Babies, and Musical Garbage Trucks #2

Heads Will Roll
In Arequipa, we saw these bags full of bread shaped like babies, with heads and all! So strange. We asked our professors at the language school why there were babies in bags. The answer: 9 months after the festivals throughout the country (just before Lent, celebrating the Virgin Mary, mind you), lots of babies are born. Coincidence? I think not. And neither do the bakers, who make the Guaguas. Traditionally, I think the bread is sold in November, the month all the festival babies are born. Due to my love of women who carry their babies on their backs, I had to have some. So sweet, only 2 soles, and a good snack for our trip to Ilo. I could have gotten a bigger loaf with one, non-alien shaped baby head, but the bag of 6 scary babies was cheaper. No photo of the whole loaves, I got too hungry, so here are the heads.



The garbage truck phenomenon isn´t limited to Arequipa.
(Thank goodness.)
Our host mom went running from the breakfast table the first morning we were in Ilo when she heard the music. It´s like the ice cream truck! Which made me realize it´s probably not as awesome for the workers as it is for me as a spectator...I don´t know how I´d survive a job that made me listen to this song hours on end while collecting people´s garbage.

-Sara

Letter from a Former Vegetarian

A suprise drink Matthew and I tried in Arequipa. I misunderstood the menu, instead of cocoa powder, the drink contains coca powder (thus the green color). Tasted ok, but reminded me of a drink I dared to try at the co-op that made me gag.

Dear Readers,

After nearly five years of a vegetarian lifestyle, I started eating meat the day after Thanksgiving, with the idea of working meat back into my diet before heading to Peru. It was turkey leftovers, dry and unexciting. Nothing dramatic like a McDonald´s chicken nugget binge, but it sent people into a frenzy. Well, not exactly, but lots of people couldn´t believe I was eating meat again. I think my cousin fell off her chair at Christmas dinner when I went for the turkey plate.

I struggled deciding what to do about being a vegetarian planning a trip to Peru. After some research about typical dishes (including beef hearts and guinnea pig) and talking to our friend who lives here, I decided I´d go for it. I´d do my best to have an authentic experience in a country that doesn´t exactly embrace the idea of a vegetarian diet. (I usually don´t even try to explain my beliefs about consuming meat; it´s just easier not to. For example, the other day someone asked me what "my problem" was with meat.)

My food adventure has been much more exciting than I would have imagined, or wished even. Eating meat here in Peru isn´t limited to things like chicken sandwiches or a hamburgers. It´s much more diverse! It seems that Peruvian cooking doesn´t like to exclude any usable part of the animal being consumed, which I completely embrace. No waste. However, this sometimes means that there are animal innards (i.e. intestine, liver, heart...) in some soups, or maybe even a chicken foot. Actually consuming these parts is harder for me to embrace.

I am trying new things and discovering that I actually like some of them, so my decision to be open to eating meat on this trip hasn´t been totally fruitless (duh). In fact, there are many dishes that I really enjoy. Lomo Saltado (stir fried beef, served with rice and/or french fries), Pollo a la Brasa (rotisserie chicken) and Palta Rellena(avacados stuffed with chicken salad) are delicious. And, get this-I have refused to eat watermellon for the majority of my life with the excuse that it´s "too watery." Lame, right? It was dessert for an enormous lunch yesterday and I loved it!

Matthew and I have been staying with a family in Ilo, and eat three meals a day in the house. It has changed the dynamic of our days. We don´t wonder what we´re going to eat for the next meal, which restaurant we´ll go to, which menu item we´ll commit to trying (sometimes the food is good...sometimes not so good). For the past week or so, it´s been really nice not to worry about what we are going to eat, we just sit down when it´s time and eat what is given to us, so when food is served to me here, I usually just eat it.

When I was a vegetarian, I thought that I could easily switch back to eating meat if I ever wanted to, or felt like I needed to for health reasons. The idea of consuming meat again used to really appall me, and once I started again, I realized there´s no switch in my brain I can turn one way or the other-eating meat or being vegetarian. My decision wasn´t just a physical thing; there is a whole mental component that I didn´t expect. It´s not hard for me to eat a chicken sandwich, but it is difficult to have Chaque, even if I don´t eat all the parts. Today we had Cerviche, a typical seafood dish, which is raw fish seasoned with lemon. My problem wasn´t with the taste (slightly spicy and delicious), but with the sight of the fish gills sparkling metalic. oye. For this reason, I don´t think I´ll be able to commit to a meal of cuy. At least, not a plate for myself.

I haven´t decided whether I´ll eat meat when I get home or not. Not that I really have to make that decision right now, but I feel like I´ve eaten enough meat in the past few months to "make up" for not having any for the past five years. The chicken trucks we occasionally see really bother me, even when they´re empty. It´s impossible to go to a market without seeing some kind of meat just sitting around waiting to be bought (zoom in on the photo of the San Camilo market in Arequipa if you want an example). Monday we went to the market and actually saw some cuy, both dead and alive. Lovely.

So it´s all a process. Putting myself out there, trying new things, seeing what I like and don´t like. I can´t believe all the new stuff, not just food. The always crazy combi rides, getting by on broken Spanish, hiking into the second deepest canyon and back out, living in Peru period. We´ve only been here about a month, so who knows what´s next.

Happy meals,

Sara

Con creatividad todo es posible.

The coast of Ilo

Con creatividad todo es posible (this is a slogan of a cola comany in Peru, I have taken a liking to it)

I now sit at this computer with a view of the ocean right in front of me, my hair wind blown. Wind blown not from the ocean winds but from learning how to drive a scooter. Other than driving lessons nothing too exciting has occured since our arrival in Ilo, which is exactly what I have been looking for because now I can make a post about observations, social justice, and small tales.

Moto lessons

I start today´s storytelling in the Marcado (market) of Arequipa. We have not whitnessed this tale in person but have seen proof of its existance in photos. Their is this drink, which I call jugo de sapo, which some locals in Arequipa believe acts as viagra. This is how the drink is made, take a live frog, put it in a blender, and blend. Then drink. Sounds tasty huh? We have not tried this drink but we did eat a frog in a different way. We were looking for a prince.

Selecting our prince

Mmm! Taste like strawberry.

The food and juices are all extremely fresh. Juice of any combination and variety can be blended for your drinking pleasure. (even the frog juice is extremely fresh) There is a food culture here that is lacking in the States. Yeah, food traditions exist within families, but there is nothing like the culture or pride of Peruvian cuisine. What is an American food? Hot dog? The ice cream cone maybe (invented in the 1904 World´s Fair in STL)

Next is an obeservation. Con creatividad todo es posible. With creativity anything is possible. This phrase has many meanings to me. One. Creative minds can think of better ways of living. Two. The world is only as beautiful as your creativity. Imagination creates beauty. Learn to see things through a different lens. A river of brown water could be described as a river flowing with chocolate milk. (this is how a friend of ours in Lima described the nearby river)
This way of thinking is most evident in the children of Peru. While children of the States are locked inside with their game consoles, computers, or traveling outside with their bicycles from Wal-Mart drinking soda from a 2 liter bottle that was carried home in a plastic bag. The children here can find fun and beauty in the plastic bag, filling it with air and turning it into a balloon or stomping on the 2L soda bottles and turning them into skies or a sled to slide down a wheelchair ramp. The mothers here let their kids play and explore their creativity. I have never heard a mother yell at her childern because they were misbahaving, kids are allowed to be kids.

For my next observation we must travel to the streets. The streets here range in anyway imaginable. They can be nicely paved with large sidewalks or dirt paths that fill the air with dust lacking a sidewalk of any kind. The buildings can be empty lots or shells of buildings that could have been. They could be 3 stories homes nicely tiled and fenced in. A common site is to see these two very different structures side by side, both with their own kind of beauty. If I were to chose a home to live in during an earthquake, I would chose a Peruvian house of any variety over a States home everytime.

The people of the streets are as diverse as the buildings around them. Maybe not diverse in skin color, but diverse in status and culture. I can walk one block and see people and homes of the poorest of the poor to the richest of the rich. The poor live in little shacks while the rich live in forts complete with electric fences to keep invaders out. The poor here, to no surprise, are the minority, the indigenous. Similar to the States in that the wealthiest population are whites, the majority, the poorest are blacks, the minority. I could also add women as a poor minority, but that would require a lot more writing. All of the beggers of Peru that I have seen are indigenous, women, or disabled. This causes me to think of the injustices in the world. Is it human nature to exclude the minority? Is injust cross-cultural?

And something to wrap your mind around. A sociologist was explaining culture to me. If all the wealthiest people from every country in the world were to meet, there would be very few cultural differences. All would be educated and education closes the cultural gap. Now if the poorest of all countries would meet, there would be a large cultural gap and comunication would be nearly impossible. Education would be lacking, and with it a lack of world view. What would happen if poverty ended? Would cultural diversity end?

Matthew

Camera Update:
Repaired! I hope it was a permanent fix. Also now that my camera is repaied, more pictures of Sara will appear.

Musical Garbage Trucks

Arequipa Photo Post

Evidence we are tiny travelers
Sorry, Matthew. No wine for you.
This urn, like many others that can be seen throughout the city, was made in the fifteenth century and was used to hold aproximately 500 liters of wine. Strange fact: this one was empty except for a Buckeye. Why? We have no idea.














Evidence we are giant travelers
Actually, this is what coffee comes in. You add ground coffee to a mug full of steamed milk and it´s ready to drink.














More giant evidence
You should see him on a combi. When we get off, it´s like exiting a clown car.














Jesuit Courtyard
Now, the area is used for shops that sell baby-alpaca fur items. Try to spot Sara in this photo, it´s like Where´s Waldo, minus that red and white shirt.














An old Arequipa street
Most of the buildings here look like this.

The Mountain Life

Matthew gazing at the scenery above the Canyon


A faraway view of our trail to come. The lush green is our camping place for the evening


a view of the trail below us


Sara and Matthew, Mountaineers. View from the top. Happy Valentines Day



Ahh Valentines Day. A great day to spend with people of signifcance in your life. A day of romance. A day of love.

OR

A day to wake up at 4.30am.

A day to hike up a mountain with a body oder that can compete with that of a donkey.

A day to have blisters pop and feet ache.

A wonderful day.

Sara and I visited Colca Canyon this weekend. We went on a 2 day trek into the Canyon (which is nearly twice as deep as the Grand Canyon). The journy started off a bit rockey because our ride to the tour bus never came. So we grabed a cab and arrived at 3.10am, 10 minutes late, to a tour agency that was closed. Luckily a man approached me and asked if I was with Sara Wells and all worked out well.

We were with a group of 5 other people. 2 Germans, 1 Swiss, 1 Aussie, and a Peruivian. They were all very interesting people. The Swiss man lives on a boat and has been traveling from port to port for the last 5 years. He can also speak 5 languages. He was very fascinating.

We started our descent down about 1800 meters and it took about 3 hours of downhill hiking. About every 20 steps we would slip or stumble our way down the mountain side. At some points we had to ballance beam across a steep ledge. We then had to hike up a steep hill then down again to an oasis for a total of about 6 hours of hiking.

Our tour guide was from one of the small villages we passed and he gave us a lot of background info of the villages. He said 17 families live there and spend most of their days farming their crops. He said money is not important to them. He also told us they recently had a carnival where the women dress up and dance. But its a trick because some of the men dress up like women, so you have to look carefully to see who you are dancing with.

We spent the night in paradise, a lush green area near the river. We slept in small huts complete with thatched roofs and 1 scorpian.

Our next day started at 4.30am. We had to hike up 1600meters to get to the top of the mountain where breakfast would be served. It took us 3 hours. Along the way we had to dodge the occasional horse or donkey carrying supplies to the villages below. The animals are fearless of the cliffs.

We ended the day sitting in a volcano fed hotspring sipping pisco sours with a view of rolling mountain sides all around us. We also have really sore feet and legs, but feel acomplished that we completed the 26km hike into the valley.

I am sad to say that I must retire my New Balance shoes. But am glad to say Chacos can do amazing things.

Highlights:
The scenery, the food, hot springs, condors.

lowlights:
bad shoes(I started with my old tennis shoes and they broke, did most of the hike in sandles and they worked really well) blisters.

camera updatë:
the camera is currently being inspected. We are staying in Arequipa a few more days as we wait for the diagnosis.

NEWS NEWS NEWS

PHOTOS! LOOK LOOK!

No such thing as easy

Good food and coffee milkshakes makes them happy













We have an endless number of examples of the way nothing ever seems to go as "planned" here. Today, Matthew and I tried hard to be organized, leave the house relatively "early" in order to get lots done. HOWEVER, language is still a barrier and I don´t always understand directions. Poco a poco.

Task 1: Go to the Sony store to see if there is someone (anyone!) who knows something about fixing Matthew´s camera.
Level of difficulty: Medium.
Pass/Fail: Fail.
Reason: We passed it riding the combi, not realizing it was inside a mall. We´ll try again later today.

Task 2: Drop laundry off at a lavandaria that will charge us less than 12 soles.
Level of difficulty: Fairly easy.
Pass/Fail: Pass!
Reason: I mean, really, how hard is this?

Task 3: Go to the immigration office and get an extension on our passport so we can legally stay longer than the 60 days we were allotted at customs when we arrived.
Level of difficulty: Extremely difficult.
Pass/Fail: Fail.
Reason: Supposedly there is no such thing as an "extension," but from many people we´ve spoken with, we´ve heard that anything is possible here in Peru. Apparently not today.

Task 4: Buy a camera cord so I can upload my photos to the computer while Matthew´s is down and out.
Level of difficulty: More difficult than expected.
Pass/Fail: Fail, for the moment at least.
Reason: My camera was not made in Peru and a 2.0 USB cord is rare, even at actual stores like Radio Shack. I hope that another Radio Shack that we´ll visit tonight.

Task 5: Eat.
Level of difficulty: Medium.
Pass/Fail: Pass.
Reason: We stopped by a small coffee shop that also serves lunch and ordered delicious coffee-milkshakes. Que rico.

Task 6: Buy our tickets for Colca Canyon.
Level of dificulty: Medium.
Pass/Fail: Pass.
Reason: We sort of planned ahead by talking to Frank from Nativos last week about the cost, etc, and although getting to the office from our host home by 3 a.m. Saturday morning is going to be a task in itself, I think it will work out. Vamos a ver.

Task 7: Find Internet to update blog, etc.
Level of difficulty: Extremely easy.
Pass/Fail: obviously...

All in all, it has been a pretty productive day so far. Who knows what this afternoon will bring. Two more days of classes, then we´re on our own again.
______________________________________________________
I started a post yesterday, but didn´t publish it because I was hoping that by last evening I´d actually be able to post photos. But no. Maybe one day? So read on for the "bonus post."

El Mercado at Lunchtime
It´s nothing like the North Market in Columbus, that´s for sure.













The Plaza de Armas at Sunset













After having a bit of a break, living in an actual house for two weeks, it was strange being at a hostel last night. (No, we wern´t kicked out of our host home...)

Way back when we were on our way out of the mountains from our failed attempt to go to Cusco, we shared a ride with a lovely German girl and ended up traveling with her to Albancay, Nasca, and (finally) Arequipa. We parted ways upon arrival in Arequipa as she headed to find a bus for the Colca Canyon and we began a hunt for a hostel. Our cell phone rang for the fourth time ever two nights ago-Nikola was going to be back in Arequipa for a night!

Flash forward to last night: We met her at her hostel, where we hung out on the roof with some Brits, Austrailians, and another German traveler. It felt different to be around people from all over the world who are traveling and volunteering here in Peru. Usually, it´s just Matthew and me in Spanish-speaking environments, but it was nice to be around other travelers. We went out to a restaurant and I had a delicious vegetarian sandwich...no intestines last night! Good food, good company, good evening.

After dinner, we all went to a grocery store where Matthew and I ran into Salima, another friend we met when we were in Mejia last weekend. The other day, we ran into a friend we met who was trying to help Matthew with his camera troubles. It´s just weird to think that there are actually people we know here!

Overall, yesterday was a good food day: breakfast at our host home (bread, papaya marmalade, tea, fresh pineapple juice), lunch at a giant market (empenada, deep-fried mashed potato ball stuffed with ??, fresh, made-before-our-eyes mango/orange/berry juice), dinner (vegetarian sandwich goodness). We ARE eating (Dad, please stop worrying!), but food is sometimes difficult, as we don´t understand the menu and sometimes accidentally order soup that contains parts of animals I prefer not to eat. I am so glad we have "discovered" the market, it makes for a cheap lunch. Today it was empenadas, cake, and banana and milk juice. It tasted just like a smoothie. mmmhmm.

I heart the sun

The view from our front door Saturday morning:
We got to see an annual ceremony, complete with a band, flag raising, and the Peruvian national anthem.


The view from the roof:
Yes, that is the ocean!


And finally, the sunburn (pre-peeling phase):


Week two in Arequipa. (I only have 30 minutes before school so I must be quick)

I was going to write a serious post on observations of travel in relation to social justice issues or Peru, but since Sara wrote a serious post I guess I have to post something humorous.

Some good news.
All the bug bits I have acquired on this trip no longer bother me.

The bad news.
They no longer bother me because I have a mega sunbun from the beach of Mejia (Sara Too). It feels a lot better now but there was definitely a day of whineing somewhere between being sunburned and now. Sara told me I was tonto (stupid). Let me also tell you that standing on a combie bus with 20 or so people is no fun with a sunburn. Espically when the roof of the combie is at my shoulder height.

We spent the weekend on the Pacific coast in a small summer town. An observation while sitting on the beach with 10 foot waves crashing in was everyone in Peru seems to be a trabajador (hard worker). While in Mejia people were pulling carts of food and drink across the sand to make a sale to the hundreds of sun bathers lining the oceanfront. Others were toting large baskets filled with empanadas. While in the cities people are everywhere doing whatever work they can, in anyway they can. I am not sure how to describe it, but there is a different atmosphere about work here.

On the way back home from the beach there was a convoy of cars working their way back to Arequipa. The convoy was a serpent of lights snakeing their way through the mountains.

I must depart for school now, I am sure Sara will be quick to respond with another update because she has been trying to get me to post for several days now.

Camera update:
Will have to get a new one probably. No way to fix it or ship it to sony to have it repaired. They want my receipt with the camera. BAH!

Matthew

Un Sol

I always get excited when it´s my turn to update the blog, then freeze up trying to decide what to write. So here goes...

Maybe it´s because we´ve been in the same city for about a week, or maybe it´s because we have been in Peru for a bit, but I´m starting to notice the social INjustice here more every day. There have been people begging for money everywhere we´ve been in Peru and it´s hard to keep walking when there is a kid chasing you with a cup as his mother sits on the sidewalk nursing her baby. Tonight at dinner, two separate children came up to our table trying to sell us gum. People are everywhere trying to earn money- taxi drivers, shoe shiners, people trying to sell us tours of the area, everywhere. There´s too much supply and not enough demand. Most of the taxis we see drive around empty, honking at pedestrians and hoping someone wants a ride. Even when we do take a taxi for a 10-15 minute ride to our house it is only 6 soles, which is about $2. So no one is earning much money, either. We paid 5 soles each for a lunch of soup, rice, a piece of chicken, french fries, and a drink. It is so cheap to visit, but I feel like we´re not really helping the economy, either. Just observations.

Yesterday Matthew and I ate lunch at a restaurant that seats you with strangers because it is so crowded. You just walk up and join a table! We sat with an older man who was so talkative. I was glad because I got to listen a lot (about his career as an engineer, his prostate problems, his eating habits, and more!)and he didn´t ask me many questions. I asked him about hunger in Peru. I was thinking that although many of the people here don´t seem to have a lot of money, at least no one can go hungry because there is SO MUCH FOOD everywhere- it´s impossible to walk down the street without passing some kind of food. There are either people selling something homemade or a woman with a basket of tuna (a delicious fruit, not fish)... or something! But the man said that on the edges of town there are lots of people who don´t eat much because they can´t afford food. This is still hard to comprehend because it seems like everyone has access to something, it seems like many people have farms or gardens where all this food comes from. Like when I worked at Corpus Christi in Boise, it´s the kids that are the worst- the first girl who tried to sell stuff at dinner gave us this huge pleading smile after we said no the first time. Almost won me over.

School is going well, although I feel like there´s so much I can still learn. I´m glad we decided on two weeks of school instead of just one because we can stay settled for a bit and I can practice my conversation with our host family (right now, just the Doctor) and with my teachers at school. My grammar is horrendous and I can not figure how to switch smoothly between the tenses, I am gliding right along. Today I tried to carry on conversation the whole second half of class so my professor wouldn´t make me suffer through any more subjunctive practice. I did it! We talked about movies, the fact that Matthew and I are not married and aren´t going to marry anytime soon (so surprising to some people...such a strange assumption to us both), the motorcycle my professor wants to buy, poetry, and anything else I could think of.

Did you know you can buy pirated movies here for 2 soles? Wow. My professor said he´s going to get Motorcycle Diaries because I was the second person to recommend it today. 2 soles. Incredible! I said how strange I thought it was that there are huge stores full of pirated music and movies, right out in public. He said something like, "That´s my country, I love it." Ha. The only thing he really doesn´t like about life here is the pollution.

Life is pretty good right now. Matthew´s camera is still broken, but we have met a friend who is helping us. Maybe it will be better tomorrow? The attitude right now is that it can´t get any worse. We haven´t taken a dip in the pool yet, but we are going to la playa this weekend. To our host family´s second home. oye. Such a contrast to the children on the streets.

A short game

We will start this post with a short game.

One of these statements is NOT true, can you guess which one?
A. A still active volcano rises above Arequipa.
B. Sara and I were ran over by a Taxi.
C. Old nuns based in Arequipa wore barb-wired underpants.
D. Our house has a pool in the backyard.
E. My camera is broken.
F. We just rode a mini bus with 22 people, 1 baby, and 3 dogs on it.

If you think you are getting the answer right off the get-go you are out of luck.

Arequipa is a city with some hustle and bustle. We just had to wait a good 10 minutes for a combie (a collective bus a little larger than a minivan) that had enough space to take us from our host house to the city center. About 15 or so full busses passed us. Our bus still had 22 people a baby and 3 dogs as passengers.

Arequipa is surrounded by mountains, several of them are +5,500 meters. One of them is a near 6,000 meter snow-capped volcano, El Misti, and yes it is still active with fumaroles around the crater rim.



Arequipa has taken us by surprise. After spending time in Lima, small mountain towns and Nazca, we were not prepared for the modern, coffee house filled city of Arequipa. We have visited several old churches and one really old Cloiseted monestary of Santa Catalina (SC). A convent is a better description. SC was started over 400 years ago and just became open to the public in 1970. It is described as a city within a city. Its 20,000 sq. meters! SC is complete with homes, shops, laundry area, gardens and barb-wired undergarments. Thats right, some of the nuns wore barb-wired underpants! Let me also say there are a lot of steps in this place...Sara was most impressed with these underpants.

Yesterday we had our first Pisco sours. (part pisco, lemon juice and sugar blended, add ice and egg white and blend again then top with cinnamon) We arrived at our host family´s house and discovered that they have a pool! No, it is not in the back yard either. It´s inside! I then wanted to take a picture of some peruvian money then my camera lens became all stubborn and will no longer open or close. This made me vary angry and I could not sleep because of it.

So all things on the questions list are covered right? Volcano, nuns, pool, camera, bus ride. Oh wait...Sara and I WERE ran over by a taxi. Yep they rolled right over our feet, hit my knee and Sara´s wrist. Not in Arequipa, but Abancay. I am sure some people are worried now, but we are stronger than steel and survived with barely any scratches.

Since my camera is broken...no more pictures, probably for a bit. (This photo was on the Internet, just to give you an idea of what things look like here.)

Matthew