(Approximate reading time: 12 minutes)
Shit – What has happened to the headline? There are some alien signs you never saw before in your life. But don’t worry: Neither do you need to read the text from the right to the left, nor to download the latest version of the Adobe Flash Player.
Maybe it is better, if I let the person I want to introduce to you people hidden and dangerous in the dark. I think, that this would be exactly how he wanted it to be. Let’s just say, that these strange signs in the headline are luckily not Arabic, but from the Greek alphabet. And let us call this man Dimixtrix, following how some Peruvians tried to pronounce his name and made us both laugh. People from South America had enough problems to pronounce his name correctly and thought all the time that he would be Russian. But he does not have a lot in common with a Vodka drinking and Russian Roulette playing psychopath. Far from it! I am talking now about one of the finest and sharpest personalities I met so far during my time in South America. And if Don Felipe compliments people (what usually doesn’t happen too often) AND writes a dedicated blog article about this person, there must be something true inside of his words!
I had the chance to meet Dimixtrix for the first time in October 2017 when I was new in Quito. Everything was new for me in that time: New country, new city, new apartment, new people, new daily rhythm, new everything. I lived in a very huge house with about 35 living quarters. My time in Ecuador was not very successful: I had heavy problems with my health, completely incompetent doctors to deal with and a job that was not corresponding and matching my talents and skills AT ALL. Besides that I couldn’t fix my Visa problems, because I was dependent of my official documentation from UCAM, the worst university of Europe. Without that kind of documentation I couldn’t apply for a working visa.
All in all not the very best arguments to look finally back and say: “Yes, that was a great time”. But luckily I met one person, that was really worth it and will be always a precious friend and contact. Dimixtrix was my neighbor in that huge house, that was more suitable for exchange students and social volunteers from Europe and the U.S.A.
When I met him for the first time, I was highly surprised: He was Greek. And during all my years abroad I barely met any Greek students, tourists, etc. They mostly stick to their country due to different reasons. Dimixtrix luckily received a scholarship, which made his time in Quito possible. So it was just luck, that we met each other at the right time at the wrong place. I write wrong place not only because of me, Dimixtrix prefers as well living closer to the beach area to listen to the waves than living up in the mountains.
We had directly a click, because he is from Thessaloniki, the second biggest city of Greece. It is a really beautiful city and worth to visit. My uncle migrated 30 years ago to Greece to a little fisher village maybe 50 kilometer away from Thessaloniki. So I was surprised, that he knew this little fisher village and he was surprised, that I had already visited his hometown and could tell him a few stories about his city. A good conversation and a good start for a buddyship!
During that time I already had the luck to perceive him as a very energetic and active personality, without any fear of strange or unknown things and with the willingness to first eat something and then later ask: ‘What is that?’. So exactly this ‘I’ll do it, come hell or high water’-attitude also represents me. How many people don’t want to exit their own comfort zone and prefer to stay safe and secure in their rhythm and routine? Dimixtrix is so far away from his own comfort zone, if he turns around and tries to look for it he would probably need binoculars to find it. A real explorer and curious adventurer.
After three months of a lot of trouble for me I finally decided to leave Ecuador and headed to Peru. In the week when I was leaving town, he asked me: “Will you be in Lima in March/April? I’m planning to travel to and through Peru.” I told him, that probably I will be but can’t promise anything to him. He answered me, that he will visit me for sure. Okay, nice words. But how many people have already told me, that they would visit me and have never shown up?
Dimixtrix also says these words, but what is indeed more important about him: He realizes them and make them happen. There are not many people in the world who let nice words consequently nice actions follow. Mostly it remains BlaBla. Well, I found a very nice Greek specimen it seems. And I am very grateful to that!
So Dimixtrix contacted me again in February and told me, that he will travel to Peru and if I would like to join him for one week. I didn’t need to think for long and agreed to his idea. We met in Mancora, what is in the north of Peru, very close to the border of Ecuador. He came from the north, I came from the south and we met almost in the middle. And it was probably one of the most exhausting bus rides I ever made: 20 hours in a normal travel bus, without the comfort of a sleeping bus.
Bus from Lima to Mancora: 21 hours
So we started together in Mancora for two nights, went from there to Piura to catch a bus to Chiclayo. In Chiclayo we have visited ‘El mercado de las brujas’ what means something like ‘The Witch Market’ and which has to offer a lot of weird voodoo things to interested people.
So from these seven days we were unfortunately most of the time in a bus. Maybe 2.5 days from these seven days were wasted/spent on the roads of Peru. But it was nonetheless worth it!
When we arrived at the hot springs in Yumagual I was very disappointed about the site: An indigenous tramp requested 5 Soles charge at the entrance of this free place from us and indigenous people were washing their clothes at the hot springs. So all in all that day was a little bit disappointing. But Dimixtrix was still in a positive mood and did not show any displeasure about our situation.
All in all I am very thankful to have made this trip with him, because I saw a lot of things which I probably never would see so easily again or on my own. But Dimixtrix is very energetic and could motivate me several times to continue although my inner energy reserves were running low. I like to remember the last day in Trujillo, when I was after an upset stomach and no sleep in an overnight bus close to book a ticket back to Lima. But he convinced me to stay for one day longer and thanks to this decision I had for example the joy to see the oldest Pre-Colombian city Chan Chan in South America.
After returning to Lima, we also had a couple of good days together, e.g. at the evening with Coline and Lea (Two old housemates from Quito) or at ‘La casa de Nico’.
And Dimixtrix loves ice cream! Whenever he had a good meal and his tiny stomach is already full, he is still looking for an ice cream:
Ice cream with Susan and Dimixtrix
Although it’s quite stupid and wasteful what the Peruvians did here: Installing a motorized gas compressor to operate an ice cream machine including its cooling system. But Dimixtrix wanted to have an ice cream.
Not all about Dimixtrix is perfect of course. He has the typical Greek “I love to be late” mentality. In South America it didn’t really matter, because these people here love the same mentality. when he made an appointment, the other person was late as well. So if both people are 30-60 minutes late, at the end they were punctual. Another little careless thing is to travel to South America without a smartphone. The only advantage is, that none South American criminal can steal his phone. The disadvantages are the missing GPS, the missing clock, the missing possibility to contact him, etc.. It’s not very easy to travel without a cellphone through South America in our modern times, where everyone relies on the internet. My deepest respect, but it also complicated our trip sometimes 🙂
Dimixtrix and his friend Thanassis – Who joined for a South America trip as well – continued traveling to Ica, a city in the south of Lima. He took another bus of four hours and wanted to see the desert and the oasis of Huacachina. I didn’t go with him, because I already saw these places before. He has some more big travel plans: Go to Santiago de Chile, after that back to Cuzco and then to Buenos Aires. Of course everything in bus.
I wish him all the best, a safe and secure trip and a successful finish of his studies. One more semester and he is done with his shite. If destiny wants it, we will sit one day together in Thessaloniki and eat Bougatsa, a traditional Greek breakfast and drink Frappé, a traditional Greek coffee.
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