Batman

2-20-11

Lazy Sunday! Aren’t those the best kind? I stayed up way to late talking to Celia and asking her about her experience with the program. She seemed really surprised about some of the ways in which it’s degraded, but she offered me some good advice. It was also just nice to talk to someone who knows about the program but isn’t actively involved in it right now. My host mom and I woke up super early and went to Quechua mass at the San Sebastian Cathedral at 6 AM. We saw our whole class there. It was half in Quechua and half in Spanish and the Spanish parts bothered me. It actually made me think about Forster’s Reformation class because the church doors were wide open, making the inside freezing and drafty, people would come in and out, the Mass was in a language I absolutely didn’t understand (like Latin), and they were renovating so I sat underneath huge criss-crossed timber poles. It was a beneficial experience for me, even though I do not believe. Some parts made you really emotional, like when the priest is yelling at you aka preaching! Whoo! My host mom bought three beautiful pink gladiolas outside of the church and when asked why three, she said that they represented the Son, the Father, and the Holy Spirit.

I meant to go hiking today with Matt and Lauren, but I did not get nearly enough sleep. In addition, I’m hesitant to exert myself here owing to my first reaction to it. Instead, I packed for the trip, had a nice breakfast, rested, and watched a bollywood movie! It was great! But you know me…Kites was filmed in NM, so it was like a combination of my two favorite things haha. After lunch I checked my email, etc. and found so many people on Skype! I guess Sunday afternoon is the prime time to talk to people in Europe! It was nice to talk to Pia- It’s been a while!

In the late afternoon I decided that I should take advantage of my last day in Cusco for a while, so I took a combi to Avenida del Sol to find a book to read for the trip. I’d yet to take a combi by myself before, but it was totally fine! I took the route called Batman, which I find humorous. I got out near Qoricancha and considered going in because I’ve been meaning to, but it was closed on Sunday. Actually, many things were closed today. Celia told me what to look out for in order to locate this bookshop, but I somehow couldn’t find it! So, instead, I walked to the end of Avenida del Sol to look at the Artisanal Market that people keep telling me about. My room is pretty cold because they don’t heat their houses here, so I was on the lookout for alpaca slippers. Success! They’re so soft! However, I know for a fact that I paid too much. It was a little boy selling them to me and I was on my own…both factors that lead me to just accept the price. I’ve been trying to change my outlook a bit. For instance, when in a big group of gringos and you get attacked my vendors, it’s easy to brush them off, ignore them, or be rude. I don’t want to be that way! So I tested it since I was alone and just chatted and was as nice as can be to all the vendors who approached me. I felt much better about it. So when I found the slippers, I was not about to haggle. Even so, they weren’t even 10 dollars. Maybe they should have been 3 dollars… but oh well! After I paid my 25 soles I left to go get a combi back home. Good thing I checked my purse because it turned out that I was short 20 cents for a combi and the only other money I had was a 100 soles note. I don’t know why banks give out such large notes! They’re useless! No one will accept them or change them out for smaller bills! It’s a pain! Anyway, since I hadn’t haggled I went back to the little boy and explained my situation, asking him if he could lower the price of my slippers by a sol so that I could take the combi home. He didn’t even question it at all, he just graciously handed me a sol. That would never happen in the US. I feel like here in Peru there is more of a sense of community and sharing, and a price doesn’t have to be set if it can help you in some way other than greed. I really appreciated it little boy.

I’m really going to miss my host family over the next two weeks. They keep telling me how quiet the house will be and who will fill my empty room? They jest, but they are so very kind. My host mom told me that though I miss carnaval and Sebas’ baptism because of this trip, when I return we have to play bingo, make tacos, take a picture, and go dancing at this event in which couples dance around a tree, each couple helping to chop down the tree. Apparently the couple that succeeds in making the tree fall has to return the next year to lead the proceedings. My host mom was like “hey, you might be back next year!” I really will miss them, they’re wonderful people.

xo Claire