Hello all. RT here. Reporting from an internet cafe in Lima, Peru. My usual off-shore monger locations are Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic. Well, I don't want to call San Jose 'same old, same old', but I was ready for something/somewhere different. And I'm not getting anyone to pay my way to the DR right now.

After hunting through various message boards, I decided on Lima. Why? 1. They speak Spanish. I speak a LITTLE Spanish. 2. AA goes there. I had $400 in AA bucks and I upgraded with miles. 3. It is a little, well, off the beaten monger path. I like trying out new stuff. 4. There's a convention in Arequipa that I can attend this weekend. It will serve me well as an excuse for the general public. And I like conventions. 5. Lots of casinos. 6. Had to go somewhere.

Peru is on the West coast of South America, in the Eastern time zone (same as Florida). Right now, it is one hour earlier than in the Eastern US -- they don't do the daylight savings thing. Anyway, Lima is a BIG city. Someone told me 7 or 8 million people. It spreads out forever. There are about a dozen 'districts' ranging from shiny, safe and modern (Miraflores) to not so shiny, safe and modern (most of the rest of them). I will be hanging in Miraflores, mostly. The currency is the Nuevo Sole, of which approximately 3.5 make a dollar. I will quote all prices in dollars; the currencies are pretty much interchangeable here. Supermarkets, for example, charge dollars for imported goods and soles for domestic stuff.

As far as I can tell, the Play for Pay scene here falls into six categories:

OUTCALL: Just like back home. You call a number from an ad or a website, tell them what you want, and the girl shows up, sometimes on time, sometimes not. It looks like the going rate is about $80-100 for two hours or so.

NIGHT CLUBS: From what I read, fancy shmancy strip joints, where you pay about $15 to get in, pay a huge bar fine, and negotiate with the girls for either on or off site action. The places seem to range from scary to awesome. We'll see about this. I've seen prices all over the map for this.

DISCOS: Tequila Rock is the most famous, but I am sure that there are others. These are discos where, ahem, unaccompanied women go to find a date for the evening. You circulate and wait for the 'stare' from them. It is unmistakable, I hear. They're not shy. I get the feeling that it is a low-key version of the Blue Marlin in San Jose.

INCALL: There are lots of ads in the paper and notes on message boards about incall places/massage parlors, with prices from $15-$40. I hope my Spanish can handle this.

TURKISH BATHS: There are millions of them here. From what I can tell, sauna, steam rooms, massages, whirlpools, food, drink, and some frolic. Maybe.

STREET GIRLS: Not like street girls back home. These are well-kept girls looking to make a few dollars to, er, pay for rent and eat. They can be found in a small food area called 'pizza alley', as well as a mall called Larco Mar, and probably other places. The trick is to circulate and look for the 'stare'. Once you make contact, treat it as if it was a random pick up and either go from there or get a telephone number for the future.

Other than the convention, I'm here to monger and get a little sightseeing in. Pappy, a poster from one of the boards I am on, will be joining me on Day 2 and leaving a day before me. He isn't going to the convention, so we will only have a few days together here. I wil be in Lima Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. I'm going to Arequipa on Friday and returning on Sunday afternoon, and leaving back for home Wednesday morning. I've got my GPS, so you can follow in my footsteps, if it turns out well. We will see how it goes.