Life in Lima again Day 371 6/7/2012

So we had to go to Lima again. I am still fighting to get my residency in Peru sorted out and it's still not going that well.
We took the overnight bus from Huancayo again, an expensive on this time with super wide seats for us to sleep in, which really does make a difference when, as Rocio does, you are sleeping with a baby. The trouble is always that it isn't all that far from Huancayo to Lima and leaving at 11.30 at night we get to Lima at about 6.00 a.m. Lima is miserable at any time of day but what can you do with a one year old at 6 in the morning? We just have to hang out in the bus station until we can go for breakfast somewhere. It's boring AND stressful. Bloody Lima seems to have a policy of not being comfortable anywhere at any time. At least in a city like London for example you could find somewhere to sit down. In Lima everywhere is dangerous and dirty. After much walking about and buying drinks we didn't want in dirty cafés we eventually got into the first office of the day and after some arguing got Rocio's ID card sorted out. This took until about midday but was by Lima Bureaucracy standards quite a success. So we went to the Krishna Restaurant to eat. We had a disappointing time last time we were there but this time the food was great and the people friendly and we can now recommend it again. Mike had a fine time crawling from table to table introducing himself to all who were there. He also managed to eat a lot too. He is so good at eating these days.




And so to the Immigration Office in the afternoon to finally get my residency application applied for. Only to be told that they are not open in the afternoon. So infuriating. Why not open in the afternoons? They are packed out in the mornings. This of course meant staying and extra day in stinky Lima, in a hotel again and delaying our return to Huancayo where Rocio needed to help her Mum with making hats for the very important Santiago season. The busiest time of year for hat making anmd a good time for the family to make money. The officials in Lima don't care about any of this and so far have delayed me applying for residency for about 3 months. I only have a 3 month visa each time. So this is very annoying. Each time my visa runs out I have to leave Peru, if only for a minute, by crossing the border with Bolivia or Chile or Ecuador but this means about three days travelling and hotels and all the other wastes of time and money.
We went to our favourite hotel near Immigrations and in the evening across the road for chips. We know all about this little part of Lima by now as we have spent several days here being messed about by Immigrations. One of the best things about being in a hotel in Lima is the hot shower and we made very full use of it. It is really luxurious after months of cold showers in Huancayo.
We were back at Immigrations very early next morning and used Rocio's "Preferential" status to jump all the queues. My silly problem with officially having returned from Bolivia despite never officially leaving has now been rectified I'm told but it's still bad news about the application for residency.
Apparently the officialised ( I don't know a better English translation for this very Peruvian pass time ) copy of our wedding certificate that we took them is now out of date. They only last three months and ours was three months and about three days old. So we have to get a new one from Huancayo, take it to Lima again, pay to have it officialised again and try applying again. Of course more travel and expense and hotels etc. etc. It is getting very near time for a new visa for me too, so perhaps I'll have to go to Chile AGAIN too. I've been to Chile I think 4 times now. In total I've been in that country for about 1 hour. I cross the border, get a bus tot he nearest town, buy a fizzy drink paying with Peruvian money and get the bus back to the borer.
So we had nothing else to do in Lima and wandered about for ages before going to the bus station very early, buying our tickets to Huancayo and waiting about 10 hours for the bus.
We were bored silly buy the bus station but Michael had a really good time. He loved crawling about on the big slippery floor and introducing himself to everyone. He learnt how to operate the light switches and turned the lights on and off and on and off. He found a group of older children with balloons to play with. They were very kind to Michael and made sure he could join in all their fun. He learnt how to open a screw top bottle.



He discovered the headphones on my MP3 player and how to unplug and plug them in again (Fiddly work for his little hands but he is so determined in these things) he also seemed to discover his own ears and where they are. At first he was putting the ear piece just anywhere on his head but he soon caught on that he could hear the music if he put it to his ear, so he did that to himself and to me and danced to the Santiago music it was playing.
The bus journey back was really hard. This bus was not luxurious and Rocio hardly slept as Michael hardly slept. He seemed realy uncomfortable and we were not best pleased when the bus broke down a couple of hours from Huancayo. It was still dark and we were far from and town. It seems one of the air filled bags that act as suspension had burst and it looked like it would be hours before any help arrived. Many passengers were trying to hitch hike with passing cars and lorries or trying to pay to get on other passing coaches. We managed to beg a ride with a car that I don't think was stopping to help. Just stopping to let the children inside change seats. The couple in the car were friendly and really helped us and I appreciate it but they did not want to talk so we sat almost silent in their car for an hour or so until a town called Jauja where we got a bus to Huancayo. It was very strange to me they weren't at all interested in who we were or what had happened or anything. Still they were kind to us and I'm grateful.
Bus and taxi later we arrived home and Rocio's Mum made us a great breakfast. Which Michael didn't want to eat. We found out later why when he started throwing up. Just like the other time. Great fountains of projectile milk. He was very floppy and unwell and Rocio and I carried him around all day. He didn't want anyone else and he really didn't want leaving anywhere. Luckily we still have his sickness medicine from last time and it's still in date so he is back on that.
Now the next day he seems much better, he's playing again and quite lively and there is no diarrhoea so I think he is on the mend. We are blaming it on a banana drink he had in Lima which might not have been made with boiled water but just the muck that comes out of the taps there. We will be more careful in future and perhaps avoid taking Michael to Lima at all.