Alejandro U. a man from Lima
Being 69 years old, our taxi driver could already be enjoying retirement for quite some time. “But at home I would be doing crossword puzzles and would be bored”, says the ex-police officer. The 30 minutes with him go by too quickly, as the stories from his life are very fascinating. The car rattles and Alejandro must use a lot of strength to change the gears. “Your car is giving you some trouble”, I say and at the same time feel like a car inspector. “This car was a good buy 5 months ago. I only paid 400 US dollars and I know that no one will steal my wheels!”
Alejandro has good reason to be cautious of criminals. 3 weeks ago he bought some ice-cream from a street vendor. After a few minutes he fell asleep. As he woke up 8 hours later with a pounding headache, he was missing his money, several documents, and his car radio. So this old trick with sleeping pills doesn’t only work on clueless tourists. Even Peruvians can be fooled by this scam.
But now Alejandro is wide awake. The knowledge he has about the Peruvian politicians would be enough to write a thriller. And in 3 weeks the next president will be elected. “Hasta la proxima”, (until next time) I say and we get out of the car. /KDJ
