Colombia

In a match between Colombia and Perú, Colombia wins... always. Hands down baby. No contest. The energy´s just different there. It´s electric. No wonder Colombia was voted the third happiest country on Earth in 2008 (Denmark took first place and the U.S. a distant 23rd). I totally believe it. Colombianos have a zest for living and trust me, I think they know what they´re doing.

A month or so into my six month stay in Perú, I decided that I needed to treat myself to a little vacation, which I would take at the halfway point of my stay here. Bogotá, the capital of Colombia, was an easy choice. It´s located only three hours by plane north of Lima and a friend of mine from grad school, Lina (she was getting her Masters of Finance while I was getting my MBA) lives there. So I booked a quick four day trip (a nasty habit left over from trying to work and vacation at the same time in Chicago) and last Friday my date of departure finally arrived. I took off from Lima, met up with Lina and Guillermo, my beautiful uber-generous guides to all things Bogotá, and quickly learned that the theme for my vacation was going to be, ¨... and you moved to Perú and not Colombia, why???¨ I´m still trying to think of a good answer...

my decent into Bogotá

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Friday, September 25, 2009

Friday night Lina, Guille and I went to Gaira Cafe, a bar/restaurant owned by the brother of Vallenato (a type of Colombian music) legend, Carlos Vives. Gaira Cafe is a definite must for anyone visiting Bogotá as it serves great drinks, great food and an unbelievable live show. There is really nothing better in the world than live music, especially live Colombian music. Welcome to Colombia!

Lina, Guille and me hanging out at the bar upstairs before we got a table for dinner. If you go to Gaira Cafe I recommend arriving early - this place gets packed! Luckily there is a large selection of yummy drinks that are uniquely Colombian waiting for you upstairs.

Once our table opened we ran downstairs for some delicious arepa de choclo. It kinda of tastes like sweet cornbread. This particular dish was made all the better with cheese.

We also had patacónes. Sorry, I can´t even begin to describe what´s all included but it was fabulous!

Soon after we finished eating the music started. Amazing! I have no other words... Plus, I think it would be worth staying in Colombia just a bit longer if only I could learn how to move like the woman in the above video. Once again... amazing!

...And then Guillermo Vives, the brother of Carlos Vives, took the stage. I´m in love. Swoon...

After the live show ended, music was pumped through speakers and people stood up to dance in between the tightly packed tables. Let me just stop now and say thank you, Lord, for introducing Africa to Colombia... they get along splendidly and I could not be happier to hear drums rather than the incessant panflute that I am so used to in Perú. Love, love, LOVE Colombian music - so much so that Guille gave me a CD by Bomba Estéreo due to my constant professions. I love the CD. Thanks Guille!

Guille trying to teach me how to dance. I´m afraid I´m hopeless but it´s soooo much fun!

Guille and Lina showing me how it´s really done. Very impressive!

Cute photo of Guille and Lina.

Lina and me.

Fabulous, fabulous night... I couldn´t ask for anything more for my first day in Bogotá.

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Saturday, September 26, 2009

If you only have one day to see the sites of Bogotá let me show you how... It´ll be crazy but definitely worth it.

Saturday morning, Lina had things to do and people to see so Guille picked me up bright and early. And so commenced my nutty day...

Our first stop was Chorro de Quevedo, Bogotá´s origin, located in the lovely La Candelaria neighborhood. I recommend taking a quick photo and moving on... P.S. Try not to disturb the sweetly sleeping hobo in the fountain located at the bottom right hand corner of the photo.

Next stop - Museo Botero (named after the famous Colombian artist, Fernando Botero, who paints all things chubby) and Casa de Moneda. Both museums are located in the same gorgeous sprawling mansion. Anyway, before we entered the museum, Guille and I stopped at a Juan Valdez Café. Juan´s coffee could definitely rival that of Starbucks and his cafés are just about as prominent in Bogotá as Starbucks are in Chicago.

Guille suggested I try some achiras with my coffee... not gonna lie, they kind of remind me of Cheetos but they´re tasty all the same.

After finishing off our tintos and achiras we entered the museum. Above is a perfect example of one of Botero´s works of art.

Botero even painted a dead FARC (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia) leader chubby. Nice!

We also got to see some Picasso´s... I love the saturated green in this one.

... and some sculptures. I totally feel for this sculpture and her overly bulbous bee-bum.

One last picture in the museum´s gorgeous garden and Guille and I were off to our next destination...

La Puerta Falsa - a super cute, overly cramped (it only made it that much more charming!) two-story café/restaurant located across the street from Guille´s old secondary school. Here you can order any type of sweet imaginable or a tamal. My travel book recommended that I order a Chocolate Completo and so I did. A Chocolate Completo includes hot cocoa, buttered bread, cheese bread (I forgot it´s specific name), and a block of cheese. The idea is to break off pieces of the cheese, throw them in your hot cocoa and fish them out again once they´re all good and melty. Yummy!

Plaza de Bolívar was our next stop. It´s a huge plaza surrounded by many of Bogotá most important government and historical buildings. The plaza is actually quite a bit bigger than the picture lets on and the abundance of pigeons and people selling pigeon food make the plaza look a lot like a brother of Piazza San Marco in Venice.

Bogotá´s beautiful cathedral is also located in the plaza.

The president´s house, called Casa de Nariño, is located within a block or so of Plaza de Bolívar. Surrounding the president´s house on every street corner are cute baby-faced Colombian guards with big mama guns who would smile sweetly at me as they asked to search my bag. What else could I do but comply? ... they were just too cute (and they were holding those big guns).

The final stop for Guille and me was Museo del 20 de Julio. This place was almost worth skipping since the only thing worth looking at inside is the above pictured florero [vase]. But the vase supposedly spurred on Colombia´s independence so, you know, it´s a very important vase. Anyway, the story goes that a local creole, Antonio Morales, demanded the above vase from Spaniard, José Gonzáles Llorentes. This led to a fight and the vase was broken. Apparently this gave the creole an excuse to then start the revolution for independence.

At 1pm Guille and I met up with Lina. Guille took off and Lina and I started marching towards Cerro de Monserrate - a mountain whose summit is located 10,341 ft above sea level. The trail up to the top is currently closed (I was sooo looking forward to hiking it!) so Lina and I took a cable car up instead. The view was breathtaking and a must see for anyone in the vicinity of Bogotá. Below are some photos from our walk around the summit.

After walking around Cerro de Monserrate other people may have called it a day, gone home, rested and prepared themselves for a fabulous night out... but, you know, Lina and I choose another option... we walked to Museo del Oro. Why waste a single minute in Bogotá, right? Museo del Oro is full of intricate golden artifacts from the pre-hispanic societies in Colombia. I should have taken a thousand pictures but I didn´t... I only took one and I´m selfishly going to keep it all for myself. ;-)

Two hours later when I made it out of Museo del Oro, Lina suggested we take the TransMilenio (Bogotá´s super safe/clean/efficient/metro-like transportation system) to Bogotá´s dreaded south side. She wanted me to see the whole of Bogotá, not just the ritzier areas and I totally agreed. My travel books warned me not to go to the south side and Lina herself had never even been. We talked to Guille about it and decided that maybe if we sat close to the conductor, only looked out the windows and kept my camera in my purse we´d be fine. So, we braved the trip and road to the south side. What did we find? Only the nicest of places. I mean seriously unbelievable. There were tons of shops, restaurants, nicely dressed people... in short, the supposed worst parts of Bogotá remind me of only the nicest parts of Huancayo. Now this doesn´t mean that poverty in mass doesn´t exist in Bogotá... it only means that the TransMilenio doesn´t go there and perhaps the south side has cleaned up it´s act in recent years.

Unfortunately, after riding the TransMilenio from the north to the south and then back to the north again, Lina and I were exhausted. We had planned to go to Vinacure, a bar that specializes in drag show karaoke (sounds fabulous, right, but for some reason I don´t think Guille was too excited) but instead decided that going home early sounded like a better idea. So if you are in Bogotá and feel like some drag show karaoke action (and who wouldn´t!?!) please visit Vinacure at Av. Caracas No 63-52 and let me know how it is. Sometime´s it´s just hard to chose between guys in drag and a comfy bed. This time the bed won out.

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Sunday, September 27, 2009

Sunday started with another bright and early morning. Lina and I met up with her brother and aunt and went to eat at Banco de la Republica´s (did I mention that Lina is a very important employee there?) country club. I also asked Lina if the Banco de la Republica is looking to hire any Americans... she said no. Anyway, gotta love the perks that go along with working at Colombia´s most powerful bank. Breakfast was delicious and what was even better was that Lina´s aunt spent the morning explaining CIREC (Centro Integral de Rehabilitación de Colombia) to me. CIREC is a government organization whose mission is to improve the lives of disabled Colombians, most of whom have become disabled due to landmines that dot the countryside. The government helps the disabled in part through lending start-up capital (micro-finance!!!) for small business thereby changing the social status of the disabled person while at the same time changing the community´s perception of what it means to be disabled. This is definitely something I am interested in and if I could find a position associated with CIREC in the United States that would send me to Colombia once a month or so it would be perfection...

But back to reality because I don´t think such a job exists... after breakfast I sat and watched Lina at her band practice. That´s right, Lina and some other Banco de la Republica employees are in a band. Who knew a group of bankers could have so much soul and rhythm?

Lina and her co-workers.

Video of Lina´s band. They´re seriously good. I only wish I had more video to show you.

A little after 1pm Guille picked us up and off we went to Andrés Carne de Res, a 100% MUST SEE restaurant located outside of Bogotá in Chía. I´ve never seen anything like it. I mean, how am I suppose to describe such eccentric craziness!?! Carne de Res sprawls for what seems to be blocks and blocks and blocks and every inch of the interior is filled with eccentric, crazy, artistic, junkiness that it somehow beautiful and brilliant in its collection. Andrés, the owner, is obviously crazy because I´m not sure how else a person could think up a place like this.

Soon after Guille, Lina and I sat down at the restaurant some of the equally eccentric actors, who are paid to wander around the restaurant (great gig!), came up to our table to entertain us. First up to bat was a crazy guy with a uni-cycle and basket filled with letters. He asked us if we needed mail services. Guille said no... wrong answer but I think we were just caught off gaurd. He wandered away (the guy with the uni-cycle not Guille). Then a card magician performed for us (amazing!) followed by St. Peter. St. Peter was trying to convice Guille to join him and some of the other angels for a soccer match at 4 o´clock against the devils. What were they playing for? The key to heaven of course. Toward the end of our meal the devils appeared in the restaurant and we followed them outside to watch the game. We saw the devils score one goal (they so cheated!) before we headed back in to watch the waitresses perform a dance. The whole experience at Andrés Carne de Res was amazing and utterly indescribably... excellent entertainment and excellent, top-notch food. Now if we can just figure out a way to bring a restaurant like this to the States. I think we could make millions...

Some of the kitsch that lines the ceiling, walls and counter tops at Carne de Res.

Guille and Lina deciding what to order... the menu was huge!

I tried some lulada, a drink made from lulo, a fruit that can only be found in Colombia. Delicious!

Our appetizers: Chicharron (fried pork), choclo and empanadas. The choclo (it looks like pizza in the above photo but is really more like cornbread and cheese) was definitely the best.

I told Guille and Lina that I wanted to try something specifically Colombian so they suggested I order ajiaco, which is the typical dish of Bogotá. Basically it´s chicken soup with potatoes and corn. A bunch of stuff also comes with it, which you are supposed to dump into the soup. I was given sour cream, avocados, capers, some green garnish and a banana to throw in. I guess everything was very typical besides the banana but might I add that chicken soup with banana is delicious!

My ajiaco after I dumped everything in. So much food!

Above is a photo of Guille cradling a baby devil. The baby devil, a grown man, was wearing a saggy adult diaper. Hilarious! But what makes it even better is that the grown-man-baby-devil with saggy diaper spotted Guille, screamed and jumped into his arms. Love this place... you just can´t get this kind of service at TGI Friday´s.

After hours and hours spent in Andrés Carne de Res and hours and hours stuck in traffic with full bellies trying to get back to Bogotá the only thing Lina, Guille and I could think to do was go to the mall to see a movie. You should have seen this mall. It was ridiculously fancy with stores like Lacoste and Dolce and Gabbana (Colombia is a third world country? Seriously!?!). Anyway, we decided to see Rescate del Metro 123, The Taking of Pelham 123, with John Travolta and Denzel Washington. It was a nice relaxing way to end the weekend that was comfortably reminiscent of being home.

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Monday, September 28, 2009

My last day in Bogotá was spent on my own (Lina and Guille were both at work) hopping from Juan Valdez Café to Juan Valdez Café and in between walking around barrio La Candelaria, Bogotá´s bohemian neighborhood filled with cafés, restaurants and universities. I am completely content existing just like this - drinking coffee, reading books, taking pictures and walking. For me this is bliss....

Below are just a few of the pictures I took on my last day in Bogotá of the beautiful streets of La Caldelaria.

My departure on Monday came way too fast and saying goodbye to Lina, Guille and Colombia was heartbreaking. I NEED to go back! There so much more to learn, place to see (Cartagena anyone!?!), people to meet, food to try, music to hear and dances to inevitably mess up. Sigh, sigh. Tear, tear. One of these days I´ll be back... Maybe even before I move back to the States but if not before then, Bogotá is only two hours off the coast of Florida, right? Tricky geography...

So anyway, to help heal my broken heart I have found two new countries to fantasize about... in 21 days I´m off to Santiago, Chile and Buenos Aires, Argentina for nine days of fabulousness! I´m super excited but we´ll just have to wait and see if my new countries can measure up to the ever enchanting Colombia...

Lina y Guille - ¡Muchas gracias por todo! Mi visita a Colombia no hubiese sido la misma sin ustedes. Tenemos que encontrarnos otra vez muy pronto en Colombia... ¿Quizás en Cartagena? Ya harblaremos. Un abrazo. - Heather

Me Encanta Colombia!

I am completely in love with Bogota - the food, the dancing, the music, the people... I love it all. People seem to simply love life here. Forget disney world, I think this is the happiest place on earth. So I would write but the city is calling my name in her rapid yet clear dialect and who am I to keep her waiting? I promise I will write soon. Besos!

We sing. We dance. We break things.

Last weekend I went out with my Spanish teacher Carlos (I adore him), his girlfriend Cinthia (I adore her) and his friend whose name is also Carlos (ehhh...). But seriously, fabulous fabulous times. We started out at a fancy karaoke bar that had a bona fied suit-wearing bouncer out front and a bathroom in the back. Get this... the bathroom even had (drum roll please) it´s own supply of toilet paper (GASP!) and hand soap (DOUBLE GASP!). What more could I ask for? Sangria! But they had that too. No more choking down Cusqueña cervesa (the gold of the Incas... bleh!) for me. Beauty!

Above is a photo of my Perú friends, Cinthia and Carlos. Next to me is the other Carlos. He seriously put his head on my shoulder when we took the picture like he was my bloody pet dog or something. I mean seriously, a little space please! I tried climbing up the wall to escape him but had no luck. He spent the rest of the night pretending like he was my blanket. Luckily pitcher after pitcher after pitcher of sangria calmed my anger.



First up singing a little karaoke: Carlos looking somewhat apprehensive (but adorable) singing some Spanish song I can´t remember...


Then it was my turn... Before we left the house, Carlos asked me if I would sing in Spanish. ¨Carlos, give me a couple drinks and I´ll sing in Russian if you´d like!¨ Yikes! Little did I know how hard it would be. I ended up loosing my place in the first verse. It was horrible (meaning I was horrible). I was only able to shout out the lyric, ¨Damelo!¨ [Give it to me!] once after what felt like a half an hour of silence... I mean seriously horrendous. Note to self: drink much much more sangria before attempting to sing in Spanish... and learn how to point microphone towards mouth.

Singing Madonna´s, ¨Like a Virgin¨ with Cinthia. Hilarious! Thank goodness 80´s pop is so popular down here. You just can´t go wrong with it...


...and our grand finally: singing Destiny´s Child´s ¨Jumpin´ Jumpin´.¨ How awesome is it that Carlos knows that song!?!

After karaoke we went to a discoteque called Taj Mahal. The Taj Mahal is pretty much just like any dance club back home just with the addition of seizure inducing strobe lights and the overuse of fog machines. One other thing... it was saturated with the smoke of a thousand cigarettes, a characteristic I have happily forgotten since the 2008 smoke ban in Illinois. Anyway, it was definitely another upscale place and it even had a dress code posted outside. Yay Taj Mahal!


... And so I attempted salsa again and this time I felt a little more coordinated. I mean, look at me, I even managed to dance and wink at the same time. I´m still working on dancing, winking, and smiling... some things just take time to learn.

Above is a photo of my ever annoying blanket, me, Cinthia and Javier (a friend of Cinthia´s). Javier was bastante barracho and super fun to dance with. He spent most of the night throwing me around the dance floor while I just tried to cling to his jacket and not fall down. Basically I was like a big gringa bumper car knocking down the little Peruvians around me. Love it!


... Cinthia and Carlos. This was probably taken at 4am after a lot of dancing and a lot of cervesa.

Yep, lots of cervesa... How did I not feel Cinthia´s tuff of hair all up in my face!?!

... this one is somewhat better although I think it was taken earlier in the night.

Anyway, I made it out until 5:30am, in bed at 6am (At last South America is seeping into my blood!!!). We finally left after a fight broke out, a glass was thrown, a girl fell down way drunk hurting herself and a kid was forcibly escorted out of the bar by four bouncers... just like being in Chicago. Anyway, above is suppose to be a video of the beautiful people of Latin America dancing but you can´t really see them so enjoy the music. Other songs I remember hearing that night:

Andy Montañez feat. Daddy Yankee - Se le ve - Love this song!

Pittbull - Calle Ocho - Sweet! This song´s been popular in the U.S. since sometime this past winter. I finally understand what is being said in Spanish and it is somewhat ridiculous... you´ve gotta google it. Anyway, now the lyrics are forever stuck in my head. Luckily I amuse my co-workers whenever I sing it... we´ll see how long that lasts.

Michael Jackson - Billie Jean - Was Michael Jackson always this popular down here? I showed off my stellar moon walking moves with this song. Oh yeah, I dazzled.

Black Eyed Peas - I´ve Gotta Feeling - This song was just coming out in Chicago when I left so I was super excited when they played it. I started jumping up in down (heather-mosh-pit style) when it came on, which is sooo not Latin dancing but surprisingly the Peruanos around me followed my lead. It was a beautiful moment... the union of cultures and countries, really.

Tito El Bambino - El Amor - Definitely the song of the moment.

The Ketchup Song - I have no clue who sings this but it was THE song when I was in France, second only to the Monoprix grocery store tune. Anyway, I couldn´t believe it when the discoteque played a snip-it from it. Fabulous.... it was like meeting an old friend.

Daddy Yankee - Rompe

Daddy Yankee - El Ritmo No Perdona 'Prende'

Daddy Yankee - Que Tengo Que Hacer - I just realized that when I look back on my life in South American my memories are going to be accompanied by a Daddy Yankee soundtrack. Oh boy...

Anyway, I´m almost at the half way point of my stay in South America and to celebrate I´m heading up to Bogotá, Colombia next Friday September 25 for an extended weekend getaway. If you don´t hear from me next weekend please contact my friends, Tim and Jung in Chicago. They promised me before I left that they´d come look for me if I were stolen away by guerrillas. But no worries... it´s super safe. So until next weekend, besos!

Adventures in Spanish

On my flight from Mexico City to Lima I sat poised in my window seat just waiting to fire off some of the Spanish that I had been studying for a month or so before my departure. My anticipation grew as the flight attendants came closer and closer with their cart of drinks. Agua. Café. Té. Vino. Cervesa. My heart skipped a beat as I read the various labels... and then it was my turn. The flight attendant leaned in and asked, what I deduced to be, ¨What would you like to drink?¨ I did not understand a single word she said. Nevertheless, I wasn´t going to let that ruin my moment of Spanish glory. I puffed up my chest and responded proudly with, ¨jugo de naranja... si vous plait.¨ Si vous plait!?! Where did that come from? It´s not like I´ve ever had a huge command over French so why now was French spewing from my lips? Ugh! I slumped back into my chair and tried to keep my French to a minimum for the rest of the flight.

I have found that foreign language tends to congregate in a single place in my brain. It must be an extremely small area because there is only room for one foreign language there at a time. I studied German for five years but no matter, Spanish managed to push it out of my brain in no time flat. Every once in a while someone will ask me how to say something in German. If I am indeed able to summon the words, they come out with a Spanish accent - my tongue pressed against my teeth and my soft pallet closed. The words are hardly intelligible and can´t even be counted as German really. So good bye German and if you see French on your way out say good bye to her too because she is long gone. I didn´t even get a chance to say good bye. From here on out it´s just me and Spanish.

Learning Spanish has been a trying process, that is for sure. It has a way of bringing me to my knees and breaking my heart (a feeling I usually only reserve for running high mileage and bad relationships). When I arrived in Perú I was promised it would only take me one month to become fluent. Ha! Says who!?! Now ten weeks into my stay I am far from fluent but I can get by.

Don´t get me wrong, I have had some good times with Spanish as well and while it has a way of taking me down it also gives me wings. The best part of my new found language is simply being able to listen to the everyday antidotes of those around me and being able to tell stories from my past (and yours) while of course adding a little Rink flare (a.k.a. harmless exaggeration). Following are some of my more amusing experiences in Perú, translated to English for your reading pleasure.

- My childhood friend, Bonnie, and her husband just had their second baby, Bennet Mark Engstrom. Being super excited, I told Vicky and Iris about his birth over lunch. Vicky chose not to comment in Spanish but instead shrieked, ¨Eeeeeeee!!!!!,¨ mimicking the screams of labor pains. When she was done with her little show she asked me, ¨When will you have kids?¨ Well, with a display like that how else could I respond except with, ¨Oh I don´t know... 10 more years.¨ ¨Ay Heather!,¨ Iris chimed in, ¨You´ll have too many grey hairs by then.¨ At this she pushed chicha morada on me, a spiced corn drink that is suppose to keep women looking young. Vicky then added, ¨Too old! Most women are grandmothers by then.¨ Oh well, to each their own I guess but what the heck, I´ll take another glass of chicha morada please.

- At La Plaza de la Constitución is toothless Juan, Huancayo´s unofficial welcoming committee. I see him nearly everyday and everyday he tells me the same stories over and over and over again. Our interactions always go something like this:

Juan: Hi friend!

Me: Hi Juan. How are you?

Juan: Yesterday I ran into so and so. They said, ¨Juan, you are very intelligent.¨ I only went to school for one year but I have talked to tourists for 32 years. It is my life. I am no pick pocket. I am a good man. I go home and I talk to God and I cry, ¨I love you God. You are my brother.¨ I am Mormon. I don´t drink or have free sex. I am not married. I am very intelligent. The capital of Denmark is Copenhagen. Your country has 50 states. The capital is Washington D.C. but it is not a state. I speak six languages [by this he means he knows a word or two] Spanish, Quechua, Portuguese from Brazil, English, Italian and German. In Spanish my name is Juan. In English my name is John. In German it is Johannes. I talk to a lot of tourists. I am no pick pocket. People here may call you gringo but you are no gringo. You are not from another planet. You are just like me. I tell those people, [and this part´s in English] ¨F--- you man!¨

Me: [at this point I stop bobbing my head up and down for a moment, taking my motherly stance] Juan that is not nice to say. [He inevitably ignores me and continues on his tirade. I continue bobbing my head.]

Juan: You are just like me but you have blue eyes, light skin and blonde hair. You are very beautiful. Watch out for men here. They are very macho and will say, ¨You are very beautiful. I love you.¨ They will put a pill in your drink and they will rob you and do other things. I am no pick pocket. I am a good man. I am very intelligent... [...and on and on and on he goes. Amazingly enough, he says all of this in one breath making it very difficult for me to jump in and end the conversation.]

Heather: [Eventually with any luck Juan pauses and I am able to speak up.] I am sorry, friend, I have to go to the post office/class/run home/find another crazy to talk to/do anything except stay here with you.

Juan: Okay. Take care of yourself friend.

- One morning, Vicky turned to me at the breakfast table and seemingly without reason said to me, ¨You know you would have boobs if you ate potatoes.¨ WHAT!?! Sweetheart, I´m fairly certain that the only way potatoes would give me boobs would be if I stuffed them in my bra. Seriously!

- At the end of July, when I was in Satipo, I went hiking through the jungle and spent some time cooling off in a small stream I had encountered. By the time I got back from my hike a strange, flush red spot had appeared on my right arm near my wrist. When I showed my diseased arm to Iris and her family they brushed it off saying, ¨It´s just a bite from a very small mosquito.¨

Within a few days we were back in Huancayo and my red spot had faded. Great! So you can imagine my surprise when it was replaced about a week later with a small hard blister. Thinking that the blister might birth an exotic insect I was super excited about the great story I was going to have to tell.

I decided to keep my baby parasite buddy a secret from everyone else in the house until one day I woke up and several more blisters appeared on my arms, around my waist and near my ankles. One baby parasite I can handle but how was I suppose to care for twenty or so? I told Iris...

At first Iris agreed with me, ¨It must be a parasite.¨ (Although I kind of pushed her to that conclusion as I kept linking my blisters with the jungle.) Within a few days though she stopped believing my parasite story and told me my blisters were pulga (flea) bites. Oh! That´s so not what I wanted! I don´t know if it was the look on my face or what but she quickly changed her story saying that I must be allergic to the alpaca sweater I bought (and wore several days earlier) and that´s why I had the blisters. Sure. I have never been allergic to anything in my life but, right, it´s the alpaca fur.

At that moment my dreams of parasites and funny stories dissipated as I realized I had fleas.

For Your Viewing Pleasure...

... a couple quick photos. I promise I´ll post something more substantial this weekend. Cheers from Huancayo!

As mentioned in one of my blogs a few weeks ago, El Rio Shullcas, the main river that runs through Huanayo, at times turns red. I have absolutely no clue why this is and haven´t had the chance to ask anyone about it yet. Still at this point I am fairly certain that the red color is NOT from the blood of gringos sacrificed high up in the mountains. There just aren´t enough gringos around to produce that kind of volume...

It turns out that the water also turns a lovely green color. What do you think the chances are that this river is Huancayo´s main water source? Oh the toxins!

... and I just had to put this one in for fun. The second I saw this cuy gigante march onto La Plaza de la Constitución I gathered my things and ran over to it like I was going to slaughter it and eat it up for lunch. Yum! I was ridiculously excited. I mean, it´s not everyday that you see a ginormous guinea pig walking around your city´s main plaza. Unfortunately, from the look of this photo, I think I may have frightened the cuy. Sorry cuy.

Until next time! Besos!

Graffiti

I just finished reading, ¨The Monkey´s Paw,¨ the memoirs of independent journalist, Robin Kirk, who lived in Perú in the 80´s and then again in the 90´s and was able to witness the rise, dominance and eventual fall of the Sendero Luminoso, the Peruvian communist terrorist group known as the Shining Path.

While I am not a big fan of Kirk´s writing (her passages come off as incongruent, bias and ignorant making her an unlikeable character in her own stories) I still managed to read the book in record time. I was enthralled by the stories of the Sendero Luminoso, whose name comes from a speech given in the 1920´s by the founder of the original Peruvian Communist Party, José Carlos Mariátegui. He said, ¨El Marxismo-Leninismo abrirá el sendero luminoso hacia la revolución.¨[Marxisom-Leninism will open the shining path to revolution]... and so the Shining Path adopted their name.

In the 1980´s, the Sendero Luminoso believed that the only way to change Perú was not through drawn out reform but immediate revolution. They needed to destroy everything to rebuild. Bombings, power outages and murders were the Sendero Luminoso´s way of evening out the playing board to create a country without stratification. Still, they ended up killing many of the poor (anyone who would not join their efforts) for whom they were supposedly fighting. The Sendero Luminoso eventually launched a civil war against Perú´s military and police forces and unthinkable atrocities - kidnappings, rape, murder, torture - became everyday happenings in Perú. In her book, Kirk describes scenes of headless corpses lying on the side of the road that, in my mind, conjure up images of Iraq ... whether the murders were committed by the terrorists or the government is anyone´s guess.

It wasn´t until 1992 when Perú´s then president, El Chinito Alberto Fujimori, granted the military nearly limitless power to arrest any suspected insurgents (on April 7, 2009 Fujimori was convicted of human right violations in relation to his fight against the Sendero Luminoso and was sentenced to 25 years in prison). In Peruvian terms, people were ¨disappeared.¨ With basically no rights, according to Kirk, suspected terrorists (guilty or otherwise) were picked up on the streets, thrown into the trunks of police cars, taken to remote destinations and murdered... sometimes with sticks of dynamite in their laps. Despite the morally wrong measures taken by the government, the plan worked. After nearly fifteen years, the Sendero Luminoso all but died out completely. Currently, those on both sides of the war have been granted amnesty. Perú wishes to wipe the slate clean and move forward.


A few weeks before I began reading ¨The Monkey´s Paw¨ new graffiti appeared on a wall that I pass everyday on my way to the city´s center:


From what I could make out the wall says, ¨Viva la lucha del pueblo...¨[Long live the struggle of the people...] There is also a bit at the end that I was stupidly trying to read as ¨a ma 20 nico.¨ The nature of the sentence and the fact that it was written in red made me wonder if it had any ties to Perú´s old terrorist group. Wanting to know what the end of the sentence meant I took the photo to my Spanish teacher, Carlos. Not showing him the rest of the sentence I asked him what ¨a ma 20 nico¨ meant. ¨Nothing,¨ was his response so I showed him the picture. ¨Ah,¨ he said, ¨Viva la lucha del pueblo amazonico.¨ Basically meaning, ¨Long live the struggle of the amazon people.¨ A statement that is in regards to current events and atrocities occurring in the north. I replied with an, ¨Oh... I was afraid that it might be in relation to....¨ at this I paused as my brain searched for the Spanish term for the Shining Path. Carlos finished my sentence with, ¨Terrorists?¨ ¨Exactly.¨ ¨Don´t worry,¨ Carlos said, ¨there are no terrorists here now.¨


It´s hard to believe how recently the Sendero Luminoso were prominent in Perú and I desperately want to ask people about their experiences. As I walk down the street and look at people I wonder what kind of atrocities they have seen, what they have experienced, and the fear that they must know. Knowing it´s a very controversial topic I haven´t asked Iris and Victor about it... although due to their background, moving from poverty to the elite, I can imagine that they could have easily been a target for both the terrorists and the government, not to mention that Iris was pregnant with both of her children during the terrorist´s fall. Due to my close relationship with Carlos and the fact that we were already talking in sorts about Perú´s history, I felt comfortable enough to ask him about his experiences and just hoped that he didn´t mind. He basically said it was a very scary time. He remembers bullets flying through Huancayo, hearing bombs explode and being without electricity. While he was just a child (he is now 32) when the civil war began, he was a teenager toward the end of the war. He mentioned that he and his family were nervous that he would be forced to join the army. He ended the conversation talking about the fall of the Sendero Luminoso, saying ¨We are all very sad about the innocent who were disappeared but at the same time we are happy that the terrorists are gone... It is a very difficult topic.¨ And so I left it at that, not wanting to dig in any deeper than what he felt comfortable with.


On my walk home that day after class I noticed that the graffiti I asked Carlos about was also written on another wall but this time more clearly:

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So after reading ¨The Monkey´s Paw,¨ and learning only a sliver more about Perú´s sad past, I´ve decided to move on to a more cheery book, ¨Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim¨ by David Sedaris. That is how my reading schedule works down here. I switch between informative books and fun, make me laugh out loud books. It seems as though I´m running out of the latter so if you have any recommendations, I would appreciate it... if you were to send me a used book I would be in love with you forever and ever. I promise. Other books associated with my life in Peru include:

Read Before I Got Here

¨Gringo¨ - Chesa Boudin - This book was recommended to me by a random person at the State Street Borders after he saw me walking around with a Perú travel book. I definitely recommend this book to anyone traveling to South America. Chesa Boudin writes about his many travels to various South American countries over a decade or so and his interactions in their political climates.

¨Banker to the Poor¨- Muhammad Yunnus

Read Here

¨Naked¨- David Sedaris - Any David Sedaris book is FABULOUS!

¨The Motorcycle Diaries¨- Ernesto ¨Che¨ Guevara - Classic

¨The History of Latin America¨- Marshall C. Eakin - This literally took me nearly two months to read.

¨The Monkey´s Paw¨- Robin Kirk

Still Have to Read

¨The End of Poverty¨- Jeffery Sachs - Sachs is villainized in ¨Gringo¨for his ideas for economic policy in South America so I´m curious to see who I agree with more, Boudin or Sachs.

¨Creating a World Without Poverty¨- Muhammad Yunus

¨Replicating Microfinance in the United States¨- Carr and Tong

¨Wild Swans¨- Jung Chang - I have owned this historical fiction book for nearly a year now. During that time it has been sitting on my nightstand (first in Chicago and now in Perú) and has contantly been bumped to the back on the ¨books to read¨line. I know it´s a classic but I just can´t seem to pick it up.

¨The Nasty Bits¨- Anthony Bourdain - This book is disappointingly more about the mysterious life of cooks and less about Anthony Bourdain´s travels but I definitely recommend it to anyone who has a dual interest in culinary and travel.

And to wrap up, I thought I´d show you a few more pictures of Huancayo graffiti, which is EVERYWHERE. While the majority of the graffiti is political (I´m constantly reading about Fujimori, current President García and even George Bush) I´ve decided to leave those pictures out and let you enjoy the more colorful works of art that can be found in my fine town.

Very typical. It reads, ¨Te Amo Carol. Eres el amor de mi vida.¨ [I love you Carol. You are the love of my life.] I think it might be mandatory to write the name of your love on a wall since at every turn you can find, ¨Te Amo _____¨


This wall is in the children´s playgound near my house and features words such as ¨Puto,¨ my favorate Spanish dirty word although this time it´s in the masculine form (even better!), and ¨Hip Hop.¨ You can pretty much go around Huancayo and play ¨Where´s Waldo¨ with the words ¨Hip Hop¨ because I promise you they´re incorporated into almost every graffiti design.


In white is a sheep (I think) with a halo (of course, why not) and below are the words ¨hip hop¨ and ¨rap.¨


I´m not exactly sure what this is but I love the colors blue and green. Notice the 3P written over the design? I have no clue what that means but it is everywhere.


I think I took this picture for the ¨SHSS¨ and squiddy spaceship looking thing at the bottom. Then later I saw the the angry man to the left and I have to say I enjoy him very much. Also note 3P is written by the spaceship squid.


More ¨3P¨ with the word ¨mixto¨ written next to it. The word ¨mixto¨ to me means the yummy chocolate and vanilla swirl soft serve ice cream you can buy on the streets. I´m not sure what it means here but believe me, if I were defacing property I would probably write about ice cream as well.


This piece of work is kinda awesome. I´m a big fan of the guy scratching. I also feel like this portion of the wall is kind of like the rosetta stone since it seems to be trying to decode what ¨3P¨ means.

Gotta love it when the artist incorporates english words like ¨forever¨ into their art.

Maybe a gang symbol? I have absolutely no clue but this can be found a lot of places... even on the side of my house. If anyone knows please fill me in.


I´d also like to believe that this is a gang symbol just because I don´t understand it and it turns up everywhere. I actually asked someone what this was. They said they weren´t sure. I presented my idea of it being a gang symbol and they agreed with me... but maybe just so that the crazy gringa would stop asking them questions.


I like this guy and his big white teeth... you really just don´t see enough teeth around here so I´m glad when someone draws them 1.) in full view and 2.) still fully entact in someone´s gums.


I think I took this picture for the various colors but it wasn´t until I got home and looked at my camera that I saw the guy painted in white and black to the right. I think his pants are riding a bit low and you can see his little bee-bun crack. Ah, it´s the surprises in life that make me happy...

... and the word ¨Borracha.¨ It means drunk and signifies, with it´s ¨a¨ ending, that it is referring to a woman. It is located between our front door and front gate. The first time I noticed it was the day after I went out with Faviola and her friends... hmmm, interesting. I swear I only had two drinks.... it´s definitely not worth calling me drunk over so I´m not sure what the deal is. Anyway, there´s a Borracha somewhere at Jirón Arequipa 1465 and I´m determined to find her.

This really is art. I love it... especially the little black bunny thing to the right. Anyway, the graffiti says, ¨Estamos en la Calle.¨ [We are in the Street.] What´s not to love about that!?! If I could, I would totally pick this up and take it home with me as a little souvenier. Do they sell smaller versions? Beautiful, beautiful Perú.

THANK YOU!!!

Just wanted to write a quick note to say thank you to everyone who has been so kind showering me with e-mails, facebook messages, phone calls, cards, packages, buying airplane tickets to come see me (Amy and Michelle!!! I´m counting down the days until November!) AND reading my blog and leaving me messages. It means so much to me to know that I can share my experiences with you because as Christopher ¨Alexander Supertramp¨ McCandless said, ¨Happiness is only real when shared.¨ Love you guys!

SOUTH SIDE BABY!!! ...thank you Mom and Dad for sending the best hat in the world! I will wear it proudly.