Picchu

If you had asked me 6 months ago about what I would be doing in Peru, one of the first things I would have told you is "I'm going to machu picchu, baby!"
Actually, coming into this study abroad program one of my primary goals was to travel. Duh. Isn't that what you do in a study abroad trip?
But after three months here in Peru, my experiences are starting to change my perspective on 'traveling.'

So I went to Cusco and Machu Picchu this weekend. It was incredible. Breath taking (literally because of the high altitude jaja) Glorious. Fantastic. Mysterious. The most beautiful place I have ever been.
But I left feeling empty.
Y sabes por que?
It was hard to be in a place without having the privilege to know it. I was there for three days, and in three days I got the tourist version of everything...tour guides, hikes, nice hotel, bus rides, buying souvenirs at the market, taking fotos like crazy. All that was super fun, don't get me wrong, but at the same time it was such a tease because there is so much that I wanted to soak in and understand about Cusco. I want to know the people. I want to understand their life. I want to live what they live. I want to experience what they experience. I want to have a good conversation with them. But I knew I couldn't. Being a tourist is so exclusive. You are physically submerging yourself in a new place...but you aren't actually experiencing the culture...o sea...you aren't actually getting to know the place. You are physically there, but still socially separated by your bubble of tourism.

Thus...it was so hard to be physically near a people, yet so far away because I'm a foreigner.
Cusco's number one industry is tourism, because it's beautiful, historic and is home to one of the great wonders of the world. So therefore, everyone and their mom wants to go there. Economically, the people in Cusco make a living off of tourism. There are markets EVERYWHERE, geared to sell souvenirs to foreigners. Passing through them, the vendors are desperate to have you buy something from them. It's interesting how they talk to me, or us, or you. They almost beg. And if not that, they sweet talk you. They´ll ask where you are from, and act interested in you, but are they really? Am i just a dollar sign?
I just want to sit and have a conversation with them. I just want to get to know them and understand them.
I want more than the pretty tourist-version of things. I want more than just skimming the surface of things. I want more than pictures and souvenirs. I want relationships, and conversations, and authenticity, the good AND the ugly. Too much to ask? I think not.
The reason I have come to think this way is because of my life here in Lima. I love Lima. When I flew in to Lima this morning from Cusco, I felt like I was coming home. I love it because I have come to know it, and live it. I have a life here, I'm not just breezing through. I have gotten to know it deeper than a typical outsiders point of view. I also really like the fact that the city doesn't consist of a lot of foreigners. It's not like Spain or Buenos Aires, where there are a mega ton of gringos. There are very few for a city with 9 million folks in it. I was talking to a traveler from canada when I was in colca canyon. She was traveling around peru for a couple of weeks and I had asked her if she had been to Lima. She said yes. I asked her how she liked it. She said 'ehhh'. Lima is a pretty ugly city to most people. I mean, when you see specials on Peru, they are usually about the jungle or Machu Picchu, or the Andes, or some beautiful place...but never Lima. It's ugly, and loud and polluted.
But at the same time, there is so much to be learned from it! The people, the economy, the traffic, the social life, the history, the processes, the poverty, the wealth, the injustice. It's mesmerizing.

I have come to value the art of staying in one place and knowing it deeply. I no longer have the goal of traveling a bunch while I'm here. I would much rather live in one place for 6 months and know it well, then have the opportunity to travel to 10 beautiful places for short periods of time.

Not to say I don't like to travel. I am just in the midst of changing my opinions on traveling.

I think I´m becoming an anthropologist...good! It's about time I found a major.



Anywho, I'll have Machu Picchu pics up sometime this week on facebook :)

So I get on the micro this morning and 15 minutes in this guy gets on to sell some mints. This is normal. What wasn't normal was when he decided to throw the mints at the passengers and start screaming. I think this was a new way to get people to give money. well it worked. i bought mints. i hope you're happy screaming-mint man.

It's getting colder and colder. the sky has officially greyed over. Which means no more sun until summer.yum. yesterday at the breakfast table my host family was talking about how it was so hard to get out of bed because of the bad weather. Then Kika, my host mom(who is the happiest lady on the planet) was like 'you know what i tell myself in the mornings? if the sun wont shine, then I'LL just have to be the light of the day!' I think that phrase changed my life. jaja.

Did you know they don't have frozen foods here? Nope, that means no bagel bites. jaja

So mother's day was this past weekend and my host family had two get togethers. First, all of my family on my host mom's side came over for lunch. We had a BUNCH of food. We set up this long table and set up a pasta lunch, where people brought different kinds of sauces and salads for the pasts. So good. There were about twenty people total. I got to meet most of Kika's siblings and nephews and such, including Enrique, who writes the script for some of the telenovelas in Lima(including the one Alejo watches every evening at 9, jaja) THEN, that night there was a reunion at Alejo's(my host dad) brothers house. And i thought twenty was a lot...there were like 30, 40 people! I was kissing people left and right(except for this one guy who gave me the awkward "oh look, your from the US" handshake) not cool. So people just kinda talked and hung out and ate. I ended up talking with kika and carlos, who is alejos nephew. He is a news anchor in Lima on channel 14!

I love the family dynamic of these people. My family was born and raised in Lima, and all of their family is located in Lima. Which isn't unusual for families here. In the US people move all over the place(like my family). But here, Lima is the hot spot of Peru, economically. So people don't often have to move away, because all the jobs are here. It was so awesome to see family come together and be with each other. And not just some of the family. But the whole dang thing. That's so rare to me.

Also, because of the fact that my family has been here for their whole lives, they have SO many connections with other people. For instance we'll be flipping through the tv channels, and kika will mention that the girl on the tv was her student, or the guy next to her is her nephew. I'll bring home readings from my Spanish class and ask Kika if she has ever read the book. "Of course, and oh yeah, i had lunch with him once" We are talking about really famous latinamerican artists too...Julio cortazar, Jorge Luis Borges..Basically, they just know a lotta people.

If i get fat here, it's not my fault. Promise. They just REALLY like to feed me here. the other day we were at the grocery store checking out and kika leans over and tells me to go grab 8 chocolate bars. I thought 'ok cool, a lil' for the whole family.' Then we get home and kika hands me the bag of chocolate and tells me to go hide them in my room, because they are my own lil' treasures. lol.
Even when i'm sick on my stomach they don't cease to offer me food.
good thing i like food. or maybe not, once my pants stop fitting.

So i got sick last saturday and i was in bed sleeping half the day. When i finally decided to come downstairs, i was all nastified, in my sweat pants, with crazy hair, and a shiny face. and what do you know? there's a handsome lad sitting at the kitchen table. i hope i smelled ok. end of story.

My friend Abby got nipped in the butt by a deer last week. Haha. We were in the grass at school eating fruit. And this deer comes up to us, so i thought "hey, maybe it'll eat this orange peel" Bad decision. After it finished that it wouldn't leave us alone. So i got up and walked away and it started chasing me, but then it stopped and decided to pursue Abby, because she still had an apple. So then it chased her and nipped her butt. jeje. deers are vicious. deer jerky is not.

So overall, life is good. I feel at home here, which says a lot because I haven't heard the same from others. But most of that has to do with my host family. They are fascnating, loving, humorous people and I love spending time with them. I feel like Kika genuinely loves sharing her life with me, which is perfect, that's why i came here. I still wish i could have an intelligent conversation with them, besides my baby babbling, because they have so much to say and I wish i could respond how i wanted, but we'll get there. I have made good friends in my CIEE group. I enjoy them :) a lot. I have also made some good peruvian buddies whom i have already grown to love! So yeah, i'm excited for the relationships here and for whatever more may come.

Ok i'm going to go chill with the fam now. maybe watch some telenovelas :)


pictures of:
deer and me at the PUCP(my school)
Center plaza de Lima
The view of the beach near my house
a micro, from far away