Just a quick observation....

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A long time ago, I read a book entitled Prague about a group of travellers that hit upon an observation that I am being constantly reminded of. One of the characters pointed out (and I am beyond paraphrasing here) that anywhere that tourists gather, you are sure to find two things: a Peruvian flute band and a person whose sole talent in life is painting themselves a metallic color and standing very, very still. I can vouch for this as fact. Yet, I had not given any thought to whether or not this truism would hold true in Peru. I should have, considering that we could have been inundated with Peruvian flute bands, dropping our very last sole into someone's empty guitar case. Turns out that there was no reason for concern. We spent a week trying in vain to find some live music before we hit upon the realization that not only were there no Peruvian flute bands, there were no musicians left in Peru. They must have all been exported to the plazas, parks and subway stations of every other corner of the world. You want proof? Check out the pictures from the main bus terminal in Arequipa. That is prime Peruvian flute band territory and what do they have? A mariachi band!! Amazing.

Did I mention that we did see the shiny robot people on more than one occasion? Some things are just inevitable, I guess.

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