I'm starting to feel a little better today. I'm definitely not in any state of normalcy yet, as easily judged by the fact that all I've eaten today has been two peanuts and a bowl of Peruvian Ramen noodles and a roll. And the fact that I still can't walk very far without feeling pretty breathless. But I decided that today would be a good day to get out and see some of Cusco for a few hours, just to start getting a feel for the city.
Laura and I both had a lazy morning, although hers was more justified since she went out dancing last night. I went to bed at about 10 PM and woke up this morning at about 11 AM. I'm hoping that as the altitude issues wear off, I won't feel so tired, but for now my eyes start drooping right around 9 PM! Around one, Laura and I decided to walk to a market in the San Blas neighborhood of Cusco. San Blas is generally understood to be the older, more colonial part of Cusco, and it's pretty obvious when you notice the winding quality of the streets, which may perhaps be due to a Moorish influence? I don't know, but I recall having learned in my Spanish and Portuguese history class that the roads in Moorish neighborhoods were often characterized by winding in circles rather than existing in the more modern, gridlike style. Laura has been to the market many times before, so she led the way so I could just take everything in. On the outskirts were lots of stalls selling clothing and scarves and shoes, and in the middle was every sort of food you could want. The sellers were interestingly arranged by the sorts of things they sold, so a person seeking rice or grains would go to one aisle and be surrounded by vendors all selling quinoa and lentils and flour and such. Or, if you wanted a fruit smoothie, there was a whole aisle of probably 20 women selling essentially the exact same types of fruit smoothies! How in the world to choose?! I was a little wary of eating market food so close to my arrival in Cusco, but I did buy some warm, toasted peanuts from one woman (she let me sample them and they were delicious!) and also some lentils from another stand. I figure that I need to start bulking up my food supply because eventually I'm going to start being hungry again and needing to cook for myself! Laura brought some potatoes and some cheese that was literally the size and shape of a brick! Cheese hater that I am, I found this rather repulsive, but it was kind of cute that they engraved the name of the cheese on the cheese itself!
It also turns out that today is El Dia Nacional del Libro (or National Book Day), so there were several tents put up just outside the market with lots of books! Not one to miss a book sale, I made a beeline for the tents, and came very close to buying a copy of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone en espanol. I ultimately decided against it, though, as I have lots of other books on my present waiting list. After wandering through the book sale, Laura decided to take a cab home with her market purchases, but I opted to stay in the center of the city and explore a little bit. I walked through some of the big plazas--San Francisco and Reconcijo--and checked out a few stores as I walked. Then I decided to go into an artisan market, where there were about 15 different stalls selling everything from Peruvian futbol jerseys to alpaca slippers to scarves and Peruvian dolls. I think that my blondness definitely makes me a target for both whistling men and eager salespeople in this country. In the two days that I've been here, I've heard many a catcall and been given many a sales proposition. Today at the artisan market, I did succumb to the purchase of a lovely, warm scarf, partly because it was getting cold and partly because I had removed all of my scarves from my luggage and sent them home with my parents when I knew my bag was going to be overweight. The scarf is quite pretty, though I would like to have had several more walks through the markets around town without buying anything because there is SO much to choose from!
I next succumbed to a woman asking if I wanted a pedicure, because I really needed one! I could probably have pretty easily found myself some nail polish remover and cotton balls at the store, and I will definitely be doing that for my next nail care procedure, but the price was good and the woman was very sweet, so I agreed. The pedicurist's name was Ana, and she and I ended up becoming pretty super tight by the time my half hour pedicure was complete! We had a very interesting conversation about religion. I asked her about where I could go to mass tomorrow, and that led to a conversation about her Catholic upbringing and her current feelings on the importance of going to mass each week. From her perspective, going to mass is more a means of trying to be seen as a devout Catholic by one's peers, but she chooses not to go to mass and to show her faith by way of her actions. She also had some things to say about the pope, and had scriptural references ("Nuestro Dios es un Dios celoso," or "Our God is a jealous God") to back up her argument that sometimes people are almost too adoring when it comes to the pope. It was very interesting to hear her opinions, and when I talked about it later with Laura over dinner, Laura told me that it's quite common for Peruvians to be very active in their faith as far as Bible reading and such goes, but not so much when it comes to church attendance.
Ana also told me about her job working with children in what I would probably call "play therapy." We talked about my mom's work as a pre-kindergarten teacher, and the amount of patience that you have to have with children, and also the level of attachment that you feel for them, almost as if they were your own offspring. It was so nice to be able to understand Ana well enough to carry on a conversation, and even when she became impassioned about something and spoke more quickly, I was able to understand! It's starting to come back to me, slowly but surely!
After my pedicure was finished, it had already begun to grow dark outside. I forget about the fact that winter in Peru doesn't just mean cold, but also earlier sunsets. I'm sad to be missing the evening barbecue weather that characterizes late spring in New Jersey! I decided to walk home down the main Avenida del Sol, and I stopped at the "Mega" (the supermarket) on my way. The Mega was rather refreshing after the market, mainly because I knew that it presented items that would be much less likely to make me ill! I don't think I mentioned earlier that the market had big, giant animal carcasses just sitting and waiting for buyers without any sort of refrigeration or anything. That didn't exactly attract my palate! At the Mega, I bought some basic items, including spaghetti, olive oil, tomato sauce, cereal, and oatmeal, and I also bought my Peruvian Ramen noodle packet for dinner and a few fresh rolls and some saltines. I know that I'm going to need to start eating more adventurously soon, but for now, I'm going to stick with the plain and simple.
When I came out of the Mega, it had gotten quite cold, and since I had bags and was in a skirt, I decided to hail a cab. As I'd been instructed, I asked the driver to take me to the "Residencia Huancaro." The phrase actually refers to my neighborhood rather than my actual residence, but usually the taxi driver knows to take you to the entrance to the neighborhood, which happens to be right where my apartment is. This driver, however, did not seem to realize where within the neighborhood I wanted him to go, and I ended up taking him on a slightly roundabout route to get to my apartment. Luckily, he was kind and didn't charge me excessively, and we made it without going too far out of the way.
A few minutes after I got home and started making my Ramen, Laura arrived from an outing to buy new jeans (she was successful). She and I sat down and chatted for a bit, mostly about Peru in general. I also ended up telling her the saga of my love life, which (ha) took all of about 15 minutes. I then made her reciprocate. It was rather a bonding experience. :-)
Tomorrow, I am going to try and go to church at one of the main plazas in the center of the city, and then I have heard tell of plans to go to a futbol game! I'm excited to see some athletic action and to get to know some of the ProWorld people whom I have yet to meet, several of whom I think are also coming to the game!
I know that I promised pictures of my apartment, and I'll put them up soon--por seguro!--but for now, you'll just have to deal with text and know that I love y'all muchly muchly!
Thank you to those of you who have been praying--things are definitely improving, and though I'm not yet at my best, I'm definitely on my way in the right direction!
Saturday, April 30, 2011
A Bit of Inspiration
Disturb us, O Lord, when we are too pleased with ourselves; when our dreams come true because we dreamed too little; when we have arrived in safety because we have sailed too close to the shore. Disturb us, O Lord, when with the abundance of the things we possess, we have lost our thirst for the water of life; when having fallen in love with time, we have ceased to dream of eternity; and in our efforts to build the new earth, have allowed our vision of the new heaven to grow dim. Stir us, O Lord, to dare more boldly, to venture on wider seas where storms shall show Thy mastery and, where losing sight of the land, we shall find the stars. In the name of Him who pushed back the horizons of our hopes and invited the brave to follow, even the name of Christ Jesus our Lord.
Friday, April 29, 2011
Aqui en Cusco
Hola, friends!
Two days from the start of my journey, I am finally here in Cusco! After a comfortable night in my Lima hotel, I got up bright and early at 4:30 for my 6 AM flight to Cusco. I arrived at 7:15 AM, and was so excited to find that my luggage arrived with me. As soon as I got off of the plane in Cusco, there were people in the airport trying to sell me just about everything--train tickets to Machu Picchu, hotel stays, tourism packages...the works! I managed to get by without succumbing to the salespeople, but I did accept a man's offer to assist me with my luggage. I tipped him 10 soles, which I'm pretty sure was way too much, but I have yet to really get a hold on the exchange rate, and all I know right now is that $40 = 108 soles. Pretty nice, eh?
When I came out of the airport, I was met by Lauren, one of the ProWorld office staff members who kindly agreed to meet me at the early hour of 7:30. Lauren has been in Peru for almost a year, and will be here until June as part of a master's program with the School for International Training (SIT). It quickly became clear to me that she knows the ropes when it comes to Cusco, and she explained to me that the taxi drivers waiting in the airport charge about five times what we would be charged if we hailed a cab on the street. We headed for my apartment, which is located just a few blocks off of a big traffic circle surrounding a big, Incan statue. Lauren gave me a brief tour, and I was surprised to find that the apartment was equipped with a wireless internet router, an oven, a washing machine, a television, and a really big bathtub! I was expecting to maaaybe find one of these things, so to find them all was rather a treat. I'll only be living in this apartment for the first month that I'm here, and then my roommate (Laura) and I will move to a different apartment located about a block from the ProWorld office. The reason we aren't in the apartment close to the office right now is because it's brand new and not yet fully completed.
The current apartment is interestingly decorated with lots of Peruvian cultural flair, largely because the owner is affiliated with the Center for Peruvian Textiles. In my room, there are photos of Peruvians in traditional dress, and lots of beautiful weavings covering my desk and hanging on the wall and on my bed. I was pretty tired upon arrival, due to both the altitude and early morning flight, so Lauren kindly drew me a little map of my apartment in relation to the city center and the ProWorld office and then left me to rest. I slept for several hours, and then woke to a call from Eliza (the main PW office director here in Cusco), who asked if I wanted to join her and Lauren for lunch in the city center. I decided that maybe some fresh air would be a good thing, so I walked to the traffic circle and met the girls and we took a cab to the restaurant. The altitude sickness hasn't been as horrible as I built it up to be in my mind, but I do feel pretty super lethargic, and often dizzy. I also feel tingling in my fingers and toes, which is strange and sort of freakish. Although not as bad as I expected it to be, I still despise feeling sick when I'm far from home, so it's been a little bit difficult to stay positive today. I'm a little too nauseous for positivity!
That said, from my brief jaunt through town, I can tell that Cusco is going to be an extremely interesting place. There are stray dogs wandering the streets, which makes me feel like I'm bag in Costa Rica again, and there are lots of little street vendors selling breads and fruits and bottled water. At the restaurant with Eliza and Lauren, I ordered a bowl of quinoa soup since I wasn't feeling up for eating anything too heavy. I expected the soup to be basically chicken noodle soup with quinoa in it, but it was definitely different. It had a slight creaminess to it (which I found displeasing...most of you know me know of my distaste for creamy products in general!), as well as some sort of a strange chopped vegetable that I thought was chopped pieces of butter for the first half of the meal. (I'm still not fully convinced that I wasn't legitimately eating butter pieces in my soup). I'm also fairly sure that there was an egg in the bowl, which I definitely avoided. I'm currently feeling rather fearful of Peruvian food, in large part because of all the precautions that have to be taken to decontaminate things, and in part because I don't feel as familiar with the items I see on menus. I'm hoping that I will pretty quickly learn what I like and don't like, and I expect that there will be some delicious items to be eaten. After all, one of my favorite restaurants in Lancaster, PA--El Serrano--is a Peruvian place, so if their cuisine is at all authentic, then there are definitely going to be things for me to enjoy here.
After lunch, Eliza and Lauren gave me a quick little walking tour through the main center of Cusco, the Plaza de Armas. It was very beautiful, and very full of people, some just sitting and enjoying the sunshine, but most trying to sell things. Probably the most entertaining things being marketed were massages. SO many women were trying to get me to buy a massage it was ridiculous! Eliza actually told me that she's had one before, and that for 20 soles (about $8), you can get a one-hour massage. I think I will have to investigate this further! We also walked through another plaza, called the Reconcijo (I think?), which was filled with school students who were sharing their Earth Day projects. They were actually pretty super cute and very impressive! Some of those kids can DRAW, and they all made very good arguments in favor of environmental friendliness. From this plaza, we walked down the Avenida del Sol, the main street that leads from the circle (with the Incan statue in the middle) all the way to the main Plaza de Armas. This walk was helpful because I was able to see a lot of the resources and services I might need while I'm here, including ATMs, the post office, a grocery store, and looots of ice cream shops! :-) I think I might try and take a stroll down the Avenida del Sol by myself tomorrow so that I can do some exploring if I feel up to it. I've always had a love for exploring foreign grocery stores, so I'm particularly excited to check out the "Mega," which is the big name store here in Cusco.
After walking back to my apartment, I was pretty pooped, so I decided to drink some mate de coca tea (a local remedy for altitude sickness made of the same leaves that are used to produce cocaine!) and watch television for a bit. I fell asleep pretty promptly, and woke a little before six. Soon after I woke, my "mystery roommate" Laura arrived! It was great to meet her in person, and she's rather delightful and sweet. She's a rising senior at James Madison University, and is from New Jersey, so we were able to discuss our shared appreciation for bagels and JMU. She decided to cook some pasta and vegetables, and I joined her in eating some plain pasta, not feeling up to eating much beyond the plainest of items. We had a nice time chatting about her semester with ProWorld and her travels throughout Peru. She hiked the Inca Trail and also visited the floating reed islands on Lake Titicaca, both of which are activities on my list for the next few months. She's also a brazen little eater, and doesn't seem concerned at the thought of eating fruits from the market without disinfecting them. For this, I consider her something of a hero/crazy person. I'm glad that we're living together because she's been here for the past semester and can help me out in learning the ropes of Cusco and becoming more at ease in this new city.
I'm unfortunately having some difficulty being as positive about things as I would like, mainly because I just don't feel very good physically. I'm hoping and praying that as my physical condition improves, my mental one will do the same, but I certainly appreciate your thoughts and prayers to make things a little easier. A particularly tragic discovery that I just made is that Pandora radio doesn't work for people in Peru. I'm pretty sad about this, as I could really use my Christian music station to put my mind at ease. Luckily, I can find some of the songs that I really need to hear on YouTube. Chris Rice singing "Come To Jesus" brings tears to my eyes and peace to my heart. My plan for the rest of tonight is to do a teensy bit of reading before falling asleep, which I know is going to happen very soon since I can barely keep my eyes open now!
In my next post, I'll share some photos of my apartamento, and hopefully also of downtown Cusco. It's sort of hard to describe without some photo footage. I hope that all of you at home are well and enjoying beautiful spring.
Hasta pronto!
Two days from the start of my journey, I am finally here in Cusco! After a comfortable night in my Lima hotel, I got up bright and early at 4:30 for my 6 AM flight to Cusco. I arrived at 7:15 AM, and was so excited to find that my luggage arrived with me. As soon as I got off of the plane in Cusco, there were people in the airport trying to sell me just about everything--train tickets to Machu Picchu, hotel stays, tourism packages...the works! I managed to get by without succumbing to the salespeople, but I did accept a man's offer to assist me with my luggage. I tipped him 10 soles, which I'm pretty sure was way too much, but I have yet to really get a hold on the exchange rate, and all I know right now is that $40 = 108 soles. Pretty nice, eh?
When I came out of the airport, I was met by Lauren, one of the ProWorld office staff members who kindly agreed to meet me at the early hour of 7:30. Lauren has been in Peru for almost a year, and will be here until June as part of a master's program with the School for International Training (SIT). It quickly became clear to me that she knows the ropes when it comes to Cusco, and she explained to me that the taxi drivers waiting in the airport charge about five times what we would be charged if we hailed a cab on the street. We headed for my apartment, which is located just a few blocks off of a big traffic circle surrounding a big, Incan statue. Lauren gave me a brief tour, and I was surprised to find that the apartment was equipped with a wireless internet router, an oven, a washing machine, a television, and a really big bathtub! I was expecting to maaaybe find one of these things, so to find them all was rather a treat. I'll only be living in this apartment for the first month that I'm here, and then my roommate (Laura) and I will move to a different apartment located about a block from the ProWorld office. The reason we aren't in the apartment close to the office right now is because it's brand new and not yet fully completed.
The current apartment is interestingly decorated with lots of Peruvian cultural flair, largely because the owner is affiliated with the Center for Peruvian Textiles. In my room, there are photos of Peruvians in traditional dress, and lots of beautiful weavings covering my desk and hanging on the wall and on my bed. I was pretty tired upon arrival, due to both the altitude and early morning flight, so Lauren kindly drew me a little map of my apartment in relation to the city center and the ProWorld office and then left me to rest. I slept for several hours, and then woke to a call from Eliza (the main PW office director here in Cusco), who asked if I wanted to join her and Lauren for lunch in the city center. I decided that maybe some fresh air would be a good thing, so I walked to the traffic circle and met the girls and we took a cab to the restaurant. The altitude sickness hasn't been as horrible as I built it up to be in my mind, but I do feel pretty super lethargic, and often dizzy. I also feel tingling in my fingers and toes, which is strange and sort of freakish. Although not as bad as I expected it to be, I still despise feeling sick when I'm far from home, so it's been a little bit difficult to stay positive today. I'm a little too nauseous for positivity!
That said, from my brief jaunt through town, I can tell that Cusco is going to be an extremely interesting place. There are stray dogs wandering the streets, which makes me feel like I'm bag in Costa Rica again, and there are lots of little street vendors selling breads and fruits and bottled water. At the restaurant with Eliza and Lauren, I ordered a bowl of quinoa soup since I wasn't feeling up for eating anything too heavy. I expected the soup to be basically chicken noodle soup with quinoa in it, but it was definitely different. It had a slight creaminess to it (which I found displeasing...most of you know me know of my distaste for creamy products in general!), as well as some sort of a strange chopped vegetable that I thought was chopped pieces of butter for the first half of the meal. (I'm still not fully convinced that I wasn't legitimately eating butter pieces in my soup). I'm also fairly sure that there was an egg in the bowl, which I definitely avoided. I'm currently feeling rather fearful of Peruvian food, in large part because of all the precautions that have to be taken to decontaminate things, and in part because I don't feel as familiar with the items I see on menus. I'm hoping that I will pretty quickly learn what I like and don't like, and I expect that there will be some delicious items to be eaten. After all, one of my favorite restaurants in Lancaster, PA--El Serrano--is a Peruvian place, so if their cuisine is at all authentic, then there are definitely going to be things for me to enjoy here.
After lunch, Eliza and Lauren gave me a quick little walking tour through the main center of Cusco, the Plaza de Armas. It was very beautiful, and very full of people, some just sitting and enjoying the sunshine, but most trying to sell things. Probably the most entertaining things being marketed were massages. SO many women were trying to get me to buy a massage it was ridiculous! Eliza actually told me that she's had one before, and that for 20 soles (about $8), you can get a one-hour massage. I think I will have to investigate this further! We also walked through another plaza, called the Reconcijo (I think?), which was filled with school students who were sharing their Earth Day projects. They were actually pretty super cute and very impressive! Some of those kids can DRAW, and they all made very good arguments in favor of environmental friendliness. From this plaza, we walked down the Avenida del Sol, the main street that leads from the circle (with the Incan statue in the middle) all the way to the main Plaza de Armas. This walk was helpful because I was able to see a lot of the resources and services I might need while I'm here, including ATMs, the post office, a grocery store, and looots of ice cream shops! :-) I think I might try and take a stroll down the Avenida del Sol by myself tomorrow so that I can do some exploring if I feel up to it. I've always had a love for exploring foreign grocery stores, so I'm particularly excited to check out the "Mega," which is the big name store here in Cusco.
After walking back to my apartment, I was pretty pooped, so I decided to drink some mate de coca tea (a local remedy for altitude sickness made of the same leaves that are used to produce cocaine!) and watch television for a bit. I fell asleep pretty promptly, and woke a little before six. Soon after I woke, my "mystery roommate" Laura arrived! It was great to meet her in person, and she's rather delightful and sweet. She's a rising senior at James Madison University, and is from New Jersey, so we were able to discuss our shared appreciation for bagels and JMU. She decided to cook some pasta and vegetables, and I joined her in eating some plain pasta, not feeling up to eating much beyond the plainest of items. We had a nice time chatting about her semester with ProWorld and her travels throughout Peru. She hiked the Inca Trail and also visited the floating reed islands on Lake Titicaca, both of which are activities on my list for the next few months. She's also a brazen little eater, and doesn't seem concerned at the thought of eating fruits from the market without disinfecting them. For this, I consider her something of a hero/crazy person. I'm glad that we're living together because she's been here for the past semester and can help me out in learning the ropes of Cusco and becoming more at ease in this new city.
I'm unfortunately having some difficulty being as positive about things as I would like, mainly because I just don't feel very good physically. I'm hoping and praying that as my physical condition improves, my mental one will do the same, but I certainly appreciate your thoughts and prayers to make things a little easier. A particularly tragic discovery that I just made is that Pandora radio doesn't work for people in Peru. I'm pretty sad about this, as I could really use my Christian music station to put my mind at ease. Luckily, I can find some of the songs that I really need to hear on YouTube. Chris Rice singing "Come To Jesus" brings tears to my eyes and peace to my heart. My plan for the rest of tonight is to do a teensy bit of reading before falling asleep, which I know is going to happen very soon since I can barely keep my eyes open now!
In my next post, I'll share some photos of my apartamento, and hopefully also of downtown Cusco. It's sort of hard to describe without some photo footage. I hope that all of you at home are well and enjoying beautiful spring.
Hasta pronto!
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Dinner? Check. New Friend? Check. Mindfulness? Check.
As implied, I'm already back to submit my next blog entry, mere hours after having written the first! I just returned from a very lovely dinner down in the hotel restaurant, made all the more lovely by the fact that it was funded by Copa Airlines (the founder of my feast for the last dos dias, thank you very much!). I accomplished a few things since I last wrote, and I shall now share them with you in list form.
1. I ate a legitimate dinner in Peru.
This may seem like nothing, and in all reality, I suppose it is, but I have been very wary of eating food during my initial days here after having read scary warnings in my Eyewitness Guide to Peru. The menu at the restaurant actually consisted of only two "meals," each of which included an appetizer, an entree, and a dessert. (For all you Spanish learners out there, that would be a plato de entrada, un plato de fondo, y un postre). I went for the first of the two options, mainly because my interest was immediately drawn to pescado a la vasca (grilled fish). Honestly, I didn't even take note of the first course when I ordered, so my eyes widened a bit when the waitress brought me a creamy-ish looking pasta salad with some chopped potatoes and some sort of chopped pink item that was causing the creamy stuff to turn pink. I decided that it wouldn't be very cosmopolitan of me to opt out of my very first Peruvian dish, so I endured several bites of the stuff, but it was just about equivalent to the mayo-ridden pasta salad I've had in the US--just not my cuppa tea. The fish dish, however, was quite delicious. It was served with a little mound of rice and some carrots and green beans, and I enjoyed it thoroughly. I also drank a large bottle of water in its entirety because my dear doctor friend Mary O'Brien told me that I need to drink lots of water to combat the approaching altitude. And if Mary says it, I do it, even if I will be peeing for the remainder of my existence. :-) Dessert was a sliver of pear tart that was quite delicious, and had something of a flan-like quality to it. I was impressed by the perfect sizes of the portions of each component of the meal. The food as a whole really seemed designed to be just enough, and it absolutely was. I feel perfectly satisfied after that tiny sliver of pear tart, even though I could pretty easily down a big ol' piece of apple pie with ice cream at home in the Jerz. Maybe I'll come home looking like delgadito...though perhaps with a few extra curves intact so as to avoid looking the prepubescent boy. :-)
2. I made a friend!
After dinner, I decided to stop at the bar to get a bottle of water to have in my room. Not only do I need to drink more agua to obey Dr. O'Brien's orders, but I also need to brush my teeth, and I don't know that tap water is okay for such activities. I've decided that it's not yet a risk worth taking. Anyway, I stopped by the bar to get a bottle of water, and as I'm waiting for it to arrive, this older-ish gentleman asks me if this is my first time in Peru. (Gosh golly gee, is it really so obvious?!). We ended up chatting en espanol for a while, and I learned that he lived in MD (just outside D.C.) for a little while, and also in Cusco for a year. He's been to lots of other countries too, mostly as a result of his service as a marine for the Peruvian navy. He practiced a little English with me too, which I found adorably sweet. So nice of him to make himself vulnerable so that I feel a bit better about my Spanish mediocrity. He was also very complimentary of my language skills, which was both flattering and a necessary confidence builder to start off my three months here. It's already proven both harder and easier than I expected to get back into the Spanish-speaking habit. Harder because there's so much I forget, but easier because thinking and speaking in Spanish is already coming more naturally than doing so in English. Pretty soon, I'm going to have a blog rife with grammatical errors. (Ha, as if. Those of you who know me well know that I will not allow such horror to take place!). Anyway, my gentleman friend, whose name I don't know, had a very welcoming manner about him, and we discussed our shared passion for traveling and discovering what makes a people unique but also what unites us across cultures and borders. If he is any indicator of the sort of people I'll be meeting in Peru, then I will be blessed with many wonderful new acquaintances!
3. Mindfulness Exercise
So I'm reading this slightly nerdy but mostly super awesome book. It's called The Mindful Path to Self-Compassion, and I brought it along with me to dinner to enjoy in my solitude. I kind of hate to even share the title of the book with people because it sounds so selfish, but it actually illustrates the very important practice of showing ourselves the same compassion that we show to others. If anything, it's given me new appreciation for what it means to have compassion because I know where the word comes from. "Com" is derived from the Latin for "with," and "passion" means "suffering," so to have compassion for someone is to "suffer with" him or her. Take that a step further to SELF compassion and we're learning to "suffer with" ourselves...to offer ourselves the same mental comfort and care that we do to our peers when they struggle. Having self-compassion is a struggle for me at times because it seems to be in direct opposition to the idea of selflessness and putting others first. The more I read, though, the more it seems to me that caring for myself and having a healthier mentality about my circumstances will only help me to be more vigilant and understanding in my caring for others. I'm still in the early chapters of the book, but the section I read during dinner was focused on mindful breathing. It was interesting to read because I was actually able to put it into practice in that very moment, and to focus on the sensation of breathing even as I read and ate my meal. Even though it seems simple and thoughtless, by being thoughtFUL about it, I became able to release some of the anxiety I was feeling regarding my presence in a foreign country and the fear of being sick or homesick...maybe I'm rambling here, but I think this whole self-compassion thing is worth thinking about. Since I last blogged, I already feel a little bit more at peace.
So three unspoken goals met. And speaking of goals, prepare for my next entry sometime soon, in which I will outline my preliminary goals for the next three months. Some of them will be much more legitimate than others, but I plan on actively seeking to achieve all of them. Watch OUT, Peru!
1. I ate a legitimate dinner in Peru.
This may seem like nothing, and in all reality, I suppose it is, but I have been very wary of eating food during my initial days here after having read scary warnings in my Eyewitness Guide to Peru. The menu at the restaurant actually consisted of only two "meals," each of which included an appetizer, an entree, and a dessert. (For all you Spanish learners out there, that would be a plato de entrada, un plato de fondo, y un postre). I went for the first of the two options, mainly because my interest was immediately drawn to pescado a la vasca (grilled fish). Honestly, I didn't even take note of the first course when I ordered, so my eyes widened a bit when the waitress brought me a creamy-ish looking pasta salad with some chopped potatoes and some sort of chopped pink item that was causing the creamy stuff to turn pink. I decided that it wouldn't be very cosmopolitan of me to opt out of my very first Peruvian dish, so I endured several bites of the stuff, but it was just about equivalent to the mayo-ridden pasta salad I've had in the US--just not my cuppa tea. The fish dish, however, was quite delicious. It was served with a little mound of rice and some carrots and green beans, and I enjoyed it thoroughly. I also drank a large bottle of water in its entirety because my dear doctor friend Mary O'Brien told me that I need to drink lots of water to combat the approaching altitude. And if Mary says it, I do it, even if I will be peeing for the remainder of my existence. :-) Dessert was a sliver of pear tart that was quite delicious, and had something of a flan-like quality to it. I was impressed by the perfect sizes of the portions of each component of the meal. The food as a whole really seemed designed to be just enough, and it absolutely was. I feel perfectly satisfied after that tiny sliver of pear tart, even though I could pretty easily down a big ol' piece of apple pie with ice cream at home in the Jerz. Maybe I'll come home looking like delgadito...though perhaps with a few extra curves intact so as to avoid looking the prepubescent boy. :-)
2. I made a friend!
After dinner, I decided to stop at the bar to get a bottle of water to have in my room. Not only do I need to drink more agua to obey Dr. O'Brien's orders, but I also need to brush my teeth, and I don't know that tap water is okay for such activities. I've decided that it's not yet a risk worth taking. Anyway, I stopped by the bar to get a bottle of water, and as I'm waiting for it to arrive, this older-ish gentleman asks me if this is my first time in Peru. (Gosh golly gee, is it really so obvious?!). We ended up chatting en espanol for a while, and I learned that he lived in MD (just outside D.C.) for a little while, and also in Cusco for a year. He's been to lots of other countries too, mostly as a result of his service as a marine for the Peruvian navy. He practiced a little English with me too, which I found adorably sweet. So nice of him to make himself vulnerable so that I feel a bit better about my Spanish mediocrity. He was also very complimentary of my language skills, which was both flattering and a necessary confidence builder to start off my three months here. It's already proven both harder and easier than I expected to get back into the Spanish-speaking habit. Harder because there's so much I forget, but easier because thinking and speaking in Spanish is already coming more naturally than doing so in English. Pretty soon, I'm going to have a blog rife with grammatical errors. (Ha, as if. Those of you who know me well know that I will not allow such horror to take place!). Anyway, my gentleman friend, whose name I don't know, had a very welcoming manner about him, and we discussed our shared passion for traveling and discovering what makes a people unique but also what unites us across cultures and borders. If he is any indicator of the sort of people I'll be meeting in Peru, then I will be blessed with many wonderful new acquaintances!
3. Mindfulness Exercise
So I'm reading this slightly nerdy but mostly super awesome book. It's called The Mindful Path to Self-Compassion, and I brought it along with me to dinner to enjoy in my solitude. I kind of hate to even share the title of the book with people because it sounds so selfish, but it actually illustrates the very important practice of showing ourselves the same compassion that we show to others. If anything, it's given me new appreciation for what it means to have compassion because I know where the word comes from. "Com" is derived from the Latin for "with," and "passion" means "suffering," so to have compassion for someone is to "suffer with" him or her. Take that a step further to SELF compassion and we're learning to "suffer with" ourselves...to offer ourselves the same mental comfort and care that we do to our peers when they struggle. Having self-compassion is a struggle for me at times because it seems to be in direct opposition to the idea of selflessness and putting others first. The more I read, though, the more it seems to me that caring for myself and having a healthier mentality about my circumstances will only help me to be more vigilant and understanding in my caring for others. I'm still in the early chapters of the book, but the section I read during dinner was focused on mindful breathing. It was interesting to read because I was actually able to put it into practice in that very moment, and to focus on the sensation of breathing even as I read and ate my meal. Even though it seems simple and thoughtless, by being thoughtFUL about it, I became able to release some of the anxiety I was feeling regarding my presence in a foreign country and the fear of being sick or homesick...maybe I'm rambling here, but I think this whole self-compassion thing is worth thinking about. Since I last blogged, I already feel a little bit more at peace.
So three unspoken goals met. And speaking of goals, prepare for my next entry sometime soon, in which I will outline my preliminary goals for the next three months. Some of them will be much more legitimate than others, but I plan on actively seeking to achieve all of them. Watch OUT, Peru!
Pull the Lever!!! WRONG LEVER!!!
Hello there, dear family and friends! I hope that at least a few of you are "The Emperor's New Groove" enthusiasts like myself, and understand the significance of my title choice for this first blog entry. For those of you who are clueless, you have my deepest sympathy. :-)
So thanks for stopping by to read about my Peruvian adventures! I'm hoping this will be the first of many entries that I share with y'all during my three months in Cusco. Just as a short introduction, I'm here in Peru for work purposes. (I mean, not everyone can have a cushy office job...) :-) I currently serve as University Relations Advisor for ProWorld Service Corps. ProWorld is a provider of volunteer-based study abroad, internship experiences, and short-term volunteer trips. (What's that? You said you wanted a shameless plug? Certainly--here you are: www.proworldvolunteers.org. Happy to help!) Most of my work year is spent traveling domestically, forging relationships between ProWorld and university faculty, administration, and students. Luckily, however, I also get to enjoy some of ProWorld's international awesomeness by getting to help out on site during the summer months, which tend to be very busy at some of our most popular sites. A few months ago, it was officially decided that I would spend May, June, and July in Cusco, Peru, and today, I'm finally here! Well, almost.
The truth is, I'm not in Cusco quite yet. But I'm so close I can SMELL it! And I can also feel the altitude sickness creeping in, which, though physiologically impossible, is mentally very much a reality for a hypochondriac such as myself. Technically, I should have arrived in Cusco this morning, but instead, I'm here in the Costa del Sol Hotel across from Lima International Airport. Let's back up to the start of this splendid adventure!
On Wednesday morning, bright and early, I kissed my beloved Gramster goodbye and hopped into the car with Paul and Eileen Whitman, the world's most wonderful parents. We drove to Newark Liberty International Airport, and after redistributing my 71 pound suitcase (an uber stressful and not to be repeated event!), I departed at 9:29 AM for leg one of my trip. I arrived in Miami, spent a few hours in the airport there, and then headed for Panama City around 3:30 in the afternoon. I arrived in Panama several hours before my scheduled departure for Lima, and as a result arrived at my departure gate quite prematurely. Perhaps it was my extreme promptness, or maybe my generally friendly approachability, but as I sat innocently in Panama, a skinny guy approached me and made a proposition. Skinny guy, it turns out, works for Copa Airlines, my flight carrier for both the previous and the next leg of my journey. He also turns out to be quite the master of salesmanship, as he persistently asks if I might consider staying in Panama for the night "in a five-star hotel with a $300 Copa Airlines bonus voucher and free dinner and breakfast and transportation." Tough to turn down, especially when I reflect on my dear mother, who has longed to be "bumped" for a significant portion of her life (to no avail). "What would Eileen Whitman do?" I think to myself, and the answer is clear as day.
And so began a bit a bumpage. Skinny guy quickly managed to attract two other volunteers, one who seemed to me to be an ex-pat sort of feller, and the other a native Peruvian whom our taxi driver described accurately as "delgadito" (very skinny). So as not to confuse this skinny guy with the original skinny guy, we shall call my fellow bumpee "delgadito." So after waiting for our original flight to board and depart, Skinny Copa Airlines guy helps my two new friends and me to arrange our travels to the Hotel Panama, in the heart of Panama City. (I should mention that prior to this occurrence, Skinny Copa Guy and I had a serious heart to heart conversation about his aspirations to become a famous pop star, like his music idol Christina Aguilera. Que interesante...) To my dismay, I learned after agreeing to the bumpage plan that my luggage was already en route to Lima, which left me with only a pair of Harvard sweatpants, several pairs of jeans that I had thrown into a tote bag to reduce my 71-pound suitcase, and two DVDs ("Little Women" or "The Princess Diaries," anyone?). En route to Lima were such necessities as my laptop, my hairbrush, my toothbrush, my altitude sickness prevention pills, and my supply of American snack food (aka my pretzels). Luckily, I can make do as a minimalist, and in spite of my lack of resources, the hotel was BEAUTIFUL and SWANKTASTIC, and I had a comfortable night's sleep to break up my journey. I also got a nice free dinner out of the deal, which turned out to be pretty high class. Fearing the dangers of foreign drinking water and traveler's diarrhea, I ended up eating only a bowl of Panamanian vegetable soup, but it was hands down the best vegetable soup I've had in my 25 years of life on earth, and nearly 24 hours later, I have yet to suffer as a result of having eaten it. Booyah.
As agreed the night before, I returned to the airport with delgadito early this morning, and we flew to Lima, which took about four hours. Copa Airlines is pretty super comfortable on a comparative scale, and there was an in-flight showing of the movie "True Grit" (in English!), so I had no complaints. Delgadito and I had bonded pretty seriously by the time we arrived in Lima. The night before, when checking into the Hotel Panama, he suggested that I join him at the casino next to the hotel, and THEN suggested that we share a hotel room! Being my pure and cautious self, I opted out, but in the morning, we had some enjoyable conversation, and we later exchanged e-mail addresses. I don't really know why, but I figured it couldn't hurt since I'd be about 10,000 feet above him in a few hours.
As our Lima aircraft was pulling into the gate, an announcement came over the plane speakers for "Whitman Sarah" to come to the front of the plane. My first thought was that I was being arrested for smuggling contraband into Peru (in the form of either my little bag of Good 'N' Plenties, which easily resemble caplets of mystery drug, or my 238 prescriptions for various travelers' ailments--thank you kindly, Dr. Renzi!). In fact, it was another lovely Copa representative, this one a woman, who wanted to help me to arrange my rescheduled flight to Cusco. I was expecting to fly into the city that very afternoon, but it turned out that that wasn't in the cards. Instead, I was led across the street to the Costa del Sol Hotel, where I would be staying until the following morning, when I would officially head to my final destination.
Which brings me to now. Here I am in my nice, comfortable room, with Internet, a newly-showered body made lovely-smelling by way of the deodorant that I so very much missed the night before, a change of clothes, and a new sense of positivity. Sadly, I wasn't able to get out and explore Lima because I had to wait in the hotel until I officially received my boarding pass for tomorrow. But I have had some much-needed time to relax, watch some Rachael Ray with Spanish subtitles, and call my wonderful family and tell them I'm alive. Calling home was easy with the help of Skype, but it reminded me of how hard it's going to be to be away from my parents for these three months. I may sound like a five-year-old for missing Mom and Dad, but hearing their voices over the computer made my throat swell up and the tears come to my eyes. I have such love for them, and there's nothing quite like the feeling of knowing that your parents want the very best for you. For that reason alone, I want to take full advantage of my time in Peru to grow and to become a more intelligent, loving, and understanding human being. Gotta make the padres proud!
Clearly, the adventures have begun even before my arrival in my destino final! Until my next entry (which I pretty seriously intend on writing this very same night), hasta luego!
So thanks for stopping by to read about my Peruvian adventures! I'm hoping this will be the first of many entries that I share with y'all during my three months in Cusco. Just as a short introduction, I'm here in Peru for work purposes. (I mean, not everyone can have a cushy office job...) :-) I currently serve as University Relations Advisor for ProWorld Service Corps. ProWorld is a provider of volunteer-based study abroad, internship experiences, and short-term volunteer trips. (What's that? You said you wanted a shameless plug? Certainly--here you are: www.proworldvolunteers.org. Happy to help!) Most of my work year is spent traveling domestically, forging relationships between ProWorld and university faculty, administration, and students. Luckily, however, I also get to enjoy some of ProWorld's international awesomeness by getting to help out on site during the summer months, which tend to be very busy at some of our most popular sites. A few months ago, it was officially decided that I would spend May, June, and July in Cusco, Peru, and today, I'm finally here! Well, almost.
The truth is, I'm not in Cusco quite yet. But I'm so close I can SMELL it! And I can also feel the altitude sickness creeping in, which, though physiologically impossible, is mentally very much a reality for a hypochondriac such as myself. Technically, I should have arrived in Cusco this morning, but instead, I'm here in the Costa del Sol Hotel across from Lima International Airport. Let's back up to the start of this splendid adventure!
On Wednesday morning, bright and early, I kissed my beloved Gramster goodbye and hopped into the car with Paul and Eileen Whitman, the world's most wonderful parents. We drove to Newark Liberty International Airport, and after redistributing my 71 pound suitcase (an uber stressful and not to be repeated event!), I departed at 9:29 AM for leg one of my trip. I arrived in Miami, spent a few hours in the airport there, and then headed for Panama City around 3:30 in the afternoon. I arrived in Panama several hours before my scheduled departure for Lima, and as a result arrived at my departure gate quite prematurely. Perhaps it was my extreme promptness, or maybe my generally friendly approachability, but as I sat innocently in Panama, a skinny guy approached me and made a proposition. Skinny guy, it turns out, works for Copa Airlines, my flight carrier for both the previous and the next leg of my journey. He also turns out to be quite the master of salesmanship, as he persistently asks if I might consider staying in Panama for the night "in a five-star hotel with a $300 Copa Airlines bonus voucher and free dinner and breakfast and transportation." Tough to turn down, especially when I reflect on my dear mother, who has longed to be "bumped" for a significant portion of her life (to no avail). "What would Eileen Whitman do?" I think to myself, and the answer is clear as day.
And so began a bit a bumpage. Skinny guy quickly managed to attract two other volunteers, one who seemed to me to be an ex-pat sort of feller, and the other a native Peruvian whom our taxi driver described accurately as "delgadito" (very skinny). So as not to confuse this skinny guy with the original skinny guy, we shall call my fellow bumpee "delgadito." So after waiting for our original flight to board and depart, Skinny Copa Airlines guy helps my two new friends and me to arrange our travels to the Hotel Panama, in the heart of Panama City. (I should mention that prior to this occurrence, Skinny Copa Guy and I had a serious heart to heart conversation about his aspirations to become a famous pop star, like his music idol Christina Aguilera. Que interesante...) To my dismay, I learned after agreeing to the bumpage plan that my luggage was already en route to Lima, which left me with only a pair of Harvard sweatpants, several pairs of jeans that I had thrown into a tote bag to reduce my 71-pound suitcase, and two DVDs ("Little Women" or "The Princess Diaries," anyone?). En route to Lima were such necessities as my laptop, my hairbrush, my toothbrush, my altitude sickness prevention pills, and my supply of American snack food (aka my pretzels). Luckily, I can make do as a minimalist, and in spite of my lack of resources, the hotel was BEAUTIFUL and SWANKTASTIC, and I had a comfortable night's sleep to break up my journey. I also got a nice free dinner out of the deal, which turned out to be pretty high class. Fearing the dangers of foreign drinking water and traveler's diarrhea, I ended up eating only a bowl of Panamanian vegetable soup, but it was hands down the best vegetable soup I've had in my 25 years of life on earth, and nearly 24 hours later, I have yet to suffer as a result of having eaten it. Booyah.
As agreed the night before, I returned to the airport with delgadito early this morning, and we flew to Lima, which took about four hours. Copa Airlines is pretty super comfortable on a comparative scale, and there was an in-flight showing of the movie "True Grit" (in English!), so I had no complaints. Delgadito and I had bonded pretty seriously by the time we arrived in Lima. The night before, when checking into the Hotel Panama, he suggested that I join him at the casino next to the hotel, and THEN suggested that we share a hotel room! Being my pure and cautious self, I opted out, but in the morning, we had some enjoyable conversation, and we later exchanged e-mail addresses. I don't really know why, but I figured it couldn't hurt since I'd be about 10,000 feet above him in a few hours.
As our Lima aircraft was pulling into the gate, an announcement came over the plane speakers for "Whitman Sarah" to come to the front of the plane. My first thought was that I was being arrested for smuggling contraband into Peru (in the form of either my little bag of Good 'N' Plenties, which easily resemble caplets of mystery drug, or my 238 prescriptions for various travelers' ailments--thank you kindly, Dr. Renzi!). In fact, it was another lovely Copa representative, this one a woman, who wanted to help me to arrange my rescheduled flight to Cusco. I was expecting to fly into the city that very afternoon, but it turned out that that wasn't in the cards. Instead, I was led across the street to the Costa del Sol Hotel, where I would be staying until the following morning, when I would officially head to my final destination.
Which brings me to now. Here I am in my nice, comfortable room, with Internet, a newly-showered body made lovely-smelling by way of the deodorant that I so very much missed the night before, a change of clothes, and a new sense of positivity. Sadly, I wasn't able to get out and explore Lima because I had to wait in the hotel until I officially received my boarding pass for tomorrow. But I have had some much-needed time to relax, watch some Rachael Ray with Spanish subtitles, and call my wonderful family and tell them I'm alive. Calling home was easy with the help of Skype, but it reminded me of how hard it's going to be to be away from my parents for these three months. I may sound like a five-year-old for missing Mom and Dad, but hearing their voices over the computer made my throat swell up and the tears come to my eyes. I have such love for them, and there's nothing quite like the feeling of knowing that your parents want the very best for you. For that reason alone, I want to take full advantage of my time in Peru to grow and to become a more intelligent, loving, and understanding human being. Gotta make the padres proud!
Clearly, the adventures have begun even before my arrival in my destino final! Until my next entry (which I pretty seriously intend on writing this very same night), hasta luego!
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