"Don't Talk And Don't Look Scared"

During one of our walks exploring Lima, Joe and I headed for the street where people go to get fake IDs, certificates and the like. Joe had told me about it earlier and it interested me because it was situated behind the Palace Of Justice. At first we thought we wouldn't see any dealings because it was a Sunday, but a block from the street, we were approached by a man with scars on his face. Joe told him he was interested in a fake certificate and the man invited us to sit on some chairs near his tienda stall and wait while he contacted his mate.

As we waited, Joe instructed me not to talk as to give away that I was foreign and to act cool. Paranoid, the man noticed a young guy standing against the fence on the other side of the road and asked us if we knew him. Joe replied off-handedly that he was our security guard, and the man nodded in understanding. Soon, his mate arrived and discussed the details and price with Joe, and not long after that was sorted, we could barely contain a laugh when our "security" casually wandered away!

We were told that it would take about an hour to acquire the official paper smuggled out of different institutions and offices by insiders for a price, falsify the document details and return. They asked us to wait in the University Park across the street so that it would look less suspicious than us sitting by one of their places of residence. So a couple of empanadas, hot chocolates and half an hour later, the men signaled at us from across the street.

We approached but they darted off one direction, then raced back past us and around the corner. I had no idea what was going on and Joe said that one of the men told us to wait. Then we heard one of them call from the corner and we hurried over. "Quickly," he said, "It's a cop!" This shady dealing was being done in the midday sun as the local people on the street could hear and see all of this. In fact, an old man said, "He's not a cop. He's just city security!" One of the men argued that it was the guy behind city security that he was concerned about.

So we ran and Joe ducked into an alcove with the two men while I casually perused the restaurant sandwich board next door. In a few seconds, the deal was done and I felt Joe pull my arm. We walked quickly away and examined the document later in Plaza San Martin. It was hard to fault with the real watermarked and numbered certificate paper, forged signatures and fake or stolen ink stamps, at least by our eyes.

We parted with about s/.80 for this little adventure, which was half the usual street price on weekdays, and I joked that for a fake document we should've been able to pay with fake money.