21 July 2001 - A Letter from Lima

An email letter sent to a friend from Lima , Peru on 21 July 2001

"Early Saturday morning and for a change it's not so cold but grey all the same. I will go to the Banos Turcos later to get rid of all those grimy deposits on my skin due to Bolivia's hard water and cold weather. On my stereo Al Bano is singing lyrical songs made up from some of the classic world's most famous melodies (like Jose Carreras did with his very successful CD PASSION and later MORE PASSION ). I found the CD in LA Paz. Some are most unlikely but of the 14 tracks he did best with Puccini's Hum Chorus from Madame Butterfly, and worst with the Triumphant March from Verdi's Aida. All a bit kitch but entertaining. Al Bano is actually a spent Italian pop idol of the early 80's. Imagine what his name sounds like in the Spanish world as N is actually NYE so BANO is actually pronounced BANYO. So Al Bano in Spanish means TO THE TOILET! (Just like at the 1974 Miss World Pageant in London Royal Albert Hall where the host announced - Ladies and Gentlemen, Miss Malaysia Maggie LOO!! Or the 70s popular black American singer LOU RAWLS (pronounced loo (toilet) rolls!!). Victor my driver went into a fit of giggle on Al Bano !!

On Thursday evening I attended a concert at The Lima University after a lovely reception at the Russians where I ate quite a bit but couldn't get any drinks. The University has it's own symphonic orchestra and the evening's guest was a South Korean violinist, a Kwung Wa Chung in the making! Anyway some drama unfolded during the concert. In the middle of a Wagner prelude the conductor's score stand tumbled off the stage and while the conductor clumsily fumbled to restore things the orchestra gallantly played on! And in the middle of Mozart's beautiful second movement of the Violin Concerto no. 5 a young boy thumped, thumped down the wooden isle of the side platform seats making such a noise and soliciting loud hissings! Mendelssohn's Symphony was the best executed piece of the evening. I had a chat with the solo violinist after the concert and warned her about he altitude of Cusco and Machu Picchu which she was visiting the next day as a tourist, and especially about La Paz where she would perform in the coming days !

Last night a very grand garden reception (under a superb Arabian Night sort of tent complete with life orchestra and a voluptuous bolero singer ala Sharifah Aini and a fresh oysters stand to boot ) by my Colombian lady counterpart and one and half hour into it a four-wheel arrived in the garden right in front of the tent and out stepped AlejendroToledo! The two posh ladies I was talking to then, no doubt Lima's upper crusts, weren't the least bit amused and said he should get out at the front gate and walked in like everyone else! President-elect what! Give some due lah.

Busy days ahead, at least one reception or a dinner every evening for the next three weeks. Eight farewells for departing Ambassadors, and one after another national days receptions. And tonight a reception for Belgium's take-over of the EU Presidency. Our Deputy Minister arrives 26 July and has a two days solid programme and I can only manage to have him over for breakfast at the Residence on Friday. Have to be sensitive lah for Friday prayers, if he does not wish to go I will invite him to lunch at a restaurant, I have a couple of Peruvian officials on standby for this .

Did I tell you I ate so much red trout from Lake Titicaca in La Paz and Santa Cruz. Lovely thing, almost like salmon which I don't usually like. That strawberry and milk drink consumed by my assistant in Santa Cruz was really bad, he hasn't fully recovered from that food poisoning till yesterday and still refused to see a doctor . And I am back with my bloated tummy feeling again, damn whatever it is here in Lima that causes that. I feel fine the moment I step out Lima .
Got a slight cold since my returns, how not too with all those ladies I had to exchange kisses with at the receptions, some of whom had the flu and should have stayed home !!
I have a lunch invitation tomorrow at Maria Musa's brother's house in sunny Cineguilla. At least some sunshine. Toby is such a darling but my allergy to him really bothered me. What to do!
I hope you will not be disappointed with the rock I sent you. I can get you bigger ones now that I know where they can be found. My clock from La Paz set in the rock is just beautiful.

Got to go now for the real bano! Look forward to your news. Have a nice weekend.
Big hugs, 
Roem "