Flat tires, empty pockets

I left for the Lima airport this morning at 3:45am in a taxi that quite unfortunately got a flat tire on the way. Fortunately the driver was a fast tire changer and I still made it on time - but once I got to the airport I was out of cash and had to pay the exit tax AND extra money because I had been careless and said I was staying for 30 days (on my little form at the beginning of the trip), when I ended up staying 37. When the uniformed man told me I wouldn't be able to leave without paying, I spilled ALL of my extra sol coins out on the table and said (trying not to cry): this is all I have... Please can I go home now! OK, so it is not all I have, obviously, but I did NOT want to go back to the cash machine AGAIN. He showed mercy and told me what I had was enough.

I am in Atlanta now and ... I can't. Wait. To go. Home!!!

More photos to come on flickr of the end of our trip: Pisco, Islas Ballenas, and the final dinner with our group... once I catch my breath.

Goodbye Arequipa...

azul, originally uploaded by sammarin.

Yesterday was our last day in Arequipa, after a month of study and homestay. A few other students and I walked around in the morning, very slow and relaxed, had espressos, shopped for last-minute things at antique stores. I had a last supper with the family. Camila (the 10 year old granddaughter) fell off her bike and bumped her head, had to go to the clinic because she lost consciousness and couldn´t remember anything... that was scary.

I packed all my bags. Then we got on an overnight bus to visit Nazca.

More photos of Nazca to come... I am enjoying the HOT SUN, sitting by the pool and reading, swimming, and finally taking a deep breath now that classes are over. Summer vacation time...

taxi jam

taxi jam, originally uploaded by sammarin.

HERE is an example of what the streets normally look like at 8am (in reference to the previous entry about taxis)... later in the day, it is more dangerous because the taxis speed freely down the road. Freeeeeely. And with velocidad!

taxis taxis taxis

taxis, originally uploaded by sammarin.

During Fujimori's regime, many economic sectors were opened up internationally in Perú - and many products started pouring in that hadn't been imported before. For example, the TICO.

Almost all taxis here are Ticos - that's a specific make of automobile - and this is a shot of an extremely empty street with the exception of these few Ticos. When you ride in a Tico, the experience is so squeaky that it sounds as if all the various plastic and metal parts are going to fall apart instantly upon the next bump, like a house of cards.

To a great degree, I actually felt safer during the strikes because the protesters had blocked off ALL the streets and there were NO taxis... These taxis actually drive FASTER when they see a pedestrian in the way, all the while honking to warn/scold/petrify the pedestrian. There are, I think, a total of 2 stoplights in Arequipa - the rest of the time, people just drive through 4 way intersections with the firm belief that those coming in the opposite direction will just stop.

Walking from one end of town to the other can be quite an adventure...

SHOELACES!!!

SHOELACES!!!, originally uploaded by sammarin.

If anybody needs shoelaces, this guy sells them for 5 soles a pair.

But for free, he will scare your pants off with the crazy growl-scream that is his trademark sales pitch. He yells SHOELACES right in your face like a mad dog.

I asked if I could take his photo for 30 centimos (10 US cents) and he balked at that. So here is a photo of his back as he walks away...

Caminos

flores, originally uploaded by sammarin.

Now that I have taken my last test, I will have plenty of time to take caminos through the city. This shot is from the barrio of San Lazaro, which is my favorite part. Twisty narrow streets like in southern Spain - the oldest part of Arequipa. And every once in awhile you see the most amazing flowers spurting out from an unanticipated place...

Soy la Denunciante

soy la denunciante, originally uploaded by sammarin.

OK - So I haven´t written about this because I didn´t want to admit it - but I got ripped off.

Before we went to Cusco, I went to a travel agency here, which sold me bus tickets from Puno to Cusco, a hotel room for one night in Cusco, and train tickets from Cusco to Machu Picchu and back. But when we arrived in Puno... none of the things I had paid for were actually there. So we had to buy everything AGAIN.

When I returned to Arequipa, I went to the agency to demand my money back. The guy who sold everything to me said, "I am not the boss, so I cannot give you your money back. Come back on Saturday." So I came back Saturday, and guess what!? The boss was not there then either. Or the next TWO TIMES I returned, when I was told the boss would be there.

So today I had to go to the tourist police and make what they call here a DENUNCIA. First, let me explain that Peruvian institutions seem to relish carbon copies, each page of which is violently stamped with great officiality. The whole process took three hours, because I had to tell the story, little by little, to a woman who wrote everything by hand in one of several giant old ledgers that are full of denuncias. Then, as you can see, I had to sign and give my fingerprint that everything was true and correct.

Then, I had to go to a different desk in the same office, and tell the same story ALL OVER AGAIN (and let me tell you, it was painful enough to relive the buying process, the showing-up-in-depressing-hole-of-a-town-puno to find out that there were NO BUS TICKETS, the showing up in cusco at 3am to find out there was NO HOTEL RESERVATION made, and also NO TRAIN TICKETS to pick up, the waking up at 5:30am that same day to go to the train station to see if we could even buy tickets, the paying for everything again, and the returning to try to pin this creep down to get my money back... but I had to go through it all AGAIN with a policeman who repeated everything I said aloud, followed by a ¿no? ("Is that correct?"), while he hunted and pecked on his computer to record my manifiesto).

After he had written the report, I sat for 15 minutes while the dot-matrix printer produced the report, on two pages - one was carbon copied! - and then I had to sign and put my fingerprint on every page. And I had to return with all of my receipts from buying things a second time.

Tomorrow at 3pm I go back to the police station to meet with the officers and with "Carlos" - the guy who sold me everything - and who has told me several times that he simply works there and so cannot resolve my issue... But it turns out HE IS THE OWNER OF THE PLACE!!!

So this guy is what they call here a "sinvergüenza." That literally means he is:

"sin" (without)
"vergüenza" (shame)

... Wish me luck in getting my money back!!

Cuuuuuuy!!!

Cuy is the name for guinea pigs here. I admit that I have eaten two of them. But I feel a little sorry about it when I see them in their little apartments. (This one was a highrise, but the photo doesn´t capture the many levels of balconies...)

E sent me a photo from Jon Stewart´s recent Moment of Zen about the best-dressed guinea pigs contest in Perú. Awesome!!

¡hola!

llamas, originally uploaded by sammarin.

It has been quite a while since I posted, because:

1. The strikes are still happening in Arequipa. Not violent, but effective for making things more difficult.

2. We went away for the weekend to Colca Canyon (fun! - I will be writing about that soon).

3. I have been completely focused on the two big presentations that I did today - on the story by Juan José Millás, "Viajes a África" and on various cultural and historical aspects of Perú...

But now I am back in town, there is a tregua (cease) of the strike for 48 hours, and most importantly, I am DONE WITH MY PRESENTATIONS!! Woo hoo!!

Now I can blog like a madwoman... So, see you again soon.

stuck indoors

at irina's house, originally uploaded by sammarin.

so, there have been huelgas (strikes) here for the past few days. class was cancelled yesterday, and we have condensed classes today - because there is a fear that the protesters will become violent. they want the whole city shut down, so when they see taxis and buses running, they throw rocks and swing sticks.

streets are blocked off with buses and big rocks, and when protesters come down the street shouting, stores shut their front doors so that they don't get vandalized.

yesterday i was sick all day with stomach bug (something i ate? it could have been LOTS of things!) and there is lots of studying to do, so I don't mind being indoors most of the time...

07/07/07

i was here, originally uploaded by sammarin.

We visited Machu Picchu on Saturday, and it just happened to be the day that the New Seven Wonders were announced... and Machu Picchu was awarded number 4!

Voting was on when Mom and Dale visited in the spring, and booths were still set up last weekend when I went with the whole group. Signs are everywhere here in Peru urging people to vote for Machu Picchu.

There were big parties on site, in Aguas Calientes, and in Cusco. As the results were announced, live music played in Aguas Calientes and TVs were all tuned in to the live ceremony. B & I celebrated the evening by visiting the thermal baths and then eating traditional Peruvian fare: cuy (guinea pig) and chicken roasted over a fire.

Check out more Peru photos here.

Y ya empiezan las clases...

at our school, originally uploaded by sammarin.

We started classes yesterday and already had an exam on the things we learned while traveling in Cusco and Machu Picchu, Lima, Puno and Lake Titicaca... fortunately I had studied with my beloved flash cards so it went well. It was a short day yesterday, and the normal classes started this morning at 8am.

I am enrolled in two classes:

El Cine y la Narrativa de España (Cinema and Narrative in Spain) - 20th century - and today we talked about the Spanish civil war. We had read Requiem por un Campesino Español and some chapters from ¿Qué fue la Guerra Civil? I have lots to learn about the war, to understand how Spain developed and influenced the rest of the world events in the 20th century. It is going to be an interesing class.

Also, Culturas de la América Latina (Cultures of Latin America) - an overview of Latin American cultures through studying adivinanzas (riddles). How fun! Different vocabulary for each country, different flora and fauna to which the riddles refer. In the second part of the class we will talk generally (very generally, very briefly, very superficially by necessity) about each country - from social, historical, literary perspectives.

I have a lot of reading to do in Spanish! So, off to a café I go...

en posición fetal

en posición fetal, originally uploaded by sammarin.

Here is a photo of me inside one of the chullpas (funerary towers) at Sillustani. The Colla - a preincan population - built these towers to stick their dead people in. The dead people were posed in a fetal position because they were being reborn as seeds for new life. For photos of the outside of the chullpas, see this photo.

río in puno

río in puno, originally uploaded by sammarin.

Here´s a view from the bus near Puno. You will see, once I get the photos of Machu Picchu and Cusco up here, how much drier this landscape is than the more jungly parts of the Sacred Valley.