The food was excellent as always, and I slowly savored the cup of coffee with a dash of milk. Everywhere else I have gone I am offered coffee BLACK, with a mountain of sugar.
I flagged a cab and sped off to the Ministry of Interior for my packed full day of activities. The ride was uneventful and I was in my on-loan office by 8:30am. My Peruvian counterparts were already busy at work.
It's difficult to read law. And it is even more difficult to read law in another language. For the rest of the morning I spent pouring over the books the Ministry had lent me and consulting with the assistants on this point or that. The laborious task was broken up with an impromptu meeting with the Human Rights director of the MOI, followed by a quick visit (1 hour) with the person assigned to help me get around.
Lunch had arrived and I was still knee deep in post-it-notes, several law pamphlets similarly decorated with post-its making them seem like leaves sticking our of a book sandwich. My stomach protested the neglect and I took the org-chart and another pamphlet to the kitchen on the 4th floor.
The meal had been preselected early this morning and I knew what I would be getting. A baked empanada was first followed by a medallion of beef on a bed of rice following. For desert I was served a banana sliced on a plate.
I downed the juice drink as fast as I could so as not to taste the aspartame they had generously added. But you can' refuse hospitality and I went back to my office.
It seemed like a few minutes had passed when I was called by the General Salas informing me that he was ready to go see the Inspector General and the Tribunal Director. We slid into his 2002 Mazda sedan and off we went with his driver behind the wheel. Sofonias knew his way to our destination and deftly braved the traffic to find the offices.
On the way we saw a banner that was promoting an Anti corruption program from the Mayor of the district.
After the two meetings we left the offices to return to the MOI at 8:45. The day had been spent up We had made progress and my stack of notes was getting higher.
