Hey everyone. Guess what. I go to school with coasties. Peruvian coasties.
I've only been here a little more than two weeks but it seems that limeños tend to be a bit/rather elitest regarding their self-perception and relation to Peruvians of different ethnic/racial categories... education, money, class, background... and they are also from the coast. With every generalization, there are clearly thousands of exceptions, but I think this generalization has some pretty strong, supporting evidence.
For those of you aren't familiar, coasties are the girls that come from the east coast to go to school in Madison. Stereotypically speaking, they have money (from their fathers), go to the gym, wear North Face apparel, talk with a distinct coastie accent, and live in the expensive appartments on Gorham/University Ave.
In other news, I don't have class on Fridays and the sun is starting to occasionally show itself over two hour time spans.
One last thing I forgot to mention was Chuchuwasi. It's this fermented drink served hot like tea, made out of the roots of plants from the rainforest that is really strong. When you drink it, it's like getting drunk, but not in a depressant sort of way... it's like the opposite direction (in terms of a mental state).
Friday, August 28, 2009
Monday, August 24, 2009
Peruvian boys and other Observations
Like, I mentioned last time, Mariah and I went to Huaraz, which is about 6 or 7 hours away from Lima. From Madison to Minneapolis, you can take the Greyhound for $75. From Lima to Huaraz, you can take it for about $10.
Huaraz was weird and fun. The mountains were absolutely beautiful. Amazing. real, legitimate mountains, with crystal clear lakes and meandering farm animals. Mariah and I had a tour guide all to ourselves- Katiuska- who was incredibly nice, kind of goofy, and really patient. Hopefully, I'll put some pictures up soon. I also went to see some ruins. Unfortunately, I was a little unappreciative of the implications of this ancient civilization's ingenuity, and spent the hour and 40 minute tour (after the 3 hour bus ride up the mountain, which I actually enjoyed more) wondering how long it was going to last. Honestly, I'm sure most people found it fascinating, but part of my lack of enthusiasm had to do with the altitude, which made me want to sit down and take a nap every 5 minutes. It was like my face and my brain felt really tired and heavy and they were weighing me down. One thing that was absolutely crazy were the real, live Andean pueblos that were scattered along our path up the mountain... communities that don't have electricity and speak Quechua and wash their dishes and clothes in the rivers that begin in the Cordilleras.
Also, it was sunny every day and my face got sunburnt. It felt great.
Today, we enrolled for classes. It was a stupid, frustrating process (like figuring out how to type the @ on keyboards here or finding where the readings for my classes are). Instead of taking Peruvian Social Reality, I'll be taking History of the Modern World, which is fine with me.
Now, about the title. One thing I've noticed about Peru, is that the invisible "inappropriate" line is drawn somewhere else here. Peruivian boys (ages 12 to 35) seem to find a lot of things acceptable that are absolutely not ok in the United States when you first meet someone in any context, intoxicated or sober... obviously this is an unfair generalization to make, but I guess I'm making it anyway.
Now, after two weeks, here are some of the things that I miss about America (although, I am by no means in a hurry to get back):
- Madison's enrollment process
- Good coffee
- Clearly marcated bus routes and maps
- Letting my guard down
Pretty unimpressive!
Huaraz was weird and fun. The mountains were absolutely beautiful. Amazing. real, legitimate mountains, with crystal clear lakes and meandering farm animals. Mariah and I had a tour guide all to ourselves- Katiuska- who was incredibly nice, kind of goofy, and really patient. Hopefully, I'll put some pictures up soon. I also went to see some ruins. Unfortunately, I was a little unappreciative of the implications of this ancient civilization's ingenuity, and spent the hour and 40 minute tour (after the 3 hour bus ride up the mountain, which I actually enjoyed more) wondering how long it was going to last. Honestly, I'm sure most people found it fascinating, but part of my lack of enthusiasm had to do with the altitude, which made me want to sit down and take a nap every 5 minutes. It was like my face and my brain felt really tired and heavy and they were weighing me down. One thing that was absolutely crazy were the real, live Andean pueblos that were scattered along our path up the mountain... communities that don't have electricity and speak Quechua and wash their dishes and clothes in the rivers that begin in the Cordilleras.
Also, it was sunny every day and my face got sunburnt. It felt great.
Today, we enrolled for classes. It was a stupid, frustrating process (like figuring out how to type the @ on keyboards here or finding where the readings for my classes are). Instead of taking Peruvian Social Reality, I'll be taking History of the Modern World, which is fine with me.
Now, about the title. One thing I've noticed about Peru, is that the invisible "inappropriate" line is drawn somewhere else here. Peruivian boys (ages 12 to 35) seem to find a lot of things acceptable that are absolutely not ok in the United States when you first meet someone in any context, intoxicated or sober... obviously this is an unfair generalization to make, but I guess I'm making it anyway.
Now, after two weeks, here are some of the things that I miss about America (although, I am by no means in a hurry to get back):
- Madison's enrollment process
- Good coffee
- Clearly marcated bus routes and maps
- Letting my guard down
Pretty unimpressive!
Thursday, August 20, 2009
All who wander are probably lost
Every day here seems to show certain trends that I've become well acquainted with. These include:
- Frequent miscommunication and misunderstandings
- Me asking someone here a question and after their response, a confused shake of the head and a forlorn "gracias."
- After a long day of little physical exertion, feeling completely exhausted, and an unfortunately persistant, slightly annoying headache
- Scribbling nonsensical notes from the chapter books of various professors' lectures that I attempt to understand.
- Most noteably however, is something along the lines of what happened to me today: After Mariah and I went to buy our tickets to Huaraz (a town in the mountains) at a bus station, we decided we would try to take a combi (bus) to la Catolica (our school). We tried all four directions that cars were going. North, south, east, and west, and asked at least 5 people which bus to take, but could not figure it out to save our lives. Half an hour later, we took a taxi. Better luck next time, I guess.
The moral of the story is, when you want to be inconspicuous in Lima, you need to act like you know what you're doing and where you are; however, this is surprisingly difficult, when you have no idea.
- Frequent miscommunication and misunderstandings
- Me asking someone here a question and after their response, a confused shake of the head and a forlorn "gracias."
- After a long day of little physical exertion, feeling completely exhausted, and an unfortunately persistant, slightly annoying headache
- Scribbling nonsensical notes from the chapter books of various professors' lectures that I attempt to understand.
- Most noteably however, is something along the lines of what happened to me today: After Mariah and I went to buy our tickets to Huaraz (a town in the mountains) at a bus station, we decided we would try to take a combi (bus) to la Catolica (our school). We tried all four directions that cars were going. North, south, east, and west, and asked at least 5 people which bus to take, but could not figure it out to save our lives. Half an hour later, we took a taxi. Better luck next time, I guess.
The moral of the story is, when you want to be inconspicuous in Lima, you need to act like you know what you're doing and where you are; however, this is surprisingly difficult, when you have no idea.
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Shiny
Today I went to Miraflores, which is the nice district of Peru, where all the foreigners stay and people shop at expensive stores and stay in expensive hotels. Mostly I walked around by the ocean, under an overcast sky on a rocky beach, where this guy approched me asking if I wanted to learn to surf. Of course I do. But am I about to follow this dude, pay him $20, tell him where I live, on what street, give him my phone number, and tell him my name so he can find me on facebook? Of couse not. So, I got his name, phone number, email address, and will consult with Nancy and Tito about my options.
Anyways, I've noticed that Lima has two sides to it- the side that is shiny with pristine buildings, clean sidewalks, and cafes playing American music and the side that is dull, polluted and dirty. Miraflores and San Isidro are the shiny parts, next to the sea, and the rest appears to be some variation of the latter.
Before I left, I was worried about getting my inhibitions back, since they seemed to have disappeared while living in Madison. Rest assured, they are back, safe and sound, right where I left them last time I had to do something completely new. I think they are serving me well, but also a bit of a bummer...
So.... If I could get the classes that I finally decided on almost, assuming they aren't full, this is what they would be:
-Peruvian Social Reality
-Kinship and Social Relationships
-Andean Ethnography (In this class we get to go to an Andean community, talk with the people, and write up an ethnographic report of some social aspect of our choice)
Sounds pretty baller to me. I love school. And I love that I love school. I can't even believe that I get access to such a kick-ass education that blows my mind all the time, in a different language. Ha!
Anyways, I've noticed that Lima has two sides to it- the side that is shiny with pristine buildings, clean sidewalks, and cafes playing American music and the side that is dull, polluted and dirty. Miraflores and San Isidro are the shiny parts, next to the sea, and the rest appears to be some variation of the latter.
Before I left, I was worried about getting my inhibitions back, since they seemed to have disappeared while living in Madison. Rest assured, they are back, safe and sound, right where I left them last time I had to do something completely new. I think they are serving me well, but also a bit of a bummer...
So.... If I could get the classes that I finally decided on almost, assuming they aren't full, this is what they would be:
-Peruvian Social Reality
-Kinship and Social Relationships
-Andean Ethnography (In this class we get to go to an Andean community, talk with the people, and write up an ethnographic report of some social aspect of our choice)
Sounds pretty baller to me. I love school. And I love that I love school. I can't even believe that I get access to such a kick-ass education that blows my mind all the time, in a different language. Ha!
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Cold Feet and Dark Brown Hair
Well, like I said before, it's always cold feet in Lima. apparently. The cold is always seeping through my clothes into my bones, just like Steve Stern told me last year. It's alright though. I still think I prefer this winter to the snowy, sad, dark, slushy, gray winters that await all of you Holiday Cheer sorry fools in Wisconsin. Anyways.
Now that I don't need to use a fake ID to buy alcohol and get into bars, I'm dying my hair again. To be dark brown. Even though I could pass for a boy (or a lesbian... god willing) with my short hair, I consistently get whistled at, stared at, honked at, and stopped for by a variety of males. With very few expectations and only one major plan of being as inconspicuous as possible, I'm not doing very well. So, maybe this box of Garnier Nutrisse tintura permanente de color chocolate moka will do the trick. Purchased from none other than Wong- Lima's version of Wal-mart.
School starts tomorrow. Despite a half a year of me telling myself that I would take easy classes, not spend every hour in the library and sit down for more than 2 minutes, I don't know know if that will actually happen. I finally started looking at my potential schedule this afternoon. After the welcome speach from someone official at the University talking about how academically serious everyone is, how well-known the school and faculty is, and how demanding classes could be... I started to reevaluate. And then I was looking at all of my options. I am going to take 3 or four courses. I wrote down 10 that I wanted to take.
On Saturday, we went to el Centro para ver la Plaza de Armas and some other things. It was great. We went on a tour of la iglesia (church) San Francisco. It was magical. Plenty of amazing architecture, crucifixes, saints, paintings, books, and staircases to last a whole vacation. Thankfully, underneath this particular church, the reason I wanted to go in the first place, there were catacumbas, catacombs. It was weird, dark, moist, dingy, basement-smelling, with low ceilings. There were rectangular boxes filled with bones, organized by type, all neartly in order. Then there was this 10 meter-deep semi-circular space with a really pretty design created by altnerating rows of skulls and other bones. The lady explained everything, in spanish, but I didn't understand.
That very same night, some of us went to a reggae concert. It was small. Like big house party size. If I had to venture a guess, the kind of size that a sigma chi party would be on any given weekend. It was at a bar called el Oso (bear) which was a bar in a house, essentially, with a stage in the living room. The clientelle. Peru's version of hippies. I think there were a lot of people younger than 18. There was also a lot of weed being smoked. Of which I failed to partake. Rather, I made no concerted effort to try to partake in doing illegal drugs in a foreign country. Thanks to the four cuzquena beers and one pisco sour I managed to drink that night, I was well on my way to falling asleep standing up, while bobbing my head to lyric-less reggae music. And so were the others, I believe. So we left early, some time after 12. After a very safe taxi ride back to San Borja, the neighbor I live in, and a bit of a struggle with unlocking the door, I managed to fall asleep instantly.
Now I'm going to wash out my haird dye.
Now that I don't need to use a fake ID to buy alcohol and get into bars, I'm dying my hair again. To be dark brown. Even though I could pass for a boy (or a lesbian... god willing) with my short hair, I consistently get whistled at, stared at, honked at, and stopped for by a variety of males. With very few expectations and only one major plan of being as inconspicuous as possible, I'm not doing very well. So, maybe this box of Garnier Nutrisse tintura permanente de color chocolate moka will do the trick. Purchased from none other than Wong- Lima's version of Wal-mart.
School starts tomorrow. Despite a half a year of me telling myself that I would take easy classes, not spend every hour in the library and sit down for more than 2 minutes, I don't know know if that will actually happen. I finally started looking at my potential schedule this afternoon. After the welcome speach from someone official at the University talking about how academically serious everyone is, how well-known the school and faculty is, and how demanding classes could be... I started to reevaluate. And then I was looking at all of my options. I am going to take 3 or four courses. I wrote down 10 that I wanted to take.
On Saturday, we went to el Centro para ver la Plaza de Armas and some other things. It was great. We went on a tour of la iglesia (church) San Francisco. It was magical. Plenty of amazing architecture, crucifixes, saints, paintings, books, and staircases to last a whole vacation. Thankfully, underneath this particular church, the reason I wanted to go in the first place, there were catacumbas, catacombs. It was weird, dark, moist, dingy, basement-smelling, with low ceilings. There were rectangular boxes filled with bones, organized by type, all neartly in order. Then there was this 10 meter-deep semi-circular space with a really pretty design created by altnerating rows of skulls and other bones. The lady explained everything, in spanish, but I didn't understand.
That very same night, some of us went to a reggae concert. It was small. Like big house party size. If I had to venture a guess, the kind of size that a sigma chi party would be on any given weekend. It was at a bar called el Oso (bear) which was a bar in a house, essentially, with a stage in the living room. The clientelle. Peru's version of hippies. I think there were a lot of people younger than 18. There was also a lot of weed being smoked. Of which I failed to partake. Rather, I made no concerted effort to try to partake in doing illegal drugs in a foreign country. Thanks to the four cuzquena beers and one pisco sour I managed to drink that night, I was well on my way to falling asleep standing up, while bobbing my head to lyric-less reggae music. And so were the others, I believe. So we left early, some time after 12. After a very safe taxi ride back to San Borja, the neighbor I live in, and a bit of a struggle with unlocking the door, I managed to fall asleep instantly.
Now I'm going to wash out my haird dye.
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Putting out and other fun things.
It seems that everyone here is putting out pretty hard. In a trying-to-get-by sort of way. When we take the combi (little busses) to and from school, there are always people weaving through the traffic trying to sell stuff. Anything. Newspapers, drinks, food, trinkets, books. And this is crazy traffic. If you're not paying attention, you'll probably get run over. If I get the courage, maybe I'll get my camera out one day and take a picture.
The second night, we went to a Jazz club in miraflores, which felt really sophisticated. We listened to this guy play guitar and this really beautiful lady sing some really beautiful songs- including some Frank Sinatra, the duet between Aladin and Jasmine, and what I'm pretty sure is Mary Magdalin's song from Jesus Chirst Superstar. yep. Jesus Christ Superstar.
Last night, I went to a Shaman with a friend from Madison and a Colombian girl who was living in the same house as her (who told us about it). It is a very complicated picture to create using only words because it was so... not like you would imagine. It was a simple, dingy room with American music playing on the radio in the backround. The guy, Carlos, was dressed in Jeans and a dirty button-up shirt and an old vest. The whole time he was very informal and easy-going, taking calls during the whole time, but this wasn't a problem. There was this alter-like thing, which was a table and the wall behind it, filled with cross, crucifixes, Buddhas, jewels, figurines of other dieties, and a bunch of other stuff. We did a lot of stuff that I don't really feel like explaining because I'm not quite sure how without taking way too long. The long and the short is, he knew exactly what the two biggest things on my mind were, and he knew for the others that had gone (The other girls had been there the day before). Then he shared stories and proverbs and other very wise things he had to say with us to help us focus and think and resolve our conflicts. We chewed coca leaves the whole time, took little drinks of some type of alcohol, and smoked a lot of pure tobacco. I had a lot to think about after. It was all very surreal, since most of you probably know that I have a lot of trouble believing in a higher power right now.
The school is beautiful, my classes will be hard, and life will be exciting, I'm sure of it. I can't wait for it to be sunny again....
The second night, we went to a Jazz club in miraflores, which felt really sophisticated. We listened to this guy play guitar and this really beautiful lady sing some really beautiful songs- including some Frank Sinatra, the duet between Aladin and Jasmine, and what I'm pretty sure is Mary Magdalin's song from Jesus Chirst Superstar. yep. Jesus Christ Superstar.
Last night, I went to a Shaman with a friend from Madison and a Colombian girl who was living in the same house as her (who told us about it). It is a very complicated picture to create using only words because it was so... not like you would imagine. It was a simple, dingy room with American music playing on the radio in the backround. The guy, Carlos, was dressed in Jeans and a dirty button-up shirt and an old vest. The whole time he was very informal and easy-going, taking calls during the whole time, but this wasn't a problem. There was this alter-like thing, which was a table and the wall behind it, filled with cross, crucifixes, Buddhas, jewels, figurines of other dieties, and a bunch of other stuff. We did a lot of stuff that I don't really feel like explaining because I'm not quite sure how without taking way too long. The long and the short is, he knew exactly what the two biggest things on my mind were, and he knew for the others that had gone (The other girls had been there the day before). Then he shared stories and proverbs and other very wise things he had to say with us to help us focus and think and resolve our conflicts. We chewed coca leaves the whole time, took little drinks of some type of alcohol, and smoked a lot of pure tobacco. I had a lot to think about after. It was all very surreal, since most of you probably know that I have a lot of trouble believing in a higher power right now.
The school is beautiful, my classes will be hard, and life will be exciting, I'm sure of it. I can't wait for it to be sunny again....
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Day 1
Well, I flew in and spoke with the customs lady, who stamped by passport, and then proceeded to walk through the magical doors that lead to the pick-up area outside international baggage claim. It's like a crowd of fans is waiting for you, holding up posters and signs, cheering wildly while awaiting your grand entrance. After wandering around, confused and lost for ten minutes or so, I finally found my family... Tito and Nancy. I soon found out that there was another girl named Allison, a student, living with them, who came back to get her luggage that the airline lost. We were also waiting for Julia, who showed up maybe an hour later. I actually have met this girl before since we both go to Madison, but don't know her that well. Eventually I found out that there are 7 students all together (from the U.S. and one from Japan and one from Switzerland) in addition to their 3 children. It seems like they will be running a tight ship around here. Which should be good for me. Their house is beautiful and the floors make my feet cold. I have my own room which is where I'm typing from. I have a feeling that I'm going to be a very happy camper here.
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