Peru 1: Eucalyptus and Salt Air

Oct 4, 2011, 7:13 pm, on hard mattress, Eco Truly Park, Peru

The lights have just come back on – some soul has restarted the generator – and perhaps that will mean a warm dinner tonight at 8 pm. I sit on the bed in my cell, er, room – two hard mattresses to choose from – I consider placing one on top of the other but that might be bad karma and result in a roommate arriving tomorrow – currently basking in the joy of solitude in my own private room. At $12 day (3 veggie meals, room, and yoga when the teacher returns) I want to take full advantage of this unforeseen luck.
I left Mr Adventurer aka Castaway aka Ulises Robinson's “couch” in Lima late this morning – had a wonderful sleep under the staircase. I am feeling brave this morning, for today I will try the hot shower – that is, I will flip the large lever with exposed copper wires (a la mad scientist) beside the shower head and engage 220 volts directly into the shower head, where, using water as the resistor (yes WATER), the electricity will directly heat the water and give me a warm shower. Yesterday Ulises told me these devices are not available in the hotels. He also said not to put my hand too close to the shower head since I might get a shock – a thought I did not forget as I stood soaking wet (but warm) in a small plastic tub – a true eco-warrior bathroom – the tub saves shower water that is used to flush the toilet (since toilet does not have a water tank). Annie, if you think BRING (Eugene recycling company extraordinaire) has changed your habits, wait till you come here! :)
Ulises continues to ply me with his amusing adventure stories, even on the city bus as we swerve roughly, heading downtown to catch another bus for Eco Truly Park. I stand and foolishly stick my head out the bus window to snap photos of how close the other buses/taxis/people are to us – Ulises reminds me that I could lose my head by another passing bus (I offer my backpack to him if I lose my head), or a thief might grab my camera from my hands. Neither happens of course – I lead such a charmed life that what could possibly happen to moi? We pass by KFC, McDonalds, ScotiaBank, HSBC (yes, BC for British Columbia – a Hong Kong bank that merged with a BC bank), and a gargantuan billboard with Justin Beiber staring down – gawd I hope I don't run into Justin in the Costa Rica jungle – if I do I'm taking the first flight to Mars.
Now my butt is sore (hmm, two mattresses might be necessary) and I think dinner might be ready and I missed lunch.... I'm off to find some veggies with the nearby surf as the background theme... back already – make that dinner (la comida) at 8:30pm – how fashionably late.
Back to bus this morning – Ulises takes me right to the bus station (Tourismo Huaral) and makes sure I get on the Pasamayo (not “V”) bus – he's a real trooper and has made my introduction to Peru go really smoothly – thanks Ulises!!!! I take a seat near the front – since Latin Americans are not as tall as North Americans, the seats are fairly close so my knees appreciate the fact that the trip north will be only 1.5 hours.
Back to Eco Truly – my neighbour Mica ? has locked herself out of her room – Pancho (from Chile) has bought in a huge bucket of unlabelled keys and he is trying every single one to get her back in to her room. No luck so far....
Back on no-leg-room bus. The right arm rest is just a metal knob – the actual arm rest must have been stolen. I notice the seat belt buckles are attached to a thick wire (in addition to the regular cloth belt) – assuming to prevent theft of this precious metal. (note to self: collect seat belt buckles from Canadian car junkyards and sell them in the Peruvian black market). Good news about this bus is the windows open – so again I stick my head out to snap stupid tourist photos of laundry drying on everyone’s roofs. In between photos I watch a dumb American movie on the TV on the front of the bus – didn't know Robert deNiro spoke Espanol with a Peruvian accent.
The drive north is close to the coast, but I don't see the sea until over an hour along the highway. Lima stretches all the way (8 million souls) until huge vertical cliffs/sand dunes block any further progress. The next 15 minutes is spectacular coastline as the highway weaves across the walls of sand/rock, then the next flat ground appears, with a Truly (domed structure of Indian architecture) stuck on the last cliff, welcoming weary pilgrims to Eco Truly Park – a yoga ashram (Krishna-based) oasis between the Pacific swells and dry steep slopes of coastal desert. The bus drops me above the oasis on the highway, and I climb down the sandy slope to my new home.
Locked room update – Pancho finds a ladder and Mica squeezes thru top floor (loft) open window.
Arriving at Eco – surrounding beach is full of garbage – the irony – I walk by tall Eucalyptus trees – I rub the leaves on my hands to release the welcoming aroma – if wolf is my totem animal, then eucalyptus is my totem tree. The air is heavy with cool salt. Buses and trucks zoom above me down and up the Pan-American highway. Although Eco is at the end of a dirt road, the above new addition of the highway probably wasn't there when Eco was a gleam in the founders eye.
10 pm update – lights vanish again – generator must be off for the night – looks like my first shower will be with headlamp. I sit on the “firm” bed in darkness, a glow from my netbook and my fading headlamp – plan for tomorrow afternoon: walk to town and stock up on batteries and candles. Speaking of which I had planned to bring my nifty universal charger down to recharge all my batteries – such as my now dead camera battery. Opening my bag of electronics that charger is nowhere to be found. Nice move idiot.
9:13 dinner update – when the cook says viente (20) minutos till dinner, that is in Eco Truly time. Earth time is actually 53 minutes. No, I’m not wearing a watch, but I'm still in hypermode – especially after spending the past two days in frenetic/frantic Lima. Breatheeeeeee in, smile. Breatheeeeee out, calm. Relax – you will enjoy the difference. So dinner is tofu slabs with boiled potatoes. Someone offers his potato to one of the 5 dogs that magically appeared when dinner was ready. The dog sniffs the spud, then turns away – dog is not impressed with vegetarianism. And why are all the humans eating these spuds if the dogs are not? I sneak away into the dark and dive into my backpack – where were those PB M&Ms?
Some parts of the world use cold showers as a spiritual practice. This is one of those parts – ie there is no hot water anywhere. But the showers do have nice tiling.