And.... Still in Peru

So, here is the news: The Peruvian fisherman are on strike and are blocking all the borders of northern Peru, so we are unable to go to Ecuador until this is resolved, most likely the day after tomorrow.
Until then, we are in the small city of Tumbes, which has a very interesting mix of Latin and Carribean culture. The streets are filled with little fruit stands and markets, and everything is so colourful with such a vibrant and tropical feel. You can buy freshly squeezed pineapple or orange juice on every corner. It is autumn here right now, but you would never know it: there are palm trees everywhere, with sunny skies and over 30° everyday. We spent all day at the beach, swimming, reading our Peruvian "Cosmo" magazine and eating the fruits we bought from the market. The beach is deserted because it is not summer, which is heaven for us. The ocean is really warm and the waves are high. Funnily enough, we did see some fisherman out today (I guess no one told them about the strike). It was amazing to watch them fish, they were standing up rowing these little rafts around and actually catching the fish by spearing them!

Tumbes is really beautiful and fun, but also really dangerous. This guy we know had his shoes stolen at knife point the other day in the middle of the day right down the street from where we are staying. Everyone tells us not to carry anyting valuable around with us and not to wear any jewelery. For this reason, we are unable to post photos on the blog, as we are only carrying a disposable camera with us (that Vanessa gave us in Toronto) to take the occasional picture. We are the only tourists, or even light skinned people, in the entire city, so we already stand out enough!

So, funny story. We wanted to get our laundry done yesterday, so we asked the man at our hotel where we could go. He suggested the place next door, so we went over to check it out. When we got there there was no one there, so we waited. Some guy who was passing by came in and said that he knew the guy who worked there: he was on his luch break and would be back later. So we came back a few hours later and.... still no one there. This time a lady came in off the street and said that she knew the guy: he had just stepped out for a few mnutes and would be back shortly. So we waited... Eventually the guy arrived. To be honest, he looked about 19 years old, and more like a drug dealer than someone running a laundry place. He told us he needed about 24 hours to do the laundry, which we thought sounded a bit long, but we agreed anyways. The next day, when we came to pick up the laundry, the guy wasn't there AGAIN, so we went into our hotel to shower, as we had just returned from the beach. To our surprize, the guy from the laundry place was sitting in the reception area with the monkeys that live there (they really seem like a combination of bat and monkey and scream so loud we can hear them from our room!) and the mentally ill kid that owns the monkeys. So we told him we needed our laundry and he walked next dor and finally gave us our clothes. The clothes didn't exactly smell mountain-fresh or anything, but they seemed clean enough!

We have found a really good Chinese restaurant that serves dinner, and we have obviously found a place with internet. (However, the keyboards are impossible to type on - every other key is busted- and the place smells like cat pee or something, and no wonder, we have seen many cats wandering around and even a monkey!). There is an election coming up in Peru and the streets sre absolutely littered with signs for all the candidates. Also, there are people riding through the streets in rickshaws screaming slogans through megaphones. We are wondering if we will be allowed to vote if we end up having to say here on account of the strike!

well, we will let you know of any news with the strike.

love,

Alice and Tova