I had a simple, but full plan for today: Check my email, shop in the Mercado again, go to the Banos Turcos at the Hotel Bruce for JUST a massage, have lunch at La Mar, order in an outcall girl, have dinner at Astrid y Gaston, and gamble the night away. Simple!
Right downstairs from the apartment building is a 30 cent an hour internet store, so I blow the whole $0.30 checking email and getting some news from the USA. I then walked back to the Mercado and bought a dozen DVDs for 4 Soles each. A couple of trips back, Angie took me to a place that charged me 2.6 soles per DVD, but that was downtown, and I wasn't calling Angie. I headed over towards the Hotel Bruce, stopping on the way to order a pair of sunglasses.
The optical joints in Peru are great. I wound up shopping at Oficina Optica on Avenida Jose Pardo #586 in Miraflores (241-2508), but they were no more special than any of the other million eyeglass places around town. I wear bifocals, and the price for everything, including the tint and UV coating was only 120 Soles ($35.82). And they would be ready by 5 pm, but I said I would come back tomorrow. Killer!
The glasses store was only two blocks from the Hotel Bruce.
Hotel & Casino Bruce
Avenues Jose Pardo & Bolognesi
Behind Supermarket Santa Isabel
Miraflores
12° 07.206' S, 77° 02.182 W
I have a love/hate relationship with the Banos Turcos at the Hotel Bruce. The location is great, facilities are very good, the towel boys and assorted staff are great (they cleaned my sneakers without me even asking), and the massage girls are attractive. They even take credit cards with no surcharge. The down side is that the place is more expensive than most, facility-wise, and the girls are out of control in their pricing. At most spas, full service goes for 120-150 Soles; here the prices start at 250, and not just for me (gringos), for everyone. I wasn't worried about the girls' pricing, as I had more resolve than yesterday.
I spend a lot of time in the steam room, sauna and Jacuzzi, and finally grab a seat in front of the huge TV in the rest area. After a while, I walked over to where the massage girls hang out and chose a real stunner. She led me to her 'office' and I laid down after showing her where my neck and lower back were a little tight.
It felt like I was in a strip joint back home - you know, the kind where the girl walks up to you, says, "want a dance," and walks away without so much as a good-bye when you say, "no, thanks."
She asked me if I wanted 'servicio'. I said no, I was just here for a massage. She couldn't believe it.
"Why not?" "Because my girlfriend will kill me."
"How about just some head or a hand job?" "No thanks, just a massage."
Now she was livid. I got a rapid-fire speech in Spanish that was basically, "Look, I'm here to suck dick; if you want a massage, go somewhere else. I'm not very good at massages."
I told her that she was doing just fine and should finish up the 40 minutes. I think that she believed that I didn't understand her. She was hating life, but all I wanted was a massage (and to prove to myself that I could control my urges).
The time finally ended. I got one more lecture, and then calmed her down a little by giving her a 30 Sol tip. The total price for my time in the Spa came to 128.50 Soles ($38.34). I left with clean sneakers and my virtue intact.
About three blocks from the Hotel was a legitimate massage place.
Centro de Masaje Miraflores
Calle 2 de Mayo #611
Miraflores - 241-0555
I had been to this place once before and got a great therapeutic massage. I entered this time, they told me that they had a man available now or a woman in 30 minutes, so I selected the guy. He twisted and turned me seven ways to Sunday, and when I left, I was feeling like a million bucks. The tab there: 28 Soles for the massage and a 20 Sol tip ($14.33 total). I headed back to the apartment - it was time to look for my outcall date.
I first looked at Nena's Peru for a likely candidate. Just like back home, I got lots of voicemails and no answers. Finally, I connected with Melissa. She would come to me, she said, but she much preferred if I showed up at her incall, right down the street from Pizza Alley. Also, her friend Barbarita was also available (a beautiful girl, but her page is no longer on line). I think that she quoted 150 Soles for the hour and 80 for the half for incall.
Bingo! This is exactly what I have been trying to track down for six trips now. This opens a lot of possibilities. For one thing, when I first get to town with all this, er, pent up enthusiasm, I tend to overspend and under produce. A $24 half hour quickie (in the neighborhood) would be just what the doctor ordered. But not today. I was looking for someone to come to my apartment. I told Melissa that I would call another time.
My next few calls finally netted Jimena. Her pictures were good, she answered the phone, and she said she would be over in a half hour and that the cost was 160 Soles ($47.76). I settled in and watched some TV and waited.
45 minutes later, there she is. Attractive, tall, nice smile. She definitely isn't the girl on the website. For one thing, she's 20 years old - the ad says 25. For two, the girl on the ad has the most fantastic ass - this girl has an OK one. And for three, the girl in person is much taller than the one advertised. In the United States, I would have sent her away immediately. This has happened twice to me here on previous trips. The first time, they might have tried to tell me, but not this time. The appointment making process was clean and fast - where are you? This is how much. See you soon. But, here she was, and she was attractive, so I went for it.
Anyway, whoever she is comes in (she has a driver and called down to check in), we share some pineapple juice and try to chat. It doesn't go that well (she just couldn't understand my horrible Spanish), but she agrees to some clothed pictures, so we do that then head to the bedroom. She was very submissive, but agreeable. I'm not all that original, but whatever I suggested was OK. We went for five positions, and she moaned at all the right times, and we finished happy. I wound up paying her $50 plus 20 Soles for 'cab fare' (I figured her driver should make $5 on the deal) and I walked her downstairs 50 minutes after she arrived. A great time, no. But a good time and delivered right to my door.
Photos: Mystery Outcall 05 06 07 08 09 10
I'm not usually a more than once per session kind of guy (Camilla was a happy aberration), but I get the feeling that, if you wanted to use your whole hour on various activities, it would have been more than OK with her. I never addressed the bait & switch with her, so I never got her real name.
After Mystery Girl left, I walked to Astrid y Gaston for dinner (I had made a reservation on Monday).
Astrid y Gaston
Cantuarias #175
Two blocks from Miraflores Central Park
Miraflores - 444-1496
This was my second time there, and it was once again fantastic. I had a concha negra soup with some scallops thrown in for good measure that was delicious. Then, because I still am not fat enough, I had a second appetizer that they called a 'false pizza'. It was round, and there were tomatoes involved, so you could kinda refer to it as a pizza. The round part was some sort of mashed potato, then covered with chopped up tomatoes, and then topped with a bunch of scallops. There were two different sauces drizzled over it and was equally as fabulous as the soup.
My main dish was a double cut pork chop, grilled with a pesto topping. OFF TOPIC COMMENT: Who remembers the time when there wasn't pesto? I do, then one day, it was just everywhere. I hope the marketing guy from the Pesto consortium is still getting residuals. It was difficult, but I was able to force the entire chop down my throat. I passed on dessert, but they brought two tiny sweets to go with my cappuccino. The service was equal to the food quality. An outstanding meal anywhere in the world, at virtually any price. Luckily, I'm in Lima, so all of this opulence (Including two soft drinks and an additional tip) only ran 156 Soles ($46.57). Pricey for Lima, but well worth the cost.
In the cab to Casino Miraflores, I realized that the dinner set me back $9.40 less than my hour with the mystery outcall girl. I'm not sure what it says about me, but I much more enjoyed the dinner than the date beforehand. That's not a reflection on the girl. I've gotten laid a lot of times, but I've only eaten at Astrid y Gaston twice now. I guess that I'm still in the honeymoon phase!
I could do nothing right at Casino Miraflores, losing $105 at $3 blackjack in nothing flat (that's quite an accomplishment). There was some good from the visit, however. One of the pretty dealers told me that things weren't going so well at home with her husband. They've seen me enough there over the last year and a half that they realize that I'm not a one-time tourist. Also, I don't act like a total asshole, and the only girl I've taken there was Angie (my Peruvian-ex). They feel bad that we broke up, so they're being extra nice to me. The other thing that I learned was, unlike back in the USA, age discrimination is an accepted part of doing business in Peru. When a dealer hits 33 years old, she's gone, no ifs, ands, or buts. They realize that men like looking at young women, so that's what they give the customers. She explained that it was sad, but that's the way it is.
It was too early to go home, so I went to the Marriott Casino to play $2 blackjack and hopefully, stop the rupture of money. It took an hour, but I wound up winning about $40 to salvage the gambling night. As I reported, this casino is much bigger than it used to be, and they have a ton of new help. If you go anytime soon, be prepared to wait while the pit bosses fix all the mix-ups that a host of new dealers make. Everyone there is nice, so it's not the worst thing in the world.
I cashed out and got a cab back to the apartment at about midnight. I managed to do everything on my list except for lunch at La Mar. And, keep my virtue intact when I wanted to. All in all, another good day.