Sep 2006

My journal:

´Ah, so my bad Spanish language skills have finally caught up to me. I just spent 10 hours on a bus to Andahuaylas thinking I´d be able to catch the Cuzco bus just 3 hours after my arrival, but, though I arrived here on time at 5AM I don´t get to leave again until 7pm tonight. It wouldn´t be so bad if I weren´t so exhausted, not having slept much on the bus.

...

´I realized on my way here there, if I´m to be perfectly honest with myself, I´m kind of afraid of the small villages here. I did no research prior to coming here, so I had no idea how big it was, and as we were passing through a tiny little village at approximately the time we were supposed to end the journey, I got really nervous. It was because of the thought of my inferior language skills, in a town I was totally unfamiliar with, in the dark.

´It´s natural I´m sure, this apprehension, but I must get used to it. I know the people here are poor, but I couldn´t believe some of the huts and shacks we passed that people call home. On this journey I looked out of my window and was alternatingly (is that a word?) awed by the subliminal beauty of the landscape and afraid of the poverty I saw.

´As always, the people I really interact with are warm and open, but I feel more like an outsider here than anywhere I´ve been thus far. I´m the only white girl around and I get more stares than smiles.

´I approached two boys playing a game of checkers on one of those outdoor chess boards and asked if I could take a photo of them. The one on the left just stared sort of menacingly and didn´t reply, and when I pulled my camera out, again asking ´¿Si o no?´, he put his hood on and turned his back to me.

´On the other hand, I came across a lovely woman who asked where I was from and suggested I take a taxi and see the ´laguna´ nearby.´

After I wrote all that I wandered around some more and ended up playing with these two 7yr old girls for a while. They were really sweet and wanted to show me the playground (and holy what a playground!! I have to post pics cuz it´s mucho mucho dangerous and crazy that it´s even there). They were unclean and unkempt so I tried to minimize physical contact with them, but I didn´t want to seem like a snob gringo and they were fun to be with for an hour. I need to shower though, and wash my clothing.

Well, I´ve got 7 more hours to kill before my bus. What adventure will take place next??!

Thanks, Grandad, for your allusion to Little Red Riding Hood. I know there are many versions of this fairy tale, but, as I recall, Red Riding Hood kicks the wolf´s ass more often than not. Haha. But yes, I will be careful.

Yesterday I spoke to a 12 year old girl on a park bench. She was looking after her little 7 month old sister and my heart went out to them. Rebecca (the older one obviously) was very sweet, but they were in tatters and the baby´s face was covered in some sort of rash.

I´ve been jonsin to draw lately so I went out and bought red and black liquid ink pens. Blue ballpoint pen ink just doesn´t cut it! Now I can be more creative.

On another note, I have mysterious little bites all over my legs. I sleep in my sleeping bag and they only appear below my knee, so I´ve concluded they come from the street. I tend to roll my pants up but may have to stop if I don´t want to be molested by more bugs!

There are street vendors of all kinds here, but the one I find the most interesting are the people who sit on the side of the road with a weigh scale in front of them. Do people pay to weigh their vegetables? Or themselves?

I have a 10 hour bus ride to Andahuaylas to look forward to tonight, and another 8hrs on a bus to Cuzco. I may stay the night in Andahuaylas to break it up a little.

Some observations:

1) Peruvians are generally shorter than Canadians.

2a) Tea is served as such: one mug of hot water, with a tea bag and sugar on the side.

2b) I accidentally ordered coffee yesterday, and it was served as one hot mug of milk, with a strong shot of coffee and sugar on the side.

3) In casual restaurants/diners/cafes, you pay at the front counter, not at your table.

4) The water, if you ween yourself onto it bit by bit, isn`t quite as bad as guidebooks make it out to be. (I´ve been eating fresh lettuce and juice with water added and haven`t had any problems.)

5) Don`t approach someone with a question etc without first offering a polite `Buenas días` or other appropriate greeting.

6) I am living my dreams whereas some people are too afraid to do so.

P.S. To find my pictures, click on ´Photography´(on the left menu) and do a search for ´The Cat´. That seems to be the easiest way.

Yeesh I thought I was going to take it easy the past couple days and instead I met some people, celebrated my birthday a day early with free beers and dinner, tried some terrible Peruvian wine, and slept for most of my actual birthday.

My journal:
"10.05pm - 19 Septiembre 2006
"Hoy es mi cumpleanos! I made some friends yesterday who said they´d take me out for cake and drinks tonight, but 1/2hr after they said they´d be at my hotel they still hadn´t shown up so I decided to leave. It has occured to me that 7pm for me might mean at least 7:30pm for Peruvians, but I wasn´t too concerned since I´d already partied with them the night before.

"It started out with them approaching me on a bench in the central plaza, we got talking, and they seemed charming enough. We went for drinks...all for free of course (their treat), then they bought me dinner and wine."

Peruvian wine isn´t very good. Anyway, they were a lot of fun to hang out with and it was great to be able to socialize (with however much difficulty) with a group of people. Eduardo, I learned, is a vacationing policeman; I forget what Monny does; Jonathan works in administration. I liked them all but even though we had a good time hanging out I still had to keep reminding them of ´my pareja´ (my partner) at home. If I don´t insist that I have a pareja, it´s too hard to ward off their advances. When I said goodbye and went back to my hotel they did make sure I had everything I came with (my money, glasses, etc), so even though they were forward like most South Americans I´ve met so far, they seemed to care that I was safe.

They even offered to take me on this 3 day tour across Peru, ending in Cuzco (my next destination), but since they didn´t show up for my birthday cake I guess that´s out of the picture. Bus it is! I don´t know if I would have accepted the offer for sure...it was definitely attractive in a Kerouac, On the Road, no-care-in-the-world kind of way.

So, for my actual birthday, since I lost my friends, I had a little celebration of my own. I went to a little cafe at which I had a little torte (some kind of pastry) and hot chocolate. Woo birthday!

Anyway, today was a little more eventful. I decided to wander off to another artisan market, in the east side of the city, at which I bought a warm hat made from alpaca wool and a beautiful embroidered belt. The latter was one of those things that, though not essential, I just had to have it´s so gorgeous. It only cost me S/12, or about CA$4. The hat will come in handy in Cuzco, which is much colder than Ayacucho.

I also did my best to converse with the merchants who were curious to know where I was from etc. The usual questions, but perfect for practicing my Spanish.

Tomorrow I´m going to look at bus schedules and follow the wind again.

P.S. I posted a couple pictures yesterday if you want to check them out.

Yesterday I was happy to wander around on my own. The only time I hung out with anyone was when I met Karina, but I still had a good day. This travelling is getting easier and less lonely with time. I still miss everyone, but it doesn´t hurt as much.

Last night I felt like dancing, so I flipped my mp3 player to Canary Mine and The Uncas and I just danced around the room for an hour! It was a lot of fun; dancing in my room has always been one of my favourite things to do.

I checked of my hotel this morning and am just waiting a few hours to check into a cheaper one. This time I´ll be at Hotel Tres Mascaras, which is S/14 por noche, or CA$4.75.

Earlier today I had a visitor, so I left my room and went downstairs to see it was this guy I talked to for (literally) 2 seconds on the street. He showed up with a pen and paper and started to ask me all these questions...he wanted my correo (email address) so he could ask me about Canada, which was fine, but then he asked so many questions (and wrote down all the answers) that I felt like I was being interviewed. He wants to meet me at 5 this evening but I told him maybe. I have to get used to all the attention here.

I´m going to take it easy the next couple days so I might not write blog entries every day. I hope everyone at home is well. I love you all.