verano negro

today i was starting to pack, and i pulled out at bag of my US money. I hadnt thought about it for the past 4 months. Now, on my last day here, it looks so different. and so uninteresting. i guess thats how i feel about leaving. this feels like my home.

but, i know once i get off the plane in CA i will feel at home again and am looking forward to seeing my friends.

this past week, since friday, i went with ica and huacachina. its very deserty, with lots of sand dunes, the tallest sand dune in the world is there. there are tons of wineries. also, the city was devasated by an earthquake a yaer ago, some parts look like a warzone, and its sad that after a year, nothing has been done by the govt.

yesterday and the day before i went to pisco, the ballestas islands and paracas. this area has the second densest population of marine wildlife, outside of the galapogos. it was pretty amazing! then, i visited chincha. it has a very high african population. the people are so nice, and the food is amazing. this may have been one of the most authentically peruvian places i visited. i went to a traditioanl festival, fiesta patronal, in a district about 30 minutes away, mostly by bus in a dirt road. here, some afro peruvian kids danced for a sol. they were amazing. drank some beers, and then headed back to lima. i packed so much into the time. i visited all these places with someone who i know i will miss very much. hmm. growing up is hard.

normal family

when you least expect it.

During the span of last Wednesday through Sunday, I visited the central region of the Peruvian Andes. I went with my friend Liz, aforementioned in my last post, who lives in Villa el Salvador. I went with her grandmother, aunt, uncle, cousin, and sister, and stayed with some more family in the small town of Huancani.
Leaving Wednesday night out of a bus depot in La Victoria, which is one of the three or 4 worst districts of peru, i was warned to be very careful with my belongings and dont talk to people when they try to bug me or talk to me. I was glad i was not by myself, and it felt like everyone was looking at me, in this working class nieghborhood known for its gangs and drug problem. So, the bus takes off and its dark, so I do not see much to the side of the bus, but shortly after Chosica, the road begins to climb very fast. Within 4 hours of winding roads, the bus passes Ticlio, the peak of the highest train route in the world, and the highest point of the worlds highest highway. Shortly after this, we pass La Aroya, one of the worlds most polluted towns, and also the mining capital of South America. For some 50 years, the mining work was unregulated by the government, and thus, costs were cut by doing whatever was needed to derive the most ore. A few hours later, i look out the front window, and see a police car stoped on the other side, and illuminated by its lights is a human body which must have been ran over 15 times or so. It was steaming, and looked very similar to the deer i hit in oregon when my dad made me go back to make sure it was dead, and was obviously dead as it had been ran over multiple times as well. but this made me feel different, thinking that this person probably couldn't even be identified, and as it was in the middle of nowhere, his or her family probably wont ever know what happened. 15 minutes later, i got off the bus, and entered an adobe, which had no floor other than dirt, and went to bed, at about 3 in the morning. it was about 32 or 33 degrees, and this house was built solely out of mud bricks, probably 200 years ago, has no bathroom, and only one room and then a table outside in an enclosed yard. I don't know what i expected, but at this point, i realized any hope of being comfortable for the next 5 days was probably lost. In the morning i was told we would be staying in a different house, which is a little more comfortable, in the next town over. i do not remember the name of the town as it is a long name in Quechua, but i couldn't find any of these small towns on the internet any ways. Soon, the temperature went from around freezing to close to 70 degrees, with some of the clearest skies i have ever seen. This new house was made out of brick, was probably 100 years newer, and had a separate bathroom with a semi-warm trickle of a shower and a toilet, which would work if you put water in the tank from a giant barrel. i took one shower in 5 days, and it felt good. Walking around this town, and huancani were amazing. i dont think people visit these towns, as they have no hotels or grocery stores, only markets. people would look at me wierd, and throughout my trip about 5 people wanted to take their picture with me. they would arrange this of course with someone in the family that i was staying with. i can now relate with the polar bears in the san Diego zoo. but it was interesting, and everyone was nice. i would pass old women in Andean clothing walking their bulls or cows, or herds of sheep, and pass many wild dogs, and this marked the first time i have ever really worried about being bitten by a dog. one day, while walking with my friends uncle, i watched him tell a lady and her cow that hed like 2 liters of milk the following morning. fresh. and he was proud to be able to give me fresh milk. it is weird, how poor these people are in the area. maybe not poor, but how little they have, and how unsuspicious, warm, greatful, hospitable, and proud they are. and its weird how much i take for granted what i have.
during my time in the andes, i visited, Jauja, the first capital of Peru, which also has the first cathedral of the Americas. the town has about 105,000 people, and is about 12,000 feet in elevation. for 3 soles ($1.20) you can have a meal of soup, an entre, and juice, and be very full. but hopefully you dont have to use a public bathroom, as these consist of a hole in the ground, surrounded by all kind of stuff that is normally found in the missing toilets. but, you gotta try everything, a few times, right? i went to Laguna de paca, a lake that is very touristy for Peruvians, but is beautiful. there i ate fried trout, and ceviche of trout. trout is a big food in this area, and it is bountiful. we went out on a boat, and it was a fairly large boat, but rown by a kid who must have been 8 years old, who gave us a history of the area. i also went to a trout hatchery about an hour way, in the area of Concepción, in the city of Ingenio. Its wierd to contrast this to a fish hatchery of the us, but it was nice, and i learned a lot. one of the most memorable parts of the trip was going to a traditional party in Huancani that was taking part during the week. There is a traditional type of music called Huayno, which is played by a band with brass and other traditional instruments. The party had free beer and free food, and a group of people will walk in procession in front of the band, dancing, and yelling, and singing, and multiple groups of bands and people converge in the town square and party all night. this town had about 500 people, and i think i met most of them. they loved me for some reason. and the reason is because i was the first extranjero to ever come to their town and partake in one of these annual parties, and i had fun, and tried to dance, and old ladies touched my butt, and it was sort of surreal, kind of like something out of the motorcycle diaries. that is how i felt, like i was in that movie. and its weird to think that it wasn't really that different, that these towns hadn't changed much in the last 50 or 100 or 200 years. So, the next morning we headed out, back to Lima. This time i was able to see the roads, as we traveled in the day time. It was amazing. also, a little more scary. the roads, which are so high, are surrounded by huge cliffs, and huge peaks that must go up another 3 or 4 thousand feet in parts. We passed numerous tunnels, bridges, waterfalls, and lakes. It was great getting to go to this area with a family who is from the area and has family there, and get to stay in a small, untouristy town. i learned so much more this way, and really got to understand the area and the people, and i felt like i was there for so much longer than 5 days.

back in lima, the weather is getting a lot colder. it is overcast most of the time, and around 55 or 60 degrees. Like southern california, the weather changes only 5 or 10 degrees between day or night, which is nice. I didnt wear sunscreen the whole time in the andes, and got pretty sunburned because it didnt feel that cold, but i guess the sky is clearer, and the sun is closer. an amazing time i had.

I have been very busy.
Last Thursday after class I took a bus to Centro Lima. People told me I shouldn't go there alone. I guess I figured it'd be ok, since I had nothing else to do. It is beautiful. In a weird way. It is very smoggy, and a lot of the buildings are discolored because of it, but there are so many old buildings and small streets, and food is so cheap. you can have a meal with an apetizer, entre, drink, and desert for under 3 dollars. So, I ate, and then figured I was done with the touristy part, and headed off towards an area which i read was a little sketchy. Its hard to know what that means, does it mean for moms from reno with walt disney hats and little kids? So, i embark on a journey through some small steets, and immediatly, only two blocks from the historical center of town, two guys start yelling at me as i walk by, in bad english, return to your country, and something about guns, probably because i am an american they figure i think i am tough and love guns. I dont give them the attention they want or let them know that I am scared and continue walking. But, I think about how maybe I should come back when I am not alone, or maybe in the morning, instead of when it is almost dark. So, I turn a corner to start heading back, and this half man, half woman, half full of drugs-looking person starts following me, so i speed up and so does he, but then finally she is not behind me. Then, I look forward, and you know how sometimes you get that weird feeling that something is not right? Well, I see this guy who is walking towards me, and staring at me, and I get this feeling. I am on the right side of the sidewalk and there is a building maybe 1 meter to my right, and as walking forward, i start slowly walking towards the wall, as he is doing the same as he is coming towards me. At the second to last second, he cuts over towards me, and tries to grab my arm, and maybe he was on drugs because he was fairly slow, i use that last small amount of space between me and the wall to dart out of his reach, and as i look back, i see another bigger guy, who looks normal behind me, and I am glad, as because of him, i feel that I was not robbed. I have heard many stories of people being robbed downtown, often times at knife point, and often times having everything stolen, includin their clothing, leaving them standing there naked. So, even less at ease, i figure that since I am far from home, i should stay down there a little longer, but stick to the touristy streets. After being asked for money many times, and being offered cocain and other drugs, I head for my destination of Polvos Azules, a large (about the size of the downtown Huntington Beach, or Palm Street in San Luis parking structure) black market, to buy some DVDs. I get 5 dvds for 15 soles, which is $5.35, and take the two buses I need to return to my house. Although this was the first time I have been seriously scared in my life of being robbed or beaten up, or maybe worse, Centro Lima is very beautiful and interesting. I want to go back, but maybe with someone who knows the area, or earlier in the morning. It is weird thinking of the description of the area from The Motorcycle Diaries, when the city center was not connected to the surrounding suburbs...now lima stretches in 50 KM, at least, in every direction except to the West, where it meets with Callao and then the sea.
(For some pics of Centro Lima, look here...http://machuasnu.blogspot.com/2007/07/downtown-lima.html)

At my school, ICPNA, it is very easy to meet Peruvians, as they are taking English classes, and I know enlish. I went to Lunch with two girls I met, and then had nothing to do, so I went to ones town, a district of lima about 30 minutes south in a bus. It is very historic (read this...http://www.toolkitparticipation.nl/cases/26), as it was started in the 1970s by people emigrating from the andes because of terrorism, poverty, and hope for a better life. It grew very quickly, and now has close to 350,000 inhabitants. IT reminds me of a northern baja, California town, with tons of stray dogs, unpaved roads, and people playing soccer in the streets. We walked around in this town, Villa El Salvador, which is rad, because its an area most upper class peruvians are scared to visit, and luckily because I have a friend there I was able to see what it is like to live in a one of the biggest shanty towns in South America. I met her Grandmother and Aunt, and even though they are a relatively poor family, her Abuela made me Dinner, and my friend showed me pictures of her life. Her Dad lives in LA as a furniture maker, and she will move there soon to attend college. She is lucky. Her house was one of the nicer I had seen in the area, yet inside it had a plane concrete floor, an ok dinner table, with plastic backyard type chairs and very little else. The house was clean, but the stairs to the second floor were also concrete and uncovered by a roof, which i guess is OK, as Lima hardly revieves any precipitation. I used the bathroom and saw that they did not even have a toilet seat. This made me realize how much I take for granted. I took a bus back to my house, and sat in the backyard and read a book and drank a beer, as i thought about the three armed body gaurds out front of my large, walled house, as i could hardly believe i had, in one hour past, been in area where the houses are built as the family can afford more bricks. I read that Villa el Salvador, although so poor, has the highest literacy rate in Peru.

it also looks like they have a pretty good skateboard park !!! (http://www.concretedisciples.com/skateparksdb/skateparks_display.php?id=3515)
look at pictures of V El S here, http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&rlz=&q=villa+el+salvador&um=1&ie=UTF-8

The next day, saturday, i went to the beach 70km of centro Lima, at a housing community where my family here has a house. I surfed for the second time since being here and it was much easier to paddle, so i think my shoulder is getting stronger, slowley, after breaking my collarbone. I took a nap for about 15 minutes, and even though its Fall, got pretty red, its weird, because even though its not super hot, the sun is very strong.

I went to sleep early, and the next day i left with a friend and her family to a town in eastern lima, about a half an hour east from my house, which is also in eastern lima, which is named Chosica. Although in lima, it feels far away and the air is much drier. It is nice to see how people are different when a little farther away from comerical lima.

This weekend i went to the andes, and it was amazing, i will have to write about it soon, while the details are fresh in my head.

-

I bought my ticket to Peru today. I guess I am actually going now! The 27th of march through the 16th of July.