The earth moves for RT Gooch - twice!
Just before 6 this morning, I got woken up by a noise, but it wasn't the normal street noise. In my mostly still asleep state, I thought that I was home in Florida and the windows were rattling due to a thunderstorm outside. The shaking of the bed woke me further and made me realize that I was in the middle of an earthquake. Either it was a big one, and I was luckily far away, or it was a medium one and I was close. The shaking stopped after what seemed like hours, but was probably only 30 seconds or a minute. By the time that I was fully awake, it was pretty much over, so I didn't get to be as scared as I could have.
It turned out to be a fairly big quake. It registered a 6.7 on the Richter Scale, and was only 100 miles from Lima. Fairly strong. Everywhere you go, you see a lot of signs denoting places as safe in case of an earthquake. I never paid much attention; maybe I should start.
If you're interested, here's a link from the U.S. Geological Society that gives all the details: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsww/Quakes/usubal.php
I managed to get back to sleep and woke up for real at 8:00. There are only two days left on this trip, and I still had plenty to accomplish.
I went to look at an apartment for next time. I was to meet the guy at 10:30, and we were both on time. The problem turned out to be his girlfriend - she had the key, and never showed up. He lives in the building, so he said that he would wrestle the key from her, and I'm going to meet him tomorrow at 9:00 am. Another instance of wasting time waiting on a woman. Will I ever learn?
Apparently not. At around 11:30, I decided to call two girls who work at Club 69. My friends had asked for their numbers when we were there on Wednesday night. The first girl's number went to voicemail, and the second told me to call her at 4:00. I had said that I wanted to see her at that time, so I will call earlier than that, if I still want her.
About a year ago, I signed up for a free email account at peru.com. I don't use it for anything, but I thought that it could come in handy to have an email address @peru.com. One day, I might use it for something, and then I will get back to you.
The one thing that it does get me is Peruvian spam. But since I am always looking for all the information that I can get, I welcome el Spamo del Peru. The ads run to career advice, travel deals and the such. They also include nightclub events and restaurant ads. One ad was for a restaurant called Punto Blanco. It is on the beach, and their ad offered a seafood buffet every day for 39 Soles. They cared enough to spam me; I figured, what can it hurt to try it?
Punto Blanco
Corredor Costa Verde, Miraflores
252-8454
Open every day for lunch
There is no exact street address - make sure that the taxi driver knows where it is. I asked if they knew the restaurant Punta Blanco, and didn't get in a cab until I heard the word 'playa' (beach) come out of the driver's mouth. As a hint, you can tell them that it is right near CALA Restaurant. The fare will be anything from 4-8 Soles from Miraflores. I paid 7 going, and 5 coming back. It's worth $2 for the ride.
Punto Blanco, as its name suggests, is all decked out in white; the walls, the décor, the waiters. White, white, white. I could hear my mother telling me not to mark up the walls.
The place is only a month old, so the walls may indeed be scuffed by the time that I return. The restaurant is upscale, in terms of the service and food quality. And they've gotten a good reputation, obviously. There are probably 150 seats there, and the restaurant was nearly full when I left.
Punto Blanco offers quite the spread for lunch. There were eight salad choices, six different ceviches, some sushi choices, soups, a few different rice dishes, and about 15 different chafing dishes with hot selections. Most everything ran to fish and seafood, but there were three chicken choices and a couple of beef options. To top it all off, there were a half dozen cakes for dessert, along with a bunch of flavors of ice cream.
And this wasn't your standard buffet slop - it was all very well prepared and constantly replenished. My total bill, including a soda and a coffee afterwards, was 50 Soles (about $17). The waiter explained to me that they also had an a la carte menu for lunch, and that they operated as a disco at night (he pointed out the lighting system), and the kitchen was open then, too.
I recommend the buffet at Punto Blanco. Even with the volume of customers, I can't see how they are making very much money with the offer. Either they will have to raise the price, or lower the quality (probably the former) very soon. Get there while it is still a deal.
Getting a cab on the beach was not a problem. They were passing by all the time. I flagged one down and headed back to the apartment to explode.
Figuring that the only thing better than fat and happy, is fat, happy and screwing, I decided to try to call the girls again.
It was 3:00 pm. My first call was to Naomi. I had seen her at Club 69 the other night. The only reason that I didn't drool on her was that she was walking by me way too quickly. She answered the phone, remembered who I was, took my address, and said that she would be over soon. Again, we will see.
At 4:00, my cell phone rang. It was her, trying again to reconfirm my address. Between the language barrier and the fact that there's a street close by with a very similar name, she wasn't here yet. At 4:15, the doorbell rings.
Naomi in street clothes is easily as beautiful as Naomi all dolled up at the club. She's 20 years old, 5'2" or so, weighs 105 lbs, with long dark hair and beautiful eyes. The high cheekbones are indicative that she is from the jungle area of Peru, and she confirmed that she is from Iquitos and moved to Lima two years ago.
We get sodas and go into the living room to talk a little and watch VH1. The little bit of talking on the couch turns into a photo shoot and an extended make out session. She likes having her picture taken, and I like kissing her, so everyone's happy. She's really a sweet girl, and this time with her was really pleasant.
Naomi made me swear seven ways 'til Tuesday that I would not show/distribute the photos of her in Peru. She did give me North American rights, and I will keep my word to her.
Photos: Naomi 18 19 20 21 22
The action finally goes to the bedroom at 5:00, and go figure - her naked body is perfect. Small breasts, a nice butt, a flat stomach, all topped off with that beautiful face.
She strips, and then takes charge by lying me down, removing my clothes and covering my body with kisses. When she gets below my waist, I get to enjoy a nice BBBJ, which would have gone on as long as I would let her.
I returned the favor for a while, and then we moved onto the main event. We worked it in three positions until the inevitable happened.
After cleaning up a bit, did she pop up and get dressed? Hell, no. She announced that she was cold, and pulled the blanket up over both of us, and curled up against me, and we laid there for a while, with both of us dozing off for a few minutes.
In thinking about her performance afterwards, I compared it to me and my work experiences. There are some days that I get up and go to work. I know full well that it is work, and I wouldn't do it for free, but that doesn't stop me from showing up and doing the absolute best job that I can. That pretty much sums up Naomi's performance, and I can hardly expect more when she gets a call out of the blue from a guy that she doesn't know.
We get up at 6:30 and I shoot a few more photos. After that we get dressed, watch a couple of music videos, make out some more, and it is time to leave. Before we head downstairs, I hand her $100 plus 20 Soles for the taxi. She starts talking really quickly, and I finally understand that she wants some coins, why I don't know. I reach into my pocket to see what I have. She goes through it and asks if she can have 22 Soles more (just under $7). I can't see why not, so she's happy. The total cost for almost three hours with a young, beautiful, friendly and willing girl (delivered to my apartment) came to $113.13. By any standard, it was a bargain. I had a great time, and would definitely see her again.
Photos: Naomi 23 24 25 26
Video: Naomi (Password = Hombre)
I put Naomi in a cab and headed out to meet some of my local friends. They were going out, and invited me to meet up with them. After catching up on my last couple of days, we headed for the Stanford.
Stanford
Calles Portugal y Alfonso Ugarte, Brena
10 am - 10 pm, daily
This place is probably fine to visit in the daytime, although it is off the beaten path that most visitors would travel. Alfonso Ugarte is a major street, and Calle Portugal is on corner number 13 of Ugarte. It is probably the third or fourth place down from Ugarte.
Although the sign says Hostal and Banos Turcos, this place is a whorehouse. You go up the stairs and pay your 1 Sol (31 cents) admission. To the right is a waiting room, where the girls, uh, wait. You pick one, pay your 40 Soles ($12.50) and go with her to a room for 20 minutes. If you don't have a condom, it will set you back another two Soles. There's no upselling - the price is the price.
When we got there at around 8:30, the room had four girls. They weren't outstanding, but two of them would do in a pinch. While we were there, another girl came down and got someone who was waiting. She was pretty, much prettier than the other four. I understand that the optimum time, selection-wise, is about 2:00 pm.
This would not be a top option on my list, but if you found yourself in Brena, and needed to bust a nut, you could get the job done here.
We went downstairs, got in the car, and headed for our next stop - Las Cucardas.
I have been to Las Cucardas before, but never in Prime Time on a weekend night. The place was hopping, with guys lined up two and three deep outside some of the most popular girls' rooms. Admission is 20 Soles. The place is two long halls, lined with rooms. When available, the girls stand in the doorway, smiling and lightly flirting. On Friday, they're not standing around for long. One of the halls ends in a bar area, where the girls occasionally put on a strip show for two songs.
If you find a girl you like, you go inside her room, pay her 40 Soles, and have at it. These girls are high volume, and I can't imagine a very romantic session, but the place is popular, and you get 100% effort for your 12 bucks.
Of the 40 or so girls that I saw working, I would have rated 10 as highly-doable, 20 as attractive, and the other 10 as (putting it mildly) not so beautiful. There were a couple that I found really attractive, and had I not spent three hours with an angel just a while back, I would have sessioned with one of them. Hell, if I was 20 years old and could go at it on demand, I would move around the corner from there.
It isn't the safest neighborhood to hang around in, but if you take a taxi there and have club security flag one down for you when you're ready to leave, you should have absolutely no concerns in that direction.
We decided that we had enough with hookers that we weren't going to have sex with, so we headed to Pueblo Libre and spent a little time in a regular bar.
This bar was playing '80s and '90s rock videos when we got there. After a bit, the band took over, and they did covers of 80s rock songs in English. It was a regular neighborhood joint, and it was nice to go and do something that regular people in Lima do. I guess it helped that I was with regular Lima people.
We listened to the music and talked for about an hour until we decided that we were tired. We dropped one guy off at a different bar so that he could continue his evening, and I got taken right to the door of the Marriott casino.
The place was packed at midnight on Friday. There was no room at either the $2 or $3 blackjack tables, so I sucked it up and played at the $5 table. I had a good run, and my $50 stake turned into $100 very quickly. I traded my $5 chips for four $25s, shot the shit with someone I knew for a bit, cashed out, and went home.
The day started with a bang - literally. I had a great meal, a great session with a beautiful, sweet girl, saw a lot of hookers, hung with my friends, and won at blackjack. Just another run-of-the-mill day in Lima. Tomorrow's my last full day; I hope that it's a good one.