Still Alive

Yesterday I was standing in front of one of those shoe-mirrors wearing flip flops, and I realized I had never seen my feet the way that other people see them until that moment. My toes look like they were in a car accident, except for the middle one on the left, which must have been wearing a seat belt. I'm not self conscious about my feet, and this isn't going to change that, but it was a strange experience.

Cuzco

Machu Picchu was spectacular. Huge granite peaks covered in moss and lichen reach up like fingers around the site. The site itself is nice too, but the location is what makes it so amazing. So why are all the postcards of the ruins?

We are in Cusco now, a nice city that everyone stops at for a day while they wait for their train. We´re staying longer, because strikers at the natural gas company have blocked the highway. Its Peruvian Independence Week, so the country is acting weirder than usual. Apparently there is some kind of feast tonight, though.

Music

I'm really starting to get over cumbia. They play it at all the clubs when they aren't doing a 3 song set of hip hop. It's about halfway between salsa and reggeton.

We're going to Cusco this weekend to do the Machu Picchu thing. It's a 30 hour bus ride from here, assuming everything clicks like it is supposed to.

El Fooding

Peruvian food is not especially varied, so mostly we eat the same four or five dishes over and over. We also eat lunch and dinner at the same two restaurants every day (because the program pays for it) which doesn't help. It's usually pretty satisfying, though. The staple food is Lomo Saltado, which is strips of beef cooked in a wok with peppers and onions and things. So far everything has come with either rice or fries.

I'm always after animals to check off my Carnivore Bingo card, and this last week I added a small, indeterminate rodent and a manta ray (in Spanish, mantaraya. Yep.) We also found a Kebab shop that was only open once, and they didn't have lamb, only chicken. But it was good.

Also this last week, I was heard to say, "I don't want to eat that; I just got over food poisoning" which is really a wonderful thing to be able to say. Proof that I'm living right.

Tecno Bus

One of the more entertaining features on the bus (besides the near-crashes and holes in the wheel wells) is the music. Since I got here, our Volunteer Coordinator Chase has been talking about the Tecno bus, a bus that plays rave music really loud the whole way. So far I've rode the Latin ballad bus, a bunch of salsa buses, an American 80s music bus, but no tecno.

On the bus back from the barrio today the first song had the unmistakeable base pulse of D+B. There was dancing, people were calling to their friends, there was a tiny blue strobe in the front, it was wonderful. Then all of a sudden a commercial started playing, and the driver changed the station to Salsa del Calle; danceable, but not tecno. So I still have yet to experience my first all-80s ride, but I still have 9 weeks left. I'm sure it will happen.

Transportation

Things continue to move along in Trujillo. All of our British dentists left this last weekend, and we already miss them, with their ridiculous accents and neurotic brushing habits. None of them could speak a word of Spanish.

There are three ways to get around Trujillo--the bus/combi, taxi, and walking. We take the bus every morning, and its slow and occasionally crowded. It's also sized for a 5'4" peruvian man, so we corn-fed americans have to try to snag an aisle seat. The combis are like big vans, and they run along routes like the buses, but they make fewer stops. In both, there is a guy who yells the name of the route out the door. If you were trying to be romantic, you could call it the music of the streets, but it's not. It's just a guy yelling something in spanish over and over.

Taxis are faster and usually not much more expensive. They charge based on the distance of the ride, the time of day, and the amount of spanish you speak. Rides in taxis range from efficient to scary.

Walking is an exciting option, because about half the time the sidewalks are crowded enough so that you end up in the streets. Also if you are blonde and a girl you might get your purse stolen, but that already happened to our one blond girl so I think we're safe for now.

Huaca of the Sun

We just got back from some ruins outside of Trujillo called Huaca del Sol, which means Huaca of the Sun, and it was good enough to be blogworthy. In case you are wondering, not every ruin is. We went to one last week called Chan-Chan that was pretty unimpressive, except that it was old and big. But old, big mud brick structures only take you so far, especially when they look mostly reconstructed. We wanted flash, we wanted authenticity, and we found both in the Temple of the Moon.

The temple was actually five temples on top of each other. Every 100 years they'd fill in the lower one and start a new one, and that lasted for 500 years until they were conquered by a nation that knew when good enough was good enough (the Spanish.) But the upside was that there were a lot of friezes that were well preserved, since they were buried when they still looked nice. We also saw some hairless peruvian dogs, which are always a highlight. They are so weird! Their skin feels like the inside of an old baseball glove.

Pants

I know you have all been wondering, so here it is: The full and complete breakdown of my Peruvian Pants situation.

1) Blue Athletic Shorts. I use these for running and not much else, since they smell kind of weird. They definitely are not washed as often as they should be. Mostly they are just aired out on the line.

2) Brown Cords. I don't know why I brought these. I suppose I thought they would be good if I wanted to eat in a nice restaurant, but I don't have any good shirts so they are sitting in the drawer basically unused. I guess I could make them into cutoffs. I should have left them and bought more socks.

3) The Favorite Jeans. I brought my favorite jeans down, and within two days I had ripped a hole in the butt. I kept wearing them, and eventually it got to the point where my students were making fun of me, but I got them repaired (for 10 soles--I love this country) and now they are back on their game.

4) The New Jeans. As The Favorite Jeans were dying, I decided to pick up a new pair. I was wandering through the market having no luck, when I saw these hanging in a stall in the black market next to the muffin guy and the hardware shop. They have the brand (Billabong) sewed on the side (a la 2002) and they fit really well.

5) Yellow Board Shorts. Strictly for surfing. I bought these in Huanchaca after some hard bargaining: The woman opened with 15, I countered with 20, then she made fun of me for misspeaking, I said 10, then we agreed on 14 soles. They are yellow and turn clear when wet.

I don't see any great upheaval happening soon, although I am losing a little weight and may need to step up my beltage. I will post any further developments.

Fourth

This weekend was the 4th of July here (probably elsewhere, as well) so we celebrated. We didn't have any fireworks, but we managed to go surfing, offend some Brits, play frisbee, grill burgers, listen to Sublime, and watch Top Gun.

I continue to teach, and learn much less from the kids than they learn from me. I don't why anyone would expect otherwise. They're six years old.

Working

Working with Bruce has been going well. I spent two days working at the school, and today and tomorrow I am helping some English dentists who don't speak any Spanish. The kids are really cute. The mouths are less so. This weekend is the fourth, so we are heading to the beach for a barbecue and some surfing.