And I just wanted to vent about it. Feel bad for me, readers, and say prayers for a speedy recovery. My mom was sick last night too, and we haven't figured out the cause. In Cusco, there are so many potential causes of sickness...argh.
On another unfortunate note, my parents are off to the US tomorrow in the early morning. It will be sad to see them go, but I'm glad that they'll be returning to a place where sickness is less of a constant fear! It was such an absolute joy having them here. I'm very blessed to have parents who love me enough to come visit me in a place that would probably never have otherwise made their list of top destinations, AND where they have no knowledge of the language! I think they've come to appreciate the joys of Peru, and they have definitely been a taste of home that I'd been longing for.
More, and hopefully happier, updates soon!
xoxo
Sarah
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Monday, June 27, 2011
Father Knows Best...
So as my faithful readers know, my parents are here in Cusco until Friday. They arrived this past Thursday, and still, halfway through their trip, do not have the one suitcase that they checked, which managed to get delayed in Bogota, Colombia. Being the wonderful people they are, they have handled this challenge masterfully and positively. But there's more to the story...
When I picked them up from the airport on Thursday, we spoke briefly with a man from TACA Airlines, who informed us that the bag would be delivered to my parents' hotel upon its arrival. However, my parents accidentally gave the man the wrong hotel address. When I spoke with him, I corrected the name of the hotel, which was only partially mistaken. My parents told the man they were staying at the Hotel Rumi Punku, when I had actually booked them at Waka Punku, which happens to be on the same street. Having corrected the error, we expected the bag to arrive within a maximum of 48 hours. We were hopeful for 24. And yet the bag did not come. And the number we'd been given to inquire after the bag went repeatedly unanswered. Poo.
After making it to Sunday night without successful retrieval of the bag, I decided that it would be wise to actually inquire at the airport in person on Monday morning, which arrived today. When I expressed my belief that this was the best course of action, my dad kept saying, "I don't think you need to go to the trouble of actually going to the airport. Why don't you call, or check the other hotel we wrote down by accident?" Yet I was adamant. Why would the airline have dropped off the bag to the other hotel when I'd corrected the name? And did I really trust myself to get to the bottom of things over the phone...in Spanish? Not really. So this morning, before the start of the workday, I hopped into a cab and asked to go to the airport.
It was an uneventful ride until the cab pulled up to the curb by the TACA Airlines site. At this point, I swung open (widely) the door of the cab. As I did so, an old, red pickup truck came driving by rather speedily and scraped its side on the outside of the taxi cab door. I was mortified. And the truck driver was NOT pleased. The cab driver wasn't all too happy either. I slowly stepped out of the car and surveyed the damage, along with the truck and cab drivers. Then the two drivers began to (loudly) argue over who was at fault. Obviously, both attributed lots of blame to me, as I had opened the door on the "wrong" side of the vehicle. Despite the fact that I was indeed guilty of this act, I attempted to reply(in my less-than-perfect Spanish) that I didn't consider myself totally at fault. The truck had been driving too fast and too close to the median, and when I looked at the cab driver's position on the road, he too had been driving far from the curb and close to the median. As I began to contemplate in my head how things were going to pan out, the voices of the cab driver and the truck driver grew louder and more irritable. The cab driver suggested that we all head to a nearby mechanic to assess the cost of the damage, and the truck driver kept retorting that he "didn't have time for that." I began to get the feeling that I was going to get stuck paying the brunt of the cost for something for which I wasn't entirely to blame.
As the drivers argued, a few airport officials walked over to see what had happened, and then a few more. As the number of Peruvian men in official gear began to seriously overpower me, I could feel tears welling up. I tried to speak rationally, and, after looking in my wallet, offered the truck driver the seventy soles I had on me to cover some of the damage costs. He snidely replied that this amount was not nearly enough, and that the repair of the scratch would cost more like 200 or 300 soles. As I looked into his irritated face and at all of the officially-garbed people surrounding me, I couldn't help it. The tears started flowing. It wasn't the money. Even 300 soles would have been only 100 dollars, which wouldn't do much of anything in the way of car repair in the US. No, what made me cry was the anger and the ruckus and the guilt all rolled up into one. Once the tears started, I couldn't quite stop them, and then one of the airport officials looked at me and realized that I was in distress. Apparently, this worked to my advantage, as lots of the men (grumpy truck driver excluded) began to feel sorry for the poor, ignorant "gringita" whom they had caused to cry. One of them said to the truck driver, "Just let her give you the seventy soles and be finished with it. She didn't do anything wrong on purpose" (which I didn't). He also very sweetly reached into his pocket and pulled out some tissues for me to wipe my eyes. And so they let me pay my 70 soles ($25) and be on my way.
Now let's consider: if I hadn't gone to the airport, these shenanigans would not have occurred. But I had to go to the airport, to get the bag, right? WRONG. Turns out that after crying my lil' eyes out AND waiting for a bunch of people to check into their TACA flights, the bag had been delivered (two days ago, I might add) to the wrong hotel--the one less than a block from where my parents were staying! So 77 soles, 50 centimos, and a gallon or so of tears later, I headed back to my apartment, and then to work. My parents will be delighted to receive their suitcase this evening, and I will never again get out on the "wrong" side of the taxi.
While I waited in line at the TACA counter and tried to wipe away the mascara running down my face, I thought about how lucky I am to be here in Peru, and alive, and enjoying a visit from my parents. No lost piece of luggage, and not even a scratched truck, can take that joy away from me. God is good!
P.S. For those of you who are judging me harshly for having emerged from the taxi on the wrong side, please take note of the following:
1. I occasionally lack the common sense possessed by the average human being.
2. I grew up in the suburbs, in Haddon Heights, a magical land free of taxis and, for the most part, angry people yelling.
3. I don't always listen to my roommate Laura, who is a veritable genius.
4. I got out on the side of the cab on which I was sitting. It was a matter of logical efficiency and convenience.
5. My PERUVIAN friend Lalo says that the safest place to sit in a taxi if you fear your impending death is directly behind the driver. Which is where I was sitting.
6. The driver should probably have told me, ignorant "gringita" that I am, that my chosen side was not the appropriate on which to disembark.
Please consider these fine excuses before making split judgments, dear friends. And thank you all for your continued prayers and love from afar. You are all beautiful! Oh. And Dad was right. Figures.
When I picked them up from the airport on Thursday, we spoke briefly with a man from TACA Airlines, who informed us that the bag would be delivered to my parents' hotel upon its arrival. However, my parents accidentally gave the man the wrong hotel address. When I spoke with him, I corrected the name of the hotel, which was only partially mistaken. My parents told the man they were staying at the Hotel Rumi Punku, when I had actually booked them at Waka Punku, which happens to be on the same street. Having corrected the error, we expected the bag to arrive within a maximum of 48 hours. We were hopeful for 24. And yet the bag did not come. And the number we'd been given to inquire after the bag went repeatedly unanswered. Poo.
After making it to Sunday night without successful retrieval of the bag, I decided that it would be wise to actually inquire at the airport in person on Monday morning, which arrived today. When I expressed my belief that this was the best course of action, my dad kept saying, "I don't think you need to go to the trouble of actually going to the airport. Why don't you call, or check the other hotel we wrote down by accident?" Yet I was adamant. Why would the airline have dropped off the bag to the other hotel when I'd corrected the name? And did I really trust myself to get to the bottom of things over the phone...in Spanish? Not really. So this morning, before the start of the workday, I hopped into a cab and asked to go to the airport.
It was an uneventful ride until the cab pulled up to the curb by the TACA Airlines site. At this point, I swung open (widely) the door of the cab. As I did so, an old, red pickup truck came driving by rather speedily and scraped its side on the outside of the taxi cab door. I was mortified. And the truck driver was NOT pleased. The cab driver wasn't all too happy either. I slowly stepped out of the car and surveyed the damage, along with the truck and cab drivers. Then the two drivers began to (loudly) argue over who was at fault. Obviously, both attributed lots of blame to me, as I had opened the door on the "wrong" side of the vehicle. Despite the fact that I was indeed guilty of this act, I attempted to reply(in my less-than-perfect Spanish) that I didn't consider myself totally at fault. The truck had been driving too fast and too close to the median, and when I looked at the cab driver's position on the road, he too had been driving far from the curb and close to the median. As I began to contemplate in my head how things were going to pan out, the voices of the cab driver and the truck driver grew louder and more irritable. The cab driver suggested that we all head to a nearby mechanic to assess the cost of the damage, and the truck driver kept retorting that he "didn't have time for that." I began to get the feeling that I was going to get stuck paying the brunt of the cost for something for which I wasn't entirely to blame.
As the drivers argued, a few airport officials walked over to see what had happened, and then a few more. As the number of Peruvian men in official gear began to seriously overpower me, I could feel tears welling up. I tried to speak rationally, and, after looking in my wallet, offered the truck driver the seventy soles I had on me to cover some of the damage costs. He snidely replied that this amount was not nearly enough, and that the repair of the scratch would cost more like 200 or 300 soles. As I looked into his irritated face and at all of the officially-garbed people surrounding me, I couldn't help it. The tears started flowing. It wasn't the money. Even 300 soles would have been only 100 dollars, which wouldn't do much of anything in the way of car repair in the US. No, what made me cry was the anger and the ruckus and the guilt all rolled up into one. Once the tears started, I couldn't quite stop them, and then one of the airport officials looked at me and realized that I was in distress. Apparently, this worked to my advantage, as lots of the men (grumpy truck driver excluded) began to feel sorry for the poor, ignorant "gringita" whom they had caused to cry. One of them said to the truck driver, "Just let her give you the seventy soles and be finished with it. She didn't do anything wrong on purpose" (which I didn't). He also very sweetly reached into his pocket and pulled out some tissues for me to wipe my eyes. And so they let me pay my 70 soles ($25) and be on my way.
Now let's consider: if I hadn't gone to the airport, these shenanigans would not have occurred. But I had to go to the airport, to get the bag, right? WRONG. Turns out that after crying my lil' eyes out AND waiting for a bunch of people to check into their TACA flights, the bag had been delivered (two days ago, I might add) to the wrong hotel--the one less than a block from where my parents were staying! So 77 soles, 50 centimos, and a gallon or so of tears later, I headed back to my apartment, and then to work. My parents will be delighted to receive their suitcase this evening, and I will never again get out on the "wrong" side of the taxi.
While I waited in line at the TACA counter and tried to wipe away the mascara running down my face, I thought about how lucky I am to be here in Peru, and alive, and enjoying a visit from my parents. No lost piece of luggage, and not even a scratched truck, can take that joy away from me. God is good!
P.S. For those of you who are judging me harshly for having emerged from the taxi on the wrong side, please take note of the following:
1. I occasionally lack the common sense possessed by the average human being.
2. I grew up in the suburbs, in Haddon Heights, a magical land free of taxis and, for the most part, angry people yelling.
3. I don't always listen to my roommate Laura, who is a veritable genius.
4. I got out on the side of the cab on which I was sitting. It was a matter of logical efficiency and convenience.
5. My PERUVIAN friend Lalo says that the safest place to sit in a taxi if you fear your impending death is directly behind the driver. Which is where I was sitting.
6. The driver should probably have told me, ignorant "gringita" that I am, that my chosen side was not the appropriate on which to disembark.
Please consider these fine excuses before making split judgments, dear friends. And thank you all for your continued prayers and love from afar. You are all beautiful! Oh. And Dad was right. Figures.
Machu Picchu, I've Finally Met You!
...and you're BEAUTIFUL! What an incredible, incredible place! I am so glad to have been able to share the experience with my parents. Some of the funny moments and highlights...
1. Friday night, we went to bed early-ish because we knew we would be getting picked up at 6:30 AM from our hotel. I stayed at my parents' bed and breakfast, since there was an extra bed and I didn't want to have to take a cab super early in the morning. It's a good thing that I did this because my phone rang at 3:11 AM, and it was our travel agent, Jose. Jose informed me that he had switched us to the 4 AM departure so that we'd be on an earlier train, and that we would be picked up from our hotel in 45 minutes. Welcome to Peru, folks. 45 minutes notice before a 4 AM departure! Although really, the last minute notice was a good thing. It allowed us to sleep soundly without worrying about a super early wake up, and also provided us with more time at Machu Picchu. Still, a rather unexpected start to the day!
2. We were driven in a car to the town of Ollantaytambo, where we got onto a train headed for Aguas Calientes. When we got to our seats, we realized that we were breaking up a pair of Brazilian lovers, who had been booked in seats separated by an aisle. Kind and romantic Paul Whitman decided to sacrifice his seat, and instead of sitting with Madre and me, sat beside a girl from South Korea. They emerged from the train ride as BFFs, and I only exaggerate slightly. :-)
3. Since Jose decided to change our trains relatively late in the game, it turned out that our tour guide hadn't received the memo, and hadn't yet purchased our tickets to enter Machu Picchu. This required some savvy Spanish-speaking on my part to explain the situation, along with about 45 minutes of sitting outside of a rather random restaurant waiting for the "Chaski Tours" gentleman. This was not a big deal, though, and we soon were on the bus up to the entrance to Machu Picchu!
4. With some time to spare before the start of our 11 AM tour, the padres and I walked around beautiful Machu Picchu for a while on our own. We saw some llamas, marveled over the beautiful "lost city," and got fairly winded walking up lots of steps! At 11, we met up with our tour guide, Carlos, and the rest of our tour mates, all English speakers. Among them were Charlotte, a Catholic missionary serving in Lima, and her mom, both originally from Alabama. It was so cool to come across a Catholic missionary (something of a rarity, in my experience) at Machu Picchu of all places! Charlotte was really nice, and I enjoyed talking to her about her work in Peru. Carlos was a decent tour guide, though he was a little harsh sometimes. I think he might have gotten an ego boost from the silver "Chaski Tours" flag he was carrying, so he kept asking us questions and then answering himself with this tone that clearly implied, "Y'all are too stupid to remember this, but I just told it to you mere minutes ago." Besides his 'tude, Carlos was pretty cool, and shared some interesting information about Machu Picchu and its origins. Upon reflection, I think I would have preferred a tour in Spanish, just because I think the guides are able to speak more informatively and comprehensively in their first language, but it probably would have been tough to translate everything to Paul and Eileen. :-)
5. After our tour was complete, we decided to hike to the Incan Bridge, and then to the Sun Gate (Inti Punku), the gate through which hikers of the Inca Trail enter Machu Picchu. I'm very glad that we did this, partially to be way cooler than my brothers, who did no such hiking, and also because the Sun Gate had a GORGEOUS view of the mountains. That said, we were pretty super exhausted despite the shortness of the hike. Welcome to 9,000 feet above sea level! My parents have been doing some strenuous work since their arrival, but they haven't complained, and for that I give them lots of credit!
6. When we got back down to Aguas Calientes, we had some time to spare, so we had a tasty dinner at a restaurant close to the train station. While we were eating, an elderly man walked by wearing none other than the same crazy sweater that my dad bought at one of the artisan markets. Obviously, the two bonded over their mutual handsomeness in said sweater. Photos to come!
7. Our train back to Ollantaytambo was comfortable, and the padres slept while I read the magazines that my mom had brought along for me from the US (Popular Science, Oprah, Self, Eating Well...I was in my element!). Then we had to take Bus Lucy back to Cusco. We were expecting the worst from Bus Lucy, as Andrew made quite a fuss about his hatred for "her," but the bus turned out to be a tour bus, and quite comfortable. After nearly two hours, however, we understood Andrew's feelings. Bus Lucy took nearly double the time it had taken us to go between Cusco and Ollantaytambo in the morning. We were quite exhausted upon our arrival in Cusco, but pleased to have enjoyed such a beautiful wonder of the world!
On Sunday, we went to church at La Compania, where we celebrated Corpus Christi, and then met up with Laura. The four of us walked to San Pedro market, and we showed my parents where we sometimes go to buy produce and bread and things. The walk there was kind of ridiculous, as my dad stopped at pretty much every street vendor that we passed and made me ask them about how much a pair of socks cost, or a cookie, or one of 5,234 other things!
The four of us then took a little van ride to the town of Chinchero, about 30 minutes from Cusco. There, we visited a big craft market, where I bought some awesome gifts and a scarf that I am becoming more and more convinced should belong to me rather than any of my friends...heh. My mom bought a much-needed hat with beautiful Peruvian embroidery all over it, and a number of other items. Watching my mom shop at the market is pretty hysterical. She's just so nice that she can't pass by someone trying to sell her something. She listens to every person's spiel about their 100% (not) alpaca scarves and beautifully carved gourds and such. She also speaks to them in English as if they understand, which is HYSTERICAL because they look at her with these expressions that clearly say, "Lady, WHAT are you saying?" My mother is a delight!
I also did the unthinkable in Chinchero: I ate MARKET FOOD. Basically, this means that a woman was cooking trout and potatoes in a big ol' pot and serving it on dishes that had been repeatedly used and "washed" (dunked in a pot full of not-entirely-clear water), and I ATE it. Laura and I shared a plate of fish, and my dad had his own plate. My mom tried some soup with a variety of strange items in it. They are brave souls, all of them. For the four of us to eat, it only cost 15 soles ($5), so it was definitely the least expensive of our culinary adventures, and while I am not feeling ill 24 hours later, I don't know how soon I'll be repeating this risky activity! :-)
I also took my padres to El Molino, where my dad was on a hunt for a pair of quality sneakers. It turns out that his feet, along with the rest of him, are much bigger than the standard Peruvian man, so no luck on that end. I did buy the movie "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas," as well as Season Numero Dos of "30 Rock." My kind mother also outfitted me with a shower rod and curtain, which was all too kind. Today, for the first time, I showered without causing our toilet paper to get water spots all over it. What UP!
My parents and I had dinner at a restaurant called Andean Food (clever, right?) that turned out to be quite yummy. We made friends with the cook's son, an 8-year-old boy named Girardo, and it turned out to be his birthday! He was a sweetheart. It was also Happy Hour from 6 to 9 PM, so my dad enjoyed some white wine and my mother and I got ourselves pisco sours. A delightful end to a delightful day!
1. Friday night, we went to bed early-ish because we knew we would be getting picked up at 6:30 AM from our hotel. I stayed at my parents' bed and breakfast, since there was an extra bed and I didn't want to have to take a cab super early in the morning. It's a good thing that I did this because my phone rang at 3:11 AM, and it was our travel agent, Jose. Jose informed me that he had switched us to the 4 AM departure so that we'd be on an earlier train, and that we would be picked up from our hotel in 45 minutes. Welcome to Peru, folks. 45 minutes notice before a 4 AM departure! Although really, the last minute notice was a good thing. It allowed us to sleep soundly without worrying about a super early wake up, and also provided us with more time at Machu Picchu. Still, a rather unexpected start to the day!
2. We were driven in a car to the town of Ollantaytambo, where we got onto a train headed for Aguas Calientes. When we got to our seats, we realized that we were breaking up a pair of Brazilian lovers, who had been booked in seats separated by an aisle. Kind and romantic Paul Whitman decided to sacrifice his seat, and instead of sitting with Madre and me, sat beside a girl from South Korea. They emerged from the train ride as BFFs, and I only exaggerate slightly. :-)
3. Since Jose decided to change our trains relatively late in the game, it turned out that our tour guide hadn't received the memo, and hadn't yet purchased our tickets to enter Machu Picchu. This required some savvy Spanish-speaking on my part to explain the situation, along with about 45 minutes of sitting outside of a rather random restaurant waiting for the "Chaski Tours" gentleman. This was not a big deal, though, and we soon were on the bus up to the entrance to Machu Picchu!
4. With some time to spare before the start of our 11 AM tour, the padres and I walked around beautiful Machu Picchu for a while on our own. We saw some llamas, marveled over the beautiful "lost city," and got fairly winded walking up lots of steps! At 11, we met up with our tour guide, Carlos, and the rest of our tour mates, all English speakers. Among them were Charlotte, a Catholic missionary serving in Lima, and her mom, both originally from Alabama. It was so cool to come across a Catholic missionary (something of a rarity, in my experience) at Machu Picchu of all places! Charlotte was really nice, and I enjoyed talking to her about her work in Peru. Carlos was a decent tour guide, though he was a little harsh sometimes. I think he might have gotten an ego boost from the silver "Chaski Tours" flag he was carrying, so he kept asking us questions and then answering himself with this tone that clearly implied, "Y'all are too stupid to remember this, but I just told it to you mere minutes ago." Besides his 'tude, Carlos was pretty cool, and shared some interesting information about Machu Picchu and its origins. Upon reflection, I think I would have preferred a tour in Spanish, just because I think the guides are able to speak more informatively and comprehensively in their first language, but it probably would have been tough to translate everything to Paul and Eileen. :-)
5. After our tour was complete, we decided to hike to the Incan Bridge, and then to the Sun Gate (Inti Punku), the gate through which hikers of the Inca Trail enter Machu Picchu. I'm very glad that we did this, partially to be way cooler than my brothers, who did no such hiking, and also because the Sun Gate had a GORGEOUS view of the mountains. That said, we were pretty super exhausted despite the shortness of the hike. Welcome to 9,000 feet above sea level! My parents have been doing some strenuous work since their arrival, but they haven't complained, and for that I give them lots of credit!
6. When we got back down to Aguas Calientes, we had some time to spare, so we had a tasty dinner at a restaurant close to the train station. While we were eating, an elderly man walked by wearing none other than the same crazy sweater that my dad bought at one of the artisan markets. Obviously, the two bonded over their mutual handsomeness in said sweater. Photos to come!
7. Our train back to Ollantaytambo was comfortable, and the padres slept while I read the magazines that my mom had brought along for me from the US (Popular Science, Oprah, Self, Eating Well...I was in my element!). Then we had to take Bus Lucy back to Cusco. We were expecting the worst from Bus Lucy, as Andrew made quite a fuss about his hatred for "her," but the bus turned out to be a tour bus, and quite comfortable. After nearly two hours, however, we understood Andrew's feelings. Bus Lucy took nearly double the time it had taken us to go between Cusco and Ollantaytambo in the morning. We were quite exhausted upon our arrival in Cusco, but pleased to have enjoyed such a beautiful wonder of the world!
On Sunday, we went to church at La Compania, where we celebrated Corpus Christi, and then met up with Laura. The four of us walked to San Pedro market, and we showed my parents where we sometimes go to buy produce and bread and things. The walk there was kind of ridiculous, as my dad stopped at pretty much every street vendor that we passed and made me ask them about how much a pair of socks cost, or a cookie, or one of 5,234 other things!
The four of us then took a little van ride to the town of Chinchero, about 30 minutes from Cusco. There, we visited a big craft market, where I bought some awesome gifts and a scarf that I am becoming more and more convinced should belong to me rather than any of my friends...heh. My mom bought a much-needed hat with beautiful Peruvian embroidery all over it, and a number of other items. Watching my mom shop at the market is pretty hysterical. She's just so nice that she can't pass by someone trying to sell her something. She listens to every person's spiel about their 100% (not) alpaca scarves and beautifully carved gourds and such. She also speaks to them in English as if they understand, which is HYSTERICAL because they look at her with these expressions that clearly say, "Lady, WHAT are you saying?" My mother is a delight!
I also did the unthinkable in Chinchero: I ate MARKET FOOD. Basically, this means that a woman was cooking trout and potatoes in a big ol' pot and serving it on dishes that had been repeatedly used and "washed" (dunked in a pot full of not-entirely-clear water), and I ATE it. Laura and I shared a plate of fish, and my dad had his own plate. My mom tried some soup with a variety of strange items in it. They are brave souls, all of them. For the four of us to eat, it only cost 15 soles ($5), so it was definitely the least expensive of our culinary adventures, and while I am not feeling ill 24 hours later, I don't know how soon I'll be repeating this risky activity! :-)
I also took my padres to El Molino, where my dad was on a hunt for a pair of quality sneakers. It turns out that his feet, along with the rest of him, are much bigger than the standard Peruvian man, so no luck on that end. I did buy the movie "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas," as well as Season Numero Dos of "30 Rock." My kind mother also outfitted me with a shower rod and curtain, which was all too kind. Today, for the first time, I showered without causing our toilet paper to get water spots all over it. What UP!
My parents and I had dinner at a restaurant called Andean Food (clever, right?) that turned out to be quite yummy. We made friends with the cook's son, an 8-year-old boy named Girardo, and it turned out to be his birthday! He was a sweetheart. It was also Happy Hour from 6 to 9 PM, so my dad enjoyed some white wine and my mother and I got ourselves pisco sours. A delightful end to a delightful day!
Thursday, June 23, 2011
They have arrived!
Paul and Eileen are in the HOUSE. That's all I have time to say right now. I'm tired and headed to bed.
Actually, though, one quick story. We went to the grocery store earlier tonight to buy some provisions for tomorrow. Tomorrow is Inti Raymi, the Incan Festival of the Sun, and we're going to go and watch the festivities take place, and I've been told that it's good to pack food and drink because it can be rather a long and crowded day. So we went to the grocery store, and my dad sees this bread that he wants to buy. So he looks at the bread lady, and then, without speaking, points to the bread he wants and then holds up three fingers to indicate that he wants three of them. The woman is clearly amused not only by his attempts at speaking solely through hand gestures, but also because he has totally jumped in front of the line of people waiting for their bread without realizing it! I got into the line and when it was my turn, the woman was still laughing at Dad's attempt at bread-buying. It was awesomely funny.
More soon, folks! :-)
Actually, though, one quick story. We went to the grocery store earlier tonight to buy some provisions for tomorrow. Tomorrow is Inti Raymi, the Incan Festival of the Sun, and we're going to go and watch the festivities take place, and I've been told that it's good to pack food and drink because it can be rather a long and crowded day. So we went to the grocery store, and my dad sees this bread that he wants to buy. So he looks at the bread lady, and then, without speaking, points to the bread he wants and then holds up three fingers to indicate that he wants three of them. The woman is clearly amused not only by his attempts at speaking solely through hand gestures, but also because he has totally jumped in front of the line of people waiting for their bread without realizing it! I got into the line and when it was my turn, the woman was still laughing at Dad's attempt at bread-buying. It was awesomely funny.
More soon, folks! :-)
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
A Lifestyle of Prayer
My parents are arriving tomorrow! I can't wait to see them, and be with them for eight days straight! What an absolute blessing!
Last night, I was feeling slightly under the weather, and was obviously particularly concerned because starting tomorrow, I need to be ON! I'm beginning to conclude that stomach "weirdness" is basically a constant while in Peru, but I definitely don't like it, and I definitely spend too much time worrying about being sick. This morning, I still felt tired and not quite right, so I took the morning to rest and try to sleep off whatever might be wrong with me. Around 11:30, I got myself up and decided to get to the office and get some things done. I went to the bathroom to brush my teeth and fix my hair, and when I came back to my room to make my bed, I felt moved to first kneel before and pray. This wonderful, inner call to prayer isn't something that I typically experience, but I would like it to become as commonplace as eating and sleeping.
This past Sunday, I spent some time in San Blas, where I read a chapter of Henri Nouwen's Compassion. The chapter was called "Prayer," and Nouwen, in his oh-so-eloquent prose, explained that our current society doesn't view prayer as anywhere near as effective as action. Nouwen criticizes this societal view, and posits that sincere prayer is actually an act of the deepest kind of solidarity. When we pray deeply and sincerely, we make ourselves vulnerable to the sufferings of others, and experience them as our own. I would imagine that many of us who pray may not have had the experience of bearing the burdens of others as if they were truly "our own," but I think that Nouwen is referencing a sort of solidarity that only comes from prayer that is consistent and habitual. Often, my prayers are shallow and self-centered, and only at very occasionally points in my life have my prayers been frequent and consistent.
Nouwen also says that developing a habit of prayer is really difficult for us today because our society is so drawn to distraction--to magazines, music, television, conversations with friends. While none of these things are bad in and of themselves, there is something--and something important--to be said for moments of stillness. In my experience, these moments don't often appear before us, unless we happen to make a habit of standing alone on mountaintops or laying out and looking up at the stars. We must prioritize and seek out these moments, and use them to be in intimate communion with Christ. I'm no expert at this, obviously, but I absolutely want to be. I need to be.
Being alone in a foreign place reminds me not only of life's variety and beauty, but also of my great need for a Savior to be with me and share in my fears, my worries, my pains, my discoveries, my joys, and my questions. And so I will fall more readily on my knees in these coming weeks, and realize that, whether I feel the urge or whether there are lots of things I'd prefer to do, prayer is not so much an option as a necessity, and a gift from God to bring us closer to Him.
My favorite Bible verse is Exodus 14:14. "The Lord will fight for you. You need only to be still." And yet the moments of true "stillness" in my life are few and far between. Please pray for me, friends and family, that I might be more diligent in finding and cultivating these moments of stillness so that prayer becomes a constant refuge and a daily source of peace. I will pray the same for you.
"To pray is to enter into a deep inner solidarity with all human beings so that in and through us they can be touched by the healing power of God's Spirit. When, as disciples of Christ, we are able to bear the burdens of our brothers and sisters of Christ, we are able to bear the burdens of our brothers and sisters, to be marked with their wounds, and even be broken by their sins, our prayer becomes their prayer, our cry for mercy becomes their cry." -Henri Nouwen, Compassion
"Prayer, as a discipline that strengthens and deepens discipleship, is the effort to remove everything that might prevent the Spirit of God, given to us by Jesus Christ, from speaking freely to us and in us. The discipline of prayer is the discipline by which we liberate the Spirit of God from our entanglement in our impatient impulses. It is the way by which we allow God's spirit to move freely." -Henri Nouwen, Compassion
In that last quote, I like to think that "moving freely" is an understatement...that through prayer, we allow God to DANCE within us...to manifest His will so fully that it doesn't just sit or walk within us, but dances a joyful dance as we go about spreading His love and seeking His face in our friends and our enemies.
Last night, I was feeling slightly under the weather, and was obviously particularly concerned because starting tomorrow, I need to be ON! I'm beginning to conclude that stomach "weirdness" is basically a constant while in Peru, but I definitely don't like it, and I definitely spend too much time worrying about being sick. This morning, I still felt tired and not quite right, so I took the morning to rest and try to sleep off whatever might be wrong with me. Around 11:30, I got myself up and decided to get to the office and get some things done. I went to the bathroom to brush my teeth and fix my hair, and when I came back to my room to make my bed, I felt moved to first kneel before and pray. This wonderful, inner call to prayer isn't something that I typically experience, but I would like it to become as commonplace as eating and sleeping.
This past Sunday, I spent some time in San Blas, where I read a chapter of Henri Nouwen's Compassion. The chapter was called "Prayer," and Nouwen, in his oh-so-eloquent prose, explained that our current society doesn't view prayer as anywhere near as effective as action. Nouwen criticizes this societal view, and posits that sincere prayer is actually an act of the deepest kind of solidarity. When we pray deeply and sincerely, we make ourselves vulnerable to the sufferings of others, and experience them as our own. I would imagine that many of us who pray may not have had the experience of bearing the burdens of others as if they were truly "our own," but I think that Nouwen is referencing a sort of solidarity that only comes from prayer that is consistent and habitual. Often, my prayers are shallow and self-centered, and only at very occasionally points in my life have my prayers been frequent and consistent.
Nouwen also says that developing a habit of prayer is really difficult for us today because our society is so drawn to distraction--to magazines, music, television, conversations with friends. While none of these things are bad in and of themselves, there is something--and something important--to be said for moments of stillness. In my experience, these moments don't often appear before us, unless we happen to make a habit of standing alone on mountaintops or laying out and looking up at the stars. We must prioritize and seek out these moments, and use them to be in intimate communion with Christ. I'm no expert at this, obviously, but I absolutely want to be. I need to be.
Being alone in a foreign place reminds me not only of life's variety and beauty, but also of my great need for a Savior to be with me and share in my fears, my worries, my pains, my discoveries, my joys, and my questions. And so I will fall more readily on my knees in these coming weeks, and realize that, whether I feel the urge or whether there are lots of things I'd prefer to do, prayer is not so much an option as a necessity, and a gift from God to bring us closer to Him.
My favorite Bible verse is Exodus 14:14. "The Lord will fight for you. You need only to be still." And yet the moments of true "stillness" in my life are few and far between. Please pray for me, friends and family, that I might be more diligent in finding and cultivating these moments of stillness so that prayer becomes a constant refuge and a daily source of peace. I will pray the same for you.
"To pray is to enter into a deep inner solidarity with all human beings so that in and through us they can be touched by the healing power of God's Spirit. When, as disciples of Christ, we are able to bear the burdens of our brothers and sisters of Christ, we are able to bear the burdens of our brothers and sisters, to be marked with their wounds, and even be broken by their sins, our prayer becomes their prayer, our cry for mercy becomes their cry." -Henri Nouwen, Compassion
"Prayer, as a discipline that strengthens and deepens discipleship, is the effort to remove everything that might prevent the Spirit of God, given to us by Jesus Christ, from speaking freely to us and in us. The discipline of prayer is the discipline by which we liberate the Spirit of God from our entanglement in our impatient impulses. It is the way by which we allow God's spirit to move freely." -Henri Nouwen, Compassion
In that last quote, I like to think that "moving freely" is an understatement...that through prayer, we allow God to DANCE within us...to manifest His will so fully that it doesn't just sit or walk within us, but dances a joyful dance as we go about spreading His love and seeking His face in our friends and our enemies.
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
¿Con Que Pagaremos?
I've been listening a lot to the song below, performed by Fernando Ortega. It's been quite moving, and I've included an English translation (compliments of yours truly...lo siento!) for the English speakers, aka most of you!
¿Con Que Pagaremos?
Con Que Pagaremos amor tan inmeso,
Que diste Tu vida por el pecador?
En cambio recibes la ofrenda humilde,
La ofrenda humilde, Senor Jesucristo,
De mi corazon.
Y cuando la noche extiende su manto
Mis ojos en llanto en ti fijare
Alzando mis ojos vere las estrellas
Yo se que tras ellas, Cual Padre amoroso
Tu velas por mi
No puedo pagarte con oro ni plata,
El gran sacrificio que hiciste por mi
No tengo que darte por tanto amarme;
Recibe este canto, mezclado con llanto,
Y mi corazon.
How Can We Pay?
How can we pay for such immense love
That You gave Your life for the sinner?
In exchange, all I can give you is the humble offer,
The humble offer, Dear Jesus,
Of my heart.
And when the night extends its darkness
I will fix my eyes on You,
Lifting my eyes to see the stars,
I know that before them all,
You care for me
I can't repay with gold or silver
The great sacrifice that You made for me.
I need not give you worldly riches for such love.
So receive this song, with my weeping
And my heart.
¿Con Que Pagaremos?
Con Que Pagaremos amor tan inmeso,
Que diste Tu vida por el pecador?
En cambio recibes la ofrenda humilde,
La ofrenda humilde, Senor Jesucristo,
De mi corazon.
Y cuando la noche extiende su manto
Mis ojos en llanto en ti fijare
Alzando mis ojos vere las estrellas
Yo se que tras ellas, Cual Padre amoroso
Tu velas por mi
No puedo pagarte con oro ni plata,
El gran sacrificio que hiciste por mi
No tengo que darte por tanto amarme;
Recibe este canto, mezclado con llanto,
Y mi corazon.
How Can We Pay?
How can we pay for such immense love
That You gave Your life for the sinner?
In exchange, all I can give you is the humble offer,
The humble offer, Dear Jesus,
Of my heart.
And when the night extends its darkness
I will fix my eyes on You,
Lifting my eyes to see the stars,
I know that before them all,
You care for me
I can't repay with gold or silver
The great sacrifice that You made for me.
I need not give you worldly riches for such love.
So receive this song, with my weeping
And my heart.
Sunday, June 19, 2011
El Dia de los Padres!
Greetings, dear readers!
Today is a special day, so before I share some of the latest adventures, I need to express a bit of gratitude. Padre, I am oh so ridiculously blessed to be your daughter, and even though you only get one day a year that’s officially designated as “Father’s Day,” a dad like you warrants 365 celebrations at the very least! I love you! Hopefully, my siblings have showered you with affection in my absence. :-) Happy Father’s Day as well to all of the other dads who might be reading this post. Relax and enjoy a Sunday of golf and beer and napping!
And now, a few updates for y’all! Firstly, Paul and Eileen Whitman will be here in Cusco in t-minus CINCO DIAS! That’s super soon, and I can’t wait to see them! Today, I had a little date with Jose, of All-Ways Travel, where I booked the three of us on a one-day tour of Machu Picchu. I am so excited to finally see the "Lost City"—the reason that so many people come to Cusco! I also checked out the parental lodgings, at Waka Punku bed and breakfast, and I am quite pleased with the hospitality so far provided by the staff. There will likely be a bit of a communication gap, but I think that all parties will be content to speak in the language of smiles and hugs and laughter! In addition to our Machu Picchu trip, I’m excited to take my parents to the Inka Museum, which I have yet to visit, and also to the Monasterio de Santa Catalina, both to see the inside of the monastery and also to meet my dear Dominga! There will be lots to see and do (and eat!), and it will be a wonderful eight days. Please, to those of you who pray, send some requests up to the Big Guy for a week of safe travels, good health, and family bonding!
Also, an issue of morality. When booking a day trip to Machu Picchu, students who have a valid ISIC card (International Student Identification Card) receive a $20 discount on the total price. To be eligible for an ISIC card, you have to have a currently valid student ID, a passport photo, and a copy of your passport itself. I, though no longer a “student” in the official sense of the word, happen to have a University of Pennsylvania ID card that does not expire until 2012. I am wondering if this is perhaps the result of an error by the card people, who may have mistakenly thought me to be an undergraduate student rather than a one-year master’s student. Whatever the case may be, I have a “valid” ID card, and I am planning on using it to get myself an ISIC card and a $20 discount at Machu Picchu. Is this an immoral act on my part? I am probably going to do it regardless of feedback, but it someone has a really stellar argument that could guilt me into admission of my no-longer-student status, I would welcome the attempt!
Yesterday and today, I spent the morning and early afternoon working in the community of Ocorurro. Ocorurro is located quite close to Pinancay, the community where I have worked in the past. The task undertaken by the Missouri bunch, the ProWorld summer interns, and myself was the construction of a preschool, to be attended by about 15 students between the ages of three and five. While it would have been fun to immediately start laying bricks, we first had to create a firm and level foundation for the school. This process involved using picks to loosen the earth, shoveling and transferring the dirt to a pile to be made into “barro” (mud for brick building), and later digging a trench around the border of the foundation in which to lay cement. As per usual, the community members were impressively able-bodied with the picks and shovels, and we were pathetically weak due to the combined effects of the altitude and our overall lack of disposition toward manual labor. The work was tiring and sweaty, but we had fun. The knowledge of what we were doing and how it would benefit the community made the work seem less bothersome. We also had a pretty good game of “Name That Tune” going yesterday, which made the work go by more quickly. Though I was sad not to be with dear Analie, I did meet several other sweethearts, including a little girl of four named Maili and a three-year-old boy named Carlos, who stole my heart with his sweater vest and his smile!
Here he is!
And here are a few of our intrepid workers!
Friday was particularly enjoyable because I had the opportunity to work not only with the Mizzou crowd, but also with some really lovely intern and study abroad students who are here in Cusco for the next month or two. I met Javier, a pre-med student from Notre Dame, who quickly charmed me with his smile and super-friendly demeanor. Then there’s Madison, another healthcare-oriented intern, who just delights me with her positivity. Natalie goes to Vassar, and is a basketball player—so devoted that she lifts weights every night here in Peru as per her team workout schedule! Ellen is from Texas, and has an amusingly sarcastic sense of humor, and Brennan is just the sweetest thing, and goes to JMU. I haven’t yet had the joy of a conversation with Udani, but in passing greetings, she’s always smiling and sweet. I am also fairly obsessed with Meredith, another Notre Damer who shares my love for words of affirmation. We really have a wonderful group here, and in addition to enjoying their wonderful optimism, it’s also been rather humbling to see the incredibly adventuresome spirits that they each possess. I’m pretty sure that I wasn’t quite so brave at age 20 or 21...Cusco wasn’t exactly as high as Madrid on my list of desirable travel destinations. (Better late than never, though! Here I am, and what a great experience it has been!)
Another exciting development in my life has been my use of the combi as a means of transportation. Combis are the main form of public transport here in Cusco. A combi can range in size from that of a 12-passenger-sized van to a full-fledged bus. Each combi runs independently of the others, and each follows its own unique route through the city of Cusco. For 60 centimos (about 20 American cents), you can board any combi and go pretty much anywhere in the city. The catch is that you have to know the routes that each combi takes, and you also have to smush yourself into what is often a very tightly packed vehicle and announce to the driver when you want to get off. I avoided riding a combi for a little more than a month, which is pretty impressive in a sense, but also pretty foolish as it’s quite economical. My two main objectives were my lack of knowledge of the combi routes and my overarching fear of getting into a clearly claustrophobia-prone vehicle going who knows where. I often watched combis zoom up to their stops, at which point the designated “yeller” (as I call him) would slide open the door, yell out something like, “Avenida Cultura, Rapido Express, Sube, Sube Sube, Sube!”, wait about five seconds for any eager passengers, and then shut the door and tell the driver to zoom off to the next stop. The whole process was frightening to witness, and I had only the slightest desire to take part. However, last week, I joined Eliza and two internship students on a combi ride to their internship site (a school in one of Cusco’s poorest districts), and it was not only not scary, but also kind of fun. I’ve come to realize that combis are a very authentic and standard part of Peruvian life, and to not experience them is to be only a tourist and not a traveler. I have therefore decided to make more regular use of combis, and to diligently study the routes. One of the combi services is called “Batman,” and I am particularly eager to find out where that will take me! I shall attempt to take a photo of a combi so that y’all can better understand the experience!
Another recent highlight has been my visits to El Molino, which is basically a big, partially outdoor shopping center for just about anything you might want to buy. There are soccer balls, chocolate, towels, sheets, clothes, kitchen supplies, electronics, movies, music, shoes…all for rather low prices and all in one convenient location…rather a rarity in Cusco when all the florists are together on one street, all the hardware stores are on another, etc. etc. (This aspect of Cusco baffles me still.) My primary motive in visiting El Molino has been to buy the SUPER cheap movies, which cost, on average, between 75 cents and $1.50 per DVD. What a steal! Today, for 13 soles (about $5), I bought Season One of “30 Rock,” “City of God,” “Revolutionary Road,” “Mar Adentro,” and “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part One.” Ridiculous! I’m planning on growing my quality movie collection by way of occasional trips to El Molino. Another super important El Molino purchase was that of a supplemental bath towel. Having only one bath towel means that I can’t shower when said towel is at the lavanderia (laundromat). Today, that problem was happily solved by the purchase of a beautiful, bright green toalla de bano. Awesome.
I also wanted to share an experience that I enjoyed a few days ago at La Pagina en la Puerta, a library where some of our interns are placed. The library is located in San Miguel de San Sebastian, a very poor area located just outside of Cusco city. It is founded and run by an American named Amy, who has lived in Cusco for several years. The reason for the library’s placement in San Miguel is to promote a love of reading among children who might not receive much academic encouragement in their home lives. Normally, two ProWorld interns visit the library three days a week from 4:30 PM until 7 PM. On the day that I went to visit, the two interns were both sick, so it was just the teacher, a bunch of kids, and me. I ended up spending some time reading individually with a few different kids. One sweet little girl kept picking books with “extras”—like flaps to open and pop-up pictures and things. She was fun. Then a sweet little boy sat with me and read to me from “Caperucita Roja” (Little Red Riding Hood!). After reading with a few other children, I went down to the game room, where a little girl decided to challenge me to a puzzle competition. She pulled out two puzzles, gave one to me, and then proceeded to slam hers onto the desk upside down. She looked at me and I did the same, and then it was ON. We battled to the finish, and I scarcely beat her on Round One. She then took me down on Round Two, and in Round Three made the mistake of giving herself a much harder puzzle than she gave me, and I emerged victorious. (I’m not a bully who doesn’t let kids win, but I think she would have picked up on it since my puzzle was clearly so much easier than hers…losing would only have looked suspicious!). It was a really lovely afternoon, and so great to see kids who were so sincerely excited about reading! While I’ve pretty much obtained all of the information I need on the library for the purposes of website updates and such, I would still like to return a few times to again read to the kids and play with them. I’m so glad that such a place exists here in Cusco. Although it’s small and although there’s much room for growth, it’s a really beautiful start, and I know that it will continue to garner support from reading advocates in Peru and abroad. Want to learn more about La Pagina en La Puerta? Here's a link...http://lapaginaenlapuerta.org/
The final announcement of the day is.....another visitor will be gracing Cusco with her presence…my cousin, Maura Pawlowski! I am very excited to know that I’ll have some company for part of July, and I’m hoping that Maura and her friend might join me for a frolic to Lake Titikaca. It would be fun to have some company!
That’s all for now, folks! I’m off to watch an episode or two of my newly-purchased season of “30 Rock”! Tomorrow, it’s off to church and then a lunch date with Helmut and then some relaxing in a sunny plaza somewhere and reading a great book! And of course, contemplating the awesomeness of Paul Andrew Whitman on Father’s Day!
Hasta pronto!
Today is a special day, so before I share some of the latest adventures, I need to express a bit of gratitude. Padre, I am oh so ridiculously blessed to be your daughter, and even though you only get one day a year that’s officially designated as “Father’s Day,” a dad like you warrants 365 celebrations at the very least! I love you! Hopefully, my siblings have showered you with affection in my absence. :-) Happy Father’s Day as well to all of the other dads who might be reading this post. Relax and enjoy a Sunday of golf and beer and napping!
And now, a few updates for y’all! Firstly, Paul and Eileen Whitman will be here in Cusco in t-minus CINCO DIAS! That’s super soon, and I can’t wait to see them! Today, I had a little date with Jose, of All-Ways Travel, where I booked the three of us on a one-day tour of Machu Picchu. I am so excited to finally see the "Lost City"—the reason that so many people come to Cusco! I also checked out the parental lodgings, at Waka Punku bed and breakfast, and I am quite pleased with the hospitality so far provided by the staff. There will likely be a bit of a communication gap, but I think that all parties will be content to speak in the language of smiles and hugs and laughter! In addition to our Machu Picchu trip, I’m excited to take my parents to the Inka Museum, which I have yet to visit, and also to the Monasterio de Santa Catalina, both to see the inside of the monastery and also to meet my dear Dominga! There will be lots to see and do (and eat!), and it will be a wonderful eight days. Please, to those of you who pray, send some requests up to the Big Guy for a week of safe travels, good health, and family bonding!
Also, an issue of morality. When booking a day trip to Machu Picchu, students who have a valid ISIC card (International Student Identification Card) receive a $20 discount on the total price. To be eligible for an ISIC card, you have to have a currently valid student ID, a passport photo, and a copy of your passport itself. I, though no longer a “student” in the official sense of the word, happen to have a University of Pennsylvania ID card that does not expire until 2012. I am wondering if this is perhaps the result of an error by the card people, who may have mistakenly thought me to be an undergraduate student rather than a one-year master’s student. Whatever the case may be, I have a “valid” ID card, and I am planning on using it to get myself an ISIC card and a $20 discount at Machu Picchu. Is this an immoral act on my part? I am probably going to do it regardless of feedback, but it someone has a really stellar argument that could guilt me into admission of my no-longer-student status, I would welcome the attempt!
Yesterday and today, I spent the morning and early afternoon working in the community of Ocorurro. Ocorurro is located quite close to Pinancay, the community where I have worked in the past. The task undertaken by the Missouri bunch, the ProWorld summer interns, and myself was the construction of a preschool, to be attended by about 15 students between the ages of three and five. While it would have been fun to immediately start laying bricks, we first had to create a firm and level foundation for the school. This process involved using picks to loosen the earth, shoveling and transferring the dirt to a pile to be made into “barro” (mud for brick building), and later digging a trench around the border of the foundation in which to lay cement. As per usual, the community members were impressively able-bodied with the picks and shovels, and we were pathetically weak due to the combined effects of the altitude and our overall lack of disposition toward manual labor. The work was tiring and sweaty, but we had fun. The knowledge of what we were doing and how it would benefit the community made the work seem less bothersome. We also had a pretty good game of “Name That Tune” going yesterday, which made the work go by more quickly. Though I was sad not to be with dear Analie, I did meet several other sweethearts, including a little girl of four named Maili and a three-year-old boy named Carlos, who stole my heart with his sweater vest and his smile!
Here he is!
And here are a few of our intrepid workers!
Friday was particularly enjoyable because I had the opportunity to work not only with the Mizzou crowd, but also with some really lovely intern and study abroad students who are here in Cusco for the next month or two. I met Javier, a pre-med student from Notre Dame, who quickly charmed me with his smile and super-friendly demeanor. Then there’s Madison, another healthcare-oriented intern, who just delights me with her positivity. Natalie goes to Vassar, and is a basketball player—so devoted that she lifts weights every night here in Peru as per her team workout schedule! Ellen is from Texas, and has an amusingly sarcastic sense of humor, and Brennan is just the sweetest thing, and goes to JMU. I haven’t yet had the joy of a conversation with Udani, but in passing greetings, she’s always smiling and sweet. I am also fairly obsessed with Meredith, another Notre Damer who shares my love for words of affirmation. We really have a wonderful group here, and in addition to enjoying their wonderful optimism, it’s also been rather humbling to see the incredibly adventuresome spirits that they each possess. I’m pretty sure that I wasn’t quite so brave at age 20 or 21...Cusco wasn’t exactly as high as Madrid on my list of desirable travel destinations. (Better late than never, though! Here I am, and what a great experience it has been!)
Another exciting development in my life has been my use of the combi as a means of transportation. Combis are the main form of public transport here in Cusco. A combi can range in size from that of a 12-passenger-sized van to a full-fledged bus. Each combi runs independently of the others, and each follows its own unique route through the city of Cusco. For 60 centimos (about 20 American cents), you can board any combi and go pretty much anywhere in the city. The catch is that you have to know the routes that each combi takes, and you also have to smush yourself into what is often a very tightly packed vehicle and announce to the driver when you want to get off. I avoided riding a combi for a little more than a month, which is pretty impressive in a sense, but also pretty foolish as it’s quite economical. My two main objectives were my lack of knowledge of the combi routes and my overarching fear of getting into a clearly claustrophobia-prone vehicle going who knows where. I often watched combis zoom up to their stops, at which point the designated “yeller” (as I call him) would slide open the door, yell out something like, “Avenida Cultura, Rapido Express, Sube, Sube Sube, Sube!”, wait about five seconds for any eager passengers, and then shut the door and tell the driver to zoom off to the next stop. The whole process was frightening to witness, and I had only the slightest desire to take part. However, last week, I joined Eliza and two internship students on a combi ride to their internship site (a school in one of Cusco’s poorest districts), and it was not only not scary, but also kind of fun. I’ve come to realize that combis are a very authentic and standard part of Peruvian life, and to not experience them is to be only a tourist and not a traveler. I have therefore decided to make more regular use of combis, and to diligently study the routes. One of the combi services is called “Batman,” and I am particularly eager to find out where that will take me! I shall attempt to take a photo of a combi so that y’all can better understand the experience!
Another recent highlight has been my visits to El Molino, which is basically a big, partially outdoor shopping center for just about anything you might want to buy. There are soccer balls, chocolate, towels, sheets, clothes, kitchen supplies, electronics, movies, music, shoes…all for rather low prices and all in one convenient location…rather a rarity in Cusco when all the florists are together on one street, all the hardware stores are on another, etc. etc. (This aspect of Cusco baffles me still.) My primary motive in visiting El Molino has been to buy the SUPER cheap movies, which cost, on average, between 75 cents and $1.50 per DVD. What a steal! Today, for 13 soles (about $5), I bought Season One of “30 Rock,” “City of God,” “Revolutionary Road,” “Mar Adentro,” and “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part One.” Ridiculous! I’m planning on growing my quality movie collection by way of occasional trips to El Molino. Another super important El Molino purchase was that of a supplemental bath towel. Having only one bath towel means that I can’t shower when said towel is at the lavanderia (laundromat). Today, that problem was happily solved by the purchase of a beautiful, bright green toalla de bano. Awesome.
I also wanted to share an experience that I enjoyed a few days ago at La Pagina en la Puerta, a library where some of our interns are placed. The library is located in San Miguel de San Sebastian, a very poor area located just outside of Cusco city. It is founded and run by an American named Amy, who has lived in Cusco for several years. The reason for the library’s placement in San Miguel is to promote a love of reading among children who might not receive much academic encouragement in their home lives. Normally, two ProWorld interns visit the library three days a week from 4:30 PM until 7 PM. On the day that I went to visit, the two interns were both sick, so it was just the teacher, a bunch of kids, and me. I ended up spending some time reading individually with a few different kids. One sweet little girl kept picking books with “extras”—like flaps to open and pop-up pictures and things. She was fun. Then a sweet little boy sat with me and read to me from “Caperucita Roja” (Little Red Riding Hood!). After reading with a few other children, I went down to the game room, where a little girl decided to challenge me to a puzzle competition. She pulled out two puzzles, gave one to me, and then proceeded to slam hers onto the desk upside down. She looked at me and I did the same, and then it was ON. We battled to the finish, and I scarcely beat her on Round One. She then took me down on Round Two, and in Round Three made the mistake of giving herself a much harder puzzle than she gave me, and I emerged victorious. (I’m not a bully who doesn’t let kids win, but I think she would have picked up on it since my puzzle was clearly so much easier than hers…losing would only have looked suspicious!). It was a really lovely afternoon, and so great to see kids who were so sincerely excited about reading! While I’ve pretty much obtained all of the information I need on the library for the purposes of website updates and such, I would still like to return a few times to again read to the kids and play with them. I’m so glad that such a place exists here in Cusco. Although it’s small and although there’s much room for growth, it’s a really beautiful start, and I know that it will continue to garner support from reading advocates in Peru and abroad. Want to learn more about La Pagina en La Puerta? Here's a link...http://lapaginaenlapuerta.org/
The final announcement of the day is.....another visitor will be gracing Cusco with her presence…my cousin, Maura Pawlowski! I am very excited to know that I’ll have some company for part of July, and I’m hoping that Maura and her friend might join me for a frolic to Lake Titikaca. It would be fun to have some company!
That’s all for now, folks! I’m off to watch an episode or two of my newly-purchased season of “30 Rock”! Tomorrow, it’s off to church and then a lunch date with Helmut and then some relaxing in a sunny plaza somewhere and reading a great book! And of course, contemplating the awesomeness of Paul Andrew Whitman on Father’s Day!
Hasta pronto!
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
LATER, LAN Airlines!
Dear Blog Readers,
It's been a while since I've written a letter to a random company, which, I have to say, is one of my favorite things to do. I recently wrote to a Staples store in Charlottesville, Virginia and raved about the incredible customer service I experienced there. I also wrote to Pepperidge Farm complimenting them on a job well done in the creation of graham cracker goldfish. And one of my favorite parts of working in university relations is getting to send thank you e-mails and notes to the people who meet with me when I visit college campuses, or to the people who plan and host campus career fairs and study abroad events.
Of course, I occasionally have to send some constructive criticism, as in the letter I sent to AT&T when my poor, sweet grandmother was charged a monstrous fee for accidentally calling the Dominican Republic three times while trying to dial my sister's cell phone number...and the time I wrote to Turkey Hill to complain against their deliberately unannounced decrease from half-gallon ice cream cartons to 1.5 quart containers without any decrease in cost. (And seriously, since when does Turkey Hill think it's okay to convert to the metric system? I think not.) These matters merit a response, and I am willing to be the one to pen the sentiments of the many!
All this to introduce today's letter, which I wrote--rather ferociously--to LAN Airlines. LAN is the airline on which my brothers flew en route from Lima to Cusco and back again. My parents will also be arriving to Cusco via LAN. There are four main airlines that fly into Cusco--TACA, LAN, Star Peru, and Peruvian Airlines, and after a bit of cost comparison, I went for the LAN option. Silly me. I think further explanation is unnecessary if I simply share the letter with all of you. Here you are:
June 15, 2011
Dear LAN Airlines:
My name is Sarah Whitman, and I am the recent purchaser of four round-trip tickets from Lima to Cusco, Peru, two for my brothers and two for my parents. I am working out of Cusco for three months, and while here, I have been able to host my brothers and will soon act as host to my parents. I assisted both parties in purchasing their tickets between Lima and Cusco on the LAN.com website. Obviously interested in saving money, I opted for the least expensive tickets available on the dates I desired. I was satisfied with how simple it was to purchase these tickets on LAN’s website. Later, however, I learned that my brothers had been charged an excess fee of over $300 upon leaving Cusco because their tickets were designated for Peruvian nationals only. My parents, who will be arriving in Cusco next week, will be charged the same fee, which is equal to more than the costs of their flights, upon their departure from Cusco in July. The subtlety with which LAN makes its passengers aware of these fees is akin to deliberate deception, and not at all an effective means of increasing the airline’s clientele. I therefore respectfully request a refund of these charges, which total $708 in unexpected fees.
Yesterday, I visited the LAN Airlines office in Cusco, Peru to see if I might be able to help my parents to avoid paying the excess fees that my brothers were recently charged. The kind woman who assisted me regretfully informed me that the only alternative to the paying of said fees would be for my parents to cancel and repurchase their tickets, which would ultimately cost more than the $177 each that they are now obliged to pay. In making economy tickets so easy to purchase and so difficult and expensive to alter or upgrade, LAN Airlines essentially ensures that they will receive an extra $177 from every non-Peruvian customer who purchases tickets at the most economical rate advertised. $177 can easily cover the cost of at least one, and often two, additional round trips of one hour in length. To charge such an amount to an unsuspecting passenger is not only audacious, but also very often a hardship for the many passengers who may not have $177 to place atop the fare they have already paid.
During the process of purchasing my brothers’ and parents’ flights on LAN.com, I was prompted to provide the nationalities and passport numbers of all four passengers. It strikes me as odd that LAN would allow me to go forth with the purchase of tickets priced for Peruvian nationals immediately after I had specified that the passengers were not Peruvian citizens. It would make sense for LAN Airlines to provide a conspicuous warning regarding the restrictions surrounding the fare. (By conspicuous, I am suggesting a pop-up window, or a warning that passengers must read before being able to continue the purchasing process.) Even more sensible would be to forbid the passenger to purchase the restricted tickets until he or she is able to provide a Peruvian citizen’s identification of some sort. The current, vague presence of the restriction on the website is easily overlooked, and I would hope that LAN Airlines would not deliberately mislead customers for the sake of receiving $177 from them at a later date. This would of course represent an absolute mockery of the very customer service that keeps the best airlines in business.
Having seen and understood the socio-economic challenges of many Peruvians, I do not argue against the existence of special, in-country fees for Peruvians. I do, however, argue against the wrongful deception of non-national customers. The world’s best companies are those with great customer service and a high level of transparency, and LAN has sacrificed both these merits for the sake of unjustly acquired financial gain.
I apologize for the evident frustration that can be easily felt in this letter, but perhaps it may be advantageous to understand the frustration that can come from being customer to an airline that has placed its customer service by the wayside. I ask that you, the executives of LAN Airlines, reconsider the way in which you make customers aware of the costs they will incur in choosing to fly with LAN. I also request that you refund the $708 total incurred, and soon to be incurred, by my brothers and my parents, whose names and flight booking codes I have included below.
I thank you for your time and attention, and look forward to receiving a response to these concerns.
Best,
Sarah Whitman
Thoughts? Am I in the wrong here? I certainly don't think so! :-) And I certainly won't be flying on LAN Airlines anytime soon. If anyone needs an opinion letter written on their behalf, just let me know!
xoxo
Sarah
It's been a while since I've written a letter to a random company, which, I have to say, is one of my favorite things to do. I recently wrote to a Staples store in Charlottesville, Virginia and raved about the incredible customer service I experienced there. I also wrote to Pepperidge Farm complimenting them on a job well done in the creation of graham cracker goldfish. And one of my favorite parts of working in university relations is getting to send thank you e-mails and notes to the people who meet with me when I visit college campuses, or to the people who plan and host campus career fairs and study abroad events.
Of course, I occasionally have to send some constructive criticism, as in the letter I sent to AT&T when my poor, sweet grandmother was charged a monstrous fee for accidentally calling the Dominican Republic three times while trying to dial my sister's cell phone number...and the time I wrote to Turkey Hill to complain against their deliberately unannounced decrease from half-gallon ice cream cartons to 1.5 quart containers without any decrease in cost. (And seriously, since when does Turkey Hill think it's okay to convert to the metric system? I think not.) These matters merit a response, and I am willing to be the one to pen the sentiments of the many!
All this to introduce today's letter, which I wrote--rather ferociously--to LAN Airlines. LAN is the airline on which my brothers flew en route from Lima to Cusco and back again. My parents will also be arriving to Cusco via LAN. There are four main airlines that fly into Cusco--TACA, LAN, Star Peru, and Peruvian Airlines, and after a bit of cost comparison, I went for the LAN option. Silly me. I think further explanation is unnecessary if I simply share the letter with all of you. Here you are:
June 15, 2011
Dear LAN Airlines:
My name is Sarah Whitman, and I am the recent purchaser of four round-trip tickets from Lima to Cusco, Peru, two for my brothers and two for my parents. I am working out of Cusco for three months, and while here, I have been able to host my brothers and will soon act as host to my parents. I assisted both parties in purchasing their tickets between Lima and Cusco on the LAN.com website. Obviously interested in saving money, I opted for the least expensive tickets available on the dates I desired. I was satisfied with how simple it was to purchase these tickets on LAN’s website. Later, however, I learned that my brothers had been charged an excess fee of over $300 upon leaving Cusco because their tickets were designated for Peruvian nationals only. My parents, who will be arriving in Cusco next week, will be charged the same fee, which is equal to more than the costs of their flights, upon their departure from Cusco in July. The subtlety with which LAN makes its passengers aware of these fees is akin to deliberate deception, and not at all an effective means of increasing the airline’s clientele. I therefore respectfully request a refund of these charges, which total $708 in unexpected fees.
Yesterday, I visited the LAN Airlines office in Cusco, Peru to see if I might be able to help my parents to avoid paying the excess fees that my brothers were recently charged. The kind woman who assisted me regretfully informed me that the only alternative to the paying of said fees would be for my parents to cancel and repurchase their tickets, which would ultimately cost more than the $177 each that they are now obliged to pay. In making economy tickets so easy to purchase and so difficult and expensive to alter or upgrade, LAN Airlines essentially ensures that they will receive an extra $177 from every non-Peruvian customer who purchases tickets at the most economical rate advertised. $177 can easily cover the cost of at least one, and often two, additional round trips of one hour in length. To charge such an amount to an unsuspecting passenger is not only audacious, but also very often a hardship for the many passengers who may not have $177 to place atop the fare they have already paid.
During the process of purchasing my brothers’ and parents’ flights on LAN.com, I was prompted to provide the nationalities and passport numbers of all four passengers. It strikes me as odd that LAN would allow me to go forth with the purchase of tickets priced for Peruvian nationals immediately after I had specified that the passengers were not Peruvian citizens. It would make sense for LAN Airlines to provide a conspicuous warning regarding the restrictions surrounding the fare. (By conspicuous, I am suggesting a pop-up window, or a warning that passengers must read before being able to continue the purchasing process.) Even more sensible would be to forbid the passenger to purchase the restricted tickets until he or she is able to provide a Peruvian citizen’s identification of some sort. The current, vague presence of the restriction on the website is easily overlooked, and I would hope that LAN Airlines would not deliberately mislead customers for the sake of receiving $177 from them at a later date. This would of course represent an absolute mockery of the very customer service that keeps the best airlines in business.
Having seen and understood the socio-economic challenges of many Peruvians, I do not argue against the existence of special, in-country fees for Peruvians. I do, however, argue against the wrongful deception of non-national customers. The world’s best companies are those with great customer service and a high level of transparency, and LAN has sacrificed both these merits for the sake of unjustly acquired financial gain.
I apologize for the evident frustration that can be easily felt in this letter, but perhaps it may be advantageous to understand the frustration that can come from being customer to an airline that has placed its customer service by the wayside. I ask that you, the executives of LAN Airlines, reconsider the way in which you make customers aware of the costs they will incur in choosing to fly with LAN. I also request that you refund the $708 total incurred, and soon to be incurred, by my brothers and my parents, whose names and flight booking codes I have included below.
I thank you for your time and attention, and look forward to receiving a response to these concerns.
Best,
Sarah Whitman
Thoughts? Am I in the wrong here? I certainly don't think so! :-) And I certainly won't be flying on LAN Airlines anytime soon. If anyone needs an opinion letter written on their behalf, just let me know!
xoxo
Sarah
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
My New Addiction
So this will be quick. I would just like to say that I have developed a new addiction...the podcast. I kept seeing Laura sitting at her computer and laughing hysterically at some podcast or other, and I couldn't help but wonder what all the fuss was about! Now I understand, and I've been downloading podcast after podcast to find my favorites! And they are...
1. The Moth - People tell stories from their lives and it's touching and interesting and engaging.
2. TED Talks - Brief (15-minute) lectures on every topic you can think of! I like these because they make me feel more equipped to at least engage in an initial conversation about so many topics!
3. Notes in Spanish Advanced - Clear conversations held at a realistic speed to help the more advanced Spanish speaker to grow his or her vocabulary and comprehension skills. Quite interesting conversation topics too!
Okay so that's all I've got right now...maybe "addict" is a strong word...heh. But I'd welcome any recommendations from those of you who also enjoy podcasts. I'm particularly interested in the funny and the touching, of course with the caveat that they be free of cussin'!
That's all for now! I'm off to the post office and to drop off a deposit and to make a restaurant reservation and to argue my case against LAN airlines. Wish me luck!
1. The Moth - People tell stories from their lives and it's touching and interesting and engaging.
2. TED Talks - Brief (15-minute) lectures on every topic you can think of! I like these because they make me feel more equipped to at least engage in an initial conversation about so many topics!
3. Notes in Spanish Advanced - Clear conversations held at a realistic speed to help the more advanced Spanish speaker to grow his or her vocabulary and comprehension skills. Quite interesting conversation topics too!
Okay so that's all I've got right now...maybe "addict" is a strong word...heh. But I'd welcome any recommendations from those of you who also enjoy podcasts. I'm particularly interested in the funny and the touching, of course with the caveat that they be free of cussin'!
That's all for now! I'm off to the post office and to drop off a deposit and to make a restaurant reservation and to argue my case against LAN airlines. Wish me luck!
Monday, June 13, 2011
Reading Provence in Peru...
Happy Monday, dear friends!
Until about ten minutes ago, I thought that I was leaving for Urubamba today to help out at our other Peru office for three or four days, but I just found out that my presence isn’t required until tomorrow, which means that I have time to write a little blog entry!
I’m here in the office and dying a little bit inside because it smells AMAZING in the office kitchen right now and lunch isn’t for another hour. Irma, one of the office staff members and a lovely woman, is cooking something delectable as a celebratory lunch for Lauren, who is headed back to the US this week. It will be sad to see her go, both because she’s quite nice and because we’re going to be working extra hours until we find someone to take Lauren’s place. There are lots of students here right now, and so lots to be done in the way of airport pick-ups, dinner plans, project excursions, and participant check-ins. Somehow, we shall make it work! I’d describe what Irma is currently cooking, but as I’ve only smelled it, I’m really not quite sure. I know that it involves cilantro, though, and that alone makes me quite happy!
Yesterday was Sunday, and without the hullabaloo of the presidential elections, I was able to return to my usual mass at 11:30 AM at La Compania. Despite the end of the elections, the Plaza de Armas was still PACKED with people. It seems like every week there are more people than the week before, but I think it must be all in my head. Anyway, this week, there were huge groups of Cusco citizens, and each group was garbed in its own version of traditional attire. There were pants covered in colorful pompoms in one group, and elaborate, sparkly matching skirts and tops in another. There were also lots of men simply attired in black suits and looking kind of like secret service agents. It was a relief to make it through the masses and into the peaceful church sanctuary.
Yesterday was the celebration of Pentecost, the first day of the church year, and we heard a reading about the day when God sent the Holy Spirit to make all of His followers speak in different tongues so that they could spread the Gospel in different languages. The priest elaborated on the reading with an interesting analogy. Many divorced couples, he said, when asked for the reason for their divorce, will respond, “We just don’t understand each other anymore.” While these couples, for the most part, speak the same literal language, they have ceased to speak the language of Love, which is basically the language of God. What I guess I’m taking from this is that there is a language of the Holy Spirit that transcends our more traditional list of languages, and without this spiritual language, we won’t understand each other regardless of whether I speak Greek and you speak French or we both speak in perfect English. Something to think about…
Another interesting occurrence during the mass—while the priest was giving his homily, a man walked into the church and spoke to a woman in fairly loud whispers in the middle of the aisle, fairly close to the altar. He handed her a gold item that I couldn’t identify except to say that it looked like some sort of gilded item that an altar boy might carry into the church during the opening procession. I couldn’t hear exactly what the man and the woman were saying, but I gather that he somehow convinced her that she needed to go and place the item on the altar right away. So, while the priest is still delivering his (rather engaging) homily, the woman distracts everyone by walking up to the altar and placing this unknown “thing” up there and then genuflecting and returning to her seat. Here’s the amusing part: as she’s on her way back to her pew, the priest stops in the middle of his thought and says something like, “Stop. You didn’t need to do that in the middle of the mass,” and he looks pretty annoyed. While I agreed very much with his sentiments (the “thing” went untouched for the entirety of the mass, and I still have no clue what it was), I also felt sort of bad for the woman, who must have been embarrassed to have been singled out so obviously. The whole episode lasted only maybe five minutes, but it was highly intriguing to watch!
After church, I went to visit Dominga at the monastery, but she was M.I.A.! The doors to Santa Catalina were closed, and I’m hoping that she’s not sick. I will try to see her again next week.
My next order of business was to embark upon “The Great Hostal Search,” which really does merit its grand title! Trying to find places based on their street addresses can be rather difficult in Cusco. Even the cab drivers don’t often know street names—only neighborhoods. Before church, I had written down a list of four places I’d researched and wanted to see, and I headed in the direction of the first one, which appears to be nonexistent if it is indeed on the street that it claims to be on. In fact, of the four places I originally listed, I found—wait for it!—ZERO actual hostals. While maybe one fourth of this failure could be blamed on my directional faultiness, I would argue that in three of the four search situations, I walked down the advertised street in its entirety without finding any evidence of the place I sought. What ended up happening was that I found other nice-looking places that actually existed. I ended up making a whole new list based on my walking tour, and collecting lots of “listas de precios” and “tarifas” and such until I had a nice little page of possibilities. I ended up settling on a lovely place called Waka Punku Bed and Breakfast, which is in a pretty super great location, right in between the Plaza San Blas and the Plaza de Armas. I also got a discount simply by asking for it, which was pretty awesome! I think Paul and Eileen Whitman will be mightily pleased with their accommodations!
After my long search, I was pretty tired, but I decided to walk back to San Borga since it was so beautiful outside. I joined Laura at the office for a little while to check e-mail, and then the two of us took an outing to El Molino! I have heard much about El Molino, but yesterday was my first actual visit there. While it’s been referred to as Cusco’s “Black Market,” it didn’t strike me as such, and was almost more like a traditional market, except with clothes and electronics and kitchenware and DVDs rather than fruits and vegetables and meat. I found my long-desired hair dryer, which was super exciting (and which may need to double as a body heater since our apartment is so darned COLD) and Laura found her webcam, and we also bought some DVDs, which made us thoroughly excited being as we have no internet in our casa. Last night, I watched “Scent of a Woman,” which was pretty good, though I’m rather more excited for “The Last Samurai” and another movie that I bought about Tolstoy…I can’t remember what it’s called. I am hoping to go back soon because I want to buy a bath towel and a vegetable peeler and a backpack—all necessities, obviously.
Back at the ranch, Laura and I made ourselves some dinner—some sort of pasta concoction for her and alphabet soup for me! I’ve been on this alphabet soup kick the last few days because my stomach hasn’t been feeling quite up to par, and I’m actually really enjoying it. And for those of you who would argue against the medicinal qualities of such stuff, here’s some fodder for thought: http://archives.cnn.com/2000/HEALTH/diet.fitness/10/17/chicken.soup.reut/.
After I finished up my evening movie, I read another chapter of my latest and greatest read, A Year in Provence, by Peter Mayle. May I just say that this book is FABULOUS? Even for those of us who do not dream of cheese and have not visited France, it’s very much a must-read! If you don’t have a copy, go and get one! A special thank you to the lovely and beautiful Meredith Rich, a dear Franklin & Marshall friend, who gave me the book as a bon voyage present. Meredith and I are both appreciators of the beautifully written word! Last week, I finished reading The Good Earth, which is a Pulitzer prize winner by Pearl S. Buck. I can’t recall whether I mentioned it in a previous blog entry, but if not, I would recommend it, but not as highly as A Year in Provence!
A final note of hilarity/disgust. Currently, there are very LOUD construction efforts taking place both in my apartment complex and directly next to my office, which means that I am constantly surrounded by such sights as a random man standing on some scaffolding outside my window, as well as bombarded with the most catastrophic of noises. Many moons ago, when I was deciding where to go to college, my dad would laugh at my serious aversion to construction, which actually caused me to eliminate certain colleges from my list. In retrospect, I should have eagerly jumped at the chance to go to a college overflowing with construction because that construction would have been a brand new building by the time I arrived as a freshman. Sadly, no one brought this to my attention, and I therefore endured construction at both my undergraduate and graduate institutions. Luckily, both schools made up for it with their awesomeness! Anyway, construction has always been a pet peeve of mine, despite its ultimate goal of progress, and it’s just kind of mean of Cusco to throw me into it full force! I have decided to view this as a test of my endurance, and I will—somehow—emerge victorious!
Hope all is well with you, lovely readers! Y’all are in my thoughts and prayers!
Until about ten minutes ago, I thought that I was leaving for Urubamba today to help out at our other Peru office for three or four days, but I just found out that my presence isn’t required until tomorrow, which means that I have time to write a little blog entry!
I’m here in the office and dying a little bit inside because it smells AMAZING in the office kitchen right now and lunch isn’t for another hour. Irma, one of the office staff members and a lovely woman, is cooking something delectable as a celebratory lunch for Lauren, who is headed back to the US this week. It will be sad to see her go, both because she’s quite nice and because we’re going to be working extra hours until we find someone to take Lauren’s place. There are lots of students here right now, and so lots to be done in the way of airport pick-ups, dinner plans, project excursions, and participant check-ins. Somehow, we shall make it work! I’d describe what Irma is currently cooking, but as I’ve only smelled it, I’m really not quite sure. I know that it involves cilantro, though, and that alone makes me quite happy!
Yesterday was Sunday, and without the hullabaloo of the presidential elections, I was able to return to my usual mass at 11:30 AM at La Compania. Despite the end of the elections, the Plaza de Armas was still PACKED with people. It seems like every week there are more people than the week before, but I think it must be all in my head. Anyway, this week, there were huge groups of Cusco citizens, and each group was garbed in its own version of traditional attire. There were pants covered in colorful pompoms in one group, and elaborate, sparkly matching skirts and tops in another. There were also lots of men simply attired in black suits and looking kind of like secret service agents. It was a relief to make it through the masses and into the peaceful church sanctuary.
Yesterday was the celebration of Pentecost, the first day of the church year, and we heard a reading about the day when God sent the Holy Spirit to make all of His followers speak in different tongues so that they could spread the Gospel in different languages. The priest elaborated on the reading with an interesting analogy. Many divorced couples, he said, when asked for the reason for their divorce, will respond, “We just don’t understand each other anymore.” While these couples, for the most part, speak the same literal language, they have ceased to speak the language of Love, which is basically the language of God. What I guess I’m taking from this is that there is a language of the Holy Spirit that transcends our more traditional list of languages, and without this spiritual language, we won’t understand each other regardless of whether I speak Greek and you speak French or we both speak in perfect English. Something to think about…
Another interesting occurrence during the mass—while the priest was giving his homily, a man walked into the church and spoke to a woman in fairly loud whispers in the middle of the aisle, fairly close to the altar. He handed her a gold item that I couldn’t identify except to say that it looked like some sort of gilded item that an altar boy might carry into the church during the opening procession. I couldn’t hear exactly what the man and the woman were saying, but I gather that he somehow convinced her that she needed to go and place the item on the altar right away. So, while the priest is still delivering his (rather engaging) homily, the woman distracts everyone by walking up to the altar and placing this unknown “thing” up there and then genuflecting and returning to her seat. Here’s the amusing part: as she’s on her way back to her pew, the priest stops in the middle of his thought and says something like, “Stop. You didn’t need to do that in the middle of the mass,” and he looks pretty annoyed. While I agreed very much with his sentiments (the “thing” went untouched for the entirety of the mass, and I still have no clue what it was), I also felt sort of bad for the woman, who must have been embarrassed to have been singled out so obviously. The whole episode lasted only maybe five minutes, but it was highly intriguing to watch!
After church, I went to visit Dominga at the monastery, but she was M.I.A.! The doors to Santa Catalina were closed, and I’m hoping that she’s not sick. I will try to see her again next week.
My next order of business was to embark upon “The Great Hostal Search,” which really does merit its grand title! Trying to find places based on their street addresses can be rather difficult in Cusco. Even the cab drivers don’t often know street names—only neighborhoods. Before church, I had written down a list of four places I’d researched and wanted to see, and I headed in the direction of the first one, which appears to be nonexistent if it is indeed on the street that it claims to be on. In fact, of the four places I originally listed, I found—wait for it!—ZERO actual hostals. While maybe one fourth of this failure could be blamed on my directional faultiness, I would argue that in three of the four search situations, I walked down the advertised street in its entirety without finding any evidence of the place I sought. What ended up happening was that I found other nice-looking places that actually existed. I ended up making a whole new list based on my walking tour, and collecting lots of “listas de precios” and “tarifas” and such until I had a nice little page of possibilities. I ended up settling on a lovely place called Waka Punku Bed and Breakfast, which is in a pretty super great location, right in between the Plaza San Blas and the Plaza de Armas. I also got a discount simply by asking for it, which was pretty awesome! I think Paul and Eileen Whitman will be mightily pleased with their accommodations!
After my long search, I was pretty tired, but I decided to walk back to San Borga since it was so beautiful outside. I joined Laura at the office for a little while to check e-mail, and then the two of us took an outing to El Molino! I have heard much about El Molino, but yesterday was my first actual visit there. While it’s been referred to as Cusco’s “Black Market,” it didn’t strike me as such, and was almost more like a traditional market, except with clothes and electronics and kitchenware and DVDs rather than fruits and vegetables and meat. I found my long-desired hair dryer, which was super exciting (and which may need to double as a body heater since our apartment is so darned COLD) and Laura found her webcam, and we also bought some DVDs, which made us thoroughly excited being as we have no internet in our casa. Last night, I watched “Scent of a Woman,” which was pretty good, though I’m rather more excited for “The Last Samurai” and another movie that I bought about Tolstoy…I can’t remember what it’s called. I am hoping to go back soon because I want to buy a bath towel and a vegetable peeler and a backpack—all necessities, obviously.
Back at the ranch, Laura and I made ourselves some dinner—some sort of pasta concoction for her and alphabet soup for me! I’ve been on this alphabet soup kick the last few days because my stomach hasn’t been feeling quite up to par, and I’m actually really enjoying it. And for those of you who would argue against the medicinal qualities of such stuff, here’s some fodder for thought: http://archives.cnn.com/2000/HEALTH/diet.fitness/10/17/chicken.soup.reut/.
After I finished up my evening movie, I read another chapter of my latest and greatest read, A Year in Provence, by Peter Mayle. May I just say that this book is FABULOUS? Even for those of us who do not dream of cheese and have not visited France, it’s very much a must-read! If you don’t have a copy, go and get one! A special thank you to the lovely and beautiful Meredith Rich, a dear Franklin & Marshall friend, who gave me the book as a bon voyage present. Meredith and I are both appreciators of the beautifully written word! Last week, I finished reading The Good Earth, which is a Pulitzer prize winner by Pearl S. Buck. I can’t recall whether I mentioned it in a previous blog entry, but if not, I would recommend it, but not as highly as A Year in Provence!
A final note of hilarity/disgust. Currently, there are very LOUD construction efforts taking place both in my apartment complex and directly next to my office, which means that I am constantly surrounded by such sights as a random man standing on some scaffolding outside my window, as well as bombarded with the most catastrophic of noises. Many moons ago, when I was deciding where to go to college, my dad would laugh at my serious aversion to construction, which actually caused me to eliminate certain colleges from my list. In retrospect, I should have eagerly jumped at the chance to go to a college overflowing with construction because that construction would have been a brand new building by the time I arrived as a freshman. Sadly, no one brought this to my attention, and I therefore endured construction at both my undergraduate and graduate institutions. Luckily, both schools made up for it with their awesomeness! Anyway, construction has always been a pet peeve of mine, despite its ultimate goal of progress, and it’s just kind of mean of Cusco to throw me into it full force! I have decided to view this as a test of my endurance, and I will—somehow—emerge victorious!
Hope all is well with you, lovely readers! Y’all are in my thoughts and prayers!
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Time Flies...
I can't believe that Andrew and Brian are going to leave for the USA this Friday--it feels like they've only just arrived! It has been such a blessing to have a little bit of home here in Peru for a short while, and we've had some serious bonding moments.
Yesterday, I worked in the morning and then met the boys at their hotel to go to lunch at a place called Quinta Eulalia. Before we left, though, Andrew wanted to check out a very "authentic" chiccha bar that Sonia had mentioned to him. When we asked Sonia about it, she said that Maria (the woman who helps out at the hotel) would take us there, and thank goodness she did or we probably wouldn't have found it! We walked about two blocks down the street and then went into what looked like someone's yard. Inside the courtyard was a room and in the room were about four tables, mostly occupied by Peruvian men drinking HUGE glasses of chiccha. This chiccha was yellow and quite different from the more well-known chiccha morada. I had no interest in having any more than a tiny sip of Andrew's (and even that was quite narsty), but A&B both bought huge glasses, each of which cost only one sole (35 cents!). Apparently, refills only cost 50 centimos, but luckily, the boys weren't crazy enough to refill such huuuuge glasses! I don't know how the men of Peru drink so much chiccha without their bladders bursting. (Well, actually, I do know...most of them pee quite publicly...but still, the quantity of liquid that they take in is impressive!). We contemplated having lunch at the chiccha bar along with our chiccha, but since there was only one dish available and since I felt rather outnumbered in gender, we just stayed for chiccha. Andrew also got the joy of his life when he discovered that the men had a sapo table. Sapo is a game (often a drinking game) played by lots of Peruvians, and basically involves forcefully throwing little metal disks toward the table and trying to get them into the mouth of a little golden frog at the table's center. Maria informed me that it's very much a "men's game," so she and I watched as Andrew and Brian made pretty serious fools of themselves in front of several Peruvian sapo experts! One of the men said to us as we were leaving, "Cierto Peru." "True Peru." We've officially seen the "real thing"! :-)
Our lunch experience was also quite authentic. Quinta Eulalia was inhabited only by Peruvians until the Whitman siblings entered. We were initially quite distressed to find that the quinta didn't have a "menu del dia," but we quickly discovered that the portions of the a la carte items were HUGE and more than satisfactory for filling our bellies. I had grilled trout, which came out with its head still attached and served alongside potatoes and vegetables. The boys each had a bowl of the house soup, which was full of various "mystery items." It was quite flavorful, though Andrew wasn't able to handle the unusual items he kept finding, and gave up after he'd eaten out the recognizable meat and vegetables. Two musicians came to serenade us briefly, which made the experience all the more delightful.
In between meals, I had to work, so the boys occupied themselves primarily with searching for a charango for Andrew. A charango is similar to a guitar, but much smaller--kind of like the Peruvian version of a ukelele. The one that Andrew bought is from an actual factory where the owner makes the instruments right behind the counter--super authentic! Andrew is very pleased. My work day yesterday was pretty awesome. In the morning, I joined Eliza and two new interns on a trip to the school where they would be teaching English and computers. It's always interesting to be inside of the elementary schools in Central and South America. I haven't seen enough of how they work to truly understand them--right now, I just get the feeling that children are constantly "running free" throughout the school. I know that many of the teachers are working hard at instilling knowledge in young minds, but I get a kick out of how bold some of the kids are, and how often I find them walking around outside of their classrooms! I think that Elizabeth and Gabrielle, the two volunteers on the site, will do a great job there.
In the later afternoon, Eliza and I escorted two other interns, Brennan and Lena, to a library in one of the poorer suburbs of Cusco. We only stayed with them for a little while to give them a tour of the site, but by the time we went to leave, I was hooked. I know I'll be back there as often as possible! The owner, Amy, is originally from New York, and she started the library as a way to promote love for reading among children in a neighborhood where such love is less likely to be cultivated. The library has a bunch of books for reading practice, a homework room, and a play room, and the kids are just precious. I'm sure I'll have more to share on this after I've been back a few times!
For dinner, Andrew and Brian and I headed to the San Blas area, and eventually settled on a restaurant with a long Incan name that I can't remember. What I CAN remember is the meal, which was super delish! We all had pollo saltado, which is essentially chicken stir-fried with onions, peppers and french fries and served with rice. "Saltado" dishes are quite common here, but we all agreed that this was one of the better ones. Super yummy! After dinner, we headed to a bar called The Muse, where ProWorld was hosting an intercambio for all of the students currently here in Cusco. The attendance was very good, and allowed for some very lovely socializing among Peruvians and American students. After we left, Andrew and Brian wanted to go to Paddy's Pub (the only Irish-owned pub above 11,000 feet in the whole world--and they're pretty proud of it!), so we went there and watched the end of an NBA game (Miami versus Dallas, for all you sports fans). Then it was off to bed!
Today, I took the day off to spend with the boys, and we hopped on a bus from Cusco to the town of Pisac. Pisac is a stopover for visitors to Machu Picchu, and is famous for its huge artisan market. We spent the day shopping and improving our bargaining skills (Andrew's favorite method is to say "15 soles? No puedo." He then walks away and hopes that the salespeople will call him back with a better offer, which they usually do!). The boys bought a bunch of gifts for friends, and I bought a gift for Julie and also a teacup to add to my international teacup collection. I actually already bought one a few weeks ago, but this one was so much prettier that I decided to get it anyway! We also had lunch at a cute little restaurant where the boys got to try Peruvian arroz con pollo, which is delectable. Our bus ride back to Cusco was pretty hysterical. We weren't exactly sure of where to catch the bus, so we just stood close to where we'd been dropped off, and eventually a bus drove by (quite filled with people) and the door was opened and a man yelled, "Cusco! Cusco! Cusco!" until we hopped in! It was standing room only until a few people got off at a stop a few kilometers away. Luckily, we made it back in three pieces and it turns out that the bus station is right near my apartment! What luck!
Now I'm here in the office, and I must leave because I want to put on some long pants and a jacket before I meet the boys for dinner! Tonight, I am endeavoring to make them salsa dance a little bit before the night is over. I have high hopes of success!
Hasta pronto, amigos!
Yesterday, I worked in the morning and then met the boys at their hotel to go to lunch at a place called Quinta Eulalia. Before we left, though, Andrew wanted to check out a very "authentic" chiccha bar that Sonia had mentioned to him. When we asked Sonia about it, she said that Maria (the woman who helps out at the hotel) would take us there, and thank goodness she did or we probably wouldn't have found it! We walked about two blocks down the street and then went into what looked like someone's yard. Inside the courtyard was a room and in the room were about four tables, mostly occupied by Peruvian men drinking HUGE glasses of chiccha. This chiccha was yellow and quite different from the more well-known chiccha morada. I had no interest in having any more than a tiny sip of Andrew's (and even that was quite narsty), but A&B both bought huge glasses, each of which cost only one sole (35 cents!). Apparently, refills only cost 50 centimos, but luckily, the boys weren't crazy enough to refill such huuuuge glasses! I don't know how the men of Peru drink so much chiccha without their bladders bursting. (Well, actually, I do know...most of them pee quite publicly...but still, the quantity of liquid that they take in is impressive!). We contemplated having lunch at the chiccha bar along with our chiccha, but since there was only one dish available and since I felt rather outnumbered in gender, we just stayed for chiccha. Andrew also got the joy of his life when he discovered that the men had a sapo table. Sapo is a game (often a drinking game) played by lots of Peruvians, and basically involves forcefully throwing little metal disks toward the table and trying to get them into the mouth of a little golden frog at the table's center. Maria informed me that it's very much a "men's game," so she and I watched as Andrew and Brian made pretty serious fools of themselves in front of several Peruvian sapo experts! One of the men said to us as we were leaving, "Cierto Peru." "True Peru." We've officially seen the "real thing"! :-)
Our lunch experience was also quite authentic. Quinta Eulalia was inhabited only by Peruvians until the Whitman siblings entered. We were initially quite distressed to find that the quinta didn't have a "menu del dia," but we quickly discovered that the portions of the a la carte items were HUGE and more than satisfactory for filling our bellies. I had grilled trout, which came out with its head still attached and served alongside potatoes and vegetables. The boys each had a bowl of the house soup, which was full of various "mystery items." It was quite flavorful, though Andrew wasn't able to handle the unusual items he kept finding, and gave up after he'd eaten out the recognizable meat and vegetables. Two musicians came to serenade us briefly, which made the experience all the more delightful.
In between meals, I had to work, so the boys occupied themselves primarily with searching for a charango for Andrew. A charango is similar to a guitar, but much smaller--kind of like the Peruvian version of a ukelele. The one that Andrew bought is from an actual factory where the owner makes the instruments right behind the counter--super authentic! Andrew is very pleased. My work day yesterday was pretty awesome. In the morning, I joined Eliza and two new interns on a trip to the school where they would be teaching English and computers. It's always interesting to be inside of the elementary schools in Central and South America. I haven't seen enough of how they work to truly understand them--right now, I just get the feeling that children are constantly "running free" throughout the school. I know that many of the teachers are working hard at instilling knowledge in young minds, but I get a kick out of how bold some of the kids are, and how often I find them walking around outside of their classrooms! I think that Elizabeth and Gabrielle, the two volunteers on the site, will do a great job there.
In the later afternoon, Eliza and I escorted two other interns, Brennan and Lena, to a library in one of the poorer suburbs of Cusco. We only stayed with them for a little while to give them a tour of the site, but by the time we went to leave, I was hooked. I know I'll be back there as often as possible! The owner, Amy, is originally from New York, and she started the library as a way to promote love for reading among children in a neighborhood where such love is less likely to be cultivated. The library has a bunch of books for reading practice, a homework room, and a play room, and the kids are just precious. I'm sure I'll have more to share on this after I've been back a few times!
For dinner, Andrew and Brian and I headed to the San Blas area, and eventually settled on a restaurant with a long Incan name that I can't remember. What I CAN remember is the meal, which was super delish! We all had pollo saltado, which is essentially chicken stir-fried with onions, peppers and french fries and served with rice. "Saltado" dishes are quite common here, but we all agreed that this was one of the better ones. Super yummy! After dinner, we headed to a bar called The Muse, where ProWorld was hosting an intercambio for all of the students currently here in Cusco. The attendance was very good, and allowed for some very lovely socializing among Peruvians and American students. After we left, Andrew and Brian wanted to go to Paddy's Pub (the only Irish-owned pub above 11,000 feet in the whole world--and they're pretty proud of it!), so we went there and watched the end of an NBA game (Miami versus Dallas, for all you sports fans). Then it was off to bed!
Today, I took the day off to spend with the boys, and we hopped on a bus from Cusco to the town of Pisac. Pisac is a stopover for visitors to Machu Picchu, and is famous for its huge artisan market. We spent the day shopping and improving our bargaining skills (Andrew's favorite method is to say "15 soles? No puedo." He then walks away and hopes that the salespeople will call him back with a better offer, which they usually do!). The boys bought a bunch of gifts for friends, and I bought a gift for Julie and also a teacup to add to my international teacup collection. I actually already bought one a few weeks ago, but this one was so much prettier that I decided to get it anyway! We also had lunch at a cute little restaurant where the boys got to try Peruvian arroz con pollo, which is delectable. Our bus ride back to Cusco was pretty hysterical. We weren't exactly sure of where to catch the bus, so we just stood close to where we'd been dropped off, and eventually a bus drove by (quite filled with people) and the door was opened and a man yelled, "Cusco! Cusco! Cusco!" until we hopped in! It was standing room only until a few people got off at a stop a few kilometers away. Luckily, we made it back in three pieces and it turns out that the bus station is right near my apartment! What luck!
Now I'm here in the office, and I must leave because I want to put on some long pants and a jacket before I meet the boys for dinner! Tonight, I am endeavoring to make them salsa dance a little bit before the night is over. I have high hopes of success!
Hasta pronto, amigos!
Monday, June 6, 2011
Ollanta Wins, Perhaps the Lesser of Two Evils? I Remain Hopeful...
http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/politics/2011/06/06/ollanta-humala-wins-peru-election-over-keiko-fujimori/
A Note from the Brothers
Hello all! We have two guest bloggers this week in the form of my awesome brothers! I've been having a wonderful time with them, and after I give you a little taste of what we've been up to, I'll let you read it from their perspectives. I would also like to put in a disclaimer that I did not make any corrections to their grammar, so excuse any issues (and I KNOW that there are issues because I wanted to correct them badly but didn't because the boys were making fun of me!).
Anyway, A&B are en route to Machu Picchu right now, having left bright and early at 6:30 AM. I arranged a full day tour for them with an English guide and all transportation and entrance fees and everything so that they wouldn't end up in Bolivia (seriously a possibility if Andrew continues to believe himself a fully competent Spanish speaker!). They have a long day ahead of them, but I think it will be beautiful and I'm sure they'll take lots of lovely pictures that I'll later share with y'all!
The first day the boys arrived, I took them to lunch at--of course--Victor/Victoria, where we had a super delicious meal, and then I showed them some of the main landmarks of downtown Cusco. Among our stops was an artisan market, where the boys learned the importance of saying "No gracias," and also bought some hysterically, flamboyantly colorful pants to wear for volunteer work! Eventually, we headed over to the Centro Bartolome de las Casas, where I had to meet up with a group from Missouri to show them the way from the CBC to the ProWorld office. I also took the boys to get their International Student Identification (ISIC) cards so that they could get discounts at Machu Picchu (and in over 100 other countries through 2012--they'd better start traveling more often!). I also showed them the ProPeru office and my apartment, and when we'd finally worked up an appetite for dinner, we went to Papa's, a cute restaurant run by a super nice lady, where we each paid about $3 for a three-course meal. The boys also shared a pitcher of chiccha morada (a drink made of Peruvian purple corn mixed with cinnamon and cloves and sugar and stuff), which I discouraged because I think it's kind of gross. They found it rather amusing, though, and particularly enjoyed the large quantity of pink foam that they had to work their way through to get to the actual chiccha.
On Friday, the boys had breakfast made by Sonia, the owner of the Llaqtayai Family House where they're staying. They've been raving about her breakfasts and her general hospitality on a daily basis, so if anyone wants to come to Cusco (hint, hint, nudge, nudge?) and spend $16 a night on lodging, give Sonia a ring! At 8 AM, the boys arrived by taxi to the ProPeru office (in the crazy pants), and we loaded into a bus along with Lalo and the students from Missouri. We headed to Pinancay (the community where I worked with Pittsburgh and St. Scholastica) and proceeded to several community homes to build clean-burning stoves. The clean-burning stove project is seriously awesome because you can see SUCH a difference in the households before and after the stoves are in use. In the "before" scene, we often smell the inside of the house before we see it. The smokiness is so strong that one student actually felt like her nose was going to bleed, and the walls were entirely black from the fumes. Women in Pinancay, and in many other rural Peruvian communities, spend a significant portion of their time indoors, along with their children, breathing in the smoke as they cook and essentially diminishing the capacity of their lungs. By building these stoves, made of simply barro (mud/clay), three tin rods, bricks, and a little metal "sombrero," we can drastically alter the health of the women and children in the community. What's more, the results are almost immediate. The stoves only take five days to dry and are then ready for use, and in a mere 30 days, we can measure huge increases in lung capacity among women and children. How awesome, especially for those of us who like to see the fruits of our labor ASAP! :-)
Anyway, the boys were a great help, and were teamed up with Krysten, a lovely Missouri student who luckily speaks far better Spanish than Andrew and Brian! While they worked at a few houses, Lalo and I were running all over the community supervising the work of various groups and ensuring that there were no major problems with any of the stoves. I'm really happy that we have been able to do so much work at Pinancay because I have begun to establish my presence there, and many of the community members now remember my name, entrust their kids to my care, and joke around with me more freely. It's a wonderful feeling, and it's going to make leaving the community very hard come July!
After our day of work on Friday, we were pretty dirty and pretty exhausted, so the boys went to their hotel to shower and I went to my apartment and we reunited in the Plaza de Armas for dinner. Friday also marked the first day of the Dry Law here in Peru. Because of yesterday's presidential election, it was illegal to buy alcohol from Friday to Sunday. Somehow, Brian, Andrew, and I managed to break that law on all three days, beginning with our trip to The Lost City. The Lost City in this case is not Machu Picchu, but a random, fairly creepy-ish looking underground bar that Brian read about prior to arriving in Cusco. He was insistent on trying it, and won Andrew over by showing him a sign that announced that an NBA game would be playing on the TV (it wasn't). And so it was that we ended up in The Lost City with a fairly creepy bartender, the there of us the only customers in the whole place. I have to admit, though, that it turned out to be a pretty great time, as the bartender gave us happy hour prices and we decided to try some traditional Peruvian drinks, including the pisco sour (yummy), something with pisco and milk (disgusting, in my opinion), something with pisco and mint (Andrew's choice--deliiiicious), and a margarita. We were planning on eating at The Lost City as well, but--surprise!--their oven was malfunctioning, so we only ended up getting drinks, and then headed elsewhere for dinner. When we went to leave The Lost City, the bartender had to unbolt the door for us, and we realized that he was probably trying to make the place seem closed because of the dry law. It looks like the Whitmans are some serious rebel law-breaker sorts! Muahaha.
On Saturday, we went back to the Pinancay community to build more stoves. The boys worked in the morning, but in the afternoon, they took some time to explore the beautiful country, and Andrew (the loco) decided to go for a RUN! He ended up encountering my sweet Analie, who was working in the fields with her mom and some other community members. Andrew also brought along one of his CDs and gave it to Luis, an absolute geme and also Analie's older brother! He was so appreciative, and I'm pretty sure that he'll have the whole community dancing to Andrew Whitman in no time at all! Saturday night, we went to dinner at a tiny little restaurant called Sumaq (which means "very good" in Quechua). There were only four tables in the place, and there was an oven right behind the counter where we could see the cook preparing all of the food. It was pretty neat, and felt almost more like a family kitchen than a restaurant. Andrew got to cross alpaca off his list of things to try, and Brian and I had steak and trout respectively, all quite tasty. Each meal also came with a pisco sour, which resulted in our second active breakage of the dry law!
Yesterday, I intended to go to my normal 11:30 AM mass at La Compania, but the church was padlocked! I guess the service was canceled due to the elections (though it seems to me that prayer would be only more necessary on a day like election day). I met up with the boys around noon, and I introduced them to Dominga, my dear friend who sells the bread made by nuns outside the Monasterio de Santa Catalina. The boys fell just as much in love with her as I have, and we took a picture which I'll share in a future blog when Brian Whitman hasn't absconded to the "real" Lost City with my camera! I took the boys to lunch at Juanito's, a sandwich place that makes a really unique sandwich called the Cuzqueno con Pollo. It's a pretty standard chicken sandwich except that it has two tamales on it, which just bring it to a super high level of awesomeness! Afterwards, I intended to take the boys to the soccer game that I had seen advertised on signs throughout my neighborhood, but it turns out that they were for a game the previous Sunday. I remain rather annoyed at this because if they had just put the numberical date of the game (instead of just SUNDAY), or taken the signs down before the following Sunday came, I wouldn't have been confused. Argh. Luckily, there's a game on Wednesday afternoon, and we're going to go to that. After our trip to the very empty soccer stadium, I took the boys to the San Pedro Market, where we bought some ingredients to make fajitas. We also went to the grocery store, where the boys purchased a six pack of "illegal" Cuzquena beer without any trouble...and so went our third act of law breakage! Then, I headed home and the boys decided to go up to Sacsayhuaman. Andrew obviously made the ridonkulous decision to run, while Brian more sensibly went for the walking route. They apparently agreed to meet at the stairs leading to the monument, but somehow managed to lose each other briefly, and then each returned to the hotel to look for the other, missing each other by no more than five minutes. In the end, Andrew ended up running eight or ten miles, but they made it back in one piece, and then came over to prepare and eat fajitas with Laura and me. We also made attempt numero uno at brownies (THANK YOU, EILEEN WHITMAN, FOR FOUR BOXES OF BROWNIE MIX. YOU ARE EVEN MORE MY HERO THAN YOU WERE BEFORE, IF HUMANLY POSSIBLE!). We managed to have pretty serious success in this venture, and proceeded to eat almost the entire pan in response to our long withdrawal! :-)
Now it's Monday, and the election is over and the boys are on an adventure and I'm here in the office getting some tasks accomplished and writing to all of you! At this point, I'm sure you've heard enough from me, so here are the un-edited comments of my wonderful brothers whom I love so dearly and am so happy to have with me here in Cusco!!!
[Written last night (Sunday)]
Hey Everybody!
It’s Andrew. I’m excited to provide you with a new perspective of Peru from a man’s eyes! I just finished a two and a half hour run and walk up to Sacsaywaman, an Incan Ruin right outside of Cusco. It usually would take me about 15 minutes, but unfortunately Brian got lost and I went on a running rampage to find him. Fortunately, we ended up back at our Hostel with Sonya, our host, and neither of us were too worse off.
Our trip to date has been amazing. Let me fill you in on what we’ve done and what we’re doing. We are staying at a small house on avenida alta with our awesome host Sonya, who has a daughter Isabel, and a helper Maria. They are all amazing. Sonya makes us breakfast every day, and each day it’s been crazy delicious. My favorite was an omelet with peppers and garlic. We’ve been eating amazing food every day and been having amazing adventures too. One of my new favorite things to do is haggle with taxi drivers, which has been a blast. Brian and I left a few taxis on the spot when they tried charging us more than 3 soles, which is ridiculous.
The best trip we’ve had yet is visiting the small village of Pinyankay, where we built ovens for Native Peruvians. I’m pretty sure I can say it’s the most beautiful place I’ve ever been. Building the ovens was very rewarding, and I learned a couple Qechua phrases to talk to the families too (only two, what is your name and how are you, but I got some respect for them). Brian and I also made a new friend, Christine from Mizzou, who was really cool and a beast at Spanish (props to her for a Lord of the Rings reference, saying the village reminded her of Hobbiton). I was constantly on the prowl for some chicha, the corn beer of South America, but unfortunately didn’t get any. Still got a few days though!
The coolest part of the trip by far was when I went on a run in the village. It was very humbling when I got to ten minutes in my run and had to stop and dry heave for a while. But anyway, on the walk back with Brian, we ran into a ton of people from the village taking a break from the fields and they invited us to share some potatoes with them. I did most of the conversing, although I probably didn’t make sense, but in the end we found out that one of the little girls was the one and only Ana-Lie, Sarah’s favorite village kid! It was awesome to explain that we we’re Sarah’s brothers and she immediately became crazy attached, even crying when we had to leave. It was just awesome to see these people be so welcoming and nice and still be able to share a few laughs and potatoes with people who are from a totally different world.
The food has been incredible as well, and super cheap! But I’m going to let Brian take over for me and hopefully he can describe a bit to you.
Hey everybody! Missing you in the U.S but we’re having an incredible time over here in Peru. Andrew covered most of the big events thus far, but everything has been great from the people to the food to the sights. The people that we built stoves for so were so incredibly grateful and some of the nicest people we’ve encountered (at least I think so, we couldn’t really understand what they were saying and our Spanish is quite subpar). Andrew told me that the other night I spoke in my sleep and said “mucho gusto” which means nice to meet you, which I think says a lot about the people I’ve met here so far.
Tomorrow Andrew and I are getting up at 6:00am to head over to Machu Picchu for the day! We’re very excited and we’ll try to take some awesome pictures so that everyone can feel as if they were there too. We’ve also been considering white water rafting trips and bungee jumping at some point, but Sarah remains adamant that she’ll only watch if we go bungee jumping. There are so many things to do but so little time! On Wednesday we’re going to see the Cusco soccer team play, which I’m pretty excited for, although I’m still hoping to play in a pick-up game with some Peruvians.
At all the plazas here we are constantly offered massages and entry to various restaurants. Sarah told me there’s a shirt that says “no gracias” on it, so I’m definitely plan on getting one before I leave so that I can get my point across. The second day here we went to a little market to try and find some Peruvian deals. A woman was offering Andrew a scarf to which he responded “ No gracias, muy caliente”. Andrew thought that he was saying “No thanks, I’m very hot”, but apparently in that context it meant that he was aroused. The woman, Sarah, Andrew, and I all got a great laugh out of it. That’s all I’ve got for now, but here’s Sarah who plans to proofread all of Andrew and I’s work! Chao!
Friday, June 3, 2011
La Eleccion
I'm off to meet my brothers for some dinner after a long day of clean-burning stove building, but I wanted to share a quick bit of information regarding the presidential election taking place in Peru this weekend Here in Peru, voting is required unless you want to pay a fine, and it's illegal to purchase alcohol 48 hours before or after the election (even for Americans--pobrecitos Andrew and Brian!). Anyway, check out the article--it's short and informative--and have a wonderful weekend!
http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/americas/06/03/peru.elections/
http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/americas/06/03/peru.elections/
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Manana los Hermanos!
Hola, friends!
Guess what?! My apartment is freezing, my stomach hurts a little, and I have to do manual labor this Saturday for ProWorld, but none of this seems quite so frustrating because my BROTHERS arrive tomorrow morning! Andrew and Brian in Peru--wahoooo! Right now, I think they're probably either in Panama City's airport or en route to Lima, and then they have a pleasant night in the Lima airport before they fly on up 10,000 feet to Cusco!!! I will be smiling and waving from the gate at 7 AM when they arrive! So far, I'm planning on letting them rest a bit tomorrow morning and then taking them to lunch at good old Victor/Victoria! Then we'll do some Cusco exploring! On Friday and Saturday, I'm volunteering with Lalo and some students from the University of Missouri. I plan on bringing my brothers along on Saturday, and maybe Friday too if they're not too pooped from the traveling! Then maybe a day trip to the town of Pisac on Sunday to go to Quechua mass and shop around the Pisac market! On Monday, I'm booking the boys for an all-day trip to Machu Picchu while I assist in getting all of the newly-arrived intern and semester students off to their respective placement locations. As far as what else the boys and I will do, I'm waiting to see what they find most awesome, and then we'll go from there!
On an entirely different note, here's the latest update on Helmud. The short story: we're not meant to be man and wife. Too many ideological differences. The longer version: That said, I've still spent three of the last four evenings with him, and will be seeing him again tonight. I am beginning to grow concerned about how to take our friendship down a notch or two so that we aren't spending every night together. The problemo is that we live a mere block from each other, so unless I have a legitimate excuse as to why I can't meet up on a given night, he could easily walk on over to my apartment and find me very happily reading a book, which, at this point, I would sort of prefer. Argh. I have moved from one frustrating extreme (true love...ha) to the other (true need for personal space!).
And on a third and again entirely different, note, Laura and I are FREEZING in our apartment. Thankfully, we have figured out the trick to the hot shower. Without this small victory, I'm pretty sure we'd both have varying degrees of hypothermia and/or frostbite right now. I try not to be a complainer, but it really is almost intriguing how different it feels outside the entrance to our apartment and upon walking inside. I used to think that if I had to choose between death by hypothermia or heat stroke (yeah, I was a bit of a freak), I'd toootally go the hypothermia route, but the closer I get to that point, the more I wonder if perhaps passing out in the sun might be a better alternative. I just can't decide. (Hopefully, I'll never have to!)
And my final irrelevant statement: I have found somewhat of a solution to my internet-less home. I joined a little website called movieberry.com that allows me to purchase movie downloads for a very small price and then, once they're downloaded, watch them without the need for a wireless connection. I just purchased "The King's Speech" and "Of Gods and Men," and I am excited for some mindless entertainment to enjoy now that I'm almost finished reading Better. I've also been thinking lately about the fact that I really want to be more deliberate and active in my reading of the Bible, which I've tended to put by the wayside of late. It's very easy for me to put God Himself on the back burner when things are going swell, and then to reach out for Him desperately when things aren't as great. In The Purpose Driven Life, Rick Warren delivers the memorable line, "You never know that God is all you need until God is all you've got." While that strikes me as very true, I would like to adopt an attitude of greater consistency, and to acknowledge that God loves me and wants to be a part of my life as much during my failures and low points as during my joys and successes. It'll probably be an uphill journey, but being as high up as Cusco has given me a nice little head start! :-)
Hasta pronto!
Guess what?! My apartment is freezing, my stomach hurts a little, and I have to do manual labor this Saturday for ProWorld, but none of this seems quite so frustrating because my BROTHERS arrive tomorrow morning! Andrew and Brian in Peru--wahoooo! Right now, I think they're probably either in Panama City's airport or en route to Lima, and then they have a pleasant night in the Lima airport before they fly on up 10,000 feet to Cusco!!! I will be smiling and waving from the gate at 7 AM when they arrive! So far, I'm planning on letting them rest a bit tomorrow morning and then taking them to lunch at good old Victor/Victoria! Then we'll do some Cusco exploring! On Friday and Saturday, I'm volunteering with Lalo and some students from the University of Missouri. I plan on bringing my brothers along on Saturday, and maybe Friday too if they're not too pooped from the traveling! Then maybe a day trip to the town of Pisac on Sunday to go to Quechua mass and shop around the Pisac market! On Monday, I'm booking the boys for an all-day trip to Machu Picchu while I assist in getting all of the newly-arrived intern and semester students off to their respective placement locations. As far as what else the boys and I will do, I'm waiting to see what they find most awesome, and then we'll go from there!
On an entirely different note, here's the latest update on Helmud. The short story: we're not meant to be man and wife. Too many ideological differences. The longer version: That said, I've still spent three of the last four evenings with him, and will be seeing him again tonight. I am beginning to grow concerned about how to take our friendship down a notch or two so that we aren't spending every night together. The problemo is that we live a mere block from each other, so unless I have a legitimate excuse as to why I can't meet up on a given night, he could easily walk on over to my apartment and find me very happily reading a book, which, at this point, I would sort of prefer. Argh. I have moved from one frustrating extreme (true love...ha) to the other (true need for personal space!).
And on a third and again entirely different, note, Laura and I are FREEZING in our apartment. Thankfully, we have figured out the trick to the hot shower. Without this small victory, I'm pretty sure we'd both have varying degrees of hypothermia and/or frostbite right now. I try not to be a complainer, but it really is almost intriguing how different it feels outside the entrance to our apartment and upon walking inside. I used to think that if I had to choose between death by hypothermia or heat stroke (yeah, I was a bit of a freak), I'd toootally go the hypothermia route, but the closer I get to that point, the more I wonder if perhaps passing out in the sun might be a better alternative. I just can't decide. (Hopefully, I'll never have to!)
And my final irrelevant statement: I have found somewhat of a solution to my internet-less home. I joined a little website called movieberry.com that allows me to purchase movie downloads for a very small price and then, once they're downloaded, watch them without the need for a wireless connection. I just purchased "The King's Speech" and "Of Gods and Men," and I am excited for some mindless entertainment to enjoy now that I'm almost finished reading Better. I've also been thinking lately about the fact that I really want to be more deliberate and active in my reading of the Bible, which I've tended to put by the wayside of late. It's very easy for me to put God Himself on the back burner when things are going swell, and then to reach out for Him desperately when things aren't as great. In The Purpose Driven Life, Rick Warren delivers the memorable line, "You never know that God is all you need until God is all you've got." While that strikes me as very true, I would like to adopt an attitude of greater consistency, and to acknowledge that God loves me and wants to be a part of my life as much during my failures and low points as during my joys and successes. It'll probably be an uphill journey, but being as high up as Cusco has given me a nice little head start! :-)
Hasta pronto!
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