So a few weeks ago a bunch of my co-workers, Ryan, and I headed out to the famous Plaza San Martin in downtown Lima to produce a small film about the highly underrated nightclubs. I personally had no clue that there even existed nightclubs in the Plaza, aside from the well known bars and pubs. Some of the bars turned out to be really cool while others were nothing more than average dark and crammed meat markets. I was in-charge of photos that night and with the constant flow of free drinks that I received while working I can honestly say that the quality began to take a downward spiral fast. The video was taken by The Break's very own videographer, Carlos who did an excellent job putting the film together.
Noches en el centro de Lima from The Break on Vimeo.
If you have been checking this website since early last month (which you probably haven't) then you may have noticed a lack of articles being posted. I would normally blame this sort of behavior on good ole procrastination but luckily I actually a good excuse this time! As most of you don't know my wife Zdenka gave birth to our daughter Rosemary, on March 3rd at around 12:05pm. She was born at about 8 months and weighed in at 2.6 kilos roughly. A few colds and stuffy noses aside, her health is great and she has really grown in such a short period of time. Since her arrival home there have definitely been many and I mean MANY sleepless nights which have rendered both Zdenka and I certifiably dead from exhaustion. Sure she looks like an angel during the day while she sleeps with little difficulty but once the sun sets over those coastal hills she transforms into this tiny insomniac child who will stop at nothing to keep her parents from catching one single hour of uninterrupted sleep. All in all it has been a real joy and learning experience to have this girl in our lives and I for one look forward to all future trials and tribulations that she will unwilling bring.
On another note, work has began to breathe new life as the classes start to roll in (just when I was getting accostomed to my prolonged vacation). I also obtained a rather interesting and fun part time job working for Living in Peru.com, a very well known English website about all things Peru. Aside from some rather menial computer work there is the more interesting aspect of the photography work I am paid to do. This usually involves a few hours of my weekend but has been really fun. My photos mostly comprise of popular events occuring in Lima. As of so far I have had the opportunity to photograph (GAG!!!, sorry I'm sitting next to my aunt who reeks of a stripclub ashtray) crazy events like the 2nd annual pillow fight which sounded lame at first but was rather amazing to witness, or the nude bike march that happened not to long ago where many Limeñans bared all in a fleshy displayed protest against the horrible conditions of Lima's traffic and it's loose laws. What makes the job so great is that it affords me the ability to gain more experience as well as build up my photographic resume for the future, which are both BIG pluses in my book.
Lets see, my college friend and Phi Delt brother from Portland, Oregon surprised me with a visit after his long stay in South Korea. I have been showing him around Lima and corrupting his precious little mind with the day to day lifestyle that most citizens of Lima have to indure. Just like me he also has a lust for sick perversion that is photography and has been snapping away photos and putting regular tourists to shame, and with roughly 3,700 photos already accumulated since he arrived March 15th you can bet his Facebook albums are going to be HUGE! Interestingly enough since he first set feet in Lima his wishes were that he experience a slice of what it's like to be a Peruvian living in Lima and he sure has been fulfilling that wish with everthing from working in a plastics factory, to dropping of merchandise at local markets, to drunkenly arguing with taxi drivers at 2 am, to eating sketch and suspect street food. The street food was a two for one deal since it left him immobilzed for a few days short of wearing Depends everywhere.
I know that I have neglected my readers by not providing you with the nurishing sustenance of my insightful and deep posts, but looking back I understand that my hands been tied tighter than a guy in a bondage dominatrix film (and that's without a safety word). Granted things are expected to slow down here in the next few days as my friends heads home to the US before his return back to Korea (they apparently pay really well there...), but I do intend to keep feeding you with the same quality brand product you've come to love. Rest assured my friends, rest assured...
Saw this really well put together video by limafotolibre.com. The video shows footage of many Limeños celebrating day of the dead at Santa Rosa de Lima cemetery in Chorrillos. The photos used in the video were taken November of 2010.
It's February here in Lima and for those living below the Equator's belt it's summertime, but Marco you say "what makes summer in February so special?" The answer is simple my loyal readers, CARNIVAL! Now I'm not going to go into detail about carnival in Lima just yet but I have managed to find a few videos that provide a good visual base to what I will later discuss in more depth.
When work is scarce for the average English teacher/father to be, there tends to be few options with which to occupy your vast free-time and when boredom verges on insanity thats when most men turn to baking....well probably not most men at least. Ah yes baking the age-old male practice of merging wet and dry ingredients along with the aid of a hot oven in the hopes that the process will render an edible and delicious treat, yup nothing screams masculinity and testosterone better than baking. An act that much the military´s position on gays in uniform, is don´t ask, don´t tell. Now in the past I would have definitely shaken my head in disapproval at the sight of such a reality but as I have grown older I like to think that I have matured if not just a bit. To be quite honest I was rather surprised that until recently with the aid of my lovely wife, I found the unorthodox male act of baking to be, well not that bad, really.
Well Zdenka spent the past week in the hospital all thanks to her wonderful screw-up of a gynecologist who through his several years of incompetence and blatant negligence spent the past few months of consults merely checking the babies heartbeat, measuring mommies stomach and taking her blood pressure, all while ignoring (not answering) Zdenka's questions and concerns and rushing her visit just like he did every other maternal patient during his shift (which unsurprisingly is the last of the day). If this guys passion for medicine was a candle flame then it's safe to say that it burnt out probably somewhere around his over-the-hill party. Now I'm guessing there definitely isn't anything medically exciting about the field of gynecology and after seeing your fair share of vaginas you've eventually seen them all so it's perhaps no surprise that this guy's sold his soul to his profession a long time ago. Now if I sound a little forgiving trust me that's not where this rant is heading, I mean here is a man who pretty much is killing time at work like any other demoralized employee yet what makes it so bad is that he is in a profession that dangles with peoples health and the health of their soon to be born children. Luckily we had the sense to change doctors though I wish we would have realized a bit sooner rather than two months before Zdenka's due date but hey, better now than never right? ANYWAYS... the good news was that Zdenka's new gynecologist (which surprisingly was a woman, not to many of those oddly enough in the field) was a young gal with a good head on her shoulders who when was informed of the atrocities of said previous doctor decided that the only solution was a temporary stay at the hospital in order to perform several tests (you know the ones that are fundamental of every pregnant women who spends 9 months in consultation visits...minor details really).
The week went by and while the experience for me was less than uncomfortable, Zdenka unfortunately had to deal with nurses, doctors, and the dreaded medical interns whose noob status in the medical realm makes their hands very shaky when it comes time to draw blood from the patient in the room next door. A true battle of wits in a place where the medical staff are desensitized to the point that they see patients as impatient whinny moochers rather than people who have paid for their health care and are less than satisfied with their medical experience. I am still rather green to the whole public health care system, a concept all to foreign to me and yet as I spend more time within the walls of the EsSalud hospitals I begin to realize just how unpleasant the reality of a well intentioned system can be (I begin to wonder if perhaps this is what the reality of such a system would be if it existed in the US). Friday came and thankfully Zdenka was released giving her the satisfaction of freedom from medical beds and clockwork patient checkups every hour, though happy and ecstatic to be out we both knew that it would only be a matter of time before we would have to return, and like many others excepted our reluctant dependency to the health care system.
It's experiences like this that makes me ask the question: "what is the lesser of two evils?" A country with private hospitals and insurance companies where people without insurance can't even afford to pay for a simple consultation let alone the medical bills for a blood test or a country with a public health care system where the health care staff are underpaid and demoralized, the facilities and hospitals are in shit conditions, and the people are unhappy. I shutter to imagine what the future holds for man in his ever continuous quest to solve the age-old puzzle that is health care.
