La Ventanas (The Windows)

A somewhat humorous story from Peru.

Tuesday, January 14, 2008 5:15AM

This was to be my final day in Peru on this trip. I usually wake up early on my own, but not that early. I awoke to the sound of clanking outside my window at the hostal I was staying at (Ola Grande). Our bus was parked right outside of our room and in fact about 5 feet away from my roommate Larry's head. Our window was open and so I thought maybe our bus driver, Edgar, was doing some early morning cleaning or maintenance. I drifted off to sleep but awoke a few minutes later to the same sounds.

I thought it was strange so I woke Larry and said to him "let's look out the window." Much to our surprise we see all the windows gone from the side of the bus facing us and two guys busy stealing one from the other side! After Larry said "hey what are you guys doing?" they took off, jumped in their car and sped away. We were both laughing and dumbfounded at the same time! Not only did this happen right under our noses but what are they going to do with bus windows?!? But in a country where 54% of the population is poor, everything is valuable.

So Larry and I go out in our sandals and shorts to investigate. And we both notice la policia sitting in a car not 200 yards away so Larry whistles them over (Larry can whistle in Spanish). Since I speak the most Spanish I walk toward the police car as it approaches thinking about how I might be able to explain to them what just happened and try to describe the get away vehicle. As the police car stops and the one in the passenger side gets out with a rifle that looks six feet long I start to wonder what this guy might be thinking as he looks at two gringos in sandals and shorts in Peru at five in the morning! I also notice that it's hard to remember what little Spanish I know looking at a rifle.

I do my best to tell them there were "dos personas en un blanco coche con una luz" ( that was supposed to mean there were two people in a white car and there was only one tail light ).
Larry and I laugh like......ummmm........heck for a bit and then he goes back to sleep! I'm up for the duration and that's the end of the story.