Wow. wowah. I could not have asked for a better situation in Peru. Such wonderful people with whom I had the chance to come in contact. I did not even have a chance to see all of the county that I would have like to visit. I will definitely return as soon as I can save up the money.... again.... It really renews my belief in the goodness of humanity when I meet the friends that I now have in Peru. And they are friends, not just passing acquaintances, I will hold them with me here in the states, and on my future travels, though distance separates us, the power of technology is the gift of proximity no matter where we are on the globe.
My last night in Peru I went with my backpack to meet Felipe, Andrea, and some other friends of theirs after University. We went to a bar that I will call typical college bar Peru style, and ate cow hearts roasted on on a stick by a man on the street and shared large bottles of cerveza. It was a perfect close to my stay in Peru, though my clothes smelled like smoke and I spilled beer on my backpack, I wouldn't trade those last laughs and dances for all the fresh smelling clothing in the world. Cleanliness is so overrated, plus they have those great Duty free shops in the airport where you can spash yourself with a little perfume before jumping on the plane! :o)
The last song we heard at the bar was in Spanish saying all good things must come to an end.... and it is true... Felipe, Andrea, and their friend whom they referred to as "Shaggy" (who introduced me to the real power of Lima slang and is all shades of funny and interesting) accompanied me to the airport, where we walked in, I checked my bags and they waited for me to come and say goodbye. It is impossible to not feel loved and welcomed when people take such care to see you off and you both exchange words hoping for a quick return to see them again.
So I was off... a little after midnight, home again... I had a window seat on the plane and could see all the stars out the window, the night was so dark and clear I'd never seen it like that before. This may sound con queso, but it was like flying through heaven... I fell asleep with my neck in that awkward "I'm sleeping on an airplane and this is bound to hurt later, but I'm just so dang tired" position... but with those stars, laughter and salsa music ringing in my ears... I couldn't help but slip into sleep with a smile.... Adios Peru. nos vamos....thanks to all the lovely touristas and peruvians who made this trip so increible!
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Friday, September 21, 2007
Lima... and adios Peru...
This is a giant statue in the Park of Lovers, Parque de Amor. When I first arrived in Peru I was fascinated by a whole park dedicated to love complete with a giant statue and poems on the wall. You can see just how large the statue is if you see the couple sitting in the background. A few of my favorite quotes from the surrounding walls include- Adoro todo lo que no es mio, tu´por ejemplo. and also Besame amor que me estoy muriendo. All beautifully tiled along the water front. Really a romantic spot.
This is a picture of the lovely Carmen. Felipe´s mom who showed me such hospitality and love! She even made me a necklace and earrings and, like I have mentioned many times before, the best hot chocolate in the world.
This is Felipe. How lucky am I to have met randomly through couchsurfers this really charismatic and generous fellow. Without having met me, he and his family took me in, fed me, gave me a place to sleep and more than that, they treat me like family. Made me feel really at home here in Lima. I hope one day to be able to repay their kindness, and hope to visit Lima and their family again. I´m glad to have begun and ended my trip with such quality people. Gracias mis amigos...
Piñe, piñe, piñe
So... one of the things in Cusco, that always made me laugh were the fruit carts. People pushed these carts through the streets, downtown and through the neighborhoods announcing on the loud speaker, look toward the top of the photo, what fruits they were selling. The voice always came out with a bit of static like a robot was talking to you. If you would like I can impersonate it for you when I return home... haha. Along the same line, Katie and I were in a taxi one day and on the radio we hear a commercial for English language courses that was really funny because it started out with the robot voice of the fruit vendors saying ´piñe piñe piñe´then shifted to the person in the same voice saying ´pineapple, pineapple, apples, bananas´etc. SO FUNNY. Kind of illustrating what you can do after learning English, I guess. hmmm... maybe it is one of those you have to be there sort of things. But hey, some of you reading this were there, and if you weren´t believe me... really funny stuff.
Yo aprendia mas Español
We learned a ton at our school in Cusco, these are some of the students and teachers at the school. Some of the best times at school were during our break time, chatting with other students and teachers, a great time to free form practice my broken Spanish! From left to right: Holga, Lus, Ricardo, Patricia and John.
It was usually really cold during break time, so here is Flo demonstrating how to bear it with a smile. Though I have to admit the last week and a half of class Katy and I discovered the Panderia really close to school... Oh it was the death of me. Theses really delicious cheese breads, little pies with mango inside, doughnuts, apple tarts and all really cheap... oh man. So good. Put some of those pastries in my saddle bags to take back to the states... haha.
This is an action shot taken during one of my classes. Actually it is what Katie and I call a ´poised candid´of Mario looking pensive and intellectual. We learn tons in the school because most classes are one on one and go at our individual paces. Mario taught me verb tenses as well as the fact that sarcasm in Spanish can be just as, if not more fun than English. After his class I could toss out phrases like: Eso apesta, Que aburido, hola amargado and Los caderas no micaten. haha. No, but in all sincerity, Mario and the other teachers are pretty amazing and patient to teach this crazy North American who came to Peru with practically no Spanish knowledge, and on my last day of class I was able to use the Subjunctive tense to give advice and explain a possible scenario of a movie I might direct. I learned a lot of Spanish, but I also learned affective tactics for teaching a foreign language by virtual immersion. Que Lindo!
On Fridays we had special classes sometimes playing games and sometimes cooking delicious food. This is one of the students, Crystal sharing her recipe for chicken with the assistance of our school director. Lovely people, both of them.... and darn good chicken.
This was a very common sight for me during my study time in Cusco. There was one cafe in particular where I liked to go order a Chocolate Caliente and study overlooking Plaza de Armas. Though, for all my searching, the Chocolate Caliente that is the best in all of Peru, and possibly the world is to be found and my friend Felipe´s house in Lima made especially by his lovely mother, Carmen.Going out on the town
There are several choices for places to go out in Cusco, especially for touristas. If you walk into Plaza de Armas, you will most likely be accosted by several people representing their respective bars offering you free drinks, entrance, whatever to get you to try out there place. Pretty funny. One of my favorite nights out in Cusco was with some other students from school to the infamous...MAMA AFRICA....
This is flo and I in Mama Africa, we were the solo chicas in our group. que lindo!
On the left is a picture of Simon and on the right is Eamon. Simon is a wonderful fellow from England traveling around South America. Eamon and his friend, Mark are on a trip around the world and hail from Dublin.
On the left is Mark from Dublin, and Peter from Germany. Soon after this picture was taken we were all dancing. Don´t let Peter´s serious face fool you, it was a really fun evening..
Plaza de Armas.So beautiful, I really could not get enough of this place.Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Here comes the monkey out of the sleeve...
So that´s a rough translation of a saying to which Daniel introduced us. I love learning idioms in other languages and translating them. They always sound just a touch ridiculous. Or in this case, a lot ridiculous. Speaking of silly and ridiculous, one thing I will really miss about Peru is the little dogs on the toilet paper. For some reason, and I no longer have my camera so you´ll just have to imagine this in your heart. 90% of the toilet paper that they sell here have little puppies on them in various colors and designs. How magical. They really love there dogs in Peru, so it seems. It fact, Katie and I were talking one day of the idea of rounding up all the dogs and putting them in a pile and it would be as tall as Huaynu Picchu. I believe that in my heart. I don´t really have a desire to round up all the dogs, but it sure is a funny image for us.
My last day of classes will be tomorrow, so I thought that I would share with you a little bit of my poetic verse that I have composed in Spanish;
Poesia
Y fue a esa edad... Llegó la poesía
a buscarme. No sé, no sé de dónde
salió, de invierno o río.
No sé cómo ni cuándo,
no, no eran voces, no eran
palabras, ni silencio,
pero desde una calle me llamaba,
desde las ramas de la noche,
de pronto entre los otros,
entre fuegos violentos
o regresando solo,
allí estaba sin rostro
y me tocaba.
Yo no sabía qué decir, mi boca
no sabía
nombrar,
mis ojos eran ciegos,
y algo golpeaba en mi alma,
fiebre o alas perdidas,
y me fui haciendo solo,
descifrando
aquella quemadura,
y escribí la primera línea vaga,
vaga, sin cuerpo,
pura tontería,
pura sabiduría
del que no sabe nada,
y vi de pronto
el cielo
desgranado
y abierto,
planetas,
plantaciones palpitantes,
la sombra perforada,
acribillada
por flechas, fuego y flores,
la noche arrolladora, el universo.
Y yo, mínimo ser,
ebrio del gran vacío
constelado,
a semejanza, a imagen
del misterio,
me sentí parte pura
del abismo,
rodé con las estrellas,
mi corazón se desató en el viento.
So I think three weeks of Spanish class has really paid off. ´Just kidding guys, that´s a beautiful poem by Pablo Neruda, however when I read it in Spanish now I kind of understand most of it, and that is a damn good feeling. But here is something that I wrote for me class for real, much less beautiful and less interesting, but its mine! A little story in Español:
El Sabado, en mi casa, Katie y yo estabamos aburridos. Entones yo sugeri para que nosotras perparemos galletas para cumpleaños nuestros amigos. Despue's yo fui caminar a la Mega mientras ella iba a la internet. Yo compre´ los ingredientes y regrese´a mi casa. Despues nosotros hicimos galletas. Pero, yo no recrde´ compre los huevos. Mientras yo mezclaba los ingredientes Katy buscaba los huevos. Yo estuve frustrada no tenia todos los ingredientes que yo necesitiba. Pero, Katie regreso´con huevoes, y yo estuve feliz. Nosotros llebemos nuestra masa de galletas al horno cercano mi casa. Mientras nosotras esperabamos por nuestra galletas, yo hablaba con una mujeres alla´. Ella mi preguto sobre los ingredientes, y ella estaba feliz porque ella mi dijo, ¨todos mis dias yo quice probar galletas de Estado Unidos.¨
That is the story I retold for my Spanish homework, based on actual events. It is no Pablo Neruda, but what is really? I have some pictures of my wonderful little school here, but they ar eon a cd and the computers at the internet cafe have no CD drive, so those will just have to wait. ciau!
My last day of classes will be tomorrow, so I thought that I would share with you a little bit of my poetic verse that I have composed in Spanish;
Poesia
Y fue a esa edad... Llegó la poesía
a buscarme. No sé, no sé de dónde
salió, de invierno o río.
No sé cómo ni cuándo,
no, no eran voces, no eran
palabras, ni silencio,
pero desde una calle me llamaba,
desde las ramas de la noche,
de pronto entre los otros,
entre fuegos violentos
o regresando solo,
allí estaba sin rostro
y me tocaba.
Yo no sabía qué decir, mi boca
no sabía
nombrar,
mis ojos eran ciegos,
y algo golpeaba en mi alma,
fiebre o alas perdidas,
y me fui haciendo solo,
descifrando
aquella quemadura,
y escribí la primera línea vaga,
vaga, sin cuerpo,
pura tontería,
pura sabiduría
del que no sabe nada,
y vi de pronto
el cielo
desgranado
y abierto,
planetas,
plantaciones palpitantes,
la sombra perforada,
acribillada
por flechas, fuego y flores,
la noche arrolladora, el universo.
Y yo, mínimo ser,
ebrio del gran vacío
constelado,
a semejanza, a imagen
del misterio,
me sentí parte pura
del abismo,
rodé con las estrellas,
mi corazón se desató en el viento.
So I think three weeks of Spanish class has really paid off. ´Just kidding guys, that´s a beautiful poem by Pablo Neruda, however when I read it in Spanish now I kind of understand most of it, and that is a damn good feeling. But here is something that I wrote for me class for real, much less beautiful and less interesting, but its mine! A little story in Español:
El Sabado, en mi casa, Katie y yo estabamos aburridos. Entones yo sugeri para que nosotras perparemos galletas para cumpleaños nuestros amigos. Despue's yo fui caminar a la Mega mientras ella iba a la internet. Yo compre´ los ingredientes y regrese´a mi casa. Despues nosotros hicimos galletas. Pero, yo no recrde´ compre los huevos. Mientras yo mezclaba los ingredientes Katy buscaba los huevos. Yo estuve frustrada no tenia todos los ingredientes que yo necesitiba. Pero, Katie regreso´con huevoes, y yo estuve feliz. Nosotros llebemos nuestra masa de galletas al horno cercano mi casa. Mientras nosotras esperabamos por nuestra galletas, yo hablaba con una mujeres alla´. Ella mi preguto sobre los ingredientes, y ella estaba feliz porque ella mi dijo, ¨todos mis dias yo quice probar galletas de Estado Unidos.¨
That is the story I retold for my Spanish homework, based on actual events. It is no Pablo Neruda, but what is really? I have some pictures of my wonderful little school here, but they ar eon a cd and the computers at the internet cafe have no CD drive, so those will just have to wait. ciau!
Monday, September 17, 2007
This weekend....
My last weekend in Cusco, and I have to say it was quite an adventure. I thought I would just make a little listy poo of things that transpired over the last 48 hours. Some of them might surprise you, some of them surprised me, and some you may find extremely dull, but I thought was important enough to mention and it is my blog. haha. :)
1. Saturday afternoon I suddenly had this strong desire to bake something. So I decided upon peanut butter cookies with chocolate chips in them Que rico! Katy was my sou chef and we ventured upon creating this American comfort food. Little did we know that Katy would be running around town for eggs, I would accidentally buy potato starch instead of baking soda ( I realized it before it was added) and that our baking adventure would lead us to the very Peruvian experience with what I call ¨the over room¨ because that is what it is. Literally. We asked out host sister if we could use the oven in the kitchen in our house and she said we could but it is easier if we go to the over room near the park with our baked goods. Of course, why didn´t we think to go to another room near the park to bake our cookies in a giant oven because it will taste better? So we headed out with our cookie batter to this room that contained an oven at least 30 ft by 20 ft run by two kids 8 and 10 years old. Awesome. So we dished out our cookies onto these large kind of clean trays the kids slid them into the back of the oven with a large wooden spatula looking thing. There we were. Our cookies baking with the neighborhood´s cakes, casseroles and biscuits. It smelled like ceder, meat and bread, and our cookies came out perfectly, what a hit! I wish I could explain to you the craziness of this 24 hour oven room... but it is just beyond words or pictures. Good news is I conquered altitude cooking! They were such a hit that we gave some to our host sister´s son and his friends on the way home and he came inside later to ask for the recipe for himself and his friends. Now I just have to figure out how to explain how to make them... I really need to start writing down what I put in my cooking...
2. Good news, Friday afternoon I burned all my pictures that I took thus far in my trip on to a CD so that I could clear my memory card. Bad news... my camera was stolen out of a bag check at the Discotheque on Friday night. boo. Good news, I thought my journal was also stolen, but was just at the bottom of my bag... more good news, I was more upset about the idea of losing my journal than losing a camera....
3. After futbal and pool on Friday night we went to a Peruvian disco where I was the only female gringo, so thus being so conspicuous I was chosen, though I didn´t fully understand what was going on, to participate in a contest. So I went up on stage and turns out it was a beer drinking contest. Thank goodness I had not drank much at that point. Guess what folks? I represented the gringos well and totally won. haha. I won a beer drinking contest. That´s hilarious. Mom and Dad would be so proud of their classy daughter.
4. On Friday between the pool hall and the disco I was really hungry so we stopped to have some food on the street. I ate pieces of steak and a potato roasted on a stick. That´s right, you read correctly. I ate meat off of a stick in the streets of Cusco. Again... what a classy dame.
5. Saturday night we went to our friend, Simon´s birthday party. My first experience with Peruvian birthdays. Pretty interesting. Things started rolling around 10Pm when we were served several drinks and played a random game where you have to do whatever is given to you on a piece of paper. The directions could be dancing sexy around a bottle, or drinking all your drink in one shot. hmmm... not sure if it is a common Peruvian game, but our host and her friends seemed to really enjoy it. Then we were served food after a few hours of drinking. My theory is maybe they think people loosen up a lot more quickly when playing games and drinking on an empty stomach, but don´t want to send people home to thrashed, so they feed you late at night to ease waking up the next morning.... just a theory.
6. After the birthday party, Katy, Daniel and I went out dancing to a few clubs and then to a place with a live reggae band. The band was awesome, but the dance floor was crowded. I think the most interesting part of the evening, aside from the music, was when I engaged in a conversation with a few Italians, a German and an American where our common language was Spanish. It was my first time being in a group so diverse where the common language was not English... and I understood! and participated! pretty dang cool I think.
7. This morning, Daniel, Katy and I walked up to the Sachsay Woman ruins for what we heard was a ¨coming of age ceremony¨it was incredible. The colors, the people. Very few other touristas, hundreds and hundreds of Peruvians. There was a giant playing field area, and these teenage boys were in 4 different teams with costumes in 4 different colors, green, blue, red and black. They were doing things like jumping through flaming hoops then climbing up logs balanced by other boys over more fire. When they fell into the fire they were carried off the field. The fires were small, but still. I think my favorite was when they had to start from two different sides of a log with rings attached to it. They were about 20 ft off the ground and when the opponents would meet in the middle, they would lock legs to make the other fall into the fire below. amazing.
So I think that is most of the highlights for the weekend. 7 is a good holy number, I read that somewhere...I am heading out of Cusco, I believe on Thursday, back to Lima for a few days before flying back to the states. Ciao for now!
1. Saturday afternoon I suddenly had this strong desire to bake something. So I decided upon peanut butter cookies with chocolate chips in them Que rico! Katy was my sou chef and we ventured upon creating this American comfort food. Little did we know that Katy would be running around town for eggs, I would accidentally buy potato starch instead of baking soda ( I realized it before it was added) and that our baking adventure would lead us to the very Peruvian experience with what I call ¨the over room¨ because that is what it is. Literally. We asked out host sister if we could use the oven in the kitchen in our house and she said we could but it is easier if we go to the over room near the park with our baked goods. Of course, why didn´t we think to go to another room near the park to bake our cookies in a giant oven because it will taste better? So we headed out with our cookie batter to this room that contained an oven at least 30 ft by 20 ft run by two kids 8 and 10 years old. Awesome. So we dished out our cookies onto these large kind of clean trays the kids slid them into the back of the oven with a large wooden spatula looking thing. There we were. Our cookies baking with the neighborhood´s cakes, casseroles and biscuits. It smelled like ceder, meat and bread, and our cookies came out perfectly, what a hit! I wish I could explain to you the craziness of this 24 hour oven room... but it is just beyond words or pictures. Good news is I conquered altitude cooking! They were such a hit that we gave some to our host sister´s son and his friends on the way home and he came inside later to ask for the recipe for himself and his friends. Now I just have to figure out how to explain how to make them... I really need to start writing down what I put in my cooking...
2. Good news, Friday afternoon I burned all my pictures that I took thus far in my trip on to a CD so that I could clear my memory card. Bad news... my camera was stolen out of a bag check at the Discotheque on Friday night. boo. Good news, I thought my journal was also stolen, but was just at the bottom of my bag... more good news, I was more upset about the idea of losing my journal than losing a camera....
3. After futbal and pool on Friday night we went to a Peruvian disco where I was the only female gringo, so thus being so conspicuous I was chosen, though I didn´t fully understand what was going on, to participate in a contest. So I went up on stage and turns out it was a beer drinking contest. Thank goodness I had not drank much at that point. Guess what folks? I represented the gringos well and totally won. haha. I won a beer drinking contest. That´s hilarious. Mom and Dad would be so proud of their classy daughter.
4. On Friday between the pool hall and the disco I was really hungry so we stopped to have some food on the street. I ate pieces of steak and a potato roasted on a stick. That´s right, you read correctly. I ate meat off of a stick in the streets of Cusco. Again... what a classy dame.
5. Saturday night we went to our friend, Simon´s birthday party. My first experience with Peruvian birthdays. Pretty interesting. Things started rolling around 10Pm when we were served several drinks and played a random game where you have to do whatever is given to you on a piece of paper. The directions could be dancing sexy around a bottle, or drinking all your drink in one shot. hmmm... not sure if it is a common Peruvian game, but our host and her friends seemed to really enjoy it. Then we were served food after a few hours of drinking. My theory is maybe they think people loosen up a lot more quickly when playing games and drinking on an empty stomach, but don´t want to send people home to thrashed, so they feed you late at night to ease waking up the next morning.... just a theory.
6. After the birthday party, Katy, Daniel and I went out dancing to a few clubs and then to a place with a live reggae band. The band was awesome, but the dance floor was crowded. I think the most interesting part of the evening, aside from the music, was when I engaged in a conversation with a few Italians, a German and an American where our common language was Spanish. It was my first time being in a group so diverse where the common language was not English... and I understood! and participated! pretty dang cool I think.
7. This morning, Daniel, Katy and I walked up to the Sachsay Woman ruins for what we heard was a ¨coming of age ceremony¨it was incredible. The colors, the people. Very few other touristas, hundreds and hundreds of Peruvians. There was a giant playing field area, and these teenage boys were in 4 different teams with costumes in 4 different colors, green, blue, red and black. They were doing things like jumping through flaming hoops then climbing up logs balanced by other boys over more fire. When they fell into the fire they were carried off the field. The fires were small, but still. I think my favorite was when they had to start from two different sides of a log with rings attached to it. They were about 20 ft off the ground and when the opponents would meet in the middle, they would lock legs to make the other fall into the fire below. amazing.
So I think that is most of the highlights for the weekend. 7 is a good holy number, I read that somewhere...I am heading out of Cusco, I believe on Thursday, back to Lima for a few days before flying back to the states. Ciao for now!
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