Well, I am finally on my way to Peru. In fact, I’m writing on the plane. I am on the first leg of the trip – Miami and then on to Lima from there. I am staying in the Miraflores neighborhood.
This trip should be more interesting; more relaxed than the trip to Australia or Chicago – both of which were bears – very productive bears but too busy to be anything other than work.
I am spending 2 full days in Lima; not much pressure of this part of the trip – mostly meet and greet, show the flag and make sure that as many people remember us as possible. I do have a dinner meeting on Thursday night with the Clinton Foundation representatives for Peru. It should be interesting they are dedicating big money to Peru and rumor has it that they are frustrated with the lack of progress – loads of dedicated money not being spent – everything too slow. I can help them spent the money.
After Lima I’m off to Arequipa, Arequipa is the main event of the trip. I am giving a lecture on technological procurement to health ministry officials, local ophthalmologist and the heads of a couple of Hospitals. I have known the main players in Arequipa the longest; some of them have become friends. It was the group from/Arequipa that were behind making me an honorary member of the Peruvian Ophthalmology Society.
I am hand carrying about 6 thousand dollars in technology for the Arequipa group. Hand carrying is a NGO (Non Government Organization) way of saying smuggling. The duties are so onerous in the developing world that you practically have no choice; unless you are either willing to pay a bribe or get a Certificate of Donation processed. These countries are trying to protect the local business men; the problem is their mark-up can easily double the price and that is after customs are paid. The most notorious country is Egypt – they require the NGOs to purchase all items from in-country vendors regardless of where it is manufacture red – it’s outrageous – this is free equipment, paid for by the NGO. So we use the euphemism ‘hand carry’ to cover suitcase technology. It has never been a problem; US customs once in Miami gave me a lecture 3 or 4 years ago, but that has been the only time it was ever an issue.
After Arequipa I go to Piura for a couple of days – it is in the far north, desert country. It is so far north that the inhabitants refer to themselves as Piurians not Peruvians. Finally back to Lima and then home. I will miss Thanksgiving by a day.
Andrew is having one of the Mike’s over for dinner and Rob and Vickie are coming, so the house will still be full. I am sure it is not decided yet and won’t be until the day before Thanksgiving but Marilyn and Andrew are playing with the idea of not having turkey and the usual fixing. I can’t say I blame her – it is a ton of work; but for me it just would not be Thanksgiving without the usual traditions. Mind you the usual traditions usually do not involve much on my part – Marilyn would say that I have a tradition of not doing any work that day so my opinion is not relevant.
On the way to the Metro (Metro sucks by the way – the last Metro scandal involves the escalators – it seems they bought the model that has the worse service record – are you surprised?) this morning
Miami to Lima - Several hours later
I just finished dinner; it’s a good thing I’m from Pittsburgh and don’t have a discriminating palette, despite the questionable cuisine, I like dining on a plane; I eat slowly (no where to go) and listen to music and every once in a while I have a glass of wine to smooth out the trip.
The trip from Miami to Lima is a little over 5 hours – not so bad. I have music and the Kindle to keep me busy. The one thing about these trips that burn my ass is putting the seat back. Most airlines make people bring the seat back to the upright position at least for meals – not the case tonight. The only saving grace is aisle seats; I’d have a hard time if I was locked into one of those casket-like middle or window seats.
In some ways I am a little glad not to be home for Thanksgiving – I always fixed Mike (my dog – passed a couple months ago) a plate, I’ll miss that, it was special for him. Of course, that was before he took over the kitchen with rotating chefs – now if you want to talk about a discriminating palette. Mike in his old age acted like a diva New York food critic, and your Marilyn made it a daily act of mercy to read his mind and prepare just the right meal to satisfy Mike ‘The Dog.’ This bizarre behavior must have something to do with latent Catholicism.
I just flew over Panama - another trip across the equator. I’m getting a little tired of typing on a ‘V’ shaped computer screen and keyboards – the seat in front of me is reclined. One last thing before I leave for the evening – I finally got a blackberry smart phone. The advantage is that it has international ‘push’ email and international chat; also international calling, but too expensive to answer except in an emergency.
More later.
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