We had a variety of ice cream vendors make their rounds in the neighborhood, some with push carts and others in tricycles. You could hear calls, bells or horns .. small horns. You could recognize some heladeros by the styled sound played in their cornetas. The pitch .. the wave of it all. Not all had it. The legend around Miraflores was "Pirata", a one eye man with a black patch that had been in the business all his life. I first saw him at cine Leuro, he was not a thin person. At his age it must have been tough pedaling around.
"How old is that man ? ... Older than dirt."
The call on weekends come from tamaleras. Mostly women, some men ... all black. Imagine starting early in the morning after cooking, a walk with a big basket of inventory. Those firm and distinctive voices: "taaaamaaaaleeesss .. calientito los taaaamales"
"humitassss .. dulce las humitasss"
"casera .. caserita .. los tamales .. las humitas" !!!
You have to admire plumbers. In the US you have these vans or trucks. In Lima they made house calls with one box or bag on their shoulder, that's it. They had all to fix everything ... Sure they did ??!!
"gasfiteroooo .. llego el gasfiiiiteeeroooo"
A ver Jacinta ... pasale la voz al gasfitero ....!!
Buenas tarde ...senora ...
Oiga ... usted no es el .... maestro ....
No .. No .. el es mi .... primo ...
Estas seguro hijito? .. usted parece muy pichon para ser gasfitero
Uhhh senora .. yo le arreglo lo que usted necesita ...
You got to believe. Plumbers in Peru were born with experience.
2B Continued
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