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.