Summary

An American recounts his unexpected adventure of sneaking into the Government Palace of Peru, posing as a journalist, and witnessing an Inti Raymi festival preview.

Abstract

The author narrates a humorous and risky escapade where he inadvertently found himself amidst a significant event at the Government Palace of Peru. Despite not being a professional journalist, he managed to gain entry by using a fake press badge and an invitation meant for his predecessor. He describes the tense moments as he bypassed security, mingled with actual journalists, and observed the President of Peru, Alan Garcia, during a cultural event. The story highlights the thrill of seizing unconventional opportunities and the unexpected turns of expatriate life.

Opinions

The author appears to have a nonchalant attitude towards potentially dangerous situations, as evidenced by his casual decision to attend the event and his history of visiting places against state department recommendations.
He reflects on his younger choices with a sense of pride and satisfaction, suggesting that he values the experiences and stories gained from taking risks.
The author seems to appreciate the lax security at the event, which allowed him to slip through with minimal scrutiny.
He conveys a sense of camaraderie and shared experience with the other journalists, despite his imposter status.
The story implies a critique of the seriousness with which security protocols were followed at the Government Palace.
The author lightly mocks his own lack of preparedness, given that he only realized the significance of the event upon arrival and used a Blackberry to take pictures, resulting in poor quality images.
There is an underlying tone of self-deprecation in his comparison of his actions to those of a responsible president, highlighting his awareness of the absurdity of the situation.
The anecdote about sharing his story with an American embassy worker who was shocked by his actions suggests the author enjoys recounting his adventures and the reactions they elicit.

WRITING PROMPT RESPONSE

The Time I Accidentally Snuck into the Government Palace of Peru

Reckless behavior often leads to awesome experiences

I didn’t wake up that morning intending to cause an international incident. Even so, by mid-afternoon it had begun to look like that’s how it would play out.

Alan Garcia, the President of Peru, was standing about fifty yards away from me. He had a quizzical expression on his face. I could almost see him thinking, “That guy doesn’t look like he belongs here.”

I was surrounded by journalists with fancy cameras. They, too, were examining me with suspicion.

I fingered the fake press badge I’d had laminated at a local stationary shop. The press badge had a picture of me from my wedding and read “Prensa” in large red letters.

When I looked back up, I noticed the guards were approaching.

Suddenly, sneaking into the Government Palace didn’t seem so funny anymore.

Let me back up…

Living in Peru

I moved to Lima, Peru, shortly out of college back in 2001. I’d only attended college for one semester a year and spent my extra time living at home, working, and saving money. Some people thought I was foolish for taking 8 years to finish school. Looking back, prolonging the college experience and graduating without debt was exactly the right thing to do.

The next good choice I made was to move to Peru.

In Peru, life was cheap and foolish kids with an English degree were in high demand. A school set me up with a work visa, and I was set.

A few years later, I’d moved on to a job editing a small English language publication. My duties included reviewing gourmet restaurants. All the chefs wanted me to have a positive experience, so they usually started off the free meal with a round of free drinks.

The drinks didn’t stop.

Those were good times.

An email on the mailing list

At some point, I inherited the editor email from my predecessor. It was a generic email and it turned out it had been added to a ton of mailing lists. One of those mailing lists was from the Peruvian government.

One day I was glancing through my inbox when I found an invitation to attend an event at the government palace.

“What the heck?” I thought. I picked out a dry shirt, grabbed my press badge, and headed out the door.

The Government Palace

Back in those days I was never fully aware of the seriousness of what I was doing. I was in the habit of buying airline tickets for places the state department recommended Americans shouldn’t visit. When I didn’t know where to go, I’d jump on line and see what was prohibited. I figured that’s where the party was.

As I jumped out of the taxi, I noticed there was a small platoon of soldiers with automatic weapons gathered around.

“Hmmmm,” I thought.

Fortunately, I’d printed out the email invitation. I dug it out of my pocket, scraped off the gum, and was prepared to flash it like a badge.

Confidence will get you into a lot of places. Even dumb confidence.

The gatekeepers

I joined the line of real journalists shuffling towards the door. When I got to the entrance, a guy with a clipboard asked me my name. I gave it.

For a tense moment he looked at his list.

“You’re not on here,” he said.

I shrugged and held up my press badge.

“Oh, okay, go right in.”

The metal detector

We were ushered into the next room where a bunch of soldiers were sitting around a fold up table. A metal detector barred the way into the plaza area located in front of the palace.

I didn’t like this room. The soldiers were playing cards and seemed disinterested in what was happening.

The journalists ahead of me passed through the metal detector. When it was my turn, the alarm went off. I froze in place, expecting to be tackled.

One of the soldiers looked up from the game and waved me on.

Even I kind of felt they should have searched me.

The program

It turns out, we’d been invited to cover a preview of the Inti Raymi festival that takes place annually in Cusco. I would have known that if I’d read the whole invitation before showing up at the palace. I stood in the box with the other “journalists.”

After a while Alan Garcia shuffled out. His job was to stand there and smile so he could be in the background of all the Inti Raymi promotional pictures.

That sounds easier than it is. It was a hot day, but Garcia stood there beaming away. That’s when I realized I don’t have what it takes to be president.

I took a bunch of pictures with my Blackberry, that’s why the picture for this article is such poor quality.

The soldiers

After a while, some soldiers stood up and walked over to the press area. I watched them nervously, but they just walked past. Yeah, I totally made the thing about the soldiers sound way worse than it was. To be fair, I was momentarily nervous when I first saw them.

After a while, I figured I’d pushed my luck enough and I left.

As I made my way toward the door, the dancers looked at me. The other journalists looked at me. Alan Garcia looked at me. But nobody said anything.

A few months later I told this story to an American who worked at the US embassy and he just about had a heart attack.

All in all, it was a good day. I’d blustered past authority, taken some poor quality pictures, wrote a mediocre article, and lived to tell the tale. Back when I used to be an international traveler, this kind of thing was all part of a regular work day.

Those were good times.

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