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March 11, 2005
My contribution to the Peruvian economy
QOSQ'O, PERU. A few days before September 11, I was walking to Sears Tower, looked up, and observed that it would be pretty easy to fly a small plane into the building and maybe do some damage. Today I was in Qosq’o’s Plaza de Armas as the town gathered for a parade led by the local Cardinal, there was quite a heavy police presence and I thought, “Even with all those cops, I bet there are still pickpockets working this crowd.” I was right.
The parade was to return a black-skinned Jesus crucifixion carving to the local cathedral, and the carving was led through the streets as thousands of onlookers followed it and a human chain of police officers held back the crowd. The Cardinal passed, and then a truck carrying the black Jesus. As it passed two feet from me, the crowd went wild as flower blessings were thrown. The pushing was like when Yasser Arafat’s body was led through Palestine, only with less firearms here. There was a massive press of bodies, hands everywhere, and I emerged sans wallet.
The loss of the wallet was twice as costly as the loss of the modest cash it contained, though I may ask the salesman at Neiman who sold me the wallet if Neiman will replace it as a goodwill guesture. We’ll see if I succeed.
Fortunately the tourist police were just swell. (I went with the local guide.) They started by blaming me for carrying a wallet in my front pants pocket (generally the more secure pocket). Then they wanted a bribe in order to give me the report that night, and the price of the bribe kept going up as more cops started paying attention to the conversation. If the bribe were not given, I would have to wait till Monday to go to the bank, buy a paper, and return to have the report put on the paper. Gee, that’s helpful when my money was just stolen. As the guide explained, “here in Peru, things are done differently.” No wonder the guidebook reports, “more tourists are robbed in Qosq’o than in any other Peruvian city.”
I guess that after seeing parts of 58 countries, being a victim of a crime once is probably a good record. Now, to the people in the office taking over-unders on my being a victim of a crime while living in Harlem: does this count as crime #1?
Posted by adrianjo at March 11, 2005 10:20 PM
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