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...

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.

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.

The pathos of Napoleon's penis

In this NYT op-ed piece about weird relics people collect, Judith Pascoe recommends that the poor object (which she compares to a "maltreated shoelace") should be returned to its body to rest in peace.

Pascoe also mentions in the article that "Mary Shelley [kept] her husband’s heart, dried to a powder, in her desk drawer." Awww!

a house in my neighborhood

house, originally uploaded by sammarin.