I have so many adventures to tell! To catch you all up: I'm living with a family in the Pueblo Libre district of Lima, Germán y Susana Vargas and their daughters Claudia and Natalíe. They are wonderful people but I've run into some issues with communication because they have slight accents, speak very quickly, and don't use small words. Despite that, they are fabulous and have a gorgeous home. Anyway, this morning Susana took me on a bus to a safe ATM where I could get the money to pay the family and avoid carrying it around the city all day. After taking out the money she put me on the bus to the office where I work. The paradero--bus stop--is on Javier Prado, next to a big green pedestrian bridge. I got off at the right spot (and I'm rather proud of that) but couldn't remember the street where I worked. The busy intersection, overwhelming number of landmarks, and constant noise was completely disorienting and after twenty minutes and several (expensive and panicked) calls to my mom I still hadn't found the street. The address for the office is "Jr. Daniel Alcides Carrión" and all I could find was a street sign that said "Jr. Carrión" so I asked a policeman to point me in the right direction (policemen are everywhere and guard every pharmacy), but instead he decided he and his buddy on a motorcycle should parade me down the street to the office. So the Peruvians on Jr. Carrión got to see a rare sight today: a gringo being escorted by police through a neighborhood. Ugh.
Backtracking, because so much has happened: On Friday I lived like a Peruvian when I went to dinner with Maribel, Jenny, Jed, and Imke at a truly Peruvian restaurant. I tried pisco sour, which as I understood it is made during the wine-making process and is Peru's signature drink.
The next day I explored the city with Sofietje and Marco, a married couple from Australia and Italy, respectively, who are traveling South America for their year-long honeymoon. Clearly they are some exceedingly cool and interesting people. Last Saturday we ate mind-blowing Lebanese food, drank delicious coffee, and visited some rockin' pre-Incan ruins. The ruins, Huanca Pucllana, stretched out over several acres and stood quite high. Our guide showed us the holes where bodies were interred and the plazas where celebrations and religious festivals took place. A small garden of Peruvian plants (like coca) domesticated by these pre-Columbian people surrounded a menagerie of llamas, alpacas, and cuy (guinea pigs!). The first of the pictures on this page is of the layout of the ruins, which is impressive considering that much of the original site has been lost to time and urban development. The second is a view from the top of the ruins with Sofietje, Marco, and our guide included. I threw in llama and guinea pig pics for fun!
This week I began working at Bridge of Hope and I haven't been able to do a whole lot because it's been a crazy week for them, but I love everyone at the office. They are dedicated, passionate, yet pragmatic people who have made me feel very welcome. Maribel is visiting the St. Louis offices of Partners for Just Trade this week, but when she returns she, Imke, and I will go to La Oroya, Huanaco, and Huancavelica in the Andes to visit artisans.
That's it for now! I'll write more once something else interesting happens. Ciao!
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