do-re-mi-fa-so-la-LI-MA-ti-do

Brief notes of cackling cacophany from your Liman Li-man-of-leisure ...

Friday, the United States celebrated National Toasted Marshmallow Day. What a great country ... long live the republic. While I firmly support such confectionary cavorting, toasted or otherwise, I am strongly opposed to the wanton consumption of lima beans. This disinclination, however, has not jaundiced my opinion of Lima. So - marshmallows ... good; lima beans ... bad; Lima, Peru ... grungy funky.

Lima was founded by Francisco Pizarro on January 6, 1535, the Catholic feast of Epiphany, or the Day of kings. Hence the city was first named the City of Kings. January 6, 2002, in St. Gallen, Switzerland, I bit into the fated breakfast muffin containing the tiny plastic koenig ... thus becoming King for a Day. Ergo? Therefore, based on this most tenable of temporal idiosyncracies, I have swum against the tide of popular dissent and embraced this chaotic capital.

Downtown Lima (from Plaza Mayor to Plaza San Martin) is a dusted jewel. Stunning colonial architecture, a sea of curious faces, and a distinct lack of foreigners. The surrounding mountains and outlying sprawl are besotted with pueblos jovenes (literally, ´young towns') - destitute slums. Meanwhile, the suburb where I live - Miraflores - is swank cool: cosmopolitan cafes, verdant cliffs overlooking the Pacific, and relative Peruvian palaciality. I'm staying at a charming little hacienda named Hospedaje Jose Luis.

In the kick-ass whoohoo department ... I went surfing today! Epic fun. I went with some limenos and a guy from the hostel (who's from St. Louis but works in Peru). The breaks (El Silencio and Caballeros) are just south of town ... 2 - 4 foot waves, clean lines, congested lanes, and frickin' cold. Using a decent 8-foot gun, I was the only one without a wetsuit. I actually surfed quite well until my toes went numb. Oh yeah baby, just call me 'Kaikane Kev' (Hawaiian: Warrior of the Sea). Sounds better than frozen-testicled gringo.

Speaking of funky appellatives, I like the term pontifex - bridge builder. A nice title worthy of aspiration. Incidentally, this is the Latin root for the words pontificate, the Pontif (Pope), and our Parisian water-hopper - the Pont Neuf.

- hasta luego ... your pontificating pontifex of Peru.