Canadian Eh!!!! July 20th/2011

True story I swear. The first morning in Lima we found a bank machine and in I went inserting my card only to have a screen full of binary talk flash at me followed by a Microsoft annoncement that the window was shutting down.Now one thing to strike fear into a traveller is a disconnect from the life line of funds or even worse the suspsion that you have just been had. In any case not pleasant. As I came out of the booth I told the next lady in line that something was wrong and it turned out she spoke english as she pointed me down the block and across the street to a branch of the same bank which happens to be my prefered one because of no service charges. Then I watched her go off just as the traffic light in front of me changed so I crossed the road and hoofed it along to the chosen spot. Then I went in and tried the card again along with the sinking feeling you can get when uncertinity rules. Well all was well with the machine kicking out my daily limit at a not quite three to one rate which always makes you stand up a little straighter and left the booth. Again the same lady was there and expressed disbeleive we had beat here to the machine. Smiling I wandered off . A few blocks of window gazing later I went to cross the street and sure enough there she was again. Before I could open my mouth she smiled and assured us she wasn´t stalking me. She then went on to say she lived in the neighbourhood.Then out of nowhere she said to us you are Canadian aren´t you. Well I was a bit taken back as I said yes how did you know. She told us she had lived in New Jersey for years and couldn´t help but notice us as we stopped and wait for the traffic lights when everybody else had moved on when the traffic cleared but we had waited till the light changed. I thought that was hilarious. So I told the joke How do you get 200 Canadians out of a swimming pool.Punch line==== Just ask them to get out. That got a laugh and we went out seperate ways. It may be a national pastime discussing what it means to be a Canadian but it seems the rest of the planet has us figured out!