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 :)