Thanksgiving - La dia de pavo.
I did pretty much nothing in the daytime, and I had a really good day. We will see about tonight.
First, I spent an hour and a half at Starbucks. I read the ads in the various newspapers ('Trome' has quite a few ads and 'El Comercio' has three or four columns of classifieds every day) and checked some websites and found some possibles, maybe for tonight.
Then I headed to Plaza San Miguel. It's a big shopping mall with all your favorite shopping mall stores. After one of my earlier trips, I told two stories to one of my friends. The first was that I bought bootleg DVDs in Peru. The other was that I didn't pack very well and had to buy more underwear once I got here. Somehow, his alcohol-riddled brain came up with the concept that I bought bootleg underwear in Peru, and, if they have bootleg underwear there, they have everything. No amount of reason could change his mind, so he asked me to get him a bootleg Swiss Army knife on this trip. What the hell, I love to shop. I walked the mall, hoping to find a sporting goods store that carried knives, but no luck. I was able to add to my tremendous weight by having a sandwich, two empanadas, and washing it all down with a hot fudge sundae. The next thing I know, it's 1:30PM.
Plaza San Miguel
Avenida La Marina
San Miguel
12° 04.655' S, 77° 04.991 W
I taxi back to Miraflores and pick up my sunglasses then head towards Kennedy Park. The Telephonica people (a local phone company) has a product that they offer throughout Peru called Speedy Wi-Fi. They set up Wi-Fi hotspots throughout Lima in places like hotels, Dunkin' Donuts stores, Starbucks, the Airport, LarcoMar Mall, and Kennedy Park. You buy a card with a password for $5 that lasts five hours (not all at once, necessarialy). The signal is strong in the park, but - even better - there were a half a dozen unsecured free signals. So I sat in the park and surfed for a little while, off the clock.
Seen more often than the Golden Arches, it's Intel's Centrino logo!
Leaving the park, I walked on Avenida Schell (it's just shoe store next to shoe store). I stopped at a place named 'Playboy' and bought a pair of knockoff Hush Puppies and knock off Topsiders for 130 Soles total ($38.81) then walked to Avenida Petit Thours to look in more tiendas for Christmas gifts/tourist crap.
But mostly to flirt, flirt, flirt. First I met a pretty young girl named Milagros that lived around the corner from me! She spoke some English, so we practiced with each other for a while. Then I met Georgina. No raving beauty, but pretty and friendly. She kept me talking, the conversation turned to restaurants, then she finally mentioned a real nice one (La Rosa Nautica). I took the cue and asked her to join me for dinner there tonight. She got a horrified look (What have I done?) and asked, Why me? I replied, Why not? I had her, but she quickly negotiated down to a less expensive, less romantic place. We couldn't settle on where, but we agreed to a date ('cita') in principle, and I have to call her at 8:00 and pick her up at 8:30 at her tourist crap tienda. We will see how it goes.
Well, it looks like I won't be calling any of the web girls today, but when I don't score with Georgina tonight, I can always cruise Pizza Alley later. I went back to the apartment to drop off my purchases and get ready for the evening. To be continued.
*****
I was showered, shaved and dressed by 7:00. You guessed it: off to the casinos. First the Marriott. I won some, but the new dealers making mistakes was getting annoying to me. Across the street at Casino Miraflores, I won some more, and called Georgina at 8:10. She tried to get me to meet her somewhere after she got off work, but when I didn't understand, she told me to meet her at her job. On the way, I stopped at the Corner Sports Bar to say hello to the waitress from last Saturday. She gives me a peck on the check, and reminds me that I owe her the 'Canes hat. I tell her I will see her in a day or two.
I got there as she was closing up. We wound up going to Alfresco.
Alfresco Restaurant
Malecon Balta #790
Miraflores - 242-8960
12° 07.456' S, 77° 01.991 W
It was, er, nice being on a real date with a regular, nervous girl. I tricked her into ordering her drink first (I don't drink, and I didn't want that to make her not order a glass of wine if she wanted it), and she wound up ordering the same main dish as I did.
I ordered grilled pulpo (octopus) and picante de mariscos (mixed seafood in a slightly spicy sauce). Georgina had fish Carpaccio and the picante as well. The food was excellent, and, incredibly, we were able to take an hour and a half to talk with each other - very slowly. Very, very slowly. She's about 25, has two kids, lives with her mom, and has been separated for two years. I got the entire speech about how the money-hungry girls have it all wrong, and that if you have a good person, you can be happy as long as the rent is paid. She was really down on Peruvian men (I guess the ex wasn't all she hoped for).
We talked about lots of first-date stuff: movies, travel, the different jobs we've each had, etc. It was very normal. When it was time to leave (about 11:00), we had an argument about her taking a cab home (she lives far from Miraflores, the bus would have taken over an hour, she said). Maybe she was putting on an act, but she finally relented. I believe that she really does live far, because the first two cabs refused to take her, and the third quoted a price of 16 Soles (by comparison, the ride to Plaza San Miguel - pretty far - this morning was only 8 Soles. When she was getting in the car, I got a thank you, a chaste kiss on the cheek and instructions to call her. I will.
Dinner ran a total of 182.73 Soles ($54.55), including an additional tip. The one thing that I don't like about Alfresco is that they add a 5 Sol per person cover charge to the check. There's no entertainment; they just sell you food. My friends say that it is not a totally uncommon happening, but it seems like a minor league thing for a good restaurant to do.
It was still early, so I went back to Miraflores Casino where I win some more and leave at 12:00 to go shopping at Pizza Alley. My first pass through netted nothing that I wouldn't throw back, but then I was approached by two girls, asking me if I wanted company. I tried to separate them (I was more attracted to the smaller, younger one), but I got the '2 girl' sales pitch, and after getting an OK for photos, decided what the hell. In the cab to the apartment I had second thoughts about keeping track of two girls in someone else's house, so I suggested that we go to a 'hostal' (a hotel that's not as nice as a hotel). They told the cabbie to go somewhere, and we wound up at some hostal or another. We went up, I paid my 20 Soles, and we went to a room not unlike the ones upstairs from Adelita Bar in Tijuana, but cleaner. The door shut, I got off one photo, and then they asked for the money in advance. I wasn't happy, but OK.
Photo: Bad Girls 11
Until they asked for $200. Remember, I paid Claudia $70, including a tip for anything that I could think of. These girls weren't giving off nearly as playful vibes as Claudia. When I balked at the price, they came down to $150, then $100. The other problem was, in the bright light of the room, I got a better look at the makeup jobs that they had on. They were done up well, but there was a **lot** of makeup. So I just told them to forget it, I didn't like being taken advantage of. They jabbered in Spanish for a while, then I gave them 10 Soles for a taxi, I left, and I even got my 20 Soles for the room back! I'm probably not the most popular guy in those girls' house today, but I don't care.
I gave up on getting laid today, so I went to the Hacienda Casino for a while where I lost a few dollars, but had a great time talking to this drunk married girl, Ursurla. She was about 30, she said, and she told me her husband was 51 and home asleep. I probably could have closed the deal, but she had an ugly friend with her, and with her being drunk and all, it wasn't worth the possible drama. I left the casino at 2:30 and went back to the apartment.
I guess that I did well today, financially. I started out with $500 in my pocket. I paid for dinner, the balance of the glasses, and the shoes with a credit card, and the various gifts were paid for with Soles. I must have spent a few dollars more here and there, but I still ended the day with $602. So I must have won about $150 at the various casinos.
Still a good day, even without the sex.
COMING UP NEXT: RT Gooch wonders, "what the hell am I doing?"