Well then he went into this elaborate story about what had happened to him in the past couple of days. He said that he'd arrived here from England three days ago by airplane/boat. His boat trip arrived here at 3:30am, which in his opinion was completely stupid. When he got off the boat, he was hit from behind. All he had was his bag of clothes and and clarinet, so he tried to hit them with his clarinet, which caused it to break. They then took everything he owned except for the clothes on his back.
He told me his rib was broken, his leg was sprained, and his thumb was badly injured, all from being robbed. The police had taken him to three clinics and two hospitals and no one could help him. He needed to go to the Regional Hospital to get antibiotics, a bone scan, and surgery. He then said the police has just dropped him off in the Plaza de Armas, saying there was nothing they could do for him anymore. He was currently waiting for the British Embassy in Lima to send him new documents so he could go home. In the meantime, he needed to somehow find 70 soles in order to pay for all his medical bills. He'd already asked over 80 people but because his spanish was so bad, all they said was "No gracias, no gracias."
At about this time, we'd arrived at a corner, a couple blocks down from where he'd started talking to me. As I was about to tell him that I was sorry but all I had was 2 soles to get back to San Juan, Richard, one of the waiters at Dawn on the Amazon, drove by on his motorcycle. (Dawn on the Amazon is a restaurant on the boulevard that we normally eat at). Richard waved at me as he drove by, so I waved back. Well the man saw this and asked me if I knew that man. When I said yes, he's my friend, he immediately responded with, "well okay I'll leave you alone then and keep asking for money." He then introduced himself as Felix. I told him it was nice to meet him, I was sorry about his misfortunes, and good luck. He then walked away. I thought nothing of it and kept walking to catch the bus.
About 30 seconds later, a Peruvian man walked up to me, who I recognized as the main who paints portraits of the city in the Plaza de Armas with spray paint and fire. (They're actually really amazing but they cost about 100 soles). Well he walked up to me and said, "Señorita, disculpme" (Miss, excuse me). He then asked me if I knew the man that I was just talking to. I told him no, he just walked up and started talking to me. He asked me if I gave him any money and when I said no he looked almost relieved and said good. He then said that that man is a mentiroso (liar). Everything he says is a lie. He then asked me a series of questions.
-Did he tell you he was robbed coming off the boat?
-Yes
-That's a lie, that didn't happen
-How long did he tell you he'd been here?
-3 days
-Mentira (lie). He's been here for months trying to get money off of people
-Did he show you his thumb?
-Yes.
-That's not from being robbed it's from doing drugs.
-Did he tell you his name is Felix?
-Yes.
-That's not his real name.
The painter then asked when I was going. I told him I was going to get on the bus to go home. He said okay good, well be careful when you're down here, and if you ever need help, let me know. I work in the Plaza de Armas and my name is Lamado. I told him thanks, got on the bus, and went home.
-September 21, 2012
Such an interesting experience you must be having. I look forward to hearing the stories between the stories when you get back. Stranger danger!
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