Ugly dogs, earthquakes, and beaches

Fun Fact No. 18: Lima is painted in colors just as vibrant as Venice. The only thing is, I think it's just to make themselves feel better about the nearly 1 inch film of soot that coats the surface of every building. So the buildings are turquoise, pink, orange, red...

OK, this past week was quite eventful, so I think I'm going to do a play by play. Here goes.

Wednesday, October 25
Praise Jesus I didn't drive to Pachacamac. Good Lord, that would have been TERRIFYING. We (Elsa, Wilder, and I) went in bus. Driving through Lima would have been awful. The shantytowns that are built into these huge hills are kind of scary and amazing at the same time. You always see Rio de Janeiro's famous favelas built in the hills on the outskirts of town, but I've never seen anything like that close up. Dizzying, winding streets and STILL crazy drivers. Seriously, folks, nuts! Anyway, once we got out of Lima proper, we were driving on the coast and because it was sunny (for once), the view was beautiful. We got to Pachacamac, which is a famous ruin from about 6ooAD that has been pretty well restored. Pachacamac was the god of earthquakes, and I guess he was a pretty pissy character. He wasn't really into people pissing him off, so you had to enter the temple backwards so he wouldn't get mad. Anyway, the ruins are really neat. And when you get to the top, there's a tremendous view of the ocean. It's really beautiful.

Before we went up, we ate at the restaurant that they have there at the entrance. The guard dog is the UGLIEST dog you have EVER seen in your life. It's very VERY unique. I felt really bad for the poor little guy because he really wants some love but he's so gross that no one wants to touch him. U-G-L-Y!

That night we went to the movies. Bañadores 3. It's an Argentine flick that's basically the antics of Mr. Sinus with the boob show of Benny Hill. Truly hilarious.

Thursday, October 26
Dina came over and we ate guacamole and chips (!) for breakfast and then we went all the way the hell back to San Juan de Lurigancho, a suburb of Lima that is like 2 hours in colectivo. Well, that's counting traffic. I think normally it's only an hour. We went to her sister's house, picked up her sister and went to Gamarra. There's a reason it's a lot like Gamorra. Because it's HELL. This place is like the craziest market-type place I have ever seen. It's nuts. They have a whole building called "Jeans" where they sell, yup, you guessed it, JEANS. And I'm talking thousands, and thousands and THOUSANDS of jeans. And we even saw a factory behind a partially closed door and they seriously make 'em right there folks. Wowzers. Anyway, we were shopping for all the boys that work at the lumber shop in front of the house. Plus they were buying some more pairs to sell. It was complete COMPLETE chaos. OK, I think I'm exagerrating because the market here in Iquitos, Belen, is pretty nuts and a lot less organized. But still.

After our LONG shopping spree, we hit the road and I went back to Elsa and Wilder's. Lissette's younger brother Martin was there with his girlfriend, Carolina who is going to be sent to Pennsylvania to do translations. Random aside. Anyway, we were sitting there chatting when lo and behold there's this deep, rumbling sound that sounded like an airplane was flying overhead except that it was flying underneath the house. It's hard to explain, but anyway, it was an earthquake. Books fell of the shelves, and all the furniture shifted. Turns out Lima is at the bottom of a huge fault. I had no idea. Cool and scary at the same time.

That night we went for a drive and Rudy, another brother of Lissette's, took us all around the nicer parts of Lima - Miraflores, Barranco, San Isidro. We grabbed some sandwhiches and drank tea. It was super relaxing. And wonderful to spend time with them.

Friday, October 27
Wilder's aunt passed away and they were exhausted from being at the wake all night, but Elsa still felt like going with me to Polvos Azules, the world capital of Pirated Goods. No a la pirateria, but seriously folks, it's hard to turn down the opportunity to buy "Brokeback Mountain", "Bring it On", and "Veronica Mars" for about $1.50 a pop. And I'm not saying I bought any, I'm just saying it's hard to turn it down. I had to buy a CD for a friend, and then it was just about looking at all the STUFF.

The important thing that happened on Friday was that I finally got to see my friend Beth LaBate who is married to a Peruvian and has been in Cusco for the past 10 months. I packed my bags and got a cab to Dina's sister's house, where I met Mario Sr.'s older sister Zulema. Tia Zulema is SO rad. This lady is so vibrant, and funny, and sweet and just plain GREAT. I called Beth's husband Jimmie and Zulema and I decided to meet up with them at a strip mall there in San Juan de Lurigancho. We went to Metro, which is like a Super Walmart. I haven't ever actully been in a super Walmart or a Super Target where they sell all the regular crap plus food, including fresh produce, meat, and bread. I had no idea what a monstrosity it is. We don't have ANYTHING like that in Iquitos and it was mildly scary.

Anyway, we went to Jimmie's uncle's house to eat dinner and we just chatted for a few hours. It was so nice to see both Jimmie and Beth who are doing really well. Beth's Spanish has improved tremendously and Jimmie was really happy to be back in Peru. They're leaving for Vermont on Tuesday, and they'll be there for a few years. They're taking a dog from Peru with them that is really stinkin' cute. We just chatted and joked and it was really nice and comfortable. Beth's research was really interesting, and Jimmie has been working on his tourism degree. It was a great time.

The next morning we woke up at 4am to get to the airport. We checked 8 bags (only one of which was mine) which was a royal pain and then we barely made the plane on time. Traveling with Dina was really fun, especially considering that I rarely fly with friends. We got to Iquitos at 8:15 and the family still thought we weren't getting there until Wednesday. From the airport I called Kirle to tell her that we were going to a beach in Lima and we'd call her from the beach. It took about 20 minutes to get home from the airport and lemme just tell you about the double takes. It was hilarious! Kirle started yelling "Liars!" at us as she hugged her mom. It was really priceless to see their reactions. It was just wonderful. We ate cebiche that Dina made from shellfish that she brought from Lima and we laughed and talked and laughed some more.

Later on, Mario, Veronica, and Aldair, a cousin, and I went swimming at the Lion's Club pool. Two hours later we were complete prunes and exhausted. Later that night we ate pizza (yummy!) and then got some ice cream. It was a nice - although exhausting - day.

Sunday, October 29
Oh this was the best day EVER! After breakfast, we went down to this port on the Nanay River that is usually flooded. Well, about 10 months of the year. Right now, there's a beautiful beach on the other side of the river. Normally you have to pay a few soles to hire someone to take you across, but since Dina knows everyone, her friend took us over in his houseboat and so we had a place to keep our stuff and to eat lunch later on in the day.

The water was gorgeous, cool but not too cold and the sand was soft and white. Cheesy description but it was just perfect. We played water volleyball and we just laid (sp?) on the beach and then laid in the water. The current there is pretty strong, so it was nice to just swim against the current or let the current take you down river a bit and then swim back up. It was really heavenly. Around 3 we grilled chicken and potatoes and drank beer and wine on the boat and then hit the water again. We left around 6 and walked home from the port. By that time, I was pretty exhausted but I really felt like a glass of wine. Unfortunately, wine (let alone good wine) is hard to come by here. You have to go a little out of your way just to get this crappy, super sweet stuff that I would not normally drink. But desperate times call for desperate measures and so we went with it.

My friend Cesar invited me to his friend Monica's apartment. Turns out Monica is Spanish (hooray!), from Cordoba, and joder, it was great talking to her. She's going to be here until the middle of July also, and she is lots and lots of fun, so we hit it off. She works for an NGO that has to do with agriculture, etc. Lilia, Cesar, Monica and I drank wine and shot the bull until 1 in the morning. They are all such sweet people, and we just get along so well, and I had had such a lovely day at the beach that when the time came to go home, I couldn't fall asleep. I watched two episodes of "Veronica Mars" (highly recommend it, btw) and then fell asleep. Wonderful, wonderful day.

Lest you think that I am piddling away my time, dear reader, I do have some interviews lined up tomorrow. I am actually getting stuff done too. Or so I like to tell myself. Ha.

Sunshine in Lima?

Fun Fact No. 17: You can drink the water in Iquitos but not in Lima. Irony upon ironies, in one of the biggest cities in South America, Lima (8 million people, I think), you can´t drink the water from the tap. Well, you can, but it´s not recommended. Iquitos, a tiny city in the middle of the Amazon Basin has perfectly fine water that comes from the Nanay River (one of the cleanest and fastest running rivers) and is heavily chlorinated anyway. If there was anything in it, the chlorine has killed it.

So I got to Lima this morning around 11am and Rudy, one of Lissette´s brothers, picked me up. The plane was supposed to leave Iquitos at 8:15 but of course, it left at 8:50. Iquitos doesn´t have terminals or runways. There is a big room and just like in a Seinfeld episode, they change the podium to read the different airline that is currently leaving. There is one runway that the 7 or 8 flights a day share. Seems to me to be kind of dangerous, but I guess it works. Oh, and you can only get to Lima via plane. Well, you could go by boat and then bus, but that would take you about 3 weeks. The plane ride is only 1.5 hours.

When I got here, it was sunny and 71. Sunny!?!?!?!?! Lima is only ever
A. hazy and overcast
B. hazy and overcast
C. hazy and overcast
Seriously. I was super surprised. It was actually pretty! Almost...

Anyway, Lissette´s parents took me to a vegetarian, organic restaurant for lunch which was pretty thrilling because I don´t think I could eat another bite of chicken. I almost gagged the other day on my lunch I think because I have never eaten this much meat in my LIFE and my body needs a BREAK. Where´s my spinach salad from Mother´s?

After lunch, Dina, Mario Sr.´s wife came over to pick up some stuff I brought for her from Iquitos. The family in Iquitos thinks she´s coming home next week, around Tuesday or Wednesday. Actually, we´re going to surprise them and get back on Saturday (she´s been here in Lima for 4 months for chemotherapy for breast cancer). We spent all afternoon trying to find cheap tickets ($38 instead of $70) and finally, my friend Lilia who works at a hotel in Iquitos, found us two tickets for $48. I couldn´t believe that I was the one who knew someone who could help us out, but thanks to my handy cell phone (!), I gave her a buzz and she worked her magic. Truly miraculous.

Tomorrow I´m going to drive (!) to Pachamarca, which is a little bit outside of Lima and has some of the oldest ruins in Peru. Did I mention that I am going to be driving? Holy crap. I´m quite terrified. We´ll see how this goes. Thursday I´m going to see my friend Beth LaBate who has been in Cusco for the past 10 months and is heading back to Vermont to write her dissertation. That´ll be fun!

Some friends of mine just emailed me about my costume for Halloween. Sadly, Halloween doesn´t mean jack here. It´s a Holy holiday when they carry the Lord of Miracles (El Señor de los Milagros) back to his spot in the main cathedral, but that´s it. No costumes, no make-up, none of that stuff that I LOVE. Oh well...

Lima bound!

Fun Fact No. 16: Catholics are all the same. Well, I wouldn't want to go and make any super-essentialist statements like that, but really, there is very little difference between a Peruvian and an American Catholic. Neither of us goes to church, except maybe for Christmas or a funeral, and both of us believe in God and have no problem with alcohol and dancing. Of course there's the occasional devout Catholic, but in either case, he or she is usually older and dates back before Vatican II.

Well, this weekend my friend Kirle was rearended by a motocarro and flew off her motorcycle. She just has some bruises (thank God!) but regardless, on Friday night we stayed in and watched some movies (Kinky Boots and then Casanova. The Casanova was a copy and it the spoken language was Russian. Kind of funny, niet?

Saturday I finally started "fieldwork." Well, I went to visit Carlos Reategui, one of the percussionists in the band, Los Solteritos, that I'll (hopefully) be working with. He was surprised to see me. I think when I tell people that I'll be back, like I did last summer, no one really believed me. But here I am, true to my word, and it was good to see him. Carlos owns a local chain of creamy popsicles that come in every local fruit flavor including aguaje (an orange palm fruit), cocona (a super tart yummyness), guava (not like guava in the states - it has a vanilla yogurt flavor and comes dressed in a really long seed pod), and pineapple (whose season begins soon...). His store is called Shambo, and at any soccer game or event or even just on the main drag, people are selling Shambo chupetes. They're really delicious. Anyway, we hung out for a bit and he showed me pictures of his baby who is now a year old. I think it'll be good to work with him and the band so I'm excited about it.

Saturday afternoon I went shopping with Kari, another friend of Mario's who I have officially stolen. She's fun and easy to get along with, and she's ever so fashion conscious, so she dragged me about to find a more suitable pair of "going out" jeans. She convinced me to buy a pair of low-riders (that I actually just exchanged for another pair because as Michael O'Brien and I learned our first day at Texas, "butt crack is the new cleavage" and frankly, that grosses me out) and a pair of nice, semi-normal (since everything here is skin-tight) dark jeans. I felt a little ridiculous because I'm not a big shopper and how the heck do I know what to look for? But we had fun. Then we met up with Zeudy (my new favorite person here) and bopped along the boulevard and went shopping for food for dinner that night. I cooked at Mario Luis' house and it was really refreshing because I like having friends over for dinner, and I sure as heck can't cook over firewood or charcoal like they do at home, so it was really fun. I made spicy guacamole (yum!) and a potato thingy with olives and artichoke hearts and other random stuff. It was Mario Luis, Cesar, Zeudy, Kari, Charatin, Raul, and Lilia, and it was so nice to just sit, eat, drink Martini (with pineapple juice) and shoot the bull. Then the girls + Cesar and I went to Berimbau to go dancing. At this point in the evening, I was exhausted, so at about 2am I had to hit the road. I think the rest of them were there until 4 or 5. I just can't do that crap anymore!

Yesterday I spent the whole day at Gabel Sotil's house. Gabel is a professor at the public university here, and he used to be the Regional Director of Education. He's perhaps the best educator I've ever met, and he regularly gets invited by UNICEF to write books about the state of the children in the Amazon, and their education, etc. He has three charming boys who are very sweet and easy to get along with. Hugo, the middle son, is all about an iPod that he wants me to bring back from the states (they cost 3x as much here). The oldest son, Gabel, is a super wiz with computers and helped me fix a bug on my laptop. The youngest, Marcos, is about 13 and has some serious attitude but is really funny. They have a good friend, Jean-Pierre who is half Peruvian, half French. He's one of the first signs of alternative life I have seen in Iquitos. He studies art at a small, private art school here and has a little pile of dreadlocks on the top of his head. His accent is interesting, because sometimes he sounds really Peruvian and sometimes he sounds really French. Regardless, we all had a great time eating and watching soccer. I got there at about 11am and left at 8pm. It was a really nice day.

Last night I was really homesick. All of the sudden 9 months seemed REALLY long.

Beer suds

OK, from here you can see the actual house.


















Fun Fact No. 14: Birthdays are REALLY important. Yup, my favorite holiday (i.e. anyone's birthday) is like number 1 priority. Everyone wants to know when your birthday is and if they have a friend who has a birthday within about a 3 week proximity, it's like "oh-my-gawd!". Birthdays are parties with cake and beer, of course, but also lots of speeches (EVERY single person gives a spiel about you and how great it is that you made it to (cough) age, and they wish you every happiness in the future, blah blah). I can't WAIT for my birthday!

Fun Fact No. 15: Beer is communal. Whenever you drink beer at someone's house, or at an outside bar, there is one glass for the whole group. The boys always pour the beer, and they pass the glass around. After you drink your (basically) shot of beer, you have to throw the suds on the ground and then pass the glass back to the person pouring. Any germ-o-phobes would have a huge problem with this. Of course, I couldn't care less. :)

Very little to report except that I went to a birthday party last night. And drank beer. And more beer. And ate pollo asado. And fries. And did I mention the beer? Oh, and there was karaoke to Avril Lavigne. Whoa.

Another kind of interesting (and strange) observation. When you go out to the bank or anywhere in public during the day that is not the market, you usually change into nicer pants and a nice top and cute shoes. As soon as you get back home, you change into your ratty tank top and shorts and flip flops. Now, that's the general rule for the Peruvians. For me, however, it's tricky. Very tricky. I can't go out in the ratty tank (as I would in Texas) because then I'd be confused for a jungle-hopping tourist. But I can't just bust out a super cute top either because then I'd be confused for a rich snob. It's weird but true: there is a balancing act every day in terms of my wardrobe. Strangely enough, Kathryn, the girl who is hardly a fashion plate, has to carefully pick which top goes with which capris. At night, though, anything goes. These people dress to the nines, so it doesn't really matter. I actually wear this one-shouldered tank thingy I somehow own (?). Yup, welcome to the jungle.

Ick & whew!

Fun Fact 13: Ahorita is not the same as ahora. The word "ahora" in Spanish means now. The diminuitive of ahora is ahorita, like little now. So when someone says they'll be over "ahorita," you would think that that would mean right now - like immediately. Nope. It means in a little while, in an unspecified amount of time, probably within the next half hour or so.

Well, there have been a few recent turn of events that dictated my past weekend and my belated return to my beloved internet cafe. Mostly I got sick. Pretty simple, I guess, but I rarely get a cold, let alone an extremely painful stomach infection that gives me nothing but cramps and fever. Starting from the beginning, though.

Last Friday the 13th (ooooohhhhhh!!!!), I went with Mario to watch him and some friends play soccer at night on a concrete (!) field. I had called his friend Zeudy to meet me there, because I knew there would be few (if any) women, and as much fun as it can be as the Super Tall Super White girl at a soccer game that does involve beer, so I thought it would be nice to have some female company. In fact, both Zeudy and Kari showed up, and we had a ball. I feel a little badly mooching Mario's friends, but they're terrific girls, and we get along really well. So anyway, after the game we sat outside in front of the Gran Complejo (The Big Complex) where there are regular dance concerts, and drank beer for a few hours and shot the bull. Mario is always connected with just about this whole city and he scored all 11 of us free tickets to the concert. So that was how I ended up dancing with a bunch of sweaty soccer players until about 3 in the morning. Sounds like a dream, right? When I use the word sweaty, I mean to use the words COMPLETELY SOAKED. Always a ball, though, always a ball.

The next day I woke up with no appetite and what I thought was a mild hangover except that it got worse and worse as the day wore on. Then my stomach started to go, and I basically hogged the bathroom all day long. My friends from UT (Mario Luis and Lars) and I were going to celebrate our friend Lilia's birthday that night. I was supposed to make the tortilla española and my famous pound cake. I seriously could barely walk. I went to the pharmacy and got some antibiotics and something for the diarrhea and stomach cramps and then went to Mario Luis' house. I started peeling the potatoes and realized that I had a fever and had to lie down. I called directions from the bedroom to the kitchen regarding ingredients, oven temperatures, and techniques (the tortilla has to be just so), feeling like I was a total bitch and like I was going to die. Mario Luis, the doll that he is, bought me crackers to take my pills with, and I just fell asleep. They woke me up when Lilia, Cesar, and Rosi got there, and I tried to be good company but to no avail.

I caught a mototaxi home and went straight to bed. Kirle was really worried so she called her boyfriend's sister who's a nurse. Ruth came over right away and gave me a shot for my 104 (!) fever. They made me drink my electrolytes and change the tank top I already sweat through in my fever. Ick.

[A side note is that I got the flu for the first time last January. I don't tend to get sick and I don't think I make a very good sick person.]

Sunday I woke up without a fever (hooray!) but very weak, with aching muscles and a terrible headache. Everyone had advice. EVERYONE! I read and slept all day (well, when I wasn't hitting the bathroom) and kept drinking fluids. They called it a stomach infection and everyone was convinced it was something I ate. I think it's just that my floura are getting used to the floura from here. Monday morning I took metronidazol, a nasty, bacteria-killing wonderpill that I took when I had ghiardia. Two more of those in the same day and I felt great. Tuesday dawned and I didn't have to go to the bathroom, and all I had was mild congestion. Hooray!

Since I felt so great yesterday, I worked on my prospectus (which I wanted to finish by Friday at 5) all day at Mario Luis' house. He and Lars have air conditioning, a great huge desk to work at, and peace and quiet. Except that the three of us get along like peas in a pod and often can't stop talking and laughing when we're together. I feel like I've known them forever, and it's kind of funny, because we jumped from formal introductions to speaking freely about bowel movements, love interests, and everything else you can possibly imagine. But don't mistake this time at their house for all fun and games because I really have gotten a lot of work done there.

Tuesday night I went to the movies with Mario and Zeudy. Fast and Furious 3. A fabulous, brainless, pointless action flick with sweet cars. And it takes place in Tokyo, which is pretty rad, too. If you can see it for less than a dollar, as I did, I recommend it. After the movies? Karaoke of course! I sang "I will Survive" and "Bohemian Rhapsody." We had a ball, even though Mario refused to sing.

The "whew" part of the Title, you ask? Well, that would be that today, the eighteenth of October, two thousand and six, I finished a decent draft of my prospectus. All I gotta say is yee-ha. Yee-ha!

The Corner

Fun Fact No. 12: Mini-skirts ARE professional. At banks, retail shops, copy shops, restaurants...pretty much everywhere, girls where what would be cute suits if their rears weren't hanging out. Seriously folks, I went to get a suit made (for only $40), and she kept trying to convince me to get a mini-suit. I protested that I need something professional and she insisted that it IS professional. You have GOT to be kidding!

So anyway, the on Wednesday night I went and grabbed a beer with a new friend, Alberto, who works at the copy shop where I xerox about a million things a day. We had a nice time (except for being interrupted by this crazy Englishman named Wally, but that's another story for another day), and eventually he went home and I waited for some friends to come pick me up to go grab another beer. Mario Jr. calls me (on my #%$^&@* cell) and asks where I am. At the corner of Arica and Putumayo, I tell him. About five minutes later, two motorcycles pull up, one with Mario & Saude and the other with Edward and Kari. They start laughing immediately. What? What's going on? I ask. Turns out I was on "the corner". That is, the hooker corner. I mean, I'm obviously (or at least I think I'm obviously) NOT a hooker, but still. I think i picked the wrong corner. I have noted this mistake for future reference. Afterwards we grabbed beers and just shot the bull for a while. It was really relaxing.

I live kind of "far" away, kind of like if you live east of I35 on Oltorf. It's not really that far, but for a city the size of Austin, it's kind of out of the way. So from my house here, I have to take a mototaxi (about a 10 minute ride) to get to the center (downtown would be a strong word) of town. Yesterday after lunch, I decided I was going to walk a little farther to catch a mototaxi because in front of my house they were loading up some trucks with wood. I kept walking. And walking. And walking. And it felt GREAT. About 40 minutes later, I got where I wanted to go. Now, it only costs S/. 1,50 (about forty-five cents) to get from my house to the city center, but doing this about 6 times a day wears down on the pocketbook and is a pain in the ass. The walk was lovely and so this morning I also walked to the city center, but I took a different route. Not only is it great exercise, but it's a nice time to just think. And to get to know the city better. I really, REALLY enjoyed it.

I've just been trying to bust out the prospectus, and yesterday I went to Mario Luis & Lars' apartment to work. They have air conditioning and a nice desk, and it's pretty quiet. The only problem is that we all get along so well that we inevitably end up chatting a bunch. But I always have a nice time. Despite the Chatty Cathy syndrome I had yesterday, I managed to get a bit done. And I do like spending time with Mario Luis and Lars. They're very easy to get along with - relaxed and chill.

On another unrelated note (well, related to my dissertation topic, but not to what I've been talking about so far in this blog), the radio is ALWAYS on here. No matter where you are, the radio is blasting. And it's blasting the same damn songs all ALL the time. The top three songs are
1. My Hips Don't Lie by Shakira
2. Esposa Mia (while having an annoying rhythm, it's actually a sweet song that talks about how important and wonderful this guy thinks his wife is. It's very endearing.)
3. Mi Cuerpo by Dan Den, a Colombian band. This is a great salsa song that makes everyone want to dance. Salsa is super popular right now here, and it might even surpass reggaeton!

There are some great radio stations here. There are a few salsa stations, a million reggaeton and tecno-cumbia stations, and then there's my favorite 80s station (David Bowie, Boy George, REM), and some romantic ballad stations. There's a diversity, even though the same songs are typically played in public places. Last night, the girls (half part of the family, half hired help) and I danced like crazy to the radio in the kitchen and then went and splashed in puddles in the rain. It was great fun.

So above I included a picture of the house. You can't see the actual house from where you are because the wood shop is in front. They sell hojas (thatch) and other wood to build houses. The front of the wood shop is level with the street but then the street drops off into a lagoon (that is currently dried up) and so the whole thing is actually on stilts.

Flute

This is part of my "backyard". It's usually a huge lake, but it dried up recently so that patch of sand back there is now a soccer field. It's been raining a lot more lately so by December, it should be completely filled and those houses down there will be floating on water instead of stuck in the mud.






Fun Fact No. 11: Stamps in under an hour. It´s true - whatever stamp you want, it can be made in about 45 minutes. I love it!

So last night, I played my flute in front of about 50 people. Yep, after not playing solo in front of people for years, I´m starting up again with a bunch of strangers in another country. Who woulda thunk? I played with a pianist named Karim. We played "Danny Boy", a traditional Irish tune and "Alfonsina y el mar" a really pretty Chilean number. It was for a presentation by a local weekly magazine that releases a book on one particular theme every 50 issues. The theme for this book is the water of the Amazon and how vital it is for the whole world and how it needs to be protected. There was a short video of images and quotes from the book, and then a talk by Father Joaquin, the head of the CETA, or center for teological studies of the Amazon. Then there was a short dramatic presentation about the importance of the Amazon and its tributaries followed by a scientific talk about how the Amazon was formed and how exactly it works. Then there was a short concert of two pieces by a little known gringa and her friend. Nervous? A little bit. The good thing is I think they have really low standards, so it wasn't like some of my music friends were in the room. That combined with fabulous acoustics of the space (it's in the very high-ceilinged room of the Parish Center of the Cathedral) made it not too bad of a concert. Regardless, I can't believe I'm playing again. Karim the pianist, Fernando (a local cellist) and I are going to start practicing together this week to get ready for a recital we're going to put on in November. Who knew???

Mario Jr. and I have a pact to eat at a different cevicheria every week. I'll be here for 40 weeks, so we have to hit up 40 cevicherias. Ceviche is perhaps the yummiest food EVER. It's raw fish that is marinaded in lemon juice and other yummy stuff to basically "cook" it with out actually cooking it. It's spicy and delicious, and I just LOVE it. At any rate, we hit up the second cevicheria yesterday and it was DELICIOUS. I'm still salivating...

Meera's coming the 19th of December. I can't wait! We're going to have a ball!

Gay soccer & dog bites

Fun Fact No. 10: Ice cream on every corner. It's the Amazon. It's hot. Ice cream EVERYWHERE! April & Meera would be in heaven.

Fun Fact No. 11: Don't throw TP down the hole. You have to put it in a trash can. The sewage system can't handle it.

So on Friday, I went to watch Gay Soccer (futbolito gay) with Mario Sr., Mario from UT, and a terrific girl from Cusco named Lilia. The entrance fee is a food donation for the local AIDS hospice and for the price of a roll of TP or some rice, you get 6 rounds of gay soccer. It's basically a bunch of gay men (some far more flamboyant than others) from different "countries" (jerseys that say "Spain", "Argentina" or "Holland") that play 20 minute rounds of soccer. They're great players too (well, they're South American), but it's hilarious because a bunch of them squeal and flap their hands. The stands were packed, which I found surprising, because I would think that the average Peruvian wouldn't be that into this sort of thing. But the audience was pretty quiet. Normally, Peruvians are pretty vocal about soccer but here they were relatively quiet unless there was a really, really good play or a "cat fight". The announcer was hilarious - he told the crowd that they'd better start cheering because who's to know if they'll be playing gay soccer next week, next month, or next year. And these soccer players are pretty young - between 16 and 30 years old. I think it's pretty brave of them to come out so openly in a relatively machista society. Regardless, it was great GREAT fun!

Afterward, Lilia, Mario from UT, and another American named Lars went to an aguardiente bar. Aguardiente is this super SUPER strong moonshine that usually tastes pretty nasty. But at this particular bar, they make regular drinks with it, and the taste is masked. After two whole pitchers of caipirinha, we were about ready to hit the sack. Whew!

Saturday came and Mario Jr. took me to the Lion's Club swimming pool. I had been talking about going for a swim for a while, but I didn't know where to go. Weighing our options, Mario chose this particular pool because it's pretty close to our house and it's only 1 sol (about 30 cents) to get in. It's gorgeous. It's completely tiled, and is about 9 feet deep. It has diving blocks for swim teams and it's 25 meters long. There weren't too many people there, so we just swam laps and relaxed. It's SUPER chlorinated, though, so my hair was a lot worse for the wear afterward. After swimming we went to a parillada, which is like a temporary pollo asado stand. The parilladas here are usually on Saturday afternoons, and it was delicious! Beer and grilled chicken after swimming hits the spot!

Later that night, we were sitting around the kitchen table shooting the bull when Fox, a big husky was antagonizing Laico, my personal favorite mutt. I harassed Laico to play with Fox but instead, he bit my hand. HARD. It bled and hurt! I totally asked for it, but it still sucks. Now I've been bitten twice (isn't that a movie?) in the Amazon by household dogs. Hooray for dog bite scars!

After nursing my hand, I went downtown to grab a beer and relax before hitting up Berimbau, a discoteca near the main square. It was a long night - I got home at 4am (I'm too old for this crap!) and after swimming in the afternoon and dancing for 5 hours, my body is exhausted. Funny thing about the discoteca is that they'll put on some Ludacris or Outkast and then for about an hour, you get tecno-cumbia that is all in the same key with the same rhythm. And then they'll put on a few other songs like the hip hop or salsa and you get about 5 minutes of respite before you're right back in the tecno-cumbia groove. Dios mio! And the way they dance to hip hop is funny, because it's like a watered down version of the way we do. It was fun regardless.

The other day I went to see if I could get a pair of prescription sunglasses and the girl who waited on me was super sweet and we exchanged numbers. She invited me over to her house for lunch yesterday and we had a ball. Her family is great, and really funny! She has an aunt named Neddy who has the filthiest mouth of any woman I have ever met and their cute little Pentecostal grandma was laughing hysterically! It was a great time.

Last night it was cold, and it made me nostalgic for the fall that will never come here. *sniffle*

Heaven!

Fun Fact No. 9: The man always pours the beer. If you're out with guys, they pour the beer in your glass. Period.

You ain't gonna believe it, but I found a place with wireless. It is SPEEDY and I can use my own damn laptop and not shuffle stuff from USB to USB. I feel a little guilty that something like this could make me so happy, but I think most importantly I can maintain better contact with everyone. I got a little homesick last night but I had a beer with a Spanish friend here, and that was almost as good. It's nice to speak with someone who understands my crazy Spanish accent and knows the same vocabulary. I love it! Anyway, now I can be better about posting here because it's FAST! I love LOVE it. And with that, I leave this post super short because my laptop is running out of battery.

Heaven!

Abuelito

Fun Fact No. 7: Jungle dogs are unpredictable. You just never know. They can be cute and loveable and then bite your face off. This little guy Laico is now my best friend but last summer wanted to eat me alive.

Fun Fact No. 8: Movies are CHEAP. I saw Miami Vice last night with some friends. It cost less than a dollar. And it was worth every penny - and not a cent more!

Yesterday was a terrific day. I went to the Amazon Libary which is a gorgeous building with surprising resources. True to Peruvian bureaucracy, it takes a million years to check out a book because the one lady has to look up what you´re interested in and show you the results and then she writes down all the info on a little card and then you take it to another lady who goes to the bowels of the library to get what you need. Four books? Half an hour. The cool thing is that Peru has no particular laws about copyright and you can take a book to a copy joint and they´ll copy and bind it for you. Illegal, but convenient.

Yesterday I ran into a student from UT at the post office. We met at UT a couple of years ago and I forgot that he was going to be here the same time as I am. He´s very nice, and it´s good to have a new friend.

AND you would never NEVER believe it BUT I bought a cell phone. Holy Crap! The sky is falling! Hell is freezing over! Kathryn has a cell phone! Yup. Aaaarrrrggggghhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!

Today was interesting because I took care of grandpa who´s in a clinic because of septic gangrene. Plus he has Alzheimers. The family takes turns watching him and making sure his diaper is changed and he doesn´t pull out his IV. Nobody was available today so I was in charge. He´s a nutty old man who can be very ornery, but it was also rather sad. He´s in bad shape, and I would hate to be in that position, not even able to feed myself at 80 years old. And the clinic doesn´t even provide TP or diapers. You have to bring your own. But it was a relaxing day. We mostly talked nonsense, slept, and watched TV until someone came to relieve me.

The nagging thing for the past week has been my prospectus and I have GOT to get cracking. A draft is due this coming week. Here´s to busting it out!

Gerbils

Fun Fact No. 5: You have to close your mouth on a motorcycle or in a motocarro (motorcyle with rickshaw thingy in back that is basically a taxi). This is so your teeth aren`t covered in dust and dirt. This may be common knowledge to most, but I learned the hard (and gritty) way.

Fun Fact No. 6: People in the Amazon shower at LEAST twice a day. No B.O. here because it´s so hot that you sweat enough to shower (well, sit on a stool and dunk water on yourself) pretty frequently.

OK, so I was asked to post a picture of a gerbil. Luckily, I took a before and after picture of cui, so here you go:

As you might be able to note from the size of this critter, they don´t have too much meat. But it does taste just like chicken (surprise!). Seriously.

Anyway, since I last posted lots has happened. On Saturday, I went to a soccer game (Iquitos vs. Pucallpa, a city about an hour away by plane). They have a great stadium here and it seats about 25,000 people. Cost of the ticket? About $3. And they think it´s expensive! It was a crappy game though - both teams have great players but they don´t communicate. At all. But it was lots of fun to eat popcorn and drink beer and watch soccer. I had FUN.

Yesterday it was COLD (like 60ºF or so) so Kirle (the eldest daughter) and I watched movies on my laptop. It rained all day and it was the perfect lazy Sunday. Then last night we ate pizza and drank wine and walked around the main square and shot the bull. LOTS of fun. Super relaxing.

Today I went to try to open a checking account and I can´t without a residence permit from Peru. So Mario Jr., as generous as he is, is going to open an account for me and give me the card. I can make deposits and I can use the ATM , I just can´t withdraw at the bank itself. Which seems like a great deal to me. Speaking of Mario Jr., he takes me around on his motorcycle here and there and loves showing me the city. I always have fun zipping around (even though I normally HATE motorcycles - but there isn´t another option here - there are very few cars) and we stop and eat ceviche or have a tall glass of fresh squeezed fruit.

On the home front, I think I´m going to stay with my family here for a bit. They have a gazillion animals including on dog named Laico who normally hates me. But the other day I came home and he jumped on me and started licking my face. I think we´re friends now. He follows me around and sits underneath my chair at dinner. He has HUGE ears and the sweetest face. Here`s a picture of all the dogs lined up sleeping in the hallway.

About the house: The house where I live is on stilts. It looks out over a cocha, or lagoon, that is actually dried up now. It´s very airy because it´s not like a regular house. It has big windows but no glass or screens or anything, and because there´s nothing behind it but jungle, it gets a wonderful , refreshing breeze. Since it´s on stilts, it´s just slats of wood for a floor and you can see through them to the ground about 30 feet below. The environmentally conscious me has a hard time just throwing the garbage down there, but that´s the way it´s done. You would think it smells, but it doesn´t, probably because the humidity eats everything up. Plastic actually decomposes here, if you can believe it. But I love the house. I´ll post pictures later.

OK, since the internet here is slower than molasses , I´ve got to sign off for my sanity. But More later!

Oh, and one more thing. Here´s a "before" picture, to chronicle my whiteness. I´ve been here just 3 days and I´m already browning. We´ll see what I look like in 10 months. Yes, I´m wearning sunscreen. :)