Shoreline Receding

One Week Left in Perú

2009-12-15T10:43:00.000-06:00

Oops, so I'm sure nobody checks this now that it's been a month since my last update. Things have just been sort of stressful and busy here. I hosted Mike at the end of November and then I went to Cuzco and southern Peru the first week of December, and all throughout, I have been dealing with the biggest bureaucratic mess ever to get my Chilean student visa. Wooh! finally got that on Monday, after the most stringent requirements for a medical examination ever. I got a blood test for every known disease, a urine test, X-rays, and a general physical from one of three approved cardiologists. I guess Chile has tough requirements for Peruvians (the countries don't have the best of relationships, though I doubt the nonstop propaganda/blab about the Chilean spies makes news anywhere outside of Peru).

On my week of travel to Peru's "gringo trail" tourist zone, I met various Americans who were/are studying this year in Chile, some of whom I will be seeing this spring. One rock climbs, which is awesome, and it's more accessible in Chile. I haven't climbed in the almost 4 months of being in Peru, which I am convinced is one of the reasons my health is so poor here, as well as the cause for my declining morale. It's an addiction, and when you lose it, it really sucks.

There are way too many annoying people in Cuzco, either the gringos (not so much Americans I'll say, but other English speaking people) who live in the English speaking hostels and barely go out, just spend their days drinking and living in a little English bubble in South America. As well as the terrible brand of Peruvian the tourism industry has created there, who is looking to screw everyone they can out of every penny they can. That said, I also met many, many really wonderful travelers and Peruvians alike, and I saw so many wonderful historical things and natural beauty.

The steep street my Cuzco hostel was on, tough in that altitude.

View of Cuzco from Qorikancha

Qorikancha, the main temple of the Inkan empire, with a Catholic church built on the old foundations.

A sculpture in the pre-Colombian art museum. I will be forever baffled by this, since I didn't question at the time to read the description as to how they knew about Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer before Columbus.

Písac ruins

My horrible day in Machu Picchu. Don't I look happy?

summit of Huayna Picchu

Huayna Picchu in the distance, so steep! Everything got sunny as I was leaving...I was still miserably soaked anyway.

Lago Titicaca, the largest lake in South America, at 12,500 feet in the altiplano. Several indigenous communities live in the various islands, who kind of preserve their isolated, ancient lifestyles, but really survive now on tourism.

View from the balcony of the house I stayed in on Isla Amantaní

summit of Pachatata, on Isla Amantaní

Yuri, a sweet little girl I met and hung out with on Isla Taquile. Here she is presenting me some freshly picked muña, an ancient all-purpose drug used to make tea drunk with every meal.

Fresh juices in Mercado San Pedro, Cuzco.

Cuzco from Sacsayhuamá

A Bromantic Weekend in Quito and my injections at Peru's ESFAP (Air Force Academy)

2009-11-17T14:09:00.002-06:00

Sorry this will be a bit long, but of course I've been lazy about updating. Last weekend, I traveled to Quito, Ecuador, to visit a BC friend Mike Saldarriaga.

It was a nice breather from life in Lima, though I couldn't breathe since it is the second highest capital in the world following La Paz, Bolivia. And a good time being around some BC kids, since I am so disconnected from that here.

The first night, we got a great dinner with Mike's parents, all 4 of us ordered lengua de res (cow tongue), which was absolutely delicious. While we were ordering the power went out in the restaurant, but things carried on business as usual, and this began a trend throughout the weekend of having to avoid going to some part of the city where the power was out, as Quito's hydroelectric plant currently has a shortage of water. Being in Latin America for some time though, you learn to not let these kinds of things really bother you at all.

The second night we went and spent the night in a cabaña in this town outside of Quito called Papallacta. The town is known for its hot springs, and this cabaña was particularly nice. The next day we got back to Quito a bit late, and went out to a salsateca. Finally, on Sunday, we went and walked around a park where Quito's artists display their paintings outside, and then to another park up on the hillside above the colonial center of Quito. Quito is nestled in a beautiful narrow valley, and there are innumerable spots in the city which offer spectacular views. We closed the night at a romantic cafe called Cafe Mosaico, up on the same hillside.

Hehe, I know that all sounds rather bromantic, but to clarify, other BC students went with us to Papallacta, and we had a good night of debauchery at our private hot spring, I'm sure disturbing the other guests at the high class Termas de Papallacta. Then, the next night, after Mike and I explored colonial Quito by night and enjoyed some eardrum destroying Latin rock in a bar on Calle de las Rondas, we went to Mariscal Sucre or "Gringolandia" and met some other BC students at a salsateca. Although as far as the last day/night with the beautiful views of Quito, there is no other description but bromantic.

I'm glad I went, though as small a country as it is, I obviously barely saw anything in 5 days, and it is definitely on my return list. Quito was a very awesome city, with beautiful colonial architecture and murals everywhere, and with lots of history, as it like Lima is a UNESCO world heritage site. and , the people I met were so much more formal. In Lima, there is that wonderful feeling that that everyone you interact with, you have known for years, but in Quito, it was complemented with respect and courtesy, something I find lacking in Lima.

Anyway I got back to Lima's airport and was joyfully greeted by taxis trying to charge me double what is acceptable. After I got it down to a normal price, and we were driving away, he says to me, "Oh, ya conoces Peru, eh?" (Haha, you already know Peru). I get it, he has every right to squeeze every penny out of unsuspecting gringos. There are too many reasons that this is totally acceptable. If he is good at it, I fully support him. But I wish he would have some pride in it and not take on the inferior attitude that people in his country have to take advantage of others. It's a hard reality, but it's a simple fact that that is what he has to do to survive. Unfortunately, it goes both ways, and it is a daily struggle to avoid passing judgment on the character of Peruvians that have come from a much different background than I could ever imagine.

In other things, life is going well enough. I had a great Halloween, dressing up as a woman along with 10 other guys from my house doing the same. We were the life of the party, and the most disturbing one, Mateo from Florida who has just gone home, won best costume.

After lots of preparation (much of which us interns were not involved in), my organization began yesterday a course for Peru's forces of order regarding control of illegal arms trafficking. It went very well, and I get to go back next Monday and Tuesday as well. As has become the norm for my time here, though, my physical condition got in the way of my experience. I have been going on Saturdays to Huachipa to volunteer; still in Lima, but more like the campo, and this time I got 4 mosquito bites. But apparently my body didn't like that, and they turned into 4 painful black bruises. So while at the course being held at Peru's air force academy, I went to the clinic there, and they were pleased to stick me with an injection with a couple of vials of steriod and anti-allergy medicine. So, for the bulk of the course in the afternoon, I sat there falling asleep all drugged up...gotta love Peru!

Antisana, volcano near Papallacta

Beautiful greens and steep hillsides of the Ecuadorian Andes

Mike in the back of a pickup down from Papallacta

Waiting to hop on a bus

Quito from neighborhood below Parque Itchimbia. Good way to protect your property I guess, this is something I saw a lot of in El Salvador, but don't see at all in Lima.

Colonial Quito and south, and Cerro El Panecillo, a perfect hill in the middle of the long city, with Quito's virgin at the top.

Mike at Cafe Mosaico

Colonial Quito

More colonial Quito

Extraño la naturaleza, me encantó Huaraz.

2009-11-04T10:36:00.000-06:00

So, I've got a lot to update on since I've been lazy with the blog, but I'll try to keep it short. Two weekends ago, as I mentioned, a large group headed up to the beautiful mountain town of Huaraz. After a scary overnight bus ride which swayed and rocked more than a small boat in the ocean, we arrived at 6 am, and the cool, clean air was such a relief coming from the pollution of Lima.

After a good breakfast, we walked up the main street, Calle Luzuriaga, which was a really interesting sight. Here all aspects of Peruvian society are smack dab in one place, as opposed to Lima where classes and cultures are well separated. Among all the modern corporate symbols and technology, the streets were filled with indigenous Quechua on the roadside selling crops, herbs, chickens, coca plant, and pig.

The main street

Quality selection

This woman yelled at me, saying the picture was not free.

We then hired a tour guide to take us to Nevado (snow-capped mountain) Pastoruri, which has an altitude of about 5200 meters. We stopped along the way on the drive and had some mate de coca (coca leaf tea), which really did help to relieve the moderate altitude sickness I felt coming on.

Highway out of Huaraz

Entrance to Parque Nacional Huascarán

Silly rest stop at this little pool where carbonated water comes out of the ground.

The face of Jesus on the distant mountain, the tour guide said.

Puya Raimondii plant, an interesting Andean high altitude species that blooms every 40 years and then dies.

Upon reaching the final parking lot around 4900m, there was the option to walk or ride a horse for 5 soles, up to the base of the mountain. I was very grateful for the horse, as well as the men who ran alongside us...

The group at the base of Pastoruri. We didn't go to the top, but only as high as we had to to get to the glacier (which has apparently receded in recent years and will disappear soon).

The following day, a group of 10 rented bikes and paid the company to drive us up 30 km west of Huaraz, into the Cordillera Negra this time.

Huaraz in the valley, and the Cordillera Blanca on the opposite side.

Later, when we would bike down past these villages, every young child seemed to know how to say "Hello," even in this further isolated highway.

Upon reaching the point where the van dropped us off, the afternoon rains had begun. At an altitude of 4000m, it was cold and miserable. But we were still smiling, as the adventure was just beginning. As we made it a few kilometers into the ride, we figured finding a way down on a trail instead of the winding narrow highway would be safer. So we took a cutoff road that an indigenous man said would get us back to the main road eventually. Soon we entered an extremely isolated village, where I somehow saw a car, but I don't know how it got there. Everyone there was having a cheerful, drunken Sunday, and I'm sure it was quite the sight to see our crew riding through.

We had a nice conversation with a couple of farmers who certainly had not seen many gringos pass through their land.

As we left the village, the trail turned horribly steep and rocky, and the rain picked up. We had to walk a lot of it, as it was seriously professional terrain. I took a complete forward tumble once, and then broke my back brakes when we entered mud so thick and sticky it clogged up our bikes, let's just say we barely made it back to the highway with enough time to get down before dark.

Almost 2 Months

2009-10-23T12:17:00.002-05:00

So, I am sure everyone at BC has seen this already, but I am posting it here because it is literally la verdad!

http://www.backupcollege.com/

(dang, it used to link to Notre Dame, still close, but not as funny)

GO EAGLES!

After a long week, tonight I am headed up to Huaráz, Peru with 15 people or so from my house and our soccer rivalry house Casa Roja. It is a beautiful, small city in northern Peru in the Callejón (Alley) de Huaylas known as the Switzerland of the South, because it sits in a valley between two beautiful Andean ranges, the Cordillera Blanca (which hosts Peru's largest peak at 22.2 thousand feet), and the Cordillera Negra. We will take an 8 hour bus ride overnight Friday and Sunday night to be back by Monday morning.

Lima has been okay lately, I really think if I hadn't been sick the whole time I've been in Peru, I would be more active/enjoying it a lot more. I really HATE my immune system right now, and the fact I do not know how to cook probably hasn't helped. The bike has also proven to be one of the worst decisions I have made, as it is impossible to ride it on the sidewalks, and to ride it on the streets is a death wish here. I've already hurt myself because of the excessive amounts of curbs I have to go up and down, but the other day I crashed into a man who stepped right in front of me in the street to get into a taxi (hailing a taxi and getting in can take less than 5 seconds here, you don't see it coming). I also went to a really good live music bar in Barranco twice this week called La Noche, once with Taylor Morton, on his way through Lima back to the States (we saw an Amazonian art/music presentation), and last night with some roommates. It feels like a classy, small hipster club in Central Square, only better, with cool wooden architecture and an awesome balcony.

Anyway, I am still motivated for the second half of my time here to really try to get to know more of the city and the people here outside of my bubble, because so far I haven't been too successful with it. I guess I could motivate myself by planning to write some articles, or consider it as potential thesis material. I have a few things lined up to volunteer with for the rest of my time here, so that should help a bit. I have a growing interest in the politics about Lima's pueblos jóvenes, and I really want to learn more about them. Many were established as organized land invasions where a migrant group of 100 families or so would settle unused lots in the outlying areas of Lima, and the government was very hesitant to evict them in the insecure environment of the Sendero Luminoso war, which would have fed people right into the palm of the said paramilitaries. Since then, many of these have grown into slums with hundreds of thousands of people.

One little adventure I had recently was a shoe shopping quest. My only outdoors/active shoes I brought were totally falling apart after a few games of soccer, so I went to find some cheap shoes on my tight budget. I first went to Polvos Azules, a popular commercial center in Central Lima with massive amounts of counterfeited, well produced CDs and DVDs. I found lots of shoes from 30-40 dollars which may/may not have been fakes, but seemed to be good quality. Ignorantly, I proceeded further to a market called El Hueco, in a more crowded, sketchy area. You walk down into "the hole," and there is aisle after aisle of crowded vendors mostly selling fake brand name shoes in this curiously dark, black lighted shopping environment. I guess the point is so you can't see too well what you are buying. Well, I got some Fadidas for about 12 dollars, and one week later they are falling apart! I should have known they would with how thin they are...I'll put a picture of them up sometime. I guess I may have to go back and get some more expensive fake shoes that will actually last. Here are some pictures of my shoe shopping day in central Lima:

Soccer Stadium

Peru's Supreme Court/Judicial Branch

old theatre

Parque Universitario, where hundreds of people were watching old couples dance cumbia in the ampitheatre (this seems to be happening everywhere in parks on Sunday)

I walked past this child selling candy right outside the park twice in a few hours.

Paracas National Reserve/Ballestas Islands

2009-10-18T11:10:00.001-05:00

See previous post for first part of my trip. This post is mostly just photos from my tour of the Paracas Peninsula and the Ballestas Islands. It would have been much more beautiful if it wasn't such a foggy day, but I guess it's kind of a cool effect.

Paracas peninsula, where General San Martin began his liberation of Peru

The Candelabra of the Andes, a geoglyph with unknown origins. One hypothesis is it is a jimson weed, which ancient Peruvians might have obtained in California and used this as a return landmark, as there is a similar one drawn on a rock in California.

Ballestas Islands

Pingüinos closest to the ecuator

some lovebirds (I can't remember what they were called) and pelicans

more lovebirds

The black and white masses on the island are the different types of birds, ahhh!

whoa.

Ica

2009-10-18T10:43:00.002-05:00

Beautiful view near my house, now that I am finally starting to see some sunlight!

Hey everyone, so I still don't have those pictures from my trip to Huaycan I wanted to share so I'll just post about my last weekend's trip to Ica/Paracas. I am planning to head out to Huaycan this afternoon again so I'll post about it at some point. Anyway, I decided I needed a break from the nonstop noise and stimulation that Lima can provide, so I hopped on a bus on Thursday the 8th to Ica, Peru. I am slowly getting a bigger picture of this country. There are small, well insulated parts of Lima where you can see the benefits of Peru's development, but much of the rest of the country seems to be largely stagnant. Though I still need to see more than just coastal Peru, it seems like the biggest source of income outside of Lima is through tourism, which can only do so much in the busy parts of the year. It's overwhelming how saturated the market is with people informally trying to sell you something in buses or on the streets. That and the country's taxis/mototaxis, even that is such an informal economy that anyone can get a sticker for their car and compete with others to give the lowest price to passengers. Anyway, the bus ride was only a nice 5 hours, and I passed a lot of interesting sights.

Bus ride to Ica

I made it by 6 pm and took a cab to the Laguna Huacachina, a little resort 5 kms away from Ica featured on the back of the 50 soles bill. It is a beautiful little desert oasis.

Laguna Huacachina

Sandboarding

Desert in Ica

Friday morning, I caught a cab to go explore the city of Ica. He was fixing it when I made the deal, so I figured a low price wouldn't be bad, since it practically stalled the whole way up the hill out of the oasis. It turned out the driver Cristian happened to be a sneaky guy who, upon getting me to the Plaza de Armas, started telling me how dangerous it was to walk a various number of blocks in different directions from the plaza. So he said he would drive me over to the town's beloved church of Luren before letting me go. It hosted the patron Señor de Luren, a moreno Christ statue, until a 7.9 earthquake that destroyed 30% of the city in August 2007 left it in ruins. It survived and is kept in another convent. Now, according to the story of the statue, it has survived being dumped overboard to save the boat on its way from Spain, a fire in 1918, and this earthquake. The story goes that the patron gained a large following as it was provided for a chapel in Ica by the Spanish founder of the region, who upon regretting the damages done, had made a hospital for the indigenous people. The parade for the saint happens annually, tomorrow.

Iglesia Señor de Luren, destroyed by August 2007 earthquake

Before quake

Procession on 3rd Monday of October

After that, he took me to see the statue, and before I knew it, he was taking me on a wild tour around Ica, without us ever agreeing on a price per hour or anything. But he had some interesting commentaries about Ica, an overall very impoverished city whose people seemed to have a really depressed, downtrodden attitude. Next, he started to tell me about stories of the witches (brujas) of Ica, some evil, some good, and there is a specific neighborhood called Cachiche where they used to congregate. When I got out of the cab I was stormed by children who wanted to tell the story, and Cristian chose the lucky one who would get the tip.

Tour guide Cristian and my child guide to Las Brujas de Cachiche

Bruja statue

Church in Cachiche

Ica

I finished my tour at a bodega, where they produce wine and pisco, Peru's national drink. It originates from this part of Peru.

Bodega Vista Alegre, 152 year old wine and pisco producer

Ica

I'll continue in another post about Paracas/Ballestas Islands.

La Sierra

2009-10-04T22:15:00.003-05:00

Wow, this is one of the most amazing documentaries I have ever seen. It is about a community in Medellin involved in the Colombian conflict, focusing on the lives of several members and family members of one of the "paramilitary" Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia groups. It is really interesting to me because it relates closely to the work done at the center I work for. But I think it is just a really powerful, informative, and provocative documentary in every aspect. Watch it!

Link to Full Movie on You Tube, Part 1

Anyway, I just wanted to share that. I will make a post about my visit to Huaycan soon.

2009-10-02T13:29:00.000-05:00

Hello all, I'm sitting at work here and can't focus so I guess I'll write a little entry. Work has been so far so good still, except they don't really have enough for Talitha (the other public security intern) and I to work on. We have been working on a project thoroughly researching firearms prevalence and use in Latin American schools, in order to prepare a preliminary report on the issue and what countries have done to combat it. It is really interesting because everyone has the impression that only the US has that problem, however, it really exists a lot down here, just in a really different sense. More in the sense that they are often in an insecure environment and have guns to protect themselves on their way home from school or use them to get their way with other kids. Anyway, it's also really depressing, and I can't sit and research incidents and policies on this issue for more than 2 hours a day without being tired of it. What I'm slowly starting to learn is that I think I need a job in which I can interact with people...and not just in terms of a partner who I can do research with. I'm also excited for them to actually get us involved in more than just research...and I think we'll get to sit in on our center's training courses for public security sectors of Peru on the illicit trafficking of firearms in November.

Fortunately, I start tomorrow volunteering, and will go every weekend I am available, in the community of Huaycán, a pueblo joven in Ate-Vitarte. Here is a nice little article that briefly mentions it. I am really looking forward to teaching English and interacting with some children there! It will take me about an hour and a half on two separate combis, but yes, it's still in Lima metropolitano.

Maybe it will give me something to bring my mind present to the here and now in Peru. Unfortunately, after moving from Arizona and feeling detached from my friendships there, and then further being away from everyone I know down here, I feel like I would be a lot happier somewhere in a more supportive environment. I am here absolutely on my own and living and working mostly with people a bit older than me, but I didn't do the best job finding connections with other students to hang out with here, and it definitely makes me a bit lonely. That in combination with my total detachment from Lima itself and my bubble life in the places I live/work (Miraflores/San Isidro, a very, very small part of the vast expanse of Lima), it's easy to say I'm really excited for tomorrow. Anyway, I don't want to complain anymore, but I guess I'm in a lot of ways really looking forward to Chile, where I'll be in a university environment and also more directed and supported for meaningful interaction with the locals and the society. Unfortunately it's kind of dangerous to seek that out here when I am in an office in the entirety of the daylight hours.

And besides everything else, including all the learning potential there is when you enter a society that is so different than what you know, either way I simply just don't really like Lima. It is a disorganized, dirty mess with a decent amount of really rich people and tons of really poor people. It makes you numb to poverty because if you gave your money to everyone trying to sell portable toothbrushes on the buses, you would be broke. It is a typical modern third world megacity that within the last 70 years has undergone absurdly rapid population growth while trying to develop in the wake of the world's economic powers. As some business and wealth moves in, the few at the top see most of the benefits, and immigrants flood the metropolitan area because of marginal opportunity increase, making it impossible to distribute resources to so many people. Some pueblos jóvenes developed in a more organized manner, and their quality of life is now higher, but none have realistic opportunity to easily develop on their own, as the money and education continues to flow to the preset power structures. I hear Universidad de Lima costs 2000 US a month, which sets out a small group who have the ability to attend, and yes, most of them are much whiter than those at the limited public institutions.

Anyway, my frustration is all because this was a really last-minute judgment, but hey, through all the bad and hard times here, I know I'll come out of it at least having learned a few things. We'll just have to wait and see. I just really need to try my best to bring myself to the here and now to get the most out of it I can, including my job, because right now, the fact that it's hard has really made my mind drift back home.

2009-09-24T10:56:00.002-05:00

It's been a long week. I haven't been able to blog because first last Wednesday, a horrible stomach infection won the battle it had been fighting since the previous Saturday when I went to central Lima. I ate in a dirty looking restaurant off the Plaza de Armas for 5 soles. Here when you order the "menu ejecutivo" or the executive menu, it usually just means the cheapest thing they offer and includes a first and second dish and a drink, and they always have them ready to crank them out for whoever comes in. I think I ate an onion salad on the side of my appetizer that was soaked in dirty Peruvian water, because I got really sick.

It was terrible because I was invited to a 2 day conference hosted by the OAS and FLACSO of civil society groups in preparation for a proposed meeting of ministers responsible for public security in the Americas. As that got started, my stomach started doing sumersaults, and I had to leave to a clinic. I was prescribed some stuff, but then went a whole day without getting it or paying the clinic because in my delirium and headaches I forgot my ATM pin and froze my card up. Needless to say, it was a rough couple of days, but I was feeling better by Saturday night.

So I started Saturday night out at a Fiesta Mexicana hosted by one of my coworkers, but the only people really there at first were older people who work with her husband at the Canadian embassy, so that was a little weird until my coworker finished making an amazing selection of legit Mexican food and another coworker showed up. Then a mariaci band showed up and later we all started dancing to the Peruvian's beloved cumbia songs. Then I continued the night out with my roommates and we went to some party hosted in the backyard of a nice suburban house. And finished the night at an awesome bar in Barranco called Tizon. Barranco is a really nice area with lots of places that play rock music in their playlists.

Overall, it hasn't been the most eventful week. However, Monday night I ate some cow heart, in the form of anticucho de corazon, which is basically cow heart on a skewer. It is very good! Once you get past the slightly rubbery texture. I don't think I was told it was cow heart until after, but it didn't really bother me. Then, last night, after watching Green Street Hooligans, I went with my roommates to La Bombonera in Surquillo to play some late night fútbol. It is not in the nicest neighborhood, but it is a bunch of soccer fields up on the roofs of some buildings, where you can reserve a little field for just a few bucks each. We played 4 on 4 against some people from another house, and we won after a long comeback. I am needless to say the worst on my team, but I did okay as goalie, since it allowed the others to actually control the ball on offense :). The French guy who lives in my house got a little annoyed with me because I suck, and he kind of has a quick temper, but other than that, it was good.

Other than that, I'm just getting a serious urge to get out of Lima, because I think I'm a little bored here. Fortunately, I have a trip planned to Quito in November to meet up with Mike and the BC kids studying there, and then will go to Cuzco/Machu Picchu/Puno in early December! Though I want to start volunteering somewhere, because my English teaching job has not come through yet as no new clients have called him, and I'm just really not motivated to rock climb here, as the wall I checked out doesn't psyche me up enough to get over there after every long day of work. I also think I might try to take a Portuguese class at the Centro de Estudios Brasileiros which is run by the Brazilian embassy right by my house. Yea, might be crazy, but I think my Spanish is good enough to do it, and I love learning languages!

Finally, to anyone who can read Spanish, I strongly urge you to check out the Peruvian author I posted a picture of at the beginning of this blog. Julio Ramón Ribeyro. His short stories are absolutely incredible. There are some here. "Los gallinazos sin plumas" is amazing, and Peruvians really recommend "Sólo para fumadores." Anyway, if you can read Spanish, they are really short stories, and well worth your time.

Peace

Qué Tal Gringo

2009-09-15T01:21:00.002-05:00

Oi, I should be asleep, but I got a lot to talk about before I forget. So first, last Wednesday, I dropped off my bike at a little tiny bike shop on a side road in a shabbier part of Miraflores. It turned out I had to pay S/. 50 to get the pedal welded back on and get a maintenance/cleaning done on the whole thing. I think I could have got a new bike from this little shop with really good prices for less than I've paid in total now, but I guess it's been a good learning experience. At least the bike looks new now. It sounds a lot better too. I had a nice chat for about an hour with the shop owner Luis on Friday after work as he finished up his job on my bike. He was a really cool guy who also was really good and worked hard at his job. He, like many others here, was really confused about what on earth International Studies is. In a developing place like Peru, education is certainly on the rise, but it tends to be all at a very practical level. Whenever I try to explain it through my internship, they follow-up with, yes, but what is your carrera, which is their word for major/career. There is not the biggest understanding of the concept of studying international relations/ethics. Nonetheless, he was really interested that someone from the powerful US was interested in his country. He himself has tried for 9 whole years to make it to the United States, but he says they don't let in those who deserve it, and only let in those who don't, those with la plata. He seems to be doing well enough for Peruvian standards, but he definitely works a lot. He only has one son, but he says he could never do what many immigrants would do and leave their families to immigrate; I suppose that is a product only of severe desperation. Family is highly valued in this culture. Despite his desire to go to the US, you can hear the pride he has for his country and its amazing food and people and land.

I have noticed the phenomenon of a great deal of pride for Peru a lot, as well as a movement for all Peruvians being united as one group. I'm sure it has its roots in a lot of history, but from what I know of recent Peruvian history and of what my friend Carlos has told me, this is really only something of recent years. With Peru's late economic success and emergence from its years of conflict, people are able to unite as being part of one Peru, which seems to have the potential to make it a great example among the region. No longer does everyone have any reason, nor desire, to flee to the United States. And they're all convinced they have the best cuisine outside of France, which may be true dependent on your taste.

Saturday, I had a really great day exploring the Historic Center of Lima, but only the part of it in the district known as Lima Cercado, as part of the Center lies across the river in Rimac, where hopefully I'll go sometime when I'm more comfortable here. I started taking a combi up Arequipa to around as far as the main set of the city's really cool parks, which I have yet to explore, near La Victoria where I bought the bike. Then, I wandered up toward the center and found a really cool alley full of grafitti and stores selling burned CDs and old books. I bought a few Jazz and "Chill Out" CDs, the guy who said music was his life told me. The chill out ones are not the best purchase I've made.

Calle Quilca: Boulevard de la Cultura

interesting

Then I got to Plaza San Martin, a monument to Peru's libertador.

Then, I walked up Jiron de la Union, where I passed a cool plaza where Peru's independence was declared, as well as an ultimatum for democracy announced in 1956, which needless to say wasn't heeded. I started to get my first taste of the interesting colonial architecture of Lima's center, where there are apparently 1600 old balconies.

Then I came to the Plaza Mayor or the Plaza de Armas, where many important buildings are located, including the Catedral de Lima and the Government Palace.

Finally, I went to Parque La Muralla, where I got views out toward the slums north of the Rimac River, including Rimac. It has a cool preservation of old city walls and an old house as well.

Bridge and northern districts of Lima

Rímac and Cerro San Cristobal

Yea, I could read that writing that far away, fortunately my camera has 12x zoom so everyone else can too.

"Constructing Peru" and "Peru Is Progress"

Interesting things to be written on that hillside, no? The vibrant colors of the houses in the pueblos jóvenes (shantytowns) is really fascinating to me as well.

Old City Walls to defend from attack by river

Finally, on my way home, I was aggressively approached by Pedro the Bolivian, a clean, but sketchy looking older guy who tried to get me to go have a beer with him. Maybe my Spanish getting better isn't always a good thing. It prevents people from getting to the point of the con they're trying to pull. He was rapidly asking me questions about what I'm doing and said he wondered California, because Creedence Clearwater Revival was always his favorite band. I'm pretty sure they're a Southern band, but what do I know? I got the typical confused response about my major, but this guy was "curious" enough to say, "Disculpe mi ignorancia, pero pero me lo necesitas explicar mejor (Pardon my ignorance, but you have to explain it better)." At that point he didn't care enough to hear my answer and repeated that we should just go have one little beer. At that point, I had had enough and was on my way.

Other than that, I've secured an English-teaching job, for which I'm waiting for a call back that someone wants a class. It's going to be a little hard getting paid on my tourist visa though. I also went to the rock gym, the first full-time one, of which the owner is really proud. It is a sweet little outdoor bouldering wall that actually has a decent amount of wall. Unfortunately, they don't make all that much money to offer me a paying job. They even make all their own holds. But he said I could climb for free if I help them out time to time, as he said he really appreciates what I'm doing here. He also said his son was born in "the f****** North America," but hey no offense intended, as he laughed it off. Really interesting guy, I was looking at a newspaper article on the wall in his office that he and a partner traversed the entire length of the Andes in Peru; pretty incredible!

Maybe I should make shorter posts, more often.

2009-09-10T13:17:00.002-05:00

Hola,

I am just sitting at work with not much to do and figured I could write a blog. I haven't said much at all about my job. I am really enjoying it! I was more or less transferred from the Legal instruments team the first day when I could not understand the española Sonia too well. Funny after being in Spain this summer for 5 weeks, but wow, Peruvians are much easier to understand. I was really flustered as I had really just arrived in Lima and suddenly all the staff were introducing themselves to me and explaining what they do, and I was just getting lost. I guess it's for the better, because I don't know really know anything about international law. So the deputy director Mèlanie put me in sort of a hybrid position between Legal instruments and Public security team. Hopefully if my work is appreciated enough, they will give me some work with more legal issues, though it's really all interconnected.

As the UN's organizations are caught in a horrible mess of bureaucracy, it's easy to say that yes, UN-LiREC struggles for funding, especially when state or IGO or other donors consider disarmament, they think of nuclear non-proliferation and North Korea. In Latin America, this has been more or less a non-issue for some time. To cap it off, 13% of funding has to go back to the Office for Disarmament Affairs headquarters in New York, and UN-LiREC never sees any of it again. What is in fact a big issue in Latin America is the fact that of 14% of the world's population and 4% of the world's civilian firearms, 40% of all firearms homicides occur here. In 2001, there was a major politically-binding instrument in the UN General Assembly called the Programme of Action to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects. This is what most of UN-LiREC's work is focused around in recent years. Working to eradicate the excessive availability of small arms as they only reinforce the structures of the drug trade, gangs, and a general culture of violence that varies in intensity in different urban and rural environments, and causes the biggest barrier to economic improvement for certain communities. They do this in combination with working alongside the UN Development Programme and other groups to provide alternatives for marginalized populations.

Anyway, I don't know how much detail anyone wants to hear about this, but it is definitely interesting work, and I'll try not to ramble too much. As my supervisor Amanda told me, it's not exactly the best job to integrate into your nightlife conversation, but it's work that she enjoys. My first task was helping out with a proposal we sent yesterday to Canada for a 5 million dollar project centered around the crisis area in the Northern Border Zone of Ecuador and taking a multi-sectoral approach to combat the illicit firearms trade in the Andean Community. I had to prepare a background report on the illicit arms trade and the proliferation of weapons and the effects of armed violence in this sub-region. It's crazy because I'm researching and learning that global problems are a lot more complicated than I ever imagined in the real world. With my limited understanding of the issues in light of new thoughts and revelations, it sometimes seems there is no right answer. Sure, the subjectivity of Intro to International Studies was a new challenge, but this takes it to a new level. It's certainly my biggest challenge but also probably the best thing about the job, because it's going to make me redefine more accurately my ideas about these issues. At the same time, there's not the biggest place for idealism when you're working for a system as both UN-LiREC's ideals and the donor's ideals (both of which have their own responsibilities and systems in which they work, making it ever more complicated) trump individual thought to some degree. I suppose this is why people end up reconciling their beliefs with whatever life path they end up choosing. And only those in academia or leadership positions can really try to influence any system and it's thought process.

Nonetheless, despite my confusion, my initial response is that I approve of the activities of UN-LiREC, but I suppose this isn't really the forum for details! Okay, I'm rambling, and anyway, just some initial thoughts that I hope will be a little more clear in a few months. It's hard to get in the rhythm of independent study and research for 8 hours a day in front of a computer too, but I'll get into it and learn a lot I think.

Elsewhere, things are going super chévere. I'm living with a few really awesome people, including a crazy Spaniard from Asturias, an Irish guy more recently from Boston, a Floridian, a French dude, many Peruvians, and an older Australian guy. It's an eclectic bunch, but overall it flows well, and Hugo the Spaniard will certainly be the reason my Spanish betters the most, besides reading academic texts for work spending half the time on wordreference.com. We went to a party at a big student house on Saturday which is part of this network of Peruvian and international student houses and gatherings. It was a lot of fun, as parties in Lima tend to be on people's roof terraces. Surprisingly, I met the first two Americans who were not at a backpackers' hostel on the way to Cusco. They were from Colorado of course. Then it's mostly a lot of French and a few other Europeans. There is certainly the impression here that most native English-speakers don't care about learning another language. At least it I live with and will hopefully meet a lot of people without that attitude. Though it's certainly an arduous process getting used to casual conversation in Spanish, and you find yourself stuck a lot. Certain nights I'm just not up for it, and it definitely is a cause for some loneliness, but fortunately I have some English speakers around the house. Anyway, it will get there, and I think I'm already improving way quicker than I was in Madrid because of the lack of the BC companions to fall back on.

Unfortunately, my office is separated from the main house in a conference room out in the yard, so interactions seem to be brief with most of the people I work with, and it's hard to break the language barrier and get to know many of them. But my fellow intern Carlos is a 30 year old Peruvian lawyer who is contemplating switching to international law. We have been getting along really well and having more or less fast paced bilingual conversations, which is kind of fun. He mostly gets a really big kick out of learning practical English slang and dirty words. Hopefully I'm ready for an interview I have this afternoon to teach for an English language school near my house. The director e-mailed me saying I should call in, but he meant come in to the office, so I think they could use a native speaker around. Okay, I should find some work to do now.

Chao,
Brandon

Bicicleta Rota

2009-09-07T15:20:00.001-05:00

So I jynxed myself with that post last night. I said my bicycle would break on me one of these days, and of course, it breaks this morning!

I'm riding along casually and suddenly the pedal just falls right off the crank. It's completely stripped and loose and I have no idea if a part is missing or what. Anyway, I shoved it into a taxi without agreeing a price, and he then tells me a way extorted price, and takes me to the wrong Calle Tamayo (the one people actually know about). Then I have to tell him he took me the wrong way, and he yells at me for the 10 minute drive to the other one, repeating a hundred times how stupid I am and how he asked if it was the Calle Tamayo by the school and I didn't answer him. I sort of felt bad, but I told him to stop when he was going the wrong way, and he just said, no, no, I know where I am going. Fortunately I only had just enough coins in my pocket to pay him, or he would have tried to snatch everything else he could have, lol.

The total investment on this bike, with the several taxi rides included, already equals what I would have paid for a functioning bike on sale at La Victoria...ouch.

Fotos de mi habitación y mi bicicleta fea

2009-09-06T22:48:00.000-05:00

My nice little room! In the shower, the hot water comes by running it through an electrical box that heats it up instantly, so it has to be on extremely low pressure to make it hot...Today, I think I took too long a shower, and it shorted out the bathroom light and hot water and all the outlets in my room.

La vista de mi ventana.

Front porch.

Yep, the salesman really hooked me up with this pile.

Nice, definitely going to break on me one of these days. And what's worse is where I keep it it continues to get wet with rain. It makes the loudest creak when I'm riding that it scares people when I go by.

Te Amo Peru!

2009-09-06T18:12:00.001-05:00

Ayyy, I've left way to much to write about...I've finished my first week at work and everything is settling in here really well. I was definitely a little bored here for a little while, but now that I've started work and begun to get to know some of my housemates, I'm starting to enjoy everything a little more overall. The area around my house is super nice too, there are plenty of really good Peruvian/Peruvian-influenced restaurants within a few blocks where you can get an appetizer, main course, and a drink for S/.8 or less. Lima has a very large presence of Chifas, which are Peruvian-influenced Chinese restaurants. You get the best wonton soup ever and a delicious main course like an egg omelette on top of chaufa con pollo, and of course the standard Inka Cola. It saves me the pain of cooking too often, because to cook a good meal here would cost just as much at least, especially with the higher class Vivanda grocery store that's near my house.

After work Tuesday, I got a big ole haircut, and I'm already missing my long hair...It was a rather obnoxious story, because this (slightly off and creepy) guy I live with wanted to score points with his girlfriend by sending me to her salon, where all the women there shamelessly tried to set me up with one of the girls that works there. I ended up tricked into going to dinner with them, which wasn't so bad because the salon owner was an interesting lady to talk to. They also convinced me to take antibiotics for a nasty stomach ailment I was already experiencing, and I think it worked despite my hesitance to resort to them so quickly. As much as there is such a sense of brotherhood among everyone here, it sometimes can be a little too much. But it is kind of cool to be able to know that there are a lot of people around who would do a lot for you no matter how well they know you. And even to a foreigner, how they pull you into their inexclusive community without hesitation. I'm not saying it's the only attitude in any situation, but it's definitely a common sense I get in interaction with locals here.

Then Thursday night I saw Taylor Morton, who happens to be taking off the quarter to travel South America. Lima was his landing point, so he'll be back here in November again. It's always nice to catch up with an old Brophy grad. After much pain of effort, Saturday morning I finally found a supermercado which was selling the cheap section tickets for the Peru-Uruguay match yesterday afternoon in the World Cup elimination rounds. Peru has no chance of qualifying, but they got their second win at the game my Irish house mate Simon and I went to to make their record 2 wins, 4 ties, 9 losses. Many were approaching us after as we were likely the only gringos in the Popular Norte section. They said that we had brought the good luck. The funniest thing about the whole day was two young Peruvians who claimed to be 14 were curiously stalking us along the walk up to the stadium. We thought they were just really bad pick-pocketers, but I was a little worried since I had my camera. Then, close to the stadium, they pop up from behind and ask if they can enter with us because if we say they are with us, they get in for free. They turned out to be really funny kids who sat in front of us and tried to explain us everything about the soccer game and went on with endless questions about the plato típicos of the US and Ireland and the star players of our football teams. They had come out to the stadium, which is far out in one of the more-slummy suburban areas, from La Victoria, and helped us get on the right combi home.

Estadio Monumental, Ate Vitarte, Lima; Peru is not quite filling it up right now

The chants of Peru were nonetheless loud, I think things would not have been so good had they somehow lost after the last minute goal.

Fortunately, there was a little fight on the field, and Uruguay got a red card.

So, as far as my new job goes, I am really excited about it! It is really hard to get used to working a full time job in front of a desk and computer and to stay focused, but hopefully I'll get going with it a little better. I need to go eat though, so I'll post more about it later!

Brandon

El Orden vs. El Desorden

2009-09-01T11:12:00.000-05:00

So the last few days have been quite the adventure. Sunday, I first bid goodbye to the awesome limeños from K'Usillu's Hostel (basically only 2 of them staff the entire 24/7 work schedule). Jaime originally tried to help me find a place to live, despite warning me it would be expensive in Miraflores, that it would likely cost at least 900 soles/month, which is the same amount he makes for rotating day/night shifts (he had been working for 24 hours when I left...) for 84 hrs/week.

He is from Chorrillos, and to describe it, he imitates holding a gun, laughs, and makes a joke about life in the ghetto, because he knows I can't really relate at all. Ironically enough, though, my major work with the UN will be regarding small arms proliferation throughout Latin America, particularly the illicit firearms trade and the resulting ease of access in urban areas. I'll definitely take him up on his parting word of "visítanos!" as he helped me load the taxi.

Anyway, he tried making calls but he could not use his local edge to undercut the Miraflores prices. Fortunately I got a spot in this house which is shared with enough people to bring the price a good bit down. And I even have my own bathroom to take the lukewarm drip-drip showers in, and I promise there will be no more complaining about that.
Mi dirección:

Calle Chacaltana 114
Miraflores Lima-18

PERU

I have the room on the second floor behind the tree there.

The street noises are pretty loud, but hopefully I´ll get used to it. The streets are absolutely crazy in Lima. I don´t think US cities could compare at all. In fact, I learned recently it´s one of the only countries where the pedestrian does not ever have the right away, and this shows in the statistics on pedestrian deaths here. 30 km limit also means 90, and pare (stop) means honk your horn and go as low as 40. The most common method of transportation for the average citizen is their bus system called the combis. These privately run, second-hand passenger vans and buses race to each paradero to load as many passengers as they can. As it pulls up, the fee collector yells out the route (there is no official route map for the city I don´t think), and the bus is racing again before he and the last passenger have gained their footing on the bus.

Anyway, at least I live away from one of the major 24/7 noisy combi arteries of Avenida Arequipa, where my hostel was. I can get to work by a slightly more pleasant street, and so I decided a bike would maybe be safe. I went to an interesting part of Lima near the city center called La Victoria because I was told there were used bike vendors there. Tourists go to central Lima, but most stay in the in the major historical attraction areas. Picture something like some of the scenes in the classic film The Bicycle Thief (which I highly recommend). I was certainly safe in broad daylight and with all the people out parading and dancing on Sunday, but I elicited a lot of funny looks being the only gringo venturing into a zona no tan segura. Anyway, people saw me looking lost, and were anxious to help me find my way, yelling across the street Qué buscas? Well, I should have just settled for the cheapest bike on display for S/140. Instead, I decided that since I had made such a venture into Lima, I would bargain, so I tried, but it only got him to run off and find a bike that they probably just could not sell to anyone else. I followed him back deeper into La Victoria and watched them tightening the connections on the bike I got for $40/ S/120. which may not last me more than a few weeks. As a child watched me like I was an alien standing waiting for them to tighten the loose parts of this bike reassembled from junkyard parts, a sense of fear being such an outsider overtook me, and I just stuck with the bad deal and got a taxi to avoid getting lost as the sun would set soon.

When I tell limeños I am staying here for 4 months, it really brings a smile, or occasionally a look of surprise, to their face. I mean every time. Wouldn't it be nice if they could get the same response in my country, jaja...I believe they see that most people only drop through to fly to Macchu Picchu or the jungle to experience that wonderful Incan culture, which to them was lost on the day the Spaniards set foot. The Incans were "una gente muy bien ordenada: no seas ladrón, no seas mentiroso, no seas perezoso (don't be a thief, a liar, or lazy was a main foundation of Incan moral code)," and this was replaced by the disorderly mess that is Lima, this taxista told me. I think it is this ancient culture of cooperation that provokes such good treatment of someone like me, but I do know there are limits as la delincuencia, as the taxista called it, has become so widespread.

Anyway, I´ll leave it there for now and save my first few days of work for another post, but here´s a picture of UN-LiREC´s awesome facility.

Peace

Bienvenidos a Lima!

2009-08-29T18:34:00.003-05:00

Hello everyone,

As many of you may know, I have just left the states for a year of Latin American studies and exploration. I am starting this blog as a way to share what I learn as I seek new experiences and ways of thinking in the cultures of two Pacific megacities, Lima and Santiago. As I'm gone for a year, I don't want to fall out of touch with people. By the way, I bought one of those nifty magic jacks, and I have a Denver phone number I can use at my computer: 303-219-4686. If I like to blog enough, I'll continue posting about whatever I like in the future.

I titled it shoreline receding because it's from a line in a song by the sweet band Okkervil River called Lost Coastlines and I think it's quite fitting for what I am on the verge of. Almost 4 weeks ago, I established an internship for September-December 2009 with the UN Regional Centre for Peace, Disarmament, and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean in Lima's political and business district of San Isidro. I flew out here with little to no plans and I think things just might work out. I may have to cut my hair soon though!

I've already experienced a lot in the first few days; for example, I visited a unique art exposition of potatoes by Ernesto Zamalloa, honoring the "papa" and all its contributions to Andean and Peruvian society. It was a cool idea, but I was not able to appreciate the art all that much. It is astounding to catch glimpses of the profound indigenous respect of mother nature's preponderance among this city of 8 million which on the surface seems to have the ruthless, desperate nature of any big city. It really may not be so, because I have already been shocked by the kindness of several locals. Just some preliminary thoughts about this city I think I will come to like a lot.

But overall I have been preoccupied with finding a place to live for the next 4 months. I think I have the one, and I will move in tomorrow. It is a small but comfortable room in a house with 12 students including me, and only about 4 are foreigners, so that should be really good. I'll update more if it actually goes through. Anyway, I've got a lot more to talk about, but I'll just close with a few pictures. I hope the pictures are not few and far between, as I've broken the rules of the tourist books by bringing out my big camera in Lima.

I really liked this monument to this Peruvian short story writer and will be looking into his work while I'm here. "La palabra del mudo" means "the word of the mute," paralleling the famous "la voz de los sin voz."
Full translation:
My work in general is entitled the word of the mute, because in the majority of my stories, those who are deprived of speaking into an existence without mutual understanding and a voice express themselves: the marginalized, the forgotten, the condemned. I have restored them. Their breath rendered useless, I have let them modulate their wishes, their outbursts, and their anxieties.

Plaza Morales Barros

In fact, I will likely live right up this street from the plaza!

Well, thanks for reading my first post! I hope to share much more!

Brandon