jeudi 26 juin 2008
Happy Birthday Céline!
Funnily, I received a cake for Céline on her birthday. It was from her AFP (pension company?). Here are a few pictures (this is meant to make it just as if you were the one to open it, Céline ;-))
Considering it was very heavy and looked delicious, I thought I should invite Paul & Lisseth to feist with me, as it would probably have been the thing we would have done if Céline was there. I called them, they came about 2 hours later and we took another picture to whish Céline a
"Happy Birthday!"
(yes, I was wearing a business suit, it's been a busy marketing week)
mardi 24 juin 2008
Céline's birthday
Hi all,
Tomorrow (the 25th) is Céline's birthday, so don't hesitate to leave her a message by e-mail, here, or on her travelling blog. Actually, as she is currently in New Zealand, it's already the 25th now, so don't be too late (you can use the time-shift excuse only up to a certain point...).
samedi 21 juin 2008
Céline gets to Auckland, New Zealand
Céline arrived in Auckland on Thursday, which is the first step away from Latin America in her round-the-world tour. She's set up a personal blog here (it's personal in the sense it is mainly a log for her, to keep a trace of what she did, but it's not private in itself, so you can check it out and post comments if you want).
I spent 5 days with her in Chile before we had to part in the Santiago airport, surprisingly quickly as we were scheduled for different flights, I had to go 2 hours before her and we barely had time for a drink between her check-in and my plane departing.
Customs were crowded in Lima when I got back as apparently US holidays just started.
Céline sent me an e-mail to say she arrived in Auckland and was waiting for her parents (they decided to come along and spend two weeks with her there), so I guess she's going to be busy and I'm not going to have much contact with her for two weeks...
Anyway, yes, I can feel she's far away but we both get what we wanted and we will both be very busy for 7 months now, so no time to think! :-)
jeudi 12 juin 2008
Al fresco, Miraflores
Paul and Lisseth (two friends know through Céline's work and stayed here for a while and now live closeby) invited me to a meal at the 5th best restaurant in Peru (or is it in Lima?), "Al Fresco". It is on Av. Balta, the one that goes from the parque Kennedy to the parque del Amor (approximately).
Anyway, so the meal was excellent, I must admit. I took the 'Cebiche Al Fresco, said "The best in Lima" ' and the sauce was actually the best I ever tasted for a cebiche, to be honest (I didn't even think of paying attention to how it had been made).
However, if it's the fifth best restaurant and it wants to stay there, it should *really* avoid taking the client from a "46 Soles" meal to a 68 Soles meal!
The count was like: OK, it's 46 Soles, but there is 19% IGV (the local VAT) + 9% service (another tax, they said) + 8 Soles for the "cubierto" and on top of that they apply the 9% on the "cubierto" as well.
So, from an expected 36 Soles + a beer (which didn't figure on the menu so you had to ask the waiter what price it is, which never sounds great in a posh restaurant) which I would evaluate to 10 Soles (given that Paul took a Pisco Sour that ended up costing an incredible 20 Soles), so 46 Soles on the menu, we end up with:
46 + 28% = 59.34, and then you add the "cubierto" which is 8.8, so you end up paying 68.14 Soles.
Damn I wanted to be in Europe and take out one of these European directives (yes, of course, I always have them printed with me, just in case) saying that all the printed prices must indicate clearly taxes and whatever things will be charged in the end!
So... food: excellent (as far as I can tell with one cebiche). Element of surprise: big. Quality of surprise: not good.
mercredi 11 juin 2008
Policia escolar
I recently learnt (from my employees again, it's crazy the amount of simple culture that they are infusing me with) that there is something in Peru called "policia escolar", which is the closest thing that one could imagine to some kind of army/police respect training in primary school.
Basically, in public primary schools, one child in each class is chosen to be the "police officer" of his class. The responsibilities of this happy child is to make sure everybody respects the rule. Now, that would be totally acceptable in a liberal,democratic environment, if they didn't have to dress with a white rope tied to their clothes, a police officer's hat, and walk with a police officer's "stick" that they can use freely to beat other children.
Of course, you can imagine what such power can bring to the minds of children of that age...
Although it might seem harsh at first, I guess in some (rare) cases it might actually have the very positive effect of teaching children respect towards police officers, but the teaching is infused through fear, which I think doesn't get the right message through that police officers are there to protect the weak and to help you understand and respect the law.
I wouldn't be surprised if that "policia escolar" appeared during the Velasco regime, but I can't quite see how to check that information...
I think there's something similar in Japan (and pretty much in every country now that I think about it), but it's elegantly called "class representative" there and is bound to represent the class, not watch over them and beat them with a stick :-)
