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...

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.

nearing stage 5: the EVERYBODY PANIC stage

Because I don't want to lose you as a reader, I won't go into all the maddening (and mindnumbingly repetitive instances of) problems I have had in renewing my passport this spring, in preparation for my departure to Peru on 23 June. For the sake of brevity, I will simply give you some highlights:

STAGE ONE: Naive Hope
- In which I submit a renewal app back in the beginning of March, having read that due to the new requirements of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, it takes up to 10-12 weeks now to get this process done. The helpful web site provided, where you can check the status of your app, tells me that my app is still not in the system. (They are sorry though!) My check to the Dept. of State was indeed cashed, about six weeks ago.

STAGE TWO: Wonder
- In which I learn that the passport renewal folks won't even talk to you in person until you are 14 days or less from your departure. (If more, "Do not worry, please.") This makes it tough for people like me who are leaving tomorrow from home and not actually leaving the country until 23 June. Fortunately one does not need a passport (yet) for traveling to Bermuda by sea... or I'd be screwed.

STAGE THREE: Alienation, Paranoia
- In which I go into my local friendly post office to talk to a person, and I am given the phone number for the SF regional office, where apparently it used to be that one could make an appointment to expedite one's passport renewal/application. I try to call and reach a voicemail recording which instructs me to leave a message. At the tone, though, I hear: "This voice mailbox is full." So I call again and sneakily enter a different extension number to see if I can reach a human. This is the nutty part: I hear a recording that tells me I can call two numbers (877 and 900) that charge by the minute where I can get help. I am that desperate; I call the numbers. One is out of service, and the other gives me a recording that I should call a different number to meet people nationwide.

STAGE FOUR: Dismay, Resignation (?)
- In which I try again to call the main toll-free number and describe my situation, and I am not exaggerating when I say that it takes me a dozen or more calls to get past the recorded phone message that begins by asking me to stay on the line and ends by saying "Due to high call volume, your call cannot be answered at this time. Please call later." Finally I wake up at 6am to call and get through to some person who tells me that my passport is in stage 4 of 7 stages, the adjudication stage, which takes about a week. (I wipe the sweat off my brow to know that Joe Blow hasn't stolen my check in the mail and cashed it for his own purposes, and sold my passport to someone else.) The rep says I should call back after 8 June to see if I can get an "urgent expedite." I ask him if I can have the passport mailed someplace other than Sac, since I don't plan to be here, and he replies: "Well, I can put in a note." I respond that that would be nice... and give him a mailing address... and then he doesn't say anything that would lead me to think he got any kind of training whatsoever (I was expecting something like: "Is there anything else I can help you with" or even "that's all I can tell you" -- not that I was expecting anything like "sorry for the delay") -- he simply says "Bye!" Now, that's spooky and makes me think that the whole thing is a Big Joke On Me.

Except that (der) apparently I'm not the only one with problems, due to the recent changes:

From Seattle Times: Want a Passport? Be Prepared to Wait

From NYT: A Heightened Summer Rush for Passports

From NPR: Passport Backlog Blamed on New Requirements

I should have started this back in January, when FARK provided the heads-up:

[Interesting] New passport rules go into effect Tuesday. Terrorist threat level to be lowered. Just kidding, you aren't any safer

my brother, the horror novelist

He has a blog, too: The Scary Parent.

In fact, he is a hoary old blogger by now!

Here's an early entry.

Don't blame me if you barf or scratch out your eyes!