Peru Part 9: Constructing Walls, Planning Epicness, and other adventures

I think my good stomach karma has finally run out. I was told that eating cuy would make me sick, and I was told that the only way to counteract it is to take a shot of anís (if you go through my first Perú album, it’s the bottle with the lumpy green stuff in it). Of course when the time came I forgot both and am paying for it.

But I precede myself.

First off, on Wednesday was St. Patty’s Day. After political science in the afternoon, we spent about an hour drinking beer in our classroom with our professor. He also brought coca leaves and Lauren and I finally learned that we were more or less right about the traditional ceremony we took part in outside Qoricancha back in the beginning of February. (In case you’re interested, we were drinking Cusqueña Trigo – it was special edition and the label was green, even though St. Patty’s Day isn’t observed here other than by European/American tourists. It also makes me wish I was 21 so I could bring some back to the US for people to try… I’d also bring back anís and pisco… but you’re just going to have to visit South America for that. )

We only had three days of class this week, but we couldn’t travel because on Thursday (the 18th) there was a city-wide strike. No government-associated anything was open, and most stores and businesses were closed down too. The CBC canceled classes, and there was a huge protest up Avenida del Sol and in the Plaza de Armas. The funny thing was no one I talked to could give me a straight answer for the reason of the protest, though I did find out days later it had something to do with channeling water from a lake close to Cusco all the way to Arequipa. And a trout shortage…

In the evening, I ended up in the office and started and finished my first paper in a language other than English (the mini-essays we did high school not withstanding). It’s almost 5 pages about how Aymara linguistic postulates differ from Spanish ones, and how that difference results in differences in the way that women are treated and perceived by members of each native culture. It’s not the best thing I’ve ever written, and it’s basically an Andean gender, language, and culture course boiled down to 5 pages, but I got my point across well enough to be satisfied. Also, since I’m going to be writing a journal article on something similar though deeper in the Fall, it’s a good start.

Friday and Saturday we went back to Oropesa to do manual labor in the orphanage. We’re still working on the wall. So much of the land collapsed during the rains that we actually had to support the foundation of a building before moving earth and reconstructing this platform around which we’re building the wall. It’s hard to explain without drawing it, but I’ll have more pictures up soon enough I hope. When I get back to the US I need to buy 2 rechargeable batteries and a small recharger. This whole buying camera batteries thing is getting expensive and inconvenient.

Anyhow, Friday wasn’t too bad, though by the end we weren’t sure if we could even hold a shovel any more. I didn’t even realize it was possible to get a blister in the middle of your palm, but apparently it is. I’ve been a little confused by how we’re treated sometimes while working though, since I’m not sure how much of the stuff that annoys me is because of us being incompetent gringas and how much is because we’re incompetent women. It’s especially confusing since the site coordinator guy is constantly encouraging and congratulating us, though I’ve heard him say in Spanish that we weren’t mixing cement fast enough or whatever. But you know, I could barely move when I got up Saturday morning and then spent 5 hours doing hard labor. If I couldn’t pico any more, I shoveled, and when I couldn’t shovel any more I fetched water from a nearby spring. I owe no one an apology for what I did that day.

And don’t give me that ‘well if you hadn’t gone out Friday night then Saturday would have been better’ stuff. Other than being physically exhausted and really thirsty Saturday morning, I was completely fine. Friday night was awesome anyway. We ran into some Cusqueñan friends at one of our favorite bars and ended up driving to el Cristo Blanco (the giant white statue of Christ which overlooks Cusco from the hill just next to Sacsayhuamán) around 1:30am. The views of the city at night from that height were absolutely stunning.

Which brings me to my upset stomach. On the way home from the project Saturday, we stopped in Tipón (a small town on the road between Oropesa and Cusco. It’s also where I met Sean, Susie and the others last month and where I thought of Kellia and turned around instead of trespassing… speaking of which, Kel, I have a video for you). Tipón is also supposedly the best place in the Andes to try cuy – guinea pig. One plate cost us Sol/25 and was enough for us to split between 2 between 7 people. I’m not sure how I felt about it. It was definitely sweeter than other meats I’ve tried, and much MUCH greasier. Considering how I felt later that night and the next morning, I don’t think it’s worth the price in money or in time spent in the bathroom except for the bragging rights of “yeah, I’ve eaten guinea pig in the Andes. And what?” Plus, when they brought it out to us at first it was whole (I guess so the gringa tourists could take pictures?) and then they took it back, butchered it (if you can even butcher something as small as a guinea pig) and brought it back out in pieces. Lalo tried to convince us that the best meat is in the head… but obviously no one could bring themselves to try it, and we’re still not sure if he was serious or not. Like how that guy in Baton Rouge tried to convince us to suck crawfish juice out of the head…I bet the brain was still in there….

Pictures coming soon – not for the faint of heart.

I got back from the project Saturday around 4:30 pm. I tried to shower but the shower head was broken, so I wiped off as well as I could and completely crashed. Meaning I slept from about 5pm until 8:30 am.

I spent a good chunk of the morning in the bathroom, and the rest of it planning my 9 days to Arequipa and Parque Nacional Lauca in northern Chile. I’m reasonably sure that I can do the entire adventure in under $150 obviously without compromising my safety, and since I’ll only have 4 weeks left when I get back, I’m confident that I’ll be able to stay within my budget for the entire trip to Perú, but we’ll see.

In the afternoon, I felt well enough to leave the house. There was a pretty epic food festival somewhere in Cusco, but considering that the piece of chicken Willy (my host father) tried to give me for lunch made me gag when I looked at it, I thought it was a better idea not to expose myself to the medly of sounds and smells I would encounter there.

But the afternoon was far from wasted. I finally went to café extra! I got to sit for like 2 hours where Che Guevara once met to plan to revolutions of the Americas! Ok, so that might be a bit of an exaggeration, but our political science teacher did tell us that Guevara frequented the café and there’s a poster (which I would have bought if I could have) with a letter from him to his children telling them how to be good revolutionaries. I wasn’t really planning a revolution… but I was writing postcards and journaling. So I count that as exciting enough for me.

Monday morning was back to class. Exciting as always. Not. My stomach is still nuts. After that, I headed to the office since Hong Kong is apparently sending me a mountain of paperwork to send back to them for my visa. Obviously that’ll have to be done before Thursday afternoon so I can mail it out before leaving for Arequipa on Thursday night. I also need to look up hostels in several towns/cities and figure out how to get to Lauca safely….

If you’re interested, here’s a rough itinerary. I say rough because it’s as well planned as I can make it, stuff happens:

Thursday (25th) overnight Cusco à Arequipa

            (26th) Arequipa à Chivay, 1st night in Canyon-ish territory

            (27th) Chivay à Cruz del Condor à Cabanaconde à 2 hour hike to Oasis, night

            (28th) Oasis à Cabanaconde à Toro Muerto, night in Corire

            (29th) Corire à Arequipa (3 hrs) à Tacna (5 hours), if I have the time I might try to get to Arica on the 29th, but it’s more likely that I’ll spend the night in Tacna so I’m not traveling or arriving after dark.

            (30th) Tacna à Arica if I’m not already there, Arica à Putre, the base for Parque Nacional Lauca. Night in Parinagota

            (31st) Parque Nacional Lauca, night in Parinagota again

            (1st) Parinagota à Putre, hang out there for a while, and eventually Putre à Arica

            (2nd) Explore Arica in the morning, Arica à Tacna, Overnight back to Cusco

            (3rd) I’ll probably be back in Cusco by the afternoon, which is ideal since there’s a Mass at the Cathedral at 5am on Easter Sunday, which would be cool to attend even if it is weird since it’s before sunrise.

Summary: 8 full days plus a night in a bus at either end. I should be more than fine time and money wise. The weird thing to think about is that after Easter I’ll have 4 days of classes followd by 4 days of Machu Picchu and then just a week and a half left of the actual program before hopefully going back to Lima. Even though I’m here for 6 more weeks, I feel like time is going to fly by.

Also, a lot of people were asking me when I’m going to be back in the US and for what window of time, so here’s a breakdown of my summer schedule also, so long as we’re working with logistics:

Lima à Miami 1 May, PM

I’ll be in FL until about June 9th and will probably be spending about a week total in Gainesville to work on my Fulbright application and sub at the Gainesville Kaplan center if they give me stuff to do.

Tampa à Los Angeles Mid-June

Los Angeles à Hong Kong June 15 or 16

Hong Kong à Tampa August 15/16

Since obviously classes start on the 23rd, I’ll hopefully be back in Gainesville by Friday or Saturday of that week.

Although it is possible that I might have internet sporadically between March 25th and Easter Sunday, it’ll probably be used exclusively to let my dad know that I’m still alive and well. It’s likely that you won’t hear from me until Easter Monday – April 5. If you really need to get a hold of me (which really shouldn’t be anyone but my parents… meaning Dad since Mum’s in India) you can call my dad and get my cell number here.