Crash course in Peruvian politics

Sunday was an interesting day. We went to central Lima to buy a USB stick for me. It´s such a shame, Lima used to be a beautiful, flourishing city. But now there is too much traffic, too much pollution and too much unemployment. The beautiful old buildings are derelict and/or boarded up, and lots of newer, uglier skyscrapers stand half empty and just look dirty. That was my initial impression, and I hope to see more of the city later, like Miraflores.
In the early evening we bought a bottle of wine and went to visit Michael´s dad and brothers and sisters from the dad´s second marriage. Oh dear.
They were very nice, but his dad almost talked my ears off about Peruvian and international politics, about when he used to work on Europe and Africa bound ships, all the nice women he met in Europe in the 60s, and what it means to be born a Gemini (something we have in common)! It was interesting, and I certainly got the general jist of things, managed to smile and be impressed in the right places. But then Michael asked me if I understood this or that word, and I looked like a complete fool who was just pretending to understand. Oh well, we knew what we were talking about, and the Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot from Chile was imbibable. Eventually, we had some cheese and ham toasts and avocado rolls, and after many bottles of beer and some indigenous (harp) music on the stereo, Michael and I headed home, with promises of more get-togethers.
Yesterday (Monday) we went to the Christa McAuliffe school for children with learning difficulties in Pueblo Libre (neighbouring district), where Michael and two friends played at a school show celebrating the school´s 20th birthday. It was so much fun - the school ranges from kindergarten to collegio, and the small children were unbelieavably cute. However, there was some trauma when they were dancing to "You´re the one that I want" from Grease, and the lead girl started crying because she was missing her sister, who stood behind the curtain.
The school cajón orchestra was really cool, and now I have to go out and buy some "black Peruvian music" to hear more. But tonight it´s "Organismos internacionales" at San Marcos. Hopefully the teacher will turn up, unlike this morning.