PSF
The Lounge => General => Topic started by: MasterXtreme on 2016-06-05 16:33:50
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I figured this topic would be good to share directly with LP since she is in Peru with poor internet and doesn't want to probably have to bounce around. We can talk to her directly here, ask questions, etc. :D
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Good idea. :D Hey, LP!
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Good idea. :D
So! How's the weather, LP? ;)
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So you have wifi or a plug in at this apartment you are at?
How is the neighborhood you are in? Whats out the window?
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Oh wow, this is nice. Thanks, MasterX.
The weather is hot and humid. When it's cloudy it's bearable, but when the suns out you sweat a lot. But again, it's bearable. It's not as hot as I thought it would be.
As for Internet, it's wifi that I use on phone. Neighborhood is quiet, simple dirt road the house is on. Pavement everywhere else, but it's somewhat shoddy. Only one main road that's in relatively good condition. Out the win do be dark and stuff.
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Has it rained on you?
Hmmm. I was using Google Maps and Streetview to look at Iquitos. It seems the nicest, most well kept part of the city is around this plaza called, Plaza de Armas (https://goo.gl/maps/MJs1WfTvQom). It seems to be the el centro of the city. I could be wrong. But it does seem to be well kept up. Even still, a lot of buildings are pretty rough and in bad shape.
From that plaza I was just talking about, there is a "tall" blue building there (https://goo.gl/maps/tRGcNYEWzhL2). I can't tell what it is. There is an armed guard or police officer in front, but the building looks to be in pretty bad shape. I can't tell the material, but I can see that there is very basic plank wood on this structure too, and it appears to be dark, no power, broken windows, and partially boarded up.
See, things grab my attention and interest me!
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I am fascinating myself exploring this city! I found this really nice park (https://www.google.com/maps/@-3.7310172,-73.2688879,3a,75y,59.19h,82.37t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sQwUFHAepNgw9JoDuqzBKuQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656!6m1!1e1), that the government spent a lot of money on with nice trees, benches, sculptures. Yet at the same time, the roads all around this park are just dirt, bad shape, and the homes are pretty mixed bag. Truly a developing city still.
It is just weird to see some areas are modern and others are developing still. A fine example is the park or Plaza de Armas being modern. They have modern functions like that cop in front of the blue building, yet they have grey area economies, and human rights issues at the same time. Some things seem to point to modernity, while other still lack. I love the contrast and I am having a bunch of fun exploring.
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You guys make food or do you go to a restaurant?
Have you started making yourself at home with any little habits? Such as going to a specific grocer for food, or a special area to relax? :D I know I do that when I am places for extended periods.
You guys being good guests? :D
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You speaking Spanish down there or how are you communicating?
Any good food you've had so far? I assume you guys are walking everywhere or taking "motos?"
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You have contrasts there. Poverty, and some non poverty. It isn't a modern city, but it has aspects of modernity. It's working it's way up. :) It is also the largest city in the world that cannot be accessed by road. It has over 430,000 people.
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Well, there's a Plaza de Armas in every city. There's always a cathedral, the municipal building and another one I'm forgetting there along with a plaza and usually a fountain. It's, like you said, usually the most well kept part of any city as its pretty important, and kind of were the main person in charge lives.
That tall blue building, it looks like it burned down but it wasn't. It used to be a hospital. It was badly designed according to the family I'm staying with.
Again, Plaza De Armas is the most well kept piece of any city down here. It's the heart and is home to several important buildings. It has to look nice, otherwise it's a shame. The cop is probably there to ensure no one sneaks in. Cops are kind of useless down here in Peru. And most are very corrupt.
Do we make our own food? Haha, what do you take us for :P We're Latinos, of course we cook our own food. Restaurants are for shmucks. Little habits? Not really, I just got here like 2 days ago. I mostly stay indoors, Monday I start working. Today I visited an animal refuge, I got to see manatee babies that were rescued from people who captured them and kept as pets. I do respect that law enforcement is actually good on that, when there is a tip, law enforcement and the CREA workers go and confiscate the animal and bring it to the refuge to care for it.
(I hope I'm being a good guest lol.)
Yeppers, Soda, I speak fluent Spanish. The Spanish they speak here is slightly different, same words, but the inflection is very different. It's very sing song where the words flow together. It's not like they mash up their words (like say y'all for instance), but they keep making sound in the spaces between words if that makes sense.
And tons of good food, the family I'm staying with eats so much ^^; like, they have lunch late, then we just had dinner now. It's kind of overwhelming haha, and I don't want to be rude and say I don't want to eat. They're being so nice and hospitable. They gave me their daughters bed, they're like being crazy nice. And mostly motos, walking is only for 1-2 blocks.
Cannot be accessed by road? What do you mean by that? I mean, I did have to take a plan to get here, does that mean it's the only way to reach the city? I know to reach other places nearby you have to use the river. And the shortest trip is 18 hours. Most trips take days. And wow, that's a lot of people!
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Cannot be accessed by road? What do you mean by that? I mean, I did have to take a plan to get here, does that mean it's the only way to reach the city? I know to reach other places nearby you have to use the river. And the shortest trip is 18 hours. Most trips take days. And wow, that's a lot of people!
I looked it up, Iquitos can only be reached by boat or plane. No driving.
Thank you for such informative answers! Very good and I am learning a lot from you. The language bit in how you said it is "sing songy" is interesting to me too. :) Thats so cool.
Wow! I also checked out that blue building... yikes.
Beautiful church at the Plaza de Armas!
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I'm learning so much from your responses and thank you for even asking. That building just interested me as I drove around that beautiful plaza and then saw it. I had to scoot over to it. :)
So what is the job you start?
Lucky too that you get such great food.
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Those were good questions and great answers. I find this really enjoyable and educational!
I have a question! What were your perceptions coming to this city beforehand and what, if any of those perceptions have lived up to that?
Do you feel safe in the city?
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Great answers, thank you, LP. :D
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What is the most surprising thing you have seen thus far?
How was the first day of work? What did you do?
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It's cool you can still communicate with the forum halfway across the planet :D Good luck with what you do, and stay safe.
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I found your stash of snacks under the sofa, LP. I ate the dark chocolate chex mix.
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Aw, geez! I was hoping to find it!
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Ooh good choice of snack. I like to munch on those too. Sometimes i can buy a bag here on sale for a buck, so I buy like three and save them so they can melt in the heat....
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I'm thinking of posting all the new art and stories here in one topic for LP to ponder over with her phone.
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Hahaha, that's okay you don't need to do that, APD. I see them.
I'm still writing out a long response to all your guys' questions, don't worry haha.
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Hooray! :D LP! :D I am so happy you can still keep in touch with us.
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Peru's one of the countries I've always been curious to visit, though I probably never will. Say hi to Paddington for me, LP!
Plaza de Armas (https://goo.gl/maps/MJs1WfTvQom)
Oh hey, Universal Import. Universal Exports was a fake company used by Bond in the 007 books. So close!
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Plaza de Armas (https://goo.gl/maps/MJs1WfTvQom)
Oh hey, Universal Import. Universal Exports was a fake company used by Bond in the 007 books. So close!
Lol! I got it.
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You've been there for a bit now. You getting used to the heat?
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What has been the biggest surprise to you when visiting? Any culture shock?
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Okay, I'll respond to a few short ones.
I was honestly told that this place was super hot and made to believe it was unbearable. When I got here, it was hot, but not as much as I was lead to believe. In a way I'm used to it, but it is humid and I sweat so much. It's like ew.
Most surprising? How about... Seeing a small child jump into these street gutters they have during a rainstorm and start playing in the accumulating brown water. I think I nearly died looking at it.
First day at the zoo, I saw an autopsy of a giant anteater that died. It was cool. I lost the pictures though because my phone was stolen :( I started working at a Vets office last Friday. First few minutes there a kitten died in my hands. Monday, a puppy I was keeping warm with my hands started screaming in pain, the doctors did CPR and mouth to mouth and injections to the heart. It died.
At the zoo I'm working with the pink river dolphin they have amd helping to train him for the show. He's a cutie.
And Hulk, I'll make sure to. And I won't forget to visit his Aunt Lucy either.
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Your phone was stolen? Darn, that sucks. :-\
Not as much as witnessing two deaths, though.
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I didn't care about the kitten dying, I love kittens, but it was dying. A lost cause. I'm actually semi scared I killed it. I was asked to hold it, and it was a biter (it was a kitten found on the streets, and a cat bite is normally really bad, so who knows what's in a ferals mouth) so I was told to hold it down firmly while the vet took out blood. While he was trying it stopped breathing. I'm scared I blocked it's windpipe and killed it. I wasn't told off or anything, because again, the cat came in really bad condition and was dying.
The puppy hurt me more because I was by its side for hours, like not joking, 3 hours warming it with my hands and checking it's fluids and making sure it was breathing for it to suddenly start screaming in pain and dying. But when you think about it, these pups and kittens had no future. They would never be adopted because people here rarely adopt. It's almost better for them to die and not have to suffer for years.... But they shouldn't have had to suffer in the first place. Just people here don't care about their animals.
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Wow, that is pretty intense and dark seeing animals die on a regular basis like that. It takes a strong person, and it sounds like you sort of have to numb yourself to it.
That sucks your fun was stolen! So how will you be able to communicate with us when back in the States? Your laptop is still not working. :-/
Thanks for answering these questions.
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It's part of life. Everyone dies. Just some before others. In a way you numb yourself, but you don't stop feeling. Never stop feeling. You make yourself cold. You mostly end up feeling frustration if not anger. And usually a sigh of sadness.
Thankfully and unfortunately, the phone that was stolen was my dads phone which I was using to communicate here because we put in a chip from here. My US phone wasn't stolen thank god. I'd cry for real if it was.
And it's no problem :)
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Poor Dad phone. Hahaha!
You are doing some pretty mighty neat things, including the dolphin.
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Yeah, the dolphin is great. He's really smart. I'm also helping tend to some wounds he has.
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Where did they get a dolphin? Oh, yeah it's a zoo. ;)
Is the zoo pretty nice?
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The Dolphins story is a long one. Basicslly, a fisherman killed it's mother, because the people here believe the pink river dolphins are demons who can transform into men. The man took the baby dolphin and kept it for a few days before he didn't know what to do with it so he took it to the zoo. He was really small and frail and malnourished. They didn't think he would survive but he did.
Heh heh, sure. By South American standards? It's alright. But the cages are all mostly chain linked. Including the ones for the Jaguars. :I
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That doesn't seem too safe to have just a chain link fence only holding back jags.
I looked up some Google Images of the zoo.
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It's South America. What do you expect haha. Nothing bad has happened and they Jaguars haven't tried to escape I guess.
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I think it is really neat reading about what you do there. Thanks for the updates.
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Why did I just watch a sloth go poop?
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Oh yeah, I remember learning that years ago, it's pretty dangerous for them since they're all slow and shit. Though they can move fast when they want to. Just not that fast XP
When I was young I guess I never thought about the death aspect, but I watched a lot of wildlife shows where death happened, so I guess I got used to it? I for some reason have this weird disconnect when it comes to death. I think my defense mechanism is don't think about it too hard, and I usually get by. It's how I don't stress myself out over horrible events like the ones in Orlando. Anyway, off topic. (That's a cute gif btw).
River dolphins never really got past their prehistoric look, so they look less evolved than bottle nosed Dolphins and the like. Haha, it is a rare experience, working with a river dolphin rather than an ocean dolphin. Surprisingly, I haven't taken pictures of him. I probably should.
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You should take a pic of the River Dolphin. Whats his name?
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Guess who's going back to Peru for a month. This gal. See ya guys. Leaving today at 2, in less than 3 hours. This time for sure, I won't have wifi in my apartment. I'll get wifi from restaurants and stuff. Not that you guys will notice much of a difference with my presence.
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Be safe LP. Have fun.
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Well be safe LP also enjoy it.
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You at the same place as last time? Have an awesome time!
(http://www.worldatlas.com/img/locator/country/peru-locator-map.jpg)
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Travel safe! :D Thanks for letting us know. You've been silent for a very long time. ;D
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Have a great time doing whatever it is you do. You helping animals again?
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I bet she's gonna have a blast!
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She told me she'll take care of cows.
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I bet it will be an udderly mooving experience that will leave her with a spotless record that she can milk her whole life in Jersey.
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Cow puns. Milk, Udders, moo, cow spots, Jersey Bovines....
You forgot cow pies.
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And that cows are the biggest methane producers on earth. So are pigs (http://www.climatecentral.org/news/livestock-methane-emissions-satellite-co2-17749) by the way.