That’s a big chunk of time! Leave it to me to get exceedingly behind. It’s not like I haven’t been sitting on my computer either. Oy! Ok, so the last couple days in Cusco were not super interesting. We didn’t have class until Wednesday and I spent Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday finishing my diario del campo, writing my IRB, and finishing my ISP research proposal. Oy! It was a long process and, actually, not very rewarding to finish. Oh well. So I kept to myself a lot those days and felt a little ill on one of them, but pulled my act together in the end.
We had our final meeting of everyone and on Thursday we did a Pago a La Tierra, a Andean religious ceremony where you give gifts to the land and ask for whatever it is that you ask for. We, communally, asked that we be safe on your independent months and that our investigations go well. More than anything I appreciated the Pago a La Tierra for reuniting our group together for one final afternoon together and for making us realize how much we’ve grown with one another. At the end Donaldo gave a really meaningful speech that made me cry. I don’t remember exactly how it went, but he said (in Spanish),
“Chicos, look around. Think back to when you walked onto that bus the first day. That day you were alone. You were in a new place and though you were all together, you were alone. You weren’t present in Urubamba; your minds and hearts were still with your homes, with your friends, and with your families. Now look around. You are together and you have all grown. You are here for one another and I’m proud of all of you. Look how far you’ve come.”
That doesn’t do him justice, but I really truly appreciated what he said. It was such a nice exit to be able to give everyone a hug, to sit together for what, three hours?, and just enjoy each others’ presence for nearly the last time. They passed around a bottle of pisco and a bottle of wine around the table. I don’t know if I’ve mentioned it here before, but Peruvian wine is absolutely foul. It’s sweet and often BROWN rather than red. Ugh it’s terrible. Pisco is fine in a pisco sour, but a shot of pisco is foul as well. We had to dip our fingers in pisco and flick them, give pisco to the wind and to the two apus (Apu being, basically, a god that resides in/is a mountain) that we prayed to in this ceremony. We then had to drink a little bit (ugh!) and dump the drips onto the ground to give to Pachamama. The wine, which was Argentinian THANK GOD, was poured onto the ground directly to Pachamama and we drank a sip too. We also gave the traditional offering of three coca leaves for ayni, or reciprocity. They said that we could also give offerings for loved ones so I got one for Julie and for Sebas (poor little guy has a cold! I hoped that he would feel better. I miss that little one. I miss hearing “Lala” yelled at me in a baby voice every day.) Brynerin then brought out a guitar and sang songs, which we weren’t tooootally sure were appropriate. However, the main guy said that all music was appropriate so she sang songs that she herself penned about 1) Weed and food that she loves when she has the munchies, 2) Burning Man, and 3) How we are blessed. Very funny and unexpected! The first two were quite unexpected, for sure.
Oh! I didn’t mention the location! Ok, so at 3 pm on Thursday (4-7-11) we met at the SIT building with a Paqo, Donaldo, and the guy who gave us the conference on Andean Religiosity. We then walked towards the mountain and hiked up a HUGE hill until we reached a flat part, which turned out to have been an Incan temple. We even had to wade/jump across a pretty big stream to do it! It had an absolutely impeccable view of Cusco.
We sat in a circle, rubbed a strong smelling liquid between our hands and over our clothes to purify us, and gave the Paqo something one our person that we held dear to be included in the ceremony. Some of it was serious, but a lot of it was just goofing off or chatting with the people next to you and enjoying their company. I sat with Mateo on my left and Anna on my right. One by one we each went up to receive a blessing from the Paqo and after he’d assembled all of the offerings together to be burned, we went up one by one again and he rubbed the package all over our bodies to absorb our worries and fears.
That night I had my last dinner with my host family and I think Sebas could tell something was up because he wouldn’t let me out of his sight. He made me draw with him, play on cars with him, and he even dragged me on an unexpected walk that my host mom quickly put an end too. I miss that little guy :(. I helped Bryn and Matt move Bryn out of her host family’s house, and then we went to Matt’s house to meet everyone. People didn’t arrive for a while so I made Matt give me a bunch of music. Eventually they came from dinner and after a while we sad goodbyes and went to Ukukus. So fun! I wanted to go home and pack, but they had live music and it was super fun to dance sillily with the girls to live versions of Twist and Shout and Hey Jude. That and Mana. Go figure, it’s peru!
My host family was super nice and had their driver guy (since they don’t know how to drive their own car) drive Kia and I to the airport. We checked in without any problems then after a bit of a wait got on our plane to Lima. I’m going to miss my host family! I didn’t get the chance to say goodbye to Farina or my host dad (boo!) but I really do like them so much and I will miss having them in my life for the next month. I miss sebas too! Poor little guy is sick and he missed a bunch of days that week from his jardin.
We arrived in Lima on Friday afternoon and Rachel had coordinated a taxi to pick us up and drive us to Miraflores, which is a good hour away from the airport. However, Kia was on a later flight and she got delayed. We had to pay a little extra because of this, but it also gave us time to go eat lunch and yummm Pardo’s Chicken is delicious when you’re starving!
We then drove through the fog (after bidding the Iquitos girls goodbye. I love them!) to Miraflores and discovered that our apartment is an amazing place. Three stories! Only a block away from the grocery store! Miraflores! Five blocks from the ocean (If you count the cliff overlooking the ocean and highway as the “ocean”)! It’s amazing! Unfortunately, we arrived and Olivia found out that a security guy in Cusco’s airport had stolen half of her stipend money. Not a good way to start the trip! The landlord, a british man with a silly accent named Paul Gibbs( …he pronounces his Rs as if they were Ws. Try it – Instead of Road, it’s Woad, etc.), dealt with us very well and tried to help then showed us around, collected out rent, and went on his way. We laid down some ground rules, then went to Vivanda to get groceries. On the way there we ran into three Americans, one of which goes to Columbia with Kia. Small world! They are on the Butler PUCP program that I nearly went on so when I found that out I had a bit of an odd moment when I thought, “Whoooooaa, these are the people I would be friends with if I’d made the other choice.” I’m glad I didn’t make that choice. They don’t finish school until July! Plus, I like Cusco more than Lima. They said that Miraflores isn’t anywhere near PUCP and they have to take an hour combi ride to get to class. That sounds like a pain.
Later than afternoon we got an email from Sonia saying that Donaldo is leaving SIT for personal reasons. What?? He seemed sad on Thursday and that makes me especially glad that I gave him an extra hug goodbye before leaving Cusco. However, we are all skeptical that he left voluntarily. If any of us had to pick between Donaldo and Sonia, Donaldo would win hands down. We don’t know what happened and since I’m so far away, I find it unlikely that we’ll find out. I am, actually, inordinately upset about this. I hate not knowing what’s going on.
That night I chatted with Joanna and Madeleine and it was marvelous! It made me miss my friends from home (and home) so much!!! I can’t wait to see you guys! I had to pick housing last week and I am stuck in Lambdin again far from my friends. NOOOO Not happy about that. I wrote to the student housing people but didn’t get a very promising response. There’s a chunk of time in may when anyone can trade rooms… so hopefully I can solve the situation then.
The view of foggy Lima from my bedroom window. We're on the 8th story.
Saturday and Sunday? I don’t think I did much, to be honest. I hung around the apartment, tried to figure out which classes to take next semester, and tried to start some sort of research for my ISP here. On Sunday night Lauren and I made a pineapple carrot bake because Maggie Flesher stopped by on Monday and it was her 21st bday. Yummy cake! On Monday I made the creamcheese frosting and it was delicious, if I do say so myself. It’s really nice to be able to cook for myself here.
On Monday I tried to do research online and failed. I then thought I’d take public transit, the Metropolitano bus line, to the Public Library in San Borja. Also a big fail. I wish maps were more detailed/available. I have yet to find a good map and I need one! Good lord, I’m becoming my father. So after walking around San Borja for an hour getting lost and feeling scared and uncomfortable (People kept making the yucky kissy noises at me and I definitely wasn’t in a tourist/gringo friendly part of town) so I got back on the Metropolitano and went home. Maggie came by and we showed her the cake. She was impressed by our apartment….it is pretty great! I totally didn’t expect three floors. I felt really frustrated and depressed all day because I’m so annoyed with my struggles with myself and this project and how much this city intimidates me. Agh! So that night I decided that I’d make myself go to yoga with Olivia and Maggie. Olivia and Rachel have gone nearly every day. Let me tell you, I HATED that yoga class. We were on the second floor and could not hear or see the instructor, I don’t know the names for yoga poses in Spanish anyway, it was hot, and the fairly advanced guy up there with the three of us (me, Olivia, and a random guy) was just showing off and doing headstands and shit! Ugh, made me feel bad about myself and my yoga skills and I kept having to stand and peer over the balcony to see what the rest of the class was doing. I absolutely hated it. Not going back! It was also too much quiet time to let my mind wander, worry, and chastise me for not getting my project done. Booooooo.
When we got home I learned that the History Teacher that would be teaching my class on Postcolonial South Asia will not be at Conn for another year (she’s deferred her appointment in favor of a post-doctoral fellowship at Rutgers) so I had to figure out what classes to take instead! We went to dinner, came home and ate the yummy cake, bid farewell to Maggie (she took a flight to Ayacucho at around 4 AM!), and went to sleep.
I woke up this morning, Tuesday the 12th, at 6 am to register for classes. I’m sure I’ll change things around later, but as of right now I’m taking Stock’s History of the American West in the 20th Century, Downs’ Emancipation and Slavery in the Americas class, Spanish Cinema with Luis Gonzalez (hooray!), and French 101. We shall see about French….I wanted to take more film classes but they all required permission from the registrar.. I also wanted to take an Anthro class about Bollywood and Globalization…. I might work that in somehow later too… or Heefner’s Reagan Revolution class… oh man I don’t know. What about Vikings? Dear oh dear.
I ate breakfast and wished that Peruvians didn’t sell milk in bags so that the French press was open for coffee business instead of storing milk. I then researched online a bit and decided to go to the National Library in San Borja, the one I tried to go to on Monday. This time, however, I would take a cab! Rachel wanted to come too, and wow thank god. Today was another big fail, but I, thankfully, didn’t feel quite to awful about it. We got to the library, after paying 10 S./ for a taxi, only to learn that it’s closed to the public until june or july. So then we decided to take another taxi to Pueblo Libre and the PUCP, the Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Peru, to look at their libraries. After another 10 S./ we learned that their library is closed too and that we, as foreigners, have to gain special permission in order to access their libraries. Limeñans talk toooooooooo fast and I can’t understand what they say most of the time. Without a host family I speak much much less spanish. My advisor also prefers to email me in english, even though I email her in Spanish. So then we decided not to waste more soles and take a bus back to Miraflores. If we thought combis were hard to navégate in Cusco, which they are!!!, then they are near impossible in Lima. Both Rachel and I asked the Money collector guy on oe bus if he went to Miraflores, We asked him separately and each time he said yes! So, we got on. Only later when he collected our soles did he seem confused and tell us that the bus did not, in fact, g oto Miraflores. He was nice later though and alerted us when to get off the bus and pointed to the right bus. We ran from one bus to another and finally got on one leading home. I would not have liked to do all of this on my own! Especially since I read the article in Caretas yesterday about the taxi driver that raped and killed and australian tourist and beat up her boyfriend. If you read that, please don’t tell my mom. She would worry. But because of that news story I am far too scared of Lima and scared to go about on my own….which I need to be able to do for this Project.
So I spent the afternoon freaking out and trying to figure out how I might spend my time fruitfully. I watched the documentary on youtube that my advisor told me to watch, La Cantuta en la Boca del Diablo, and tried to figure out my life and relax.
So there it is, a very long-winded update of my life. Lima is an interesting and scary place for me and I feel very homesick here, but I hope that it gets better. My roommates are great at least!
ps - Oh my gosh, how could I forget?? On Saturday Olivia and I went to the Museo de la Nacion again to look at the photo exhibit on the Internal Armed Conflict, and then sunday was the presidential election. Lauren went with a couple people form her community to go vote with them and experience it. Very Cool. Unfortunately the frontrunners are Humala and Keiko. In a month there will be another election to choose between those two. I'd hoped for PPK, as had my whole host family. I wonder who will win outright and what they will change in this country.
xoxo,
Claire
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