A day late, but...

I dedicate this blog post to Kyle Landman, newly 24 years old, one of my most favorite ladies in this world, and a long time enthusiast of pink floral comforters.

Good news: bedbug issue caused us to toss our old mattresses & blankets, buy new ones, AND actual BEDS! We don't sleep on the floor anymore!

Bad news: The bed store had a very limited comforter selection. I now sleep on the bed I should have slept on when I was 12, not 22. I've never felt so girly getting into bed.

...and yes, blankie made it to Peru!

My masterpiece

Once the trashcan was finished but my painting streak was not, I printed out a map of Maine and this is what happened:

It's now on my wall.

Let's paint a pictuuuure!

Sunday was lazy fun day... one of our schools, Los Nogales, just built a field/ court but they have NO BALLS so we decided GSW would buy some for them. And something fun to put them in, of course. So Sunday was spent painting a trash bin- I told Alex to come up with the artistic vision and that I'd do my best to fulfill it. We are pretty proud of our product, and had fun while making it! Reactions from the students soon to come...

Doing anything artistic involves my every ounce of concentration...

...while Alex can take her shoes off and keep a smile on her face

TA DA!

That thing in the middle is the world, by the way.

Post artistic journey reflection. Clearly I took this more seriously than Alex.

P.S. I know I've been slacking on the blog... we've been busy, but I am committed to bringing it back to life!

DON'T WORRY

No cases of swine flu in Peru!

What's going on in Alex and my world...

Check it out (HAZ CLIC)

Going to Cuba!

At some point in my lifetime- it's looking more likely after this weekend!

Seriously, though... it sounds as though the Summit of the Americas was as successful as can be. The United States doesn't exactly have a beautiful relationship with many Latin American countries- hay mucho espacio for improvement. The New York Times nicely summarizes:

"The antagonism seemed to melt away, replaced by a palpable enthusiasm for a new openness from the United States and hopes of improved relations for Washington with Venezuela and Cuba, which emerged as a core issue here" (read the rest of the article here).

Nearing two years of residence here in South America, I've experienced quite the anti-americanism, most of it quite deserved. I remember my favorite anthropology professor, on the first day of our Latino Culture class, prefaced a brief history of U.S.-Latin American relations by saying "It's kind of impossible to teach this material without sounding like a radical anarchist who is incredibly biased against the U.S. government". It's true... the U.S. has done some really shady business in Latin America, and we tend to treat its various countries less like our neighbors and more like a way to get something we need. As both a latino and Obama aficionado, I would love nothing more than to see our relationships improve during the next few years. It's hard to erase centuries of subordination and exploitation, but maybe we could get to the point where it's not inevitable that every major city south of Texas will in some corner (dark or not) have graffiti that reads something along the lines of "FUCK USA".

I don't like to get too controversial on the blog, but I would also like to say that I'm really unimpressed with the criticism of President Obama and his friendly handshake with President Hugo Chavez. I mean... really. Isn't the silent treatment reserved for fourteen year old girls mad at their parents? In my experience, it's incredibly ineffective, and at times even counterproductive. We don't have to reinstate our embassy in Venezuela tomorrow, but I think- no, I know- that a smile and a handshake goes a long way.

Hope everyone had a great weekend... Happy Monday!

Another way to deal with the altitude

Hmmm...

Farm Animals

I don't normally touch animals here (poo, fleas, garbage etc.) but I couldn't resist this baby cat it was so litttleeeee!







You are ugly

The End

Wtf?

While getting our haircuts this weekend, we were shocked by the name of the salon's main product line... PLACENTA LIFE: The beauty is in you. Really, who came up with that? Peru is hilarious.

Sunday ADVENTURE, Part 2

So the other thing Pisac is famous for is its ruins. According to Frommers, little is conclusively known about the site's actual purpose. It appears to have been part city, part ceremonial center, and part military complex. It may have been a royal estate of the Inca emperor (Pachacútec), and it was definitely a religious temple. Regardless, they were very cool because they went on and on as we walked all over various mountains.

A couple obstacles- first, Roots was playing great trance music all night, so we didn't make it home until pretty late and were quite sleep deprived all day. Secondly, it cost big money to enter the ruins, money we didn't have, so we had to find a way to sneak in. After talking with some locals, we were dropped in the middle of the mountains and our driver basically pointed up. So the first half of journey we created on our own- walking through people's farms, and cacti while trying not to create an avalanche for the person below us (so many rocks and loose gravel...). ALL WITH A GUITAR!! Anyway, it was a true adventure, one that left three out of the four of us bleeding, legs shaking, and truly amazed with our bodies for performing at such a high level after we disrespected them so badly the night before.

Tons of pictures of Incan ruins... READY SET GO!

Our adventure begins- note the guitar Naser is carrying. It came with us the entire journey (on my back for much of the hike). Also note that Naser looks a little like a crazy person, but is actually fairly normal.

SO MUCH CACTUS... a lot ended up in my leg

This shrine was in the middle of nowhere... weird

WE JUST SCALED A MOUNTAIN!

That's what we scaled (from the road)... this picture doesn't do it justice

Templo del Sol

A close up- the circle in the middle is Intihuatana, an Incan sun dial

Alex and I were incredibly awkwardly balanced, as noted by the leg positions and facial expressions

Our ruin models- and yes Naser's pants were made from a used rug (or so we'd like to think)

The model on the trashcan shook her hip with sass while throwing away her trash- so Alex did too!

More awkwardly balanced poses...

These are andenes, or terraces dug into the slopes of mountains for agricultural purposes. In the Peruvian Andes very narrow and deep valleys are quite common, and they impeded the existence of agriculture. The ancient Andeans, who needed additional farmland, attempted to gain that land at the cost of the mountains and created the first andenes. Eventually the Incans refined the technique of construction of the andenes, incorporating layers of different materials to the filling, in order to better control drainage. A close up:

I seeee youuuu!

Just kickin' it with some Incan stones

The end of our journey

Just me and Naser's guitar

Sunday ADVENTURE, Part 1

Alex and I and a few friends here wanted to do something exciting for Easter, since clearly we weren't going to church, so we planned a little day trip to Písac. Písac is a small village within the Sacred Valley, about an hour from Cusco and known for its fabulous market. Personally, I thought the market was pretty standard- lots of alpaca and bananas. What was AMAZING was our s/5 lunch (approx $1.60) which I wish I took a picture of. It had delicious and copious amounts of spaghetti, chicken, and stuffed pepper, and it was the best lunch I've had in a while.

On the bus... we're blurry because it was very bumpy

Hey fruit

How many braids can you find in this picture?

So many seeds
Montañaaaas

Coolest product we saw all day (they're earrings)

Most Cusqueñan women have:
1. Looong pigtails which often will have yarn braided in and sometimes they will be tied together 2. A hat identical to this one which serves no purpose
3. A textile like the one above tied to their back with one or more small children, often upside down, and/ or potatoes, bananas, hay, baby cows, etc.

Secret: Alex and I are planning on some day styling my hair this way, purchasing a hat and textile, and strapping her to my back... saving that for a rainy day.

Five dollar footlong

I was reminded of that commercial today when I got a "Two dollar haircut" (go on, sing it, it feels good). Yeah, that's $63 less than my DC haircut. And the quality was fine, despite a little latina female mullet going on, no big deal. The style books from the 80s were an entertaining throwback, as well.

Also, I am over my food poisoning, I may have been mentally impaired when writing my last post, so I apologize. Thanks for the kind get well wishes from someone whose identity I am unclear on and Trevor.

Happy Easter!

Food Poisoning

So, so, sick. At the risk of sharing too much information about bodily fluids, I've always been quite proud of my iron stomach (the inside, not the outside). Through the streets of Guatemala, Brazil, Argentina, Adams Morgan Day, etc., I ate everything put on my plate and never had problems. Excluding the occasional alcohol abuse when I was young and unwise, I hadn't thrown up since I was about 5. My 17 year old streak died last night, and after a horrible, horrible night with little sleep but lots of toilet hugging, I am sitting in bed feeling like someone has thrown my body against a wall seventeen times and then injected massive amounts of air into my brain which is trying to escape, resulting in a "my head is about to explode" sensation.

Sorry, I know this was one of my more disgusting posts, but I'm frustrated and sad and sick and it feels better to blog about it.

Señor de los Temblores

Last night Alex and I headed out of our casa towards the plaza for an official business meeting with a colleague of ours. As we walked down the street towards the plaza, where our meeting was, we quickly noticed there were hundreds (maybe thousands?) of people gathered around the cathedral on the plaza. We had no idea what was going on... turns out everyone was waiting for el Señor de los Temblores, or the lord of the quakes. This is apparently the protector of Cusco. In 1650 an earthquake destroyed the city, so the citizens of Cusco went to the streets with an image of Christ and from that day, it became the city protector. The city protector is now plastic and decorated with red Christmas lights. People threw flowers at him.

Ok so these are clearly photos I found on google images, hence they are from different years and exhibit different lighting and weather, but you should get the general idea...