Package update

In a local tabloid today, I read about a 50 year old foreigner who was found murdered in his hotel room in the district of Callao, just outside Lima. And there I was, in Callao, for the 3rd time walking around with about USD$400 tucked into my bra.

Yes I like living on the precipice of life but this was certainly not my idea of fun. I was back in the area once again at the customs office hoping to sort out the package. And unfortunately for me, I still have to go back in the morning.

Here's why. Today was yet another day dealing with Peruvian work ethics which can be summed up in 1 word: slow. Of course I'm generalizing here and this observation is probably influenced by my frustration, but I make no apologies for it. I waited for Luiz (the agent who's helping me with the papers) in the morning while his 2 "friends" tried asking for my number/address/email/hostel. Then I waited some more for the customs people to finish their lunchtime. Then I waited even more for Luiz outside the DHL headquarters for 45 minutes. The HQ by the way is situated in an industrial area and I must've looked the part of the mad gringa, standing outside in the cold, muttering "fucking sonovabitch I've had enough". By the time we got to the customs office (again), it was almost 3pm. And guess what time the customs office closes? Yup.

So to cut the long-boring-getting-ridiculous story short, I will be back at customs again in 7 hours, with USD$400 tucked in my bra, hopefully for the last time. But it's a fact that there's almost always a silver lining in every dark, pregnant cloud, and here's mine:

To translate briefly, after reviewing my case/sob story, DHL is giving me a special and exceptional 30% discount on the charges, which is something they don't commonly do. I am truly thankful for this and take back what I said in my earlier post about DHL being unhelpful.

Wish me luck for tomorrow...