Señorita, abroche su cinturon...

September 26, 2009

I have arrived in Cusco! Got into Lima late Thursday night and managed to find a safe taxi to my hostal. Getting into bed Thursday night I was overcome with emotions- I felt sadness, excitement and utter relief all at the same time. I felt grateful for the amazing support system I had at home and knew I would be able to undertake this journey. I decided to spend the first few days in Cusco living with a family so that I can improve my Spanish.

A few highlights:
1. Getting lost on the way back to my hostel: Raring to go, I strolled the streets of Lima yesterday, equipped with my money belt and gringa style clothes. I felt unstoppable. Touring Lima was fun but heading home turned out to be the real adventure. I could not find the hostal! I didn´t take the address with me and I thought I knew where it was, but I was wrong. I ended up circling the nearby blocks for about an hour. Along the way, I asked multiple people if they knew where ¨Mire Tagla Torre¨cuadra 2 was...of course, I was mixing up the words since the true address was Marquez de Torre Tagle 107 (and it was on the 1st block, not the second). Anyway, I came to meet some wonderful strangers. A taxi driver got out of his car to walk me to where he thought it was, a woman took me to a policeman so he could direct me, and a man in a small shop tried to point the way. Everyone I encountered was kind (and patient with my Spanish) and it was the sort of kindness I did not think I´d find in Lima. Eventually, I crossed a street after nearly getting hit by a taxi, and I saw a door open and my hostel host was standing there, waving me inside. He said he had seen me pass the hostel quite a few times but had thought I wanted to get to knew the neighborhood...

2. Buckle up: First, let me start with this: Taxi drivers in Lima are notorious for asking gringos for more money. When I was in Peru before, I think it happened almost every time I took one, so getting into one this morning, I started to think about how I would approach the situation if the driver were to ask for more money. En route, the driver blasted Peruvian music and sang along. At this point, it was only 7:00am and the music started to wake me up. At a stop light, the driver turned down the music and turned around. He touched my belt and asked me to put the shoulder strap part of the belt on. Now, just to give a little belt background: when I got into the car, the seatbelt was one of the type that would not fit in the buckle, nor would it tighten up, so that the entire thing was completely floppy around my stomach and would not have stayed on my shoulder...I thought the request was completely endearing and I was ready to pay whatever he asked for since I didn´t feel like it was worth it to argue. Yet, to my surprise, we got to the airport, and he gave me change for the exact fare he had quoted earlier.

3. POLLO!!! Ok, here´s a shout out to those men in my life who want me to knaw on some meat. Well today was the day. I was served a giant chunk of chicken for lunch and I did what I had to do: I scarfed it down! After 4 years of being a vegetarian, I guess my body craved the protein. I did not want to disappoint the family, and I was eased into meatfulness by being served chicken. Here´s hoping that they don´t decide to serve guinea pig for dinner...

4. El desfile: After my flight into Cusco, my host mom Chila, picked me up. She told me that she was going to watch her grandson in a parade of customes....I wasn´t sure what this meant but I was extremely excited to get to go with her. We drove to her grandson´s school, which schooled kids preschool age through kindergarten. The room was set up with a giant runway stage in the middle and there were teachers dressed alike at the front of the room. There were chairs all along the side of the stage where parents were sitting. Basically, the school was hosting a fashion show for the students. Five year olds were paired with 2 year old and they would walk down the giant runway and blow kisses and twirl. It was just the cutest, most unexpected thing to walk into. During the intermission, the teachers called lottery numbers and the parents won perfumes. Then they continued the fashion show with the 3 year olds. It was a sight to see!

That´s all for now. At 3346 meters I get exhausted walking up the cobbled stone streets, so I have to leave now if I want to make it back for dinner.

Love to everyone. Thanks to those of you who gave me a little something to look forward to reading on the plane- I enjoyed the notes immensely and had to wipe away a few tears.

Chao!