I live on Mars

When I was kid, the Viking 1 and 2 landers landed on Mars and transmitted the first color pictures of that planet back to earth. Being a geek, a obtained a poster of one of the Martian views and put it up in my bedroom. I marveled at the rust colored rocks and orange sky in the picture which looked so alien. The vista was suitably exotic given my suburban existence at the time.

Now I live on Mars, or so it seems given the color of the sky over the last few days -- orange. The choking dust is back with a vengeance. It was clear enough in the morning but by mid-morning the dust covered the sky making everything sand colored (which is about the only color here). In the late afternoon, I went to the gym. While seated on the rowing machine, I saw the color of the sky gradually turn orange through a window on a nearby door as I made my way through the 5000 virtual meters I was rowing.

All I could think of when I left the gym was, “I’m on Mars.” It’s a lot hotter than Mars, sure, but it looks like Mars. I even saw dust devils swirling around the pavement augmented by the blowing sand. In these conditions even the slightest breeze is a hair dryer and I was surprised how much dust gets into your eyes.

The Peruvian security guards, who patrol the inner International Zone, have neck gators pulled up over their nostrils and wear sun glasses with wide brim hats. They look like Sand People, the deadly nomads who live on Luke Skywalker’s home planet of Tatooine from “Star Wars.”

This really sucks.