Unas Sorpresas

This week has had a couple of small surprises. I will tell you about them here.

I have been on time to work everyday this week. This would be great news if everyone else wasn’t late. I have had to wait for someone to come with the keys everyday by myself or with some random kids. I have only been a little nervous, but I think I’m pretty safe since it is in a park and there are kids and other people running around everywhere.

First surprise: Monday, I got to the library on time and no one was there. A little girl ran up to me and said hi and let me know that it was still closed. Yeah, thanks. Hahaha. So I went up to the steps and noticed that there were a lot of people gathered in the street about a block away. I hoped that it wasn’t something bad, like an accident, but one guy had a little kid on his shoulders to see better, so I figured it wasn’t too bad. Then I was worried that it was a holiday and we were actually closed and Naomi was trying to tell me that the library wasn’t opening. But Adele said she would see me there on Monday, so I kept waiting. In a few minutes it became very clear that it was a funeral. A big private bus showed up to take the mourners to the cemetery and two guys were carrying big flower arrangements around. The funeral procession eventually made its way out of the house down the street, with a few men carrying the blue casket and those following tossing flower petals on it. There wasn’t a lot of crying or anything as far as I could see, but they were on the other side of the park. Everyone not involved stood and watched and the dogs ran over to see what was happening. They turned a corner and got in the bus. Just like that, it was over.

Monday night I woke up around 1 or 2 am to the sound of very loud popping. There are a lot of sounds here, but explosions are not one of the normal ones. At first I thought gunshots, then bombs (because I am rational), and then I realized it was fireworks! I looked out my window and got to watch a few fireworks go off in the middle of the night, in the middle of a huge city, before I fell back to sleep.

Tuesday I was on time for work again, which again meant I was the first to arrive. This time, instead of a funeral, I got to see a pet monkey! A little girl was in the park and just running around with a little monkey on a leash. It looked like Marcel from Friends. Sometimes when she would stop, the monkey would climb up her leg and just hang around her neck, like little American kids always hope for in their wildest exotic pet dreams. She came over to ask me a question and I could not take her seriously. I just couldn’t give her my complete attention when she had a monkey in her arms. I wanted to ask her its name and if I could pet it, but she ran off with Gianfranco before I could say anything. That might be one of my biggest regrets.

Today is Wednesday and I just finished eating lunch. When I left the table, my host family was watching a show about all the fun you can have in Ecuador. Then I heard The Today Show come on. With Matt Lauer. It was in English. I knew that they had the Today Show here because I see it on the guide on our television every morning, but I didn’t realized it was the exact same thing as what they broadcast from New York every morning. Surprise!

Final surprise that I will tell you about is this. For our school credit we have to do a few reflection papers and group discussions. This week we had to do something creative that we could use to show people at home what things are like here, and to help us remember when we get back. So I decided I would take pictures of the kids and make a photo collage using an app that I found. Easy peasy lemon squeazy. The only problem was that it was due Sunday, I started it Sunday, and I didn’t have any pictures of the kids. Really all that was due was the explanation of it, so I explained it before I did it. The next morning I got an email from the ISA offices in Texas saying that they wanted to see my collage because it sounded like the kind of visual representation that they would like to use to promote elap. Awesome. So I had to make this collage great. Haha. It did it. Don’t worry. But surprise! They liked it! They really liked it!

Additionally, it is the middle of July and I am wearing long sleeved shirts under sweatshirts under jackets. It’s cold and I just want summer.

P.S. I saw a man holding a guitar kick a bus yesterday as it was pulling away. I thought it was funny, but I don’t know why.

PPS There is a group here from OSU but I don’t think any of them actually go to OSU. And the professor isn’t from there. I don’t understand grad school. But they are all Spanish teachers and I got to work with some of them on Sunday at La Casa de Panchita. What fun.

Lots of love in Lima

This week has been relatively uneventful. I mean, in comparison to a week of classes in Columbus, it was exciting. In comparison to last month, uneventful. But I guess there were a few events.

Monday I got lost, as you may have read. It made me a little nervous the rest of the week, but it was actually a good thing because I studied a map and now I am the master of the buses. Kind of. Tuesday went a lot better. I also figured out a better way to get there than taking four buses. Now I only have to take 3!

On Tuesday we worked with a girl from Finland. She is super cool. She is an elementary school teacher and basically has been everywhere. She has visited 6 of the 7 continents! (You have to really try in order to get to Antarctica.) She works at Mi espacio para crecer every Tuesday and Thursday. Yay new friends! She helped me figure out the bus situation.

Also on Tuesday I had to make another phone call in Spanish. We didn't know exactly how to get there because the whole bus situation is very complicated, as I'm sure you are aware by now. So I had to call someone, but she ended up giving the phone to Adele, who speaks english, so things worked out. 

Wednesday I went with Clayton and we took the newer route for the first time. The second bus we got on had a ticket collector who spent a lot of time in New York. So he was very excited to talk to us in English. And a very old woman asked me all about where I'm from, in English but with a very heavy accent. She had been to Miami, so she knew about the US. Basically, it was a fun bus ride (and I'm not being sarcastic, I know I do that sometimes). We got there really early (15 minutes) and had to wait for a while. While we were waiting, a drunk, older gentleman started talking to Clayton. He left and came back and when he came back I was sitting next to Clayton on the curb. The man took my hand and looked directly in my eyes and told me that I am very beautiful. Latin men. They are so direct. He said that he could see I have a big heart. He saw it! Lo veo! Lo veo! Haha. Maybe I should get that checked out? So that was strange, but I'm used to it after living at Jacob's Porch for a year. The homeless men were always complimenting me on my straight teeth.

Also on Wednesday, I got to help a 6th grader with his english homework. He had to write 10 "will not" sentences. "Claudia will not eat chicken." I also helped a girl with her english homework, but it was harder because she had to write out the time under pictures of clocks. Why do we say "o'clock"? It seems super old-timey and weird. That was a kind of surreal experience, though, because I sat down and easily started talking to her in Spanish about English words. Our brains are so cool.

Thursday I had to ride the bus there by myself for the first time. I had a hard time finding the right bus, but I figured it out eventually. When I got there, the library still wasn't open. So we waited for Anali to show up. She never came, but Kati came and opened it for us. The kids got some time to play outside before doing their homework which is good sometimes. I also got to talk to Leidy about music and food. She recommended some Peruvian singers for me to check out, so that's cool. I also got lots of little kid hugs. Always good.

On my way home, I was having a difficult time catching a bus that would take me to my last stop. I decided to just walk, because it was only like 6-10 blocks and I had been really cramped on the last bus and wanted to stretch my legs. So it was dark and I was walking fast. I noticed that there was someone behind me and they were walking really fast too. I thought, "Okay, this person is either in a huge hurry, or they are going to kill me." Neither of those assumptions were true. This person wanted to ask me on a date. Ugh.

So it turns out to be this younger guy and he says, "Excuse me. Where I am?" in English. Obviously, this guy doesn't know English well, so I answer in Spanish that we are on Canevaro and Arequipa is that way and Salaverry is that way. He says he needs to get to Canada (that's a street name here, he wasn't that crazy) and that he came from a play in Jesús María. I said, "No sé, lo siento." He responded, "You aren't from around here?" Obviously. 
"No." 
"Where are you from?"
"Los Estados Unidos"
"What part?" (Notice that I am speaking Spanish and he is speaking English)
"Ohio"
"Oh I would like to go there." *red flag*
"Yeah it's great."I start to walk away. He starts to follow. I stop.
"So, uh, do you want to go out with me?" Again, so direct.
"I don't know you."
"Come on. I'm playing Rafiki in a play. You know The Lion King? I can get you tickets!" Cool!
"Can my friends come?"
"Of course!" Free tickets to see The Lion King for me and my friends?! Wow, this is great.
Basically I ended up giving him my info so we could be facebook friends. At the very least, it would be cool to see The Lion King performed in Spanish, right? So I went home, and realized he seemed kind of young. Maybe I should wait to get my hopes up. But we talked about how I went to OSU. He wouldn't think...

Yeah, he's in high school. It was a high school production of The Lion King. Sorry, high school boys, but I don't want to go out with you. That goes for you, too, old drunk men. We had a super fun facebook messaging convo about how I would be his friend but that's it and he would not give up, so I defriended him. What an adventure. 

This, my friends, is a good example of a brinchero. A brinchero or brinchera is a local who only wants to hang out with foreigners because they are foreigners. They usually get you to pay for things for them by being in some sort of relationship with you. The ultimate brinchero/brinchera move is to get pregnant so that you have to stick around. Yeah. Traveling is scary. The fact that he stopped me on the street tells me that he only talked to me because I look different. He said that he wants to go to the States, which makes me wary that he wants me to get him there. Maybe I'm wrong, but we have to be careful.

Today I was less adventurous as it was my day off, and I laid in bed and watched The Office with Spanish subtitles until 4. Then I went to Starbucks and read this great story by Daniel Alarcón about Lima called "The City of Clowns." It's kind of long, so I suggest you only read it if you have time. But you are reading this, so I assume you do. It was crazy weird to read this story that takes place on the same streets that I then walked home on. Whoa. It mentions places that I have seen and events that we learned about in class. And the part about people getting on buses to sell you stuff? Still true. Yesterday a woman just sang us a song and expected us to pay her. It's like a more straightforward street performance. 

Starbucks here has a really great orange chocolate chip muffin. They heat it up in a microwave for you. It's great. Starbucks Peru: great job, keep it up. Starbucks USA: sorry guys, you're slacking.

Lost in Lima

Don't worry. It wasn't that bad. I just wanted to cry most of the time. 

Yesterday was my first day of my internship with La Casa de Panchita. They work with domestic workers to help ensure that their rights are being protected, etc. They also are working to fight child labor in the domestic sector. So I am helping out four days a week at Mi espacio para crecer, where we help kids with their homework and give them a space to play. It is in San Juan de Miraflores, which is really far away from me. 

I emailed my contact on Saturday about where how to get to Mi espacio para crecer. She said she would meet me at Ricardo Palma University and we could go together. Great. I replied right away that it was far away, but I would be there.

Yesterday, my coworker and I got on a bus on Salaverry and were supposed to get off in Miraflores at the Wong, which is a grocery store, and then get on another bus that went all along Benevides avenue. We didn't see the Wong so we got off in Barranco and took a taxi. We were 15 minutes late and there was no one at the university to meet us. We thought we had messed up. So I called the ISA office and Kelly and Cedric got things straightened out. Lady was going to come meet us at the university in 10 minutes. It turns out my contact didn't have Internet the night before and didn't know we were coming. From the University we had to take two more buses. So we were about 40 minutes late.

Anyways, the actual tutoring was fun. Some of the kids just wanted us to do the homework for them, which I'm sure will get really annoying. One girl had to draw 4 different landscapes. She literally had the pictures in front of her and knew which one went in each spot, but she wanted me to draw them. I was like, "No, you can definitely do that."

We met another worker who is from France. She is really nice, and likes to try to break the French stereotype while she is abroad. You know, the one where they are rude and think only French things are the best. We rode the bus with her back down the hill and she got us on a bus that goes all the way down Arequipa. Now I will give you a map.

I have underlined Arequipa in blue. This is what we are dealing with here, people. It is not easy to know where you are at any given moment. Add to that the fact that the road names change with each new government, and you have a very complicated system. My friends were going to a different part of Lima, so they left me to figure out my way home on my own. So I was going to get off at Javier Prado. I ended up getting off at Canevaro (underlined in green). I'm pretty sure I was going North. I didn't know that Canevaro was an awesome place to get off. I thought I was totally wrong. So I asked a really nice lady how to get to the Universidad del Pacifico (my university, circled in purple). She told me to take a bus down Canvero and it would cross with Salaverry (underlined in red) and I could get off there. I thought she meant Salaverry would cross with Arequipa. So I got back on a bus on Arequipa and ended up downtown. Luckily I have been there enough to know how to get home from there. I was waiting for my purple bus to take me down Salaverry, and thought I would ask one of the other buses if they were going all the way down Salaverry. He said no, but a girl then decided to help me out. She put me on a combi and told the guy where to let me off. It was nice, but it made me want to cry a little. This combi dropped me off a few blocks from the University (at the red dot). Then I walked the rest of the way.

This whole ordeal took an hour and a half. I have studied Google maps most of the night, so I think I'm ready for today. But I'm still nervous.

I think everyone needs to have an experience like this. It's terrifying, sure. But it forces you to learn. And ask people for help. It reminded me that there are people in the US feeling the same way I did last night. I have to be one of the nice people who help out when I get home. Because it is really stressful to be the new kid on the block who has no idea how things work or where she is. Everyone should know how that feels, just to know. To be aware. And I guess, to be ready to help out.

Dancing with Scissors

This week was very busy. It was the last week of the ISA/classes portion of my stay, so we had exams, a goodbye party and basically anything that we had always wanted to do, but  hadn't gotten to yet.

Monday was a pretty uneventful day. We had classes like normal Literature at 8:30, economics after. But Karlos, my economics professor, had a cold so we got to leave that class early. What fun. This was our chance to get all of our work done for the rest of the week. Unfortunately, it ended up being time spent editing and posting pictures from Ica. I don't really know what I did that night, but it wasn't my homework.

Tuesday was the big game! Lionel Messi and his friends vs. THE REST OF THE WORLD! I'm part of the rest of the world. Why didn't I get to play? Anyways, we found out doors opened at 4. It was a 9:00 start time. Thankfully, some people had class until 6:15 so we left later. It took us way longer to walk there than it should have. Anyways, we got there after asking a few police officers where we should go and also meeting a guy who spoke english and was going to the same place as us. There were so many people outside the stadium trying to sell us things like gum and snacks and Messi jerseys. I should have bought a snack, but I thought there would be a lot of food inside. I also didn't know the security situation. So they ripped our tickets at 3 different places and then we found some seats. They weren't bad. They handed us each a giant plastic bag that we had to tie on each end and blow up like a giant balloon/tube thing. I didn't understand. I guess it kind of looked cool.

So the food situation was rough. There weren't any real vendors like we have in the states, you know with like, regulations and safety procedures. There were a few folding tables with people selling Pepsi from their 2 liters and homemade sausage sandwiches. I was wary. I bought an overpriced bag of Lay's and a Pepsi. Later we all got some ice cream for a reasonable price. Lúcuma, guys. It's the way to go when it comes to ice cream and dessert choices.

By now you are probably thinking, "But what about the game?!" Eh. It was alright. No one played very hard because it was a charity game. They didn't want to get hurt. They didn't run very much and they hardly played defense. The score was 8-5. One funny conversation that happened went like this:
"I'm so thirsty!"-Becca
"Don't do it! Drink your tears!"-Austin
"But I can't cry! I'm at the highest scoring soccer game ever!"
So yeah. It was cool to see Messi and I guess Neymar, but they weren't really playing, you know? If I had paid like $20 to see it, that would be fine, but I paid a bit more than that.

So. Wednesday. Three of the girls in my program lived with a really cool couple of sisters. One of them is a professional chef. So they wanted us all to come over for dinner. It was fantastic. Luz made cheviche and pisco sours. The girls made guacamole and chess taquenos. And there were lovely little tarts and plantain chips and tres leches cake. They live in a 20 story building so we went up on the roof and took pictures of the view. It was beautiful. Lima is such a big city. Also, for some reason, whenever you are on a roof you feel like dancing. At least 3 of us did. And not normal dancing. The flowey, not-quite-ballet, tiptoe kind of stuff. How strange. They promised us American cookies, but we left before they came out of the oven. I was sad. But those exams? Yeah, they still weren't done.

I stayed up late Wednesday night writing this stupid economics paper and making a presentation. I worked until about 1 or 2 am and then got up at 5:30 to finish before class. Gross.

The presentation wasn't bad. I was tired, but things could have been worse. I had coffee, so that was good. Also, on my way to class (I was early because I had to print out my paper) the guard at the Italian embassy that I always say hi to said "buenos dias" and then was like, "you're a little early today!" It actually made my morning. Oh! and it was the 4th of July. But no one cared. Except us. It was super weird. Class on the 4th of July?! blech. Then I got Starbucks to feel more like I love the USA.

Thursday night was the farewell dinner and 4th of July celebration with ISA. They took us to a fancy restaurant where they had a buffet of traditional peruvian dishes. They knew about our independence day so there were flags on the tables and apple pie for dessert. AMERICA! I ate so much. They didn't have the names of any of the dishes but I know I ate some raw fish in ahí sauce, ahí de gallina, palta relleno and causa. It was really good. And I had rice pudding, melon, apple pie, and a brownie for dessert. And a pisco sour.

While we were eating, there were professional dancers on the stage, doing traditional peruvian dances from all over the country. It was really really cool. I wish I was as cool as them. Some of those guys could move their hips about as well as Shakira. If you have a minute, you should look up "the scissors dance-cusco" on YouTube. These guys take running with scissors to the next level. In the taxi on the way home, we heard "Africa" by Toto, "California Dreamin'" and "Sweet Caroline." It really made my night.

I had my last class and final presentation Friday for my lit class. We had to analyze a poem by a Latin American author. I picked a poem about  a cat and put a different picture of a cat on every slide. It was wonderful. Bascially after that week we all stayed in on Friday night. It was great.

One month down, one to go!

Today is the 4th of July! That means that I am over halfway done with my program! And, it's the Independence Day of the USA! Wow!

So, I figured I would write some things about what I miss, but also what I like, because I'm homesick and I need to remind myself that I like a lot of things here.

Things I Miss about the USA:

1. English all the time

As much as I love Spanish, it is really hard to always talk in your second language. I want to go to the grocery store and not get freaked out when the cashier asks me if I have exact change. Hopefully, when I get home I will be less shy about talking to strangers because at least I won't have to do it in Spanish (most of the time).

2. Safe driving

Every day I have to cross a very busy street that does not have crosswalk signs. It is terrifying. People don't always use their turn signals and so 7 out of 10 times I end up running across the street. It's okay, the locals do it too. Also, the bus systems are part of the mafia or something. People can buy bus routes and then all the buses and combis on that route have to pay that person for using their route. It's nuts. One of the girls in my program was in a combi when it got pulled over for having fake license plates. Another girl got pulled over in a taxi and found out her driver didn't have his license. But it was okay because he just bribed the police officer. Basically, what I'm saying is, I will ride the COTA bus when I get home and I will love it.

3. Taco Bell

You all knew this was coming. Over the month of May I developed a pretty serious Taco Bell addiction. I went through a rough withdrawal period where the thought of a Doritos Locos Taco would bring tears to my eyes. I'm better now, it isn't as much of a struggle. Who knows, maybe by the end of July I won't even want TBell anymore. Probably not.

4. Close Friends

Don't get me wrong, I have met some really cool kids here in Lima. But I have only known them for a month. It takes me a long time to warm up to people, probably about one month. So I'm not terribly close with anyone, at least, in comparison to my friends at home. That's kind of rough because I'm getting hit with some heavy topics, but I don't feel comfortable enough to say, "Hey, so what did you think about the way the Inca were oppressed in the 1600s? I'm not sure how I feel about them mostly embracing Catholicism now, is that wrong of me?"So yeah. It's not like I'm looking for answers to those questions, but I wish my friends were here to work things out a little with me.

5. My fam

Yeah, I know. But it's true. I just miss them, okay? I haven't been in the same room as Dana for more than 24 hours for 2 months now. It's rough.

6. Quiet

One of the professors here said that the car alarm is Peru's second national anthem. I have memorized the sound of a car alarm. I could sing along. Also, people honk to pass other cars here. And to try to get taxi passengers and to say, "Get out of my way!" It's just loud. And I miss quiet.

Things that I love about Peru:

1. The History

People have been in Lima for 5000 years. No, I did not type too many zeros. There are prehistoric pyramids in the city! Machu Picchu is only the most famous cool thing, not the only cool thing. There are ruins everywhere. And museums everywhere! A lot of the museums here are free. I haven't had the chance to go anywhere, yet, but this month is more promising.

2. The diversity

Yeah, the US is diverse, but more so in people. The geography differences are more spread out. Peru has 11 eco regions. It has 28 of the 32 different types of climates. You can drive from the coast to the desert in less than an hour. And then you can go from the desert to the mountains and from the mountains to the jungle. Each area has its own types of food and music and dance. It's crazy. Even the weather changes as you move around the country. So there is a lot to do here.

3. The Food

Of course I love the food. Everyone loves the food. Peru is one of the best places to go for food. That's actually a type of tourism. Thank you, Anthony Bourdain and Andrew Zimmern. The classic Peruvian dish that everyone has to try when they are here is ceviche. One of my professors told us that it was named by tourists. The fishermen would eat raw fish out on their boats with a little lime juice. When tourists encountered the meal, it was on the coast. Sea + beach = ceviche. Basically, ceviche is raw seafood mixed with onions and lime juice. It's pretty good, but you have to eat a sweet potato with it to really love it. I had my first ceviche last night. It was wonderful. And if you haven't noticed,  I love the fruits. Maracuya (passion fruit) is my favorite. And lúcuma ice cream. It kind of tastes like cake, only kind of fruity. They also have this pepper called the ahí pepper. It's really spicy, but they take out the seeds and boil it down into a sauce that isn't spicy at all. It is so good and we eat it on potatoes all the time. Basically I eat a lot here.

4. The Shopping

Okay this is bad of me. I spend too much money on clothes. I just like clothes a lot. Peru has a lot of cheap clothes. It's actually kind of a black market thing, but the government doesn't really care. They call it "informal." There is one place downtown that I haven't been to yet called Gamarra. It is a big clothes market where you can get lots of cheap things. One of our leaders said you can get 3 polos for S/.20 which is like 9 dollars. Yeah, I know. I want to go to there. 

5. My host family

They are super nice. My host mom is so loving. She is kind of a mother hen. She always makes sure I wear my scarf when it's cold. I get a hug everytime I leave and when I get back. It hasn't started to annoy me yet, so that is good. They are probably the people I speak the most Spanish with and have been so helpful. 

Basically, things are different. I miss home a lot, but there are a lot of great things happening in Peru that I don't want to miss out on. Still on the list of things to do are surfing, probably shopping, playing with kids, going to museums, and eating more foods. Maybe another little trip somewhere. The Peruvian Independence Day is July 28 and they said that they celebrate with some fireworks and barbecues and free pisco sours. So at least I will get to celebrate one Independence Day right. 

They Also Mourn Who Do Not Wear Black

I spent my Saturday and Sunday in Ica and Paracas! Woohoo! They are about a four hour drive south of Lima! So we took a private bus! I loved it! (Really.)

We arrived in Ica around 11 am and went right to the dune buggies. It was one of the most fun things I have ever done. Each dune buggy held 10 riders and we had to wear seat belts that went over both shoulders, like on roller coasters. That was because dune buggying is like riding a roller coaster. If I hadn't been wearing that seatbelt I actually would have fallen out. Our driver was crazy and took us over huge dunes really fast and then turned and went back down again. That might not make sense, but that's okay. 

We stopped at the top of a particularly large dune to take pictures and sand board! They gave each of us a board that looked a lot like a snowboard. We didn't do it standing up. That would have been crazy on our first time. We went down on our stomachs. You had to make sure your chin was up so that if you fell you didn't get a face full of sand. It was so fun. Like sledding, only warmer and dirtier.

There were three hills to go down and then we got back in the buggies and drove around for a while before going back to Huancachina for lunch. We sat next to the oasis and at chicken and salad and potatoes. It was wonderful.

Then we went to our hotel/resort. This was the cheap excursion, guys. And we stayed at a 4 star resort. No one was expecting this. We got free pisco sours as a welcome present! And then we sat by the pool all afternoon. It was like a real vacation. 

For dinner we went to the city of Ica and found our own food. I had a rainbow smoothie and a chicken empanada. Empanadas are the bomb. If you haven't had one, I highly suggest it. Also, maracuya.

Sunday we left bright and early for Paracas which is about an hour and a half away, on the coast. We went on a boat tour and saw birds and sea lions and PENGUINS. They are migrating right now and the current goes right along the coast of Peru. It was sweet, but I felt a little motion sick. Then, on the way back we saw dolphins! I have seen so many dolphins in the last month!

After the tour we were able to shop a bit and then we went to lunch at Chincha. Chincha used to be where all the slaves were. When slavery was outlawed, they all kind of stayed in the area. This has led to a very distinct culture in this area. We had lunch at La Hacienda San Juan which was owned by some rich guys who owned lots of slaves. Eventually, the property was turned into an area for tourists. It's now a hotel and the descendents of the same slaves who worked there run the place now. They do a show with lunch where they sing and play music that developed there. And lunch was so good. Then we went on a tour. They took us in the catacombs and reminded us that while plantations are beautiful, they are also filled with horror. Slaves were brought to the catacombs first, to die from the diseases they had contracted. It weeded out the weak. They were abused there. It was awful. And there was a church on the property. It was just really sad. But at least their stories are being told. 

(This month, more than any other time in my life, I have been confronted with the idea of success at the expense of another. From Las Alturas de Machu Picchu, to the destruction of the rainforest, to the unequal spread of wealth in Peru, and La Hacienda de San Juan. On top of that, I'm reading Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide. I don't know what to do with all this yet, but for now I'm acknowledging that it's happening.)

After the tour, we got on our buses and went back to Lima. I have only listened to Sufjan Stevens this weekend. It was about time I became a fan.

This one's kind of boring. Sorry.

Last Thursday, for my Socio-Economic Reality of Peru class, we visited some "microempresas" (micro enterprises). It was really cool.

First we went to a house where a couple owns a clothing shop. The husband makes the fabric from alpaca at another location and the wife and a few others design, make, and sell the clothing at a shop in the city. They have worked with an international designer, so these ponchos, hats, and scarves are on the cutting edge of fashion. Their children are grown and have all learned to make clothing as well and work in textile production too. 

Then we visited a building where people can pay to use the sewing machines and equipment to make their clothes to sell. There were like, 15 sewing machines in this room. Some of the women showed us some of their products. One of them had Victoria's Secret stuff. I'm not sure if she was making knock-offs or what, but it was kind of funny. 

Next we visited an artist in his home. He has learned to paint reverse colors on glass so that you are looking through the glass at the painting. It's a pretty sweet skill. He makes boxes and trays and mirrors and can export them all over the world. He and his brother also make keychains and souvenirs that you can buy at the airport. It was really cool to see where some of this stuff comes from. It isn't all sweat shops like I have grown to expect. 

We went back to the place with the sewing machines to see a jewelry collective. They make a lot of rings and sell them at malls and mercados. They have all of these metal working machines at this little shop. It was sweet to see a little about how they do it. They also fed us sandwiches and coffee and took lots of pictures of us. They really liked that we were there.

Then we visited a group of indigenous women who crochet really nice, very fashionable, clothing. Their name is quechuan. So that's cool. They sell their stuff in one of the bigger malls in Lima. They each come in for a few hours a day and crochet a bunch and then sell it. They had a sign on the wall that said, "Solos somos invisibles. Juntos somos invencibles." (Alone we are invisible. Together we are invincible.)

Lastly, we went to another home where they make jewelry in the back. This guy showed us in much greater detail how rings are made. They start with a base, made in a mold. They then cover this with silver in a canister. Then they clean it and add details. It was really fun to watch him actually make a ring in front of us. And it was so pretty!

It was a long day, but very cool. All of these people live in the same area, San Juan de Lurigancho. In the 60s-80s everyone moved into the city. Now the majority of people in Peru live in Lima. San Juan de Lurigancho is an area where many artisans moved and live today.