A Peaceful Sunday

Today, before anything else, I have to say that I am oh so very grateful to have one of the world's best mothers. Mom, if you're reading this (and you darned well better be, in case no one else is!), I am thankful for you today and everyday. You are one of the most compassionate, patient, and goodhearted people I know, and even if I bought you all the ice cream in the world, it wouldn't be enough to communicate how much I love you! :-)

To the rest of y'all, Happy Sunday, and to all the mothers who might be reading this, Happy Mother's Day to you!

Today was a lovely day--a just about perfect mezcla of sunshine and clouds. My thought last night was that I would get up early this morning and go to mass at Cusco's main cathedral. However, I ended up sleeping later than expected after having been up late watching the movie "Limitless" on my computer. (I give it a B...I don't think it lived up to the reviews.) I ended up going to mass at El Templo de la Compania, the same beautiful place where I attended mass last Sunday. Again, I had to convince the man at the door that I wasn't a turista, but once that battle was won, I was able to be in the church a bit before the start of mass to take in the place's beauty. Since photography is prohibited, I can't share pictures of the insides of La Compania, but I can tell you that the wall behind the altar is almost entirely gold, and filled with sculpted figures of the Virgin Mary and many other saints. There's also a chapel to the side of the main sanctuary, and in that chapel is a large, three-dimensional hanging crucifix. While I didn't get extremely close to it, from where I was sitting, I could see that the depiction of Christ on the cross was very much like the art I had seen in the Palacio Arzobispol yesterday--a fusion of Spanish-Catholic and Cuzqueno influences.

The mass was again beautiful and peaceful. This week, the gospel reading was about the road to Emmaus. While an interesting story, I was more struck by one of the earlier readings, which came from 1 Peter 1:17-21:

"Since you call on a Father who judges each person’s work impartially, live out your time as foreigners here in reverent fear. For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God."

In his homily, the priest spoke about money, and how it's often used to strike deals that aren't exactly "moral"...like when Joseph's brothers sold him to some Egyptians passing through the desert, or when Judas betrayed Jesus for 30 pieces of silver, or when the tax collector cheated his neighbors. How awesome to think that we are redeemed and made whole not by something so shallow and superficial as money, but by the pure and selfless humanity of Jesus. I'm going to try and be more cognizant of this fact during my months here in Cusco. As I work among individuals from very different levels of financial wealth, I feel as though I have a unique opportunity to acknowledge the insignificance of money and the significance of our shared humanity.

After mass, I didn't have much of an agenda, so I strolled down side streets here and there and eventually found myself again in the Plaza San Blas. While yesterday the plaza was filled with artisans and tourists, today it was beautifully quiet except for the water falling from the fountain. I bought a piece of banana bread from a panaderia and then sat down with my copy of The Samurai's Garden. Even though I only started the book yesterday, I finished it while sitting in the plaza this afternoon. It was such a beautiful story that I couldn't put it down! As I sat and read, a few people milled through the plaza, and at one point a gentleman sat down on a nearby bench and began to play the cello. I was already feeling so very peaceful as I listened to the water falling and read my wonderful book, and once the cello playing began, the afternoon just flew by. (And FYI, if any naval aviators are reading this entry, the cello player did indeed grace the plaza with a sincere rendition of Bach's Cello Suite #1 in G!)

As the afternoon came to an end, I decided to stroll through some of the yet-unexplored backstreets behind the Plaza San Blas. I ended up finding myself in a delightful alleyway with lots of twists and turns that went upward toward some of the higher-elevated homes in Cusco. I also discovered the walkway that led to Christo Blanco (literally "White Christ"), a white crucifix that sits at the top of the city. I didn't venture up to the statue today, but I plan on going there someday soon. I also came across a beautiful overlook that allowed for a rather beautiful panoramic view of Cusco. Sitting on the overlook was a Peruvian woman who asked me if I wanted to take a picture with her llama. I was slightly confused, first of all because I didn't see the llama until she pointed him out, and second of all because I wasn't sure if she wanted me to take her picture or if she was offering to take mine. I also had the feeling that her offer was going to come at a price. Despite all that, I took the woman up on her offer. As she proceeded up the stairs with the llama, it became clear that she wanted me to take a picture of her with the llama, which seemed pretty lame-o to me because I can easily buy a postcard with a picture of the same kind of thing. So I asked her to take a picture of me with the llama and gave her my camera. Apparently, the whole "camera" thing was new to her, though, and her first attempt basically resulted in a very close-up picture of my face with a tiny bit of llama fur in one corner. After two more attempts, she successfully captured the llama and me, and then she made her request for a "propina," or a tip. I sadly realized that the smallest coin I had was worth five soles, which was quite a bit more than I wanted to give her for a mediocre picture. But give it I did, and I'm pretty sure she's right now sitting around drinking chiccha with her friends and laughing about how she cheated another American gringita out of five soles for a picture with one of her llamas. Argh.

After lots of walking, I eventually managed to get myself to the San Pedro Market, where I bought an onion and some celery for the soup I've been planning to make. There were lots of tents set up outside of the market where vendors were trying to sell various Mother's Day items. I bought myself a cookie (Mom, I ate it in your honor since you weren't here...heh), and then headed toward home. Once back in the apartamento, I began my lima bean soup adventure, which officially started yesterday afternoon when I began soaking the beans. Since they had soaked for over 12 hours, I didn't expect to have any issue softening them up in my soup, but for some reason, they didn't get as smushy as I would have liked them to. Other than that, though, the soup was very delicious, and I was surprised by how much flavor I got out of the broth, which was essentially water with a veggie bouillon cube and some salt. I keep forgetting to buy pepper, so my seasoning capabilities were rather limited. In any case, I'm glad to know that I have some nice, hearty soup to eat for a few dinners this week.

I'm now here in the apartment, resting a bit before I again expose my poor, red lower back to the elements at our work site tomorrow. I'm sure the PITT kids will be tired after having woken at 3:30 AM this morning to go on a one-day excursion to Machu Picchu, but they have such good attitudes that I'm sure they'll stay positive despite their exhaustion.

I've been having some difficulty uploading photos, which is rather a bummer because there are quite a few of them that I'd like to share, but I'm hoping to get them up here quite soon, for those of you who are more visually stimulated.

In Spanish, a typical goodbye phrase could be "Hasta luego" ("Seeya later") or "Hasta pronto" ("See you soon"), but for quite a while now, I've taken to just saying "Hasta!" and allowing the latter portion of the phrase to be "assumed." Apparently, though, this makes absolutely no sense to a Spanish speaker because the literal meaning of "hasta" is "until," so I'm really just saying "Until!" without hte "later" or "soon" or "tomorrow" or whatever it might be. But guess what? I think it makes lots of sense. Partially because I don't want to admit defeat, and partially because sometimes I'm not sure whether it'll be soon or later or tomorrow when I'll next see someone. Anyway, all this explanation just so I can now say to you all, without any judgment from the Spanish speakers out there, "Hasta!"