Off the radar...

Fun Fact No. 40: Line Dancing. There is this Brazilian genre called toadas here, and people line dance to it. No fooling. Seriously, long lines of samba-like stuff that´s not entirely samba. But fun! Hard to get all the moves down though...

Sorry, folks, for being off the radar for so long. I´ve received many a complaint about the infrequency of my blogging as of late, and I hope to rectify that starting now. More news:

1. I finally passed my driver´s test. Long process, btw. First the medical exam, which I managed to fail the vision part because I´m legally blind in my right eye. After showing the doc my driver´s license from my country (to drive a CAR and not a motorcycle), somehow he let me off the hook. Then was the written part. Waste of time, but after listening to a boob talk about dames on bikes and scratch himself all day, I got a 17 out of 20 on the exam. Then the hard part: the driver´s test. You have to zip in and out of 5 orange cones without putting your foot down or touching the cones. And each cone is only a motorcycle length apart. I failed the first time - I put my foot down with about 24 inches left to go. Grrrrrr!!! Plus there was a huge crowd that cheered and booed and hissed and laughed and it was rather distracting. Go Peru! The second time I took it, only 2 days later, I whipped right on through. And then I had to do the around the block with the instructor on the back of my bike part, which was a breeze. I now have my motorcycle´s license. Hip hip hooray! Halfway legal!

2. I moved into the house. It´s so luxurious and beautiful and my room is almost as big as my entire apartment in Austin. I live with the most laid back, wonderful people who are just easy to live with and to be around. César and Graciela and a Spaniard named Alejandro. We get along like 4 peas in a pod, and it´s relaxing and just the peace I needed. And no one knows where I live, save my family. A huge relief!

3. Mariela, Michael O´Brien´s best friend from Buenos Aires, just got here today. She is an absolute peach and we are having so much fun. She´s of course staying at my house and she is a smiling ball of wonderful energy, and I just love having her.

4. It was hard to admit but I haven´t been honest with you all. I was really unhappy there for a while, and didn´t write because I didn´t want the unhappiness to be real. It blew. But things are looking up. My field work is getting under way again, and I am feeling a lot calmer at the new house, although I do go visit my old house often. I miss it a bit, but nothing beats the peace I have now.

5. I love to dance. I know this about myself, but my love to dance has only grown by a thousand since being here in Peru. I´ve gotten much better and now I can´t wait until Friday when I can go dancing again. I´m a dancing fool, I tell you, fool!

6. Carnival was nuts. People throw paint, mud, rotten eggs, fish water, achote (a red seed that stains your clothes) and pichohuayo (a stinky seed that just stinks). At the end of the day, I was so disgusting and filthy but in a good way. It was really exhilerating to just be dirty and gross and to dance with friends and be nutty. We erected a huge úmisha, which is a palm tree woven to accommodate a million different little trinkity things that you tie to it. Then we drink, dance around the úmisha, and eventually cut it down so that everyone can divebomb the gifts and take them home. I can´t tell you the amount of fun!!!

No no drama...

Fun Fact No. 39: Water balloons and starch. That's what people throw for carnaval. Seriously: Sundays are unescapable because that's the day to "play carnaval" when everyone is throwing waterballoons all day long, but you can't really escape it during the week either, because some people just want to go nuts, and they throw the starch after getting you wet so it sticks and makes your clothes gross. Luckily it's been blistering hot, so a water balloon every now and then has been welcome.

I'm sorry that I've been off the radar for a while. Things have been difficult here, and I haven't been in the mood to blog. Quick rundown of recent events:

1. Brother and Sister-in-law.
Tim and Erika, after a wonderful month, hit the road on Tuesday in a slow boat to China...er...Yurimaguas on their way to tour throughout Peru. We had all kinds of fun during their time here, from lovely outings to big lakes to water balloon throwing to just a relaxing beer. It was absolute heaven to have them.

2. The Motorcycle Diaries.
Well, the saga continues. Turns out that my friend's uncle who found me the motorcycle took a hefty commission, I have three witnesses and yet he continually denies it. The papers we had drawn up for the motorcycle were not legal, and I'm in the (long and complicated) process of turning him into the police, another corrupt bunch. Furthermore, my supposedly honest mechanic screwed me out of a bunch of cash, and I also have proof and am in the (long and complicated) process of asking /demanding my money back. Luckily I have a few people on my side. Very drama. Very ick.

3. Carnavalesque.
Carnaval is upon us and my fieldwork is well in gear after a bit of a slump. Rehearsals and interviews regularly (and lucky for me my motorcycle finally works so I can get where I'm going) and I'm learning stuff. Good stuff. But lemme just tell you, the dancing that they do for carnaval is exhausting. Lots of hopping and skipping and avoiding water balloons. Sometimes I just want to go to Flightpath and RELAX.

4. Home sweet home.
I think I've decided to move out of my family's home. It's a wonderful place to live with a terrific view, a fresh breeze from the lake, and sweet people. I love them all. But it's crazy and I only have 5 months left: I need to make them count. I need quiet to work and do my thing. And so my friends Cesar (biologist from Chiclayo), his wife Graciela (sociologist from Cajamarca), Sandrine (ecologist from France) are moving into a beautiful house in a quiet neighborhood WITH A JACUZZI (what?!?!?!) and I very well may join them. The only problem that I'm facing is that I feel pretty awful leaving the house because I don't want anyone's feelings to be hurt. The move has nothing to do with them: it's just that I need QUIET and tranqility. My life has lately been total drama and to quote Fergie & the BEP, "no no drama, we don't want no drama" and seriously, I just want a boring life! My life in Austin was just right...

5. Life Lessons.
I've been learning a lot lately about people, people in Iquitos and Peru, and myself. I like liking everyone. I like everyone liking me. But then there are those who choose to take advantage of me and then there is me, letting myself become a doormat. Long stories, short answer: live alone and just say no. And I'm learning, slowly but surely.

6. Angelic voices.
So my choir had another concert and I'm about to retire. I'm a procrastinator in some ways, but when it comes to organizing a concert where the tickets are expensive, there is no WAY I'll wait til the last minute. Especially when a reputation is being built. Anyway, we had a concert for Valentine's Day and while it was a success, I would have done things very differently. The really neat thing was that Erika sang and she was the star of the show: her voice is so beautiful and the audience was swept away. It was truly remarkable.

Anyway, I'll keep you posted more often. Love to all.