Lima the Gray Octopus, Peru

The Taekwondo Tournament in Lima

Accusation of Theft

I was accused of trying to purloin a woman’s shoes. Do I look like I would travel all the way to Lima to steal used shoes at a Taekwondo tournament? Sure, why not? No, I was actually looking for something. It was Maureen’s water bottle. There was so much stuff piled against a wall where she had been sitting. I reached down to move a pair of shoes so I could see better and this woman rushed up and started yelling at me. It was no use trying to explain ’cause we didn’t speak the same language. So I walked away and bought Maureen another bottle of water. I guess they steal each other’s shoes down there. Weird.

Luckily, I was able to watch both of them compete because they did not compete at the same time. Donavin came in second for Sparring and Combat Sparring. Combat Sparring is when you use a weapon. Maureen came first in Sparring. She had to fight three times for that. You can see the fight for first place here. She also came in first for Weapons and third in Combat Sparring.

Pretty in Pink

The tournament was right in the hotel. It was the Westin Lima Hotel. Donavin went AWOL one night so I called security. When I told them he was wearing a shocking pink t-shirt, they stopped me right there and said, “We’ll find him.” They found him.

He was sleeping on a couch in the corner of the mezzanine where the tournament had been held. It’s not a good thing to lose someone else’s kid in a foreign country. I’m glad we found him. The next day, one of the security guys showed me a cute little trick with those hotel bar locks. Actually, it’s quite terrifying. He had a small tool and jiggled the door open in about a minute. I haven’t trusted them since.

When not traipsing around the city we were in the workout room or this pool. This is the longest, narrowest pool I have ever seen.

I was standing inside the entrance to the hotel one day and I noticed a plaque over the large archway. It read: Occupancy 12 people. I looked around trying to figure out why 12 people would even want to stand under this arch and then it hit me. It was a shelter in case of an earthquake. Grim. Give me a hurricane any day instead of being buried alive.