Line
Jumpers:
What is it
with people that they have to get ahead of the line? Whether it is at airport boarding gates, bank
queues, bus stops or in my most recent bothersome incident at the government
office.
This is the
place where I got my government permissions last year. I had already paid the fee (see last post)
and so knew I had only one office to report to, and it was on the third floor. The guards at the stairs directed me to a set
of seats, second in line. When there was
a group of 8 or so we were all directed up to the third floor and put in a row,
in order, and asked to wait. Ten minutes
later another group of 8 arrived and sat down.
A few moments later a security guard came to take us in to the office,
and proceeded to take the people who had just arrived. When we objected, the (insert favourite expletive) inconsiderate, lowlife line jumpers just smiled and rushed
away.
Added
another hour to my morning.
Part of the
morning consisted of waiting across the street at a café for an hour while my
papers were “processed”. Coffee was
decent, and it gave me an opportunity to people watch.
And of
course coffee is a great, well, “facilitator”, if you catch my drift. Off I went to find the biff, which brought
back to reality the expectations of cleanliness and equipment in most
establishments.
No toilet
seat
No toilet
paper
No latch on
the door.
(if you are
squeamish jump a paragraph or two…)
But I
really, really had to go. What to
do? Extract from my purse the emergency
stash, wipe bowl lid, cover bowl lid and (ick) sit. A very short time later I was done, wiped,
stashed the used goods in the garbage can (at least it was not in a pile on the
floor) and flushed. No water to
flush. Really? What now?
Can’t say I have ever been faced with needing to fish and dispose.
Ewwwwwww. Sorry.
Not gonna do it. Uh unh, no way,
you can’t make me. So I gently laid the
last small piece of emergency TP over the evidence and did a very hasty
exit.
Ah the joys
of travel.
After
finishing up with my paperwork, the next target was the National Museum. All these trips and I had never been. Of particular interest was the exhibit done
in honour of the victims of the civil war of 1980 -2000.
People here
do not speak of it. It is considered the
height of indiscretion to bring it up unless someone happens to mention
it. None of my acquaintances has
yet.
The exhibit
was testament to the horrors inflicted by both the Shining Path and Tupac Amaru
Guerrilla forces and the Government Anti-terrorist forces. So much terror, so much death. Family member against family member,
villagers against villagers.
Done
chronologically it depicted death and despair, and towards the end of the
exhibit it had rooms dedicated to the orphans, women, and the “disappeared”
(those who were taken and have never been heard of again.
I came away
disturbed, not only as a decent human would about the inhumanity and loss, but
also with the certainty that many of the people I know were likely forced to
take sides and pick up weapons.
It also
explains Jose’s very quick approval that the people ambushing the busses from
Tarapoto last year had been summarily executed.
Shiver.
Next up, a
rant about the drivers!
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