David Coveney

Nowt like a failed stereotype to make you think – New York

Funny things stereotypes. They give you expectations. And then you find they often don’t match reality. New York is quiet… almost restful, after the jungle and Lima. There aren’t horns going off everywhere, people are polite and helpful (though they are in Peru also, I just can’t understand them so much) and the traffic isn’t even that bad.

I’ve heard a couple of people whining and complaining in a Woody Allen style. Other times a conversation can go like this:Moma painting I can't remember the name of.  Help anybody?

“Hey bro! What’s up?!”
“Dude! What’s happenin’ what’s happenin’?”
“S’good man… catchya later!”

Not sure what’s wrong with the English style of muttering ‘morning’ at someone you only know a little. Or even just trying to pretend you’ve not seen them, and so avoiding the embarrasment of trying to find things to talk about with someone whose name you’re not even entirely sure of.

Oh, one more thing… after two months hanging around the southern tropics during their summer, turning up here is a damn cold shock to the system! It’s below freezing, windy, and I’ve had to buy a hat and scarf to keep myself from dying. Right now I don’t think I like the cold very much. I wanna sit in a swimming costume!

I’ll post stuff about Iquitos, Barranco and so on soon, or when I get home. Internet access in NYC is proving to be either incredibly expensive or just plain unavailable. If I can buy a cheap pda with WiFi that might turn out to be a reasonable proposition and then I can sell my old one when I get back to Blighty.

Home on Monday, by the way.

Can’t believe it’s all coming to an end. In a few days I’ll have to think about finding some work. Ick!

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