LIMA day 1 and 2
January 20th, 2007So I arrived, no credit card, a robbery? Thievery right off the plane? one wuld think so from the horrid city crime reviews but more likely erin was not checked out yet on her waterproof, anti theive resistanct multiflapped wallet and dropped the damn thing at the rental car place. that was a fun morning canceling that. on 2.5 hours sleep, i waited outside my hotel for Father Gerard. Little history here. my aunt Maura, dad´s sister from Dublin, fell in love with a Peruvian man she met in Miami and moved to Lima maybe in the 60s? Aunt Maura was a trip, exotic with her spanish-irish lilt, full of life ,always a playful glint in the eye – she could sell the devil a block of ice. Shortly after meeting up with her in Ireland, Aunt Maura died in her sleep of a heart attack at 49 in 1987. she was sorely missed.
Fast fwd to present, one of my missions in lima was to find her grave. i researched and asked all the family and noone could help and her husband had stopped communicated with me around 1995, no explanation. So I had all but given up hope sitting in Florida chatting with the Danny and Micheal Dorby and they said well mickey o´donnel from the next town over is married to a woman from limerick whose borther, fr gerard o´meara is a priest in Lima and knew your aunt. Oh – here is his number. What? I could not believe it.
I got him and arranged to meet Fri in Lima. He picked me up and brought me to his house for dinner. his parish is deperately poor and it is amazing the conditions they live in. The meal was fantastic and he and Fr Joe McCarthy form Cork were wonderful to me. Fr. Gerry had gotten in touch with my Aunt´s best friedn who was at the funeral and had the name of the crypt or niches as they are called here. We drove there and were faced with 4 floors of criptos. We caught a groundsmas who got us into the office and looked up the name. We found it! it was incredible. It was so nice to pay my repsects to my Aunt and say prayers for her 20 yrs later. it was amazing. Coincidentally, Fr O´Meara went on to tell me he was at my house in long isalnd yrs ago across the street visiting my aunt and uncle. Why i said? Aunt shiela and her sister Nellie were housekeepers in his first recotry assignment in Glasgow about 50 years ago!!! can you believe how small the world is…it gets better.
He gave me Pat Doyle´s number, my aunts friend from Carlow. I rang her and she invited me over for dinner Saturday night. After a day walking around Miraflores and checking out the stones on the beach, i got picked up for the ride to San Isisdro. Pat and her husband Mos were wonderful with a great dinner and fantastic house and garden. They were gracious hosts and told me how much my aunt meant to them and even gave me a photo of her. Pat solved some of the mystery. When Aunt Maura died, Pat took her dog. 8 years laters, she was running across the house for something or another and tripped over the dog and broke her ankle. She ended up in the emergency room and Mauras husband, Carlos came in on the stretcher next to her. He died of a cancerous brain tumour. strange how things works. anyway, i have made a friend for life and am thrilled. i think there may be a further connection yet, pats niece lives in donegal and is a…kayaking instructor at Gartan lake. After I just shipped my kayak over there and was looking for advice…wierd. she might even be realted once removed but still working on that. ok. maybe i should title these relevant to family, relevant to general public haha. but ti saves me repeating it in 8 different emails! hasta luego
dunlewey