Penultimatum

Que tal, patas?

I have discovered a restaurant with WI-FI. Not just any restaurant, but a restaurant with a piano bar. And by "piano bar" they mean an old man playing Frank Sinatra's "My Way" on a keyboard. Ahh, I'm home. (In fact, I'm there RIGHT NOW).

Guess what? I only have six more weeks left in Peru. That means this will likely be the penultimate email. Weep, wail... mourn the end. (If you're still reading.)

The news is: I'm finished my holiday and back at work! I'm less excited about it than that exclamation point might suggest. But I'm staying positive because "a positive thought cannot be denied", as I learned from Ali's song & dance therapy group on Living Lohan yesterday. Oh, the lessons to be learned from reality television.

What did YOU guys do on your vacations? The rules are response are these:
1) Respond cryptically!
OR
2) Ignore rule one and just tell me what you did.

I traveled around the southern part of the country, and visited all the places you're supposed to visit. People are the most interesting part about traveling. So here are four of the most interesting characters I ran into:

1) LIMA: ANTI-PERUVIAN PERUVIANS

I often find myself in questionable situations when traveling. This vacation was to be no exception. Spent my first day out of Chiclayo in the home of probably very corrupt congressman and his family in Lima. This congressman was a Fujimori-ist, which is enough to qualify him as a suspicious character. (Fujimori is the ex-president, accused of human rights abuses and corruption, currently serving jail-time. Credited with stamping terrorists groups out of the country, but also with policies of forced sterilization and death squads). How did I end up there? Good question. I kept asking myself that all through our roast chicken lunch. And willing time to pass quickly so I could get the hey out of there. Apart from tirades about all the people responsible for Peru's problems, this congressman was just ripping on North Americans and our addiction to consumption. "North Americans just consume and consume. They hear about a new flatscreen TV and immediately buy it to replace their almost identical one, while we poor Peruvians are struggling to survive, down south." I couldn't argue with him. But when we pulled up to his house (this discussion took place in his office), I was caught totally off guard. Based on his earlier preaching, I was shocked to see that his house was nicer than anything I've ever seen in Canada and that he had his very own giant flat screen TV proudly displayed in the livingroom. Not to mention two SUVs and a motorcycle. Um, "we poor Peruvians"??? Uh-huh...

Which brings me to how I ended up there: his deluded nephew. I'd made the acquaintance of Jean-Phillippe a couple weeks ago, during a weekend trip outside of Chiclayo. J-P was obviously struggling with an identity crisis of his own. Within 3 hours of our trip together, he'd started ranting about the "lazy, drunk Peruvians." This was right after he'd just finished telling me that he was unemployed and had spent the whole weekend drunk. And he may have a French dad, but he was born and raised in Peru. Which in my books, qualifies him as one of those "Peruvians" he seems to resent so much. When he starting joking that Peru needs a Pinochet to get murder all the "bad people" in the country, I decided that I definitely needed to drop him. Because I was on the verge of murdering HIM. What a goon.

So after spending a day with him and his bizarre uncle's family, I peaced out and continued on my own. But it reminded me of one of the trends that I've been noticing. Peruvians are very critical of Peruvians. Over the past few months, I've had several Peruvians tell me that you can't trust Peruvians. What's up with the anti-patriotic language?


2) CUSCO: AMERICAN BIKER

A couple of days into Cusco, I randomly ran into a friend I'd made about two weeks before in a part of the country about 40 hours away. What are the chances? Anyway, he is supercool and I should have written about him before, because I think his journey would interest a lot of people. He's doing a solo motorcycle trip down the Americas; he started in Connecticut, and is en route to the tip of the continent. He didn't even know much about motorcycles before he started; just bought a bike and had a family friend give him a few mechanic lessons. Between this guy, and the McGillians who have/are doing epic bicycle trips across the US, I am inspired. Although I think I need to find my very own (less physically demanding than a bike trip) epic journey. Anyway, it was nice to run into him again and get caught up on his adventures, like recently evading a bribe-asking police officer, which you can read about in his blog, if that's the kind of thing that interests you: jeffs9thsemester.com


3) ALSO CUSCO: TAIWANESE COLLECTIVIST

Cusco is about 80% tourist population, so I got to meet people from lots of different places. I had a really interesting conversation with two Taiwanese people about collective/individualist societies. The girl, Ling Ling, was living and studying in the US. The guy, Massimo, had been traveling on and off for the past 10 years. He said he was ready to go back to "reality" and get a "real, respectable job" where he'd make lots of money, and join the majority, because there is no joy in being different, and what's the point of life if you're not like anyone else? Massimo kept telling Ling-Ling that she was not "Asian" because she embraced individualism, as if it were a terrible thing. It was a very different conversation from the self-righteous and self-congratulatory one that I usually have with backpackers, when we pat each other on the back for choosing life paths less travelled (Not that I've chosen a life path by any means. But, lucky for me, refusal/inability too choose one also wins approved).

Obviously, there is nothing wrong with wanting to be part of the majority; I think everyone finds happiness in community somewhere. And even if we backpackers feign to be independent, the fact that there is an identifiable group called 'backpackers' means that we/they have found community in some common ideals (I'm still unclear on my relationship to the backpacker group, but more so for practical reasons, since I prefer NOT to be constantly moving and I hate living out of a backpack). Anyway, I think most people in Western culture, where we worship individualism, would have some trouble with his position. But it was particularly interesting, coming from someone who had actually separated himself from the majority by dropping out of school and traveling for so long. And who was now making a conscious decision to return and disappear in the fold.


4) TITICACA: ANOTHER DIPPY HIPPIE

Onward to the Isla del Sol, the birthplace of both the sun AND inca culture (pretty big deal). Paradise. Actually, not too different from the Canadian west coast, except the altitude is 4000m and it's on a lake instead of ocean. The clouds were mesmerizing. Took a meditation day for myself, and walked the whole island. To the northern tip, to find more ruins and sacrifice table. Then back, through rolling hills and small villages.
Met another dippy hippie (Chilean this time), who went on and on about the energies of the island and the alien battleship that is sitting in the centre of the Earth. But something about his Grand Journey was amiss.
Diego: "This island is my place, maaaan.... you know.... I just got here and was like, yeah man, I'm home.... so I stayed. And I'm still here. I can't believe I'm stillll here! Seriously man, it's been a real journey. I just know this is where I'm supposed to be right now. It's sooo awesome maaaan, schedules and itinerary don't exist for me. I'm just HERE. You know? And there's nowhere else I have to be."
Amy: "Wow, sounds like you've really found your place. You probably know the island like the back of your hand by now - how long have you been living here?"
Diego: "FIVE DAYS, maaaan! Can you believe it?"
Uh, yes. Of course I can believe it. No offense, DUDE, but there is nothing extraordinary about spending 5 whole days in one place. Unless that place is the moon or maybe some inhospitable desert where you were abandoned with no food or water. Or the Arctic, with no clothes. He later let slip that in only three days, he was heading back to Chile to do some paperwork. Uh, what happened to ZERO itinerary, maaaaan?

Also, after mentioning my love of history, he had some great book recommendations. "There's this incredible book about the history of Jesus, man, you should read it. It details his entire life story."
"Oh yeah? But everything about Jesus is speculative, right...?"
"Yeah, but you know how the Bible just has the very beginning of his life and the very end? This has EVERYTHING."
"WOW. That's quite impressive! What sources does the author use?"
"Oh, he interviewed TONS of people. Lots of sources. People who've talked to angels and stuff, and the angels told them what the real story was. Man, it's awesome."
"Uh-huh?..."

OTHER THINGS I DID ON VACATION
- Discovered that I can understand Portuguese, even though I've never spoken a word of it in my life.
- Visited Machu Picchu at 5am. It was grand! Even if it was foggy and rainy. Especially because it was foggy and rainy.
- Got back to Cusco from Machu Picchu at 11:30pm on Christmas Eve, to crazy street parties and anarchist-style burning of anything/everything. At midnight, safely sipping hot chocolate from my hostel on a hill, I had a panoramic view of thousands of fireworks going off across the whole city. Breath-taking.
- Sandboarding! Yes, just like snowboarding, on in the middle of the desert down giant sand dunes. Most fun to go straight down on your belly.
- New Year's in Arequipa: saw a monkey riding a dog. Ate cow heart on the street (don't judge me! It was an accident!). Stumbled upon a Peruvian cover band playing Pearl Jam and Metallica.

Wow, these emails just get longer and longer, eh? Sorry about that.

As always, I'm looking forward to hear what you've been up to. So write back!

Looking forward to being reunited,
Amy