where a man was sitting on a scooter but there was a door through which I could pass.

As I passed I realized I had arrived to my destination:

“Parque Ecologico Voces para El Clima.”

At the end of the street, I could see a tidy park. I passed a recycling bin, chained my bike on the bike racks outside the structure. There are two big flags on a pole. The peruvian flag and the flag of Surco or Lima..I guess.  I don´t know..a big yellow flag. Didn´t really observe it with caution.

I walked towards the gate to read sign. They required two plastic bottles for the entry. I wasn´t aware of that. As a matter of fact, I though there wasn´t going to be a gate with guards. I didn´t even bring money, which was a dumb thing.

I got to the gate and talked with a lady. I told her I had one plastic bottle in my bag but it was full of water. We negociated and she agreed that I´d give em the bottle on the way out. I filled the register and got in.

So you know: “IF YOU GO THERE, BRING TWO PLASTIC BOTTLES”.

I´m not going to get in the details of the visit for this text is starting to get way too long. I´ll try to sum up.

The place is very tidy and neat. It was built after the COP20 of Lima. There are gardens, with buildings with a lot of panels, a couple of TV screens and ludic activities inside them. There was an interresting high tech device there. We couldn´t take pictures inside the buildings and I won´t tell you what´s inside. There were a couple of gardners and a few guides. They were supposed to guide me but I thought it was more for groups or famillies so I just walked around. It´s interresting. It´s a park on this “zero emmissions” theme. The purity of the air we breed is very important…for our larynxes and our little lungs. I wonder why “voces”…which means “voices”. I think that during the COP, the people who talked on TV about this topic, became “voices for climate”.

I drank my water, ate my apple, took a couple of pictures of the garden.

The gate. 

Ciprés Limon. (Pues si)

The protocol. But I learn it goes way back. Even way before the Rio Conference in 92. They go back as far as 1979 with the World Climate Conference in Geneva.

"Ichu": A Quechua word. (Another plant for the list) Probably endemic...who knows?

Pitched roof!

Asclepias. ( Yet, another new plant)

A view from the park. There are dinos there. I recognize a Triceratops. Maybe to evoke "instinction", which according to a message I read there, is what hummanity is heading too if we keep in this direction. 

A mural made of junk.

A bike rider trimmed in a bush.

Another view of the park.

That dome.

A play ground. A the Bio-Digester behind.

This alley of ficuses.

Behind there where restricted zones where we couldn´t go but I asked about it. There´s a recycling plant and plantations. Quite an impressive park.

There where very few people because we were Monday afternoon but they tell me people actually come to this place. (it´s not a very touristic neighbourhood)

I asked if they had a compost pile for my “trognon” but they hadn´t. As promissed, I left my plastic bottle (Without a cap) on the way out. I stepped out and sat on a bench outside for a minute, in the heat of the sun. I wanted to check the Rio Surco which actually passes right there. I walked along the grid of the park and asked a park guide about it. She confirmed what I thought. The river goes underground in that zone. As a matter of fact, the river Surco takes a very unnatural, course there. It makes two 90 degrees turns, following the street square grid, which is unnatural for a river. Rivers never do that! Rivers meander! I noticed that a long time ago as I studied the local streams. We´ll probably have to work on that and smoothen the angles on that segment. Here´s the map so you can see what I´m talking about. For all we know it might flow right through the park. As some sort of coincidence. Well that´s a “green zone”: A space of vegetation along the river bank. But I wonder a bit because that´s way passed the Barranco bajada. That “Rio Surco”, might have kept going and irrigated a stream that goes to Agua Dulce.

Unnatural flow.

On that street, there was this woman gardening on a lemon tree. Green lemons!! (Another plant for my list…well I could have guessed that…there might be a reason why they say “lima, limón”……but now, I´ve seen with my own eyes) They where unripe but she told me, they give good lemons.

I also took a sneak peek at the plantations behind in the park. I could recognize three papaya trees that you might see in that picture. (We can´t really see due to the grid) Well I knew for long that papayas trees grew in Lima because we had one in Miraflores, untill they cutted it down. Papaya! Very powefull natural laxative….as efficient as prunes. 

From the other side of the fence.

Which bring me to another Little question I was thinking of these last days:

“Why urban areas usually don´t have food plantations?”

Have you ever heard, accross the word, of a city with fruits or nutt trees in the streets and vegetable gardens?

They are very rare. Maybe it has to do with urban hygiene and the fact that it would attract animals. There would be birds and rodents pooping around everywhere. I mean…I saw how those date palm trees in the Parque Salazar attract birds. That´s why the Municipality of Miraflores probably cuts them down a soon as the fruits are ripe. (It´s date season in the region, BTW) And then, if they are not collected, the rotten fruits fall on the ground and bring all sort of smells, flies and bugs. I don´t mind much…I guess bird poo is a part of life…and I personally think rats are cute. Beats me.

Anyway. I kept walking along the grid and saw grounded airplanes on my right. Somesort of open air museum, with these old military flying toy machines for people to see: Parque del aire. I wasn´t expecting to find that there. I wanted to get inside but it also required plastic bottles, which I was out of, so I just took the pictures from outside. As a matter of fact, the place is right next to the “Base aérea de La Palmas”, a F.A.P. airstripe.

We might see a Mirage 2000 there...and maybe a Sukhoi Hellicopter(?)..I think I saw a couple of those flying around Miraflores. They make a hell of a noise. They go : FAP FAP FAP FAP FAP!

That might have been a Cesna Dragonfly...

I got to the end of the street and took the picture of those palm trees and that odd tree shapped antenna. Maybe a cell phone relay..who knows? Cell phone relays shaped like trees? I think it was a Surco thing.

Palmeras en Las Palmas.

I took this picture of the street sign. It´s a thing I do. (Whenever I do an interdistrital trip I take a pic of the street sign with the name of the district)

Surco. (JJ´s been here)

I got back to by bike as I saw with discontempt these two individuals emmiting a hell lot of smoke trying to ignite the engine of a van. I thought I heard a group of people uttering hostile words. I suppose they where taking about those dudes but I preffered leaving the place.

I took these two last pictures as I heard this woman speaking on the phone about a strange topic and got on the saddle.

Giant "Torito de Pucara". If you ever get to the Cuzco zone, you´ll see these bulls on allmost every roof. I don´t know what that is about.

This mural, just in front of the gate. That seemed to be me with the joyfull dog following me.

Got to that passage on the wall, came out through that little “cerrada”. Noticed this woman with a young child and came out through the gate into camino real corner, where a couple was standing.

I turned at that main street and headed my way back, trying to keep rolling, stopping as little as possible among the mototaxis, cars, street dogs and people of that barrio. I saw these school girls in uniform coming back from school I guess.

I got to Barranco through that same road. I saw a guy with a Venezuela cap who mumbled something I don´t remember. I was started to get tired. My attention was lowering a bit. I got to that crossing and started to wonder if I had missed the turned. I thought I heard someone yell “te passaste!” or something like that so I took a street on my left. I wasn´t supposed to go there but I came out on Grau just the same.

A lot of cars and combis on Grau. A lot of people and you know I hate crouds. That´s the comercial center of Barranco right there. I was really losing focus. I just focused on the road and not getting into an accident. Didn´t really looked around for the landscape, the buildings or the people. Reduced my attention to riding my bike. I just remember of this man at a corner. A tall thin man, full of tattoos, with some sort of skin rash and long blonde dreadlocks. A guy from Barranco I guess.

I stopped at a corner a few seconds to rest a bit and regain my focus. There where these same strange guys in their car in the sector. They stopped a bit further. Took my cap off and passed my hand over my sweaty skull. I saw this white bald man with a bike. He might have had a blue bandana…he might have had blue eyes…or blue sun glasses..I don´t recall…doesn´t matter much anyway. Kept rolling and saw him at the red light. Then he disappeard. I stopped before the bridge to let people pass, crossed the bridge.

I was regaining my focus. There was less traffic. I was back in Miraflores. Got on that bike path with no trouble and went up Reducto, till I reached 28. The light was green so I turned left on the bike path. I stopped for a second because a car was backing on the bike lane. He gave me thumbs up, I turned my head back to see if the way was clear and I got out of the bike lane for a few meters.

I wasn´t going straight back to my flat. I remember I had something else planned. I kept rolling up to Larco and stopped at the traffic light. BTW: The bike lane is lame if you want to turn right at that crossing. I had to do a strange move, there.

I went up Larco untill I arrived to my destination. I chained my bike on a bike rack. I recognized that same man on the bench. I got to this building. Checked in my belongings at the counter. Got to the toilets to freshen up at the sink a bit before going up. I stained my shirt with water so I stood out to dry it up for a while. I recognized that other guy. I got into that elevator, inspecting myself with satisfaction because my shirt was dry.

I got into the room with air conditioning and did what I had planned to do. I saw a few knowed faces. I couldn´t stay much because that bike ride really made me hungry. Sticked around one hour maybe. So I checked out the facility and stepped out. I was exausted and really hungry. I might have seen that other guy again..but I couldn´t care much. I went head down to my bike to unchain it.

I hesitated between walking or getting back on the saddle but I chose the saddle, back to my H.Q, mechanically untill I reached my gate.…safe and sound.  

--
I know..there are some grammatical errors and a few orthographic mistakes. I´v spotted many as I read it back, for a 3rd time...but I´ll leave it that way. I´m not reading it a 4rth time!
--

(I´ll try to do a video with some voice audio comments for a future excursion...eventually)

Walk

Departure: Somewhere around 10:50AM... maybe? (damn! I forgot again, I have to take the habit)
Arrival: Somewhere around 12:30..maybe?
Distance: 2.7Km (1.68Miles)
Type: Walk.
Gear: My blue cotton short (It´s another one!), my green polyester polo, underwear, sandals, key set, cellphone, wallet, a post it block, the camera with it´s protective bag hanging around my neck, cap.

I stepped out, turned left and left again. Walked straight. Watched that tree they trimmed yesterday. Arrived at Larco..manny people on bikes and walking around. Crossed the street..walked on San Martin and turned left on Colón. Walked through that street watching around the houses. Less people..I preffer that. Crossed 28, kept walking. Passed that school yard, that seafood restaurant and stopped at the intersection in front of the Hotel Colón. Two old men in the other sidewalk were laughing and saying to a cab driver that it´s  "jueves santo", a christian thing..hollidays here. I hesitated which way to go a bit destabilized in my thoughts by the two old men for a few seconds, and then I turned right without thinking much. I saw this person I know and had a chat with her.

I kept walking and got to that other crossing where there were more people. I crossed at the green light. Saw people working out on the grass on my left. If I remember well, I saw those strange characters in a car again. I decided to cross the bridge today so I went under the bridge and out the other way. A hell lot of people at the Beso Frances. Of course! Today is "feriado" for a lot of people! Now it makes sense.

I crossed the bridge. Manny people on that tight sidewalk. I got to the Parque del Amor and penetrated its path. A lot of people. I got to the path above the water and contemplated the view. Here´s how it looked like today. Even less visibility this morning than yesterday morning. Maybe 1km visibility...I couldn´t be more precise. The picture speaks for itself. Quite a few surfers. For the little history; You see those tents down there? That´s where the surf rental/schools are. They stay ALL day long there day after day..some of them, all year long... sitting in their tent, waiting for customers......That´s "Makaha Beach"!

Then I took this other picture of the shore below. That´s how clear the water was today. It´s a different spot so I can´t give a grade. There are no pebbles at that spot for me to say. But it´s not so clear. It´s pulling to green. There were a few people sunbathing and swimming in the sea, in spite of the grey weather. That´s Waikiki Beach! 

I was already heading back home but I thought I´d better sit on the stairs of the amphitheater, relax and think for a while. I chose a postion facing the ocean and sat there thinking...the usual..."my pitched roofs fetishism again"...."mineral prospection and extraction in the Rimac valley"..."anti-matter as a possible source of clean energy"....I don´t know nothing about anti-matter but concerning mineral extraction I thought it could be a good way to generate richness for this poor region that we live in. A while ago I published a list of projects and ideas to generate richness for the region. (It included painting pebbles and selling them to tourists) Lima doesn´t produce much food obviously. We could grow food on our roofs but that wouldn´t be much. That might one of the reasons, why Lima is a poor city. As a matter of fact I harvested 3 mini-aguaymantos this morning! The other richness could be produced  recylcling but I already talked about that and I don´t want to repeat myself and start sounding senile. Today I was thinking about prospection in the zone. So, I guess that Limeños have already prospected the local zone a while ago. I´ve seen a lot of geological researchs done about the Morro Solar, the geological grounds of Miraflores. But in the Rimac watershed, we have more ressources. During my last "hollidays", I took some of my free time to make some research on mineral operations in the Rimac Watershed zone. (I had problems with workaholism) They have found Zinc, Silver, Lead, pirite, Calcite, Cooper, Indium, Bismuth, Gold, Selenium, Telurium, Antimonium...and I´ve counted at least 10 mineral operations in the Lima Watershed alone, some of which are of great size. (These operations are extraction operations and sometimes local refineries that produce sub-chemical products) 

Having said this the mineral operations always pose an ecological danger. Obviously they must be legal, regulated and must obbey to all environmental and security norms. They could pollute the water we drink down here in Lima! For the future we even have to think about Zero-Emmission machinery to extract and transport the minerals. Or we could just use hand tools, like minor pikes or minor bars...and hand wheel barrows...I´m not an expert...never worked in a mine. But I guess the refinment and smelting part will always require the use of fire. But that´s a richness, us, people of the Rimac can use. Perú is a very accidented terrain. It´s very poor. If you go up the cerros you´ll see nothing but dry dusty rocky  mountains. We don´t have much agricultural land, except for these little valleys that we have in the coast...but we can also extract minerals from the rocks and trade them against other stuff with other people from this world.

There where a lot of people in the Parque del Amor. Snotty brats crying and their mother yelling. Couples taking pictures. This woman sitting on the bench. This other guy sitting next to her. That guy sitting behind me. 

I finally snapped out of my thoughts and stood up to get back home. I read the instructions under that huge statue. "Fue construida el día de San Valentin"...pfffff!

There where a group of white people behind me sitting on a bench. Maybe Anglo-saxons. I didn´t pay much attention. I was on my way out. I walked out of the park and got to the crossing. I stopped to read with attention the instructions for the green light. A dude looked at me laughing and a woman passed by after him. But I concentrated reading this...

Well that can´t be right.

😁

I almost missed the green light as I was taking the picture. Crossed the street and turned right. I got to this park where these green parrots seemed to be laughing out loud. Then, they took off. Indeed, we sometimes have these flocks of green parrotts in Miraflores.

I kept walking. Passed in front of that private clinic. Watched the other shore....people, in the swimming pool of the Club having a good time. Crossed the wooden bridge, walked on San Martin with no particular event.

I briefly stopped to buy organic bananas..they only had 2...That should do!....For the little history: These bananas come from the north of Perú! Then I got back home, with my bananas in my hand,  like the primate I am... safe and sound.

Walk

Departure: 10:16AM 
Arrival: 11:26AM
Distance: 2.6Km (1.6Miles)
Type: Walk
Gear: Blue shorts (Yeah it´s starting to get smelly..I´ll wash it..I only have one good short), blue short sleaved shirt, sandals, cell phone, camera, hat, wallet.

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Stepped out. There was one of the big car-towing municipality truck in front of the building. Turned right, the right again, then left...walked straight. There´s big this "mini sink hole" on Larco. I didn´t take the picture but a couple of weeks ago, the bricks of the sidewalk collapsed into a "mini sink hole"...you know...not so far from the B.C.P. So this morning they where fixing it. Actually I think there where two "mini sink holes" in that spot. Near the BCP, there was also this strange man standing there. And this bikers gang riding together on the main street. As usual, bicycle riders and walkers. 

I got to to the mirror and it reminded about that little stain on my short. I standed at the red light next to this..couple..I guess... and got to the Parque Salazar. I looked around. Quite a few people as usual. I went to the fontain to get some water to clean my little stain. The water wasn´t perfectly clean. There where little impurities floating all around. (Near the Condor Statue) I used that water anyway. I saw these two women. (I already noticed them before) I walked to the Mirador to check the sea. Again, this other woman taking a picture reminded me I had a camera in the big side pocket of my cargo short, I took this picture so you can see the visibility this morning. Kind of misty as you can see. Couldn´t see the Morro Solar at all...the view stops at Sombrillas beach. That´s about a 3KM visibility..or 1.8Miles.

I also took this picture of the towers for you to see the clouds of fog wrapping the towers. It´s a usual phenomenom in Miraflores. We see big clouds flying through the towers.

I headed to the malecon, as I passed through a countless of people. This familly I remember. Then I walked on the Malecon looking around. Nothing special. Runners, bikes, walkers..the usual. I got into the park and took this picture to show the transparency of the water. That´s a big old 4/5..I mean..we CAN see the pebbles yet it still pulls to green. 

I turned back to take that picture that got corrupted the other day. I took the picture of that house because of the pitched roof...and you me and my obsession with pitched roofs. No big deal...

I penetrated into the park and chose a bench. I saw that there was still a little flock of sea birds and fishing boats positioned next to them. Captain Ahab tracking Mobby Dick? No...there must be a shoal of fish under there. Fishermen always have vicious strategies to catch fish.

I finally chose a bench in a strategic position and sat there for a while. There where this 2 people practicing yoga on the grass. A man and a woman. When I arrived I saw them in the lotus position other. Dogs as usual. I was thinking but my mind got disturbed by a group debating about chickens. They were having an important argument about vegetariansim and the lack of food. I think the girls where advocating vegetarianism and explaining to a guy that the K.F.C. wings he ate were the product of horrible industrial animal farming and that the chickens where packed with hormones and all sort of vaccine shots that make you grow feathers in the most improbable parts of your body. They also talked about the economic aspect of food and I heard them say that it wasn´t right to kill people to take their food in case of a famine, which is right. Actually I was thinking about that aswell, as I was watching the vegetation in the Balta Valley and the total absence of edible fruits in the trees or any form of food in the local gardens.

A dude asked me in spanish the way to get down to the beach. That place is complicated. "Para ir a la playa, tu tienes que cruzar la calle, ir donde esta la muchacha, debajo del puente y caminar hasta llegar a la escaleras del otro lado de la calle"

I also noticed this woman with two other persons, next to a big furry dog. A chow chow, if I´m not wrong. When they left I heard the guy say something. But I wonder what it was about. I was trying to think about a few stuff as this happened around me and with my other eye I was staring at the other shore, at that yellow paraglider that was trying to rise. The pilots apparently gave up ..maybe due to the lack of wind. There was a slight wind this morning but it might haven´t been enough. If there´s not enough wind the paragliders go straight down to the beach and then...they have to walk all the way up the cliff.

I stood up and took this picture of the "Balta Valley", with the fog wrapping the clouds. 

I went under the bridge thinking it was about time to get back to my H.Q. and heard two compatriots. I thought they where lost because they where talking about the path under the bridge...and asked them about it. But in fact they weren´t really lost and where heading to the Parque Kennedy. "oui, oui"

I walked along the Club Terrazas. Tennis players. I noticed this young girl playing tenis and then I heard this old woman getting out of a car saying something strange. I kept walking and saw the people in the Gym working out as usual..from the other side of the fence. 

I turned at 28 and I saw that same man at the same place. One of the regulars. Walked all the way to Larco. At the crossing I had to think again and make a choice. I chose to walk on the Boulevard again. Longest distance but shorter time to wait at the red light! A lot of people on Larco. So many faces in Miraflores that I don´t really remember all the people or things I see...and there´s a lot going around. Too much I´d say. 

Crossed Larco at the corner, walked through San Martin and got back to the H.Q....safe and sound.