I never knew The Eagles were such an international sensation

OK, so when I was in Thailand, I would go Kareoke with Thai people. It's popular there just like most places in Asia. But all the songs were Thai artists, or the few American artists they had were dubbed in Thai. Except for one. Except for The Eagles 'Hotel California.' So every time it was my turn to sing, I sung Hotel California. It wasn't really much fun, because Thais take kareoke very seriously, which isn't really the point as far as I'm concerned. I mean come on, I can't sing, you can't sing, most of us can't sing. But that's irrelevant. What's relevant is getting wasted and making a spectacle of yourself. But at any rate, 'Hotel California' can be heard all over Thailand. And now I know it can be heard all over Peru, too, at least Arequipa. I've heard 'Hotel California' four times in the past two days, including a cover version done with local Peruvian pan pipes (imagine the Eagles gone new-age). And really I'm with The Dude on this. I hate the fuckin' Eagles. But I don't bring that up, because I don't want to get kicked out of my cab.


So I guess I've never had cable in the States, but it seems like the TV here has a lot more nudity and a lot less killing. Local shows are all about sex, like tela novelas, and there aren't any CSI or Cop Drama shows. Although the program 'Euromaxx' is a lot less sexy than it sounds. It's a news program (so don't let your cable provider talk you into it by telling you you'll get Euromaxx, unless CNN and BBC just really aren't enough).


The Plaza de Armas is one of my favorite spots in the city - nothing beats watching poor little 4 year olds have their parents sprinkle them with bird seed so the pigeons eat off of them while the parents take pictures. And watching 200 pigeons simultaneously take flight is pretty cool too. I usually hear them before I see them, and then they launch into the air, flock together, and come down in a different part of the plaza. Today in the Plaza I was sitting on a bench, watching the action while this Peruvian with a Bible preached to whoever would listen (you couldn't really tell that anyone was listening though). I couldn't catch much of what he was saying, but just like the conservative politician from my last post, I can guess the jist (we're all terrible sinners and will go to hell unless we ask pretty please no, and eat crackers and drink wine. Jesus was into crackers I guess). Anyways, after a few minutes I saw this cop walk over to a gringo couple on the bench next to me, talk to them for a minute, then he walked over to the preacher, and his back was to me, but his arms were folded behind his back in a way that gave the impression that he's the one who tells you how it is. I couldn't hear the cop, but I heard 'Si­. Si. Si­.' from the preacher, and then he left. What the fuck?! So of course I had to ask the couple what the cop said to them, and I guess he said 'hello, how are you? Where are you from?' and then a bunch of Spanish that they didn't understand. But he did point to his ear, so they took it to mean that the preacher was talking about them. Strange. But whatever, I noticed right when I saw him that he had soles on his shoes almost three inches. He had lifts! That's right, I got you pegged buddy. You're not nearly so tall and intimidating as you look. My hotel turned a young couple away because they wanted to stay in the same room, and when I come home late before they open the door they crack it a bit and ask 'solomente?' presumably to make sure I'm not with a girl. I guess Peruvians don't understand why most people travel.


I met this guy from Uruguay who asked what time it was, then he asked if I like Pink Floyd and the Rolling Stones, and if I played guitar. Then he said a bunch of stuff in Spanish, and I heard 'no cover' in English, and I was like 'what?' and he said, 'come, I show you.' Then he asked if I smoke cheeba, and said some other stuff, and then showed me a tattoo on his arm and said 'see, I'm a professional, no cop!' and he led me in this big figure-8 from where we started and then we went into this cafe and he wanted to order some cokes, and so I figured out this guy wanted to sell me drugs. So I said I was leaving, I was trying to go to dinner, and he was like 'business, busness' and I walked out and he followed and was like '¿por que? ¿por que?' and I just kept saying 'no quiro, no quiro' (I don't want, I don't want). So the lesson today is if someone asks you if you smoke pot, you say 'no'. I need pot a lot less than I need a Peruvian prison sentence.


So everyone should go to www.democracynow.org and search for the Evo Morales interview from a few months ago. It's really good. He's remarkably humble; when asked if Kissinger should be charged for war crimes for supporting the Pinochet dictatorship, he said that was really up to the United States, and when asked about Chavez's Bush is the Devil remarks, said that he thought heads of state should attack policies, not people, and basically that Chavez acted unprofessionally. At the end he gave thanks to the people of the United States for listening to him. Anyways, it's interesting, check it out. And notice how he talks about his family a lot. Apparently a Latin American thing.


OK, going trekking tomorrow, so I actually won't write for a couple days. Hope I'm not breaking any hearts. Actually, I understand I'm up to four readers now. That's right, just like XM radio, I'm slowly catching on. Except that I'm free, and a lot more fun.