the ups and downs of the combi

so, today, after almost 4 complete months teaching, and 5 months in Cusco, I managed to suck it up and take the combi (Cuscos "bus") to work. I have been working up the courage for about a month now. Jimmy has taken me on the combi to his house, but then all I had to do was follow his lead, he always paid for me, told me when to get off, where to sit (or not sit), etc.

To help you get a picture. The combi is Cusco´s form of a bus. But, a much better term for it is a small van with as many bench seats as possible shoved in, a label slapped onto the front bumper saying the name of that combi (with confusing names like Batman, and El Zorro--where the hell does Batman go?). Usually you can catch a glimpse of a passing combi shoved to the brink with Peruvians. And when it´s packed full with Peruvians at least they aren´t standing with their necks twisted at a 90 degree angle, in fact the women can stand easily in the combi´s, not quite so easy for a tall Gringa like me. In addition, when a Gringa gets on, oh holy cow, there´s a gringa on the combi! what the hell is she doing here! And then the stares and the whispering begin...

So today, I walked out of my house to begin my 25 minute walk to work to find (what a surprise!), rain. So, I worked up the courage, walked over to the main street, and hopped on Batman (damn, I wish that was literal!) Luckily, I chose one that at 6:15 in the morning only had 2 people so I didn´t have to squish between the legs of some old man, or on the lap of a lady holding a baby. I had a whole bench to myself! And I got to where I wanted to go (well, ok, I got three blocks farther than where I wanted to go, but still, not bad for my first try!)

Los Juegos Mecanicos in Review

So I know you have heard a ton about the fair, but you are going to hear more, because seriously, Los Juegos Mecanicos is the best thing to hit Cusco since well…probably since last year’s Juegos Mecanicos came to town.

The Zipper:

Well, you already heard about the zipper since it was the first ride we did. I think since that first fateful night when we discovered Los Juegos Mecanicos we have returned about 8 to 10 times (the whole 5 minute walk from our house thing really helps). The Zipper was the only ride we did that first night.

The Space Loop:

The Space Loop was the second ride we did, and let me tell you about what a mistake that was. Space Loop is another caged up and down spinning ride, but within the large slow spins that this ride makes, there are also 6 or 7 very fast spins that the cage does. And let me tell you, this ride is Hell. Amanda even went so far as to say Hell for her would be being stuck on this ride forever. And I have to agree. It was pretty freaking awful. And seriously, never-fucking-ending. The only way I managed to hold i

t together and not start crying was when I let myself relax into the fast spins. But really, if you ever encounter this ride: Just Say No.

The Samba:

On perhaps our second or third trip to Los Juegos Mecanicos we were convinced by a persuasive Claudio and Jimmy to go on Samba. Samba has a concept similar to The Gravitron. Except you are not inside on Samba. Instead, you sit on a bench and you hold on the bars and the ride spins around. Essentially the centrifugal force keeps you from flying away. Except Sambas has a twist. In addition to spinning quickly it t

ends to dance. So it will bump you up and down (only during the slower spins) inspiring many Peruvians to dance. Well, at least, stand up while holding onto the bars and shake their hips a bit. But really, Peruvians are programmed to dance no matter what, so it’s not surprising that their instinct (even when spinning at high speeds) is to dance. And yeah, it’s mostly the boys that do the dancing. So as Claudio and Jimmy and the others shook their hips, Val and Amanda and I held on for our lives.

La Montana Russa:

Awww, now this is one hell of a ride. It’s a fantas

tic roller coaster. Fantastic mostly in it’s jenkiness. There is only one car on this roller coaster so on weekends the wait is very long. Luckily, on weekdays the wait is non-existent. The car fits 3 people (perfect for the roommates). The only safety precaution is a non-adjustable seat belt that subsequently is way to large for anyone but the most obese person. But the roller coaster is still amazing. The first fall is quite step and is quite possibly the key to human flight. I was quite afraid Valerie was going to literally fly out of my lap (but thank god for that obese sized seatbelt right?). In any case, it’s a run of the mill roller coaster but its rickety pieces and the fact that you could very easily die adds to the appeal. Plus, all the pi

eces of the track are numbered so that the Carnies know how to set up the roller coaster in the next city.

There Were Two Other Rides That Are Kind of Hard to Explain and Not All That Interesting But Still Pretty Fun:

There were two other rides that are kind of hard to explain and not all that interesting but still pretty fun. Actually, I only know that one of them was fun because I have yet to go on the other (but don’t worry, I will).

The Churros:

What can I really say about the churros? They are amazing. They are fresh and sugary and cost S/. 1 (about 30 cents). And we eat them a lot. And they are always delicious.

The Games:

Val has really gotten into the games. One in particular, she loves, and I think the fact that a 9 year old Carnie boy runs the game booth draws her in even more. The game is on a slant is a wooden box with numbered slots. You get 8 balls and you roll them into the numbered slots. When you have rolled all 8 of them, they count up your total number and you get a prize depending on your number. It’s an Always Win game, which definitely adds to the appeal. So far Val has won: a bag of toy soldiers, two plastic kitchen bowls, a juice box, a top, and more. She is actually getting quite good though, and if she can manage to get all of the balls in the number 6 slot (today she got 5 out of 8) we can win a TV. I would really enjoy winning a TV. So I think we are going to keep practicing, and by we, I of course mean Valerie.

Oh Man!

I can’t believe I almost forgot about the Tren Fantasmos (the ghost train). That train was awesome. It was a haunted house, but actually quite terrifying. Mostly it consisted of riding a train through darkness, but damn was it dark in there! There were also some hanging things that you drove through so that was kind of freaky. A naked lifesize bloody Barbie was also a main feature of the Tren Fantasmos. But really, the darkness was the scariest part. I spent much of the ride clinging to Amanda. But Let’s Face It: I’m a wuss.

So yup, that’s the Juegos Mecanicos. It leaves the first week of November and I can’t even describe the sadness I will feel when I can’t just wander down the street to the traveling amusement park for some Sunday night (or Monday or Tuesday or Wednesday or Thursday night) fun. And how sad I will be when I can’t walk into class and say “What are you going to do tonight? What?! You’re NOT going to the Juegos Mecanicos? But why would you ever do anything else!”

Peruvian Birthday Party....for a 1 year old

Well hello there. I know, I know, it’s been FOREVER. I have been meaning to write for days upon days, but everytime something gets in the way. And I know I owe you a whole bucket full of updates from two weeks ago, but at this point, I’m pretty sure it’s not going to happen. So you will all have to make do with knowing that I did fun things, and they were worth writing about, but hell, I’m lazy. So, you can hear about the fun things I have done more recently. Actually, not even all that recently. But the birthday party was worth writing about, and as I have finally uploaded pictures to my computer I can even illustrate the amazing times that I have had.

So, let’s go back. If you’ll just hop on into my time travel machine over here, we can go back to last Saturday—Eduar’s First Birthday. The party was absolutely amazing. Let me back up a bit. Eduar is the nephew of one of Valerie’s students, se llama Claudio. We had gone to Claudio’s house the Tuesday before the party for her other student, Jimmy’s, birthday party (Jimmy and Claudio are best friends). So while we were there, we became enamored with Claudio’s nephew, Eduar. He is absolutely freaking adorable. No seriously, the cutest one year old ever. And because we were so absolutely enamored by him, his mother brought us over invitations to Eduar’s birthday party.

So the party. There was a clown, there was food, there was a piñata, there were Barney and Tigger characters, there were drinks. Pretty much everything you could hope for in a party and more. The party was unlike any party I had been to before (although I really can’t say I have attended many birthday parties for 1 year olds). The chairs were set up around the edge of the room. There was a fantastic cake display at the front of the room. Pretty much the party consisted of the adults sitting in the chairs watching the clown entertain the children. He played games that were mostly about the children but did occasionally include the adults.

Instead of gathering around the snack table like any normal American party, one of the many people helping out at the party would come around with a tray of whatever snack they were serving at the time and you would take a bit. The same thing happened with cake, and with the chicken they served us (except they actually brought us a plate of chicken) and with whatever different drink or other type of dessert they were serving (seriously, tons of different things).

So what else, towards the end of the clown festivities Claudio and Jimmy came out in full Barney and Tigger outfits and danced with the children (also dragging Val and I and a few other adults onto the dance floor, seriously, I think Tigger has a dancing addiction). Plus, I think I am a little scarred after watching Barney “get low” with a 3 year old. That just can’t be right.

Although I’m sure the question was on everyone’s mind, Val and I managed to avoid the issue of Why the Gringas Were at the Party. After Tigger and Barney did there thing, and the Pooh Piñata had been sufficiently destroyed we said our goodbyes to the family and an adorable Eduar, Tigger aka Jimmy, Val and I headed into town for a night of dancing (unfortunately Barney aka Claudio was unable to come because his 18 year old 7 month pregnant fiancé has been put on casi-bed rest).

gettin´ jiggy with it

The longer I wait to update, the more things I have to say. Well, that´s obvious, but really, all I did was wait one day after the weekend to update and already I have new things. So, I think rather than working my way forward, I´m gonna work my way back. Let´s give it a try, so how things go:

I have danced more in the last four days than I think I did in my whole college career put together. Ok, I may be being a bit hyperbolic, but really. I danced. A lot. And not just like, normal sway your hips, try and pretend you have rhythm kind of dancing (although that too), but also the salsa kind, where I step on my partner´s feet and then get all embarassed and flop my arms towards the floor in exasperation. Yeah, that kind of dancing. Also, the kind where I stand there awkwardly and short Peruvian boys (and one tall one) dance around me and then chant in unison to the beat "abajo, abajo, abajo". And once one of them starts going "abajo" (down) you can´t just stand there. I mean, as if I wasnt already too tall for Peru, then the boys squat/dance on the floor and I´m a goner. And then usually I fall over.

At least my thighs are getting a workout. I don´t think these Abajo Muscles have ever been used before.

In any case, we went to a birthday party for one of Valerie´s students last night. What a fun night. We were served chicken and fries, chicha, sangria, beer, cake. There was an 11 month old baby who was absolutely adorable. AND, the Gringas loved him so much we got invited to his 1 year birthday party on saturday. Woooo, another Peruvian birthday party (I´m sure my thighs will be just as unhappy after that party as they were after this one).

It was quite an experience though. As soon as we got to the house they cleared the furniture out of the way so that the chairs surrounded an impromptu dance floor. Well, I guess it was not realy impromptu. Knowing these Peruvians and how they love to dance, they´ve had this dance party planned for years.

In fact, everything can be a dance party for them.

We had these same students over to our apartment Sunday night to "study". Well, English speaking, turned into Backstreet Boys singing (they´re obssessed. the boys that is, not the girls) which turned into dancing. So the Peruvians struck again. They somehow managed to find a music source and start a dance party. It was the first time our house has ever been hot. And of course, I, in all my awkwardness refused to dance for quite a while (my salsa skills are really quite atrocious). But eventually when one after another Peruvian grabs your hand to pull you to your motionless feet, you gotta just give in. And so I did.

And last night I gave in again. This time, slightly more awkward as it was only me and the birthday boy dancing, but how could I say no? It was his birthday! He gave me cake!

Oh, on the subject of cake. If you have ever have a cake shoved in your face on your birthday, you have never had a cake shoved in your face like a Peruvian. I´m not talking about some little slice of cake. I´m talking about the whole freaking cake. And it was a trick cake shove. Not that the a rabbit was pulled out of the cake, or some trick like that, but Claudio shoved, backed off, then shoved again. And the cake went flying. Amazingly, the birthday boy summoned the little hand eye coordination he had and managed to save the cake from falling completely to the floor´. I´m half surprised he didnt try to kick the cake up off the heel of his foot, futball juggling style.

Yup, that´s the cake we ate, the cake that was shoved in the face and then fell to the chest of the birthday boy who had spent the last hour sweating and dancing through the house.

And let me tell you,

It was delicious.

Oh Peru, you do me so good

Ok. So I know you thought that I was done with the massive amount of updating, but alas, more things happened!

Oh, Peru, you do me so good.

So Valerie had some of her basico students over to practice speaking and after practicing for a while they said that there was a carnival down the street and invited us to go with them. Who knew! A carnival! RIGHT down the street (literally a 5 minute walk from our apartment).

So we went and it was amazing. We are now going to go every night this week because it’s awesome. They have all sorts of carnival rides and roller coasters, and candy apples, and a haunted house. Everything you could possibly want in a carnival. We only had time to go on two rides because it started sprinkling and then it started raining. A lot. So we decided that tomorrow we will go again. Hopefully it won’t rain.

The rides were quite amazing. And by this, I mean that we thought we were going to the whole time. The warning signs were in English and Spanish and the rides were basically second hand rides that America donated to Peru. We went on “The Zipper” and the haunted house. Amazingly, the haunted house was one of the scariest haunted houses I’ve been in. It was really short, and you ride in a little car, but it was pitch black and there was cloth that hung down and touched you. And the things that were supposed to be scary were life sized naked barbies with blood on them. Quite possibly one of the scariest sights.

So anyways, as we were leaving I decided to buy an Anticucho, which is grilled beef heart on a stick. Amazingly quite delicious and tender. We’ll see if my stomach feels the same way as my tongue in a few hours though.

So Amanda and I head home and Valerie says buy to her students. We find out a couple minutes later when Val catches up with us that her cell phone had been stolen out of her pocket. Her student, however, saw this happen, told Valerie, and then ran after the guy. Apparently it worked because he got her cell phone back for her. We don’t know how though, so I guess she will ask him tomorrow.

In any case: I love Peru. There is always a surprise around the corner. Not even around the corner: just a right turn out of our house and straight for about five minutes.

Yea Yea Marucayea.....er...No....

Ok, so I know I just wrote a novel that you are going to dread reading and be pissed that I am writing more, but today was eventful as well. Luckily, this update will be much shorter. And maybe the timing of these posts is a bit awkward since I’m writing them at the same time, and neither of them will get posted until I have internet tomorrow (9/21/09).

Anyways, we had made a date with Christian to eat lunch at Yea Yea Marucayea. Apparently this is a quaint art gallery/café/hookah lounge. However, when we got to the plaza to head over to the café, what do we find? Well, a parade of course! Although, what this was for, we have no idea. There was a cool giant float of a pig wearing a swine flu mask, a giant guinea pig, the traditional Inca dressed people, and a large amount of different military organizations all in garb and marching in perfect unison. So after snapping the mandatory parade pictures, we head over to the café. In the rain. And what do we find, but closed and locked doors. And no Christian. (big surprise). So we decide to eat at a really cool restaurant called The Muse. They have a really great menu (men-oo, not menu. A men-oo is a cheap set menu with a couple options, but it comes with usually a starter, a drink, an entrée, and in the case of The Muse, a warm brownie for dessert). The menu at The Muse is a bit swanky but we decided it was worth it for the delicious avocado salad, and chicken curry (for me, Amanda had chili con carne) and of course the brownie.

This place is very low key, and we chose to eat in the relaxation part of the restaurant which consists of couches with no less than 6 giant pillows on each one and coffee tables for your food. So as we waited for our food, I took a nice little nap on the couch. A pleasant afternoon.

Full of food and tired we returned home, napped, and now here I am, sitting in bed, telling you all about it.

Oh yeah, and we were really excited about making tacos tonight but Amanda just got home from Mega (the supermarket) and said they had no avocados. So sad. No tacos. Maybe chicken from the polleria down the street?

At least there is a new episode of True Blood to look forward to!

Cusco Nightlife Crawl Style

Phew. Ok, this might be a long one.

So last night, Amanda and I decided to have a distinctly different Cuscquenian nightlife than we had had thus far.

We started the day about 5 pm, when we finally pulled ourselves out of bed (we were recovering from lack of sleep from the night before) and decided to eat dinner (or breakfast, or lunch, depending on how you look at it) at McDonalds. Amanda’s wallet was stolen two weekends ago, and McDonalds is one of the few restaurants that accepts credit cards. So we headed on over. After we sufficiently stuffed ourselves, we did not feel like going home (since we had spent all day in bed) so we did a couple turns around Plaza de Armas and up to Plaza San Francisco. We did this trail forwards and then in reverse. Along the way we decided to play our new favorite version of Where’s Waldo—spot The Curly Haired Jesus. We tend to run into Curly Haired Jesus quite often, so now it has become a game. Curley Haired Jesus is worth 1 point, and Brides were added to the game (2 points each). Last night the game ended with Amanda: 4 points (all from Curly Haired Jesus—yes that’s how often we see him) and Josie: 6 points (all from brides).

Anyways, despues de paseamos mucho we went to our favorite hang out: Cross Keys. Cross Keys is a nice clean bar, with fun bartenders. The bartenders like us so much, in fact, that it is always happy hour for us at Cross Keys (maybe this is why it is our favorite bar). Plus, the drinks are strong, not too expensive to begin with, and the bartenders provide almost endless entertainment. (Plus, Christian, one of the bartenders is totally enamored with me and my continual rejection of him just makes him that much more enamored. But he’s fun and has perks like fun friends and happy hour drinks, so it works out. Plus, he is totally adorable, if not a TOTAL player—I mean, he’s a surfer boy from Lima who comes to Cusco during the winter to make money bartending—what can I expect except PLAYER). Anyways, after chatting with said bartenders we decided to return home for a little relaxation. This led to some TV watching and picture taking (on my part, Amanda and the cats were the subject of the pictures). After sitting around for a sufficient amount of time I convinced Amanda that we should not go to IncaTeam as usual (the source of the worse claustrophobia anxiety I have ever had) and instead we should do a tour of all the clubs in the main area, collecting free drink tickets and then actually cashing in on them. So we returned to the Plaza. First stop, Mushrooms. Actually, we made a brief stop at IncaTeam to see if our gay friend Eddie was there. After not finding him, but finding instead, my boss as well as many coworkers we quickly decided to be on our way.

Mushrooms turned out to be quite the swanky establishment and not the crowded disco I had originally imagined. Two weeks ago, a tourist fell from the window of Mushrooms (2^nd story) and fell to his death on the cobble stone streets (rumor has it he was run over by a car right after he fell as well). So, after hearing this story, I had imagined Mushrooms to be a grungy crowded disco. There is a bar in the center with a bottle rack spiraling to the center of a mushroom. In essence, you sit at the bar under the cover of a mushroom. It is really quite impressive, I wish I had a picture. Anyways, one of my students, Yonaton, works there but that only turned out to cause awkward situations. He is not the most invested student and that made for some awkward interactions.

However, after Amanda finished her drink we continued on to the third floor of the building, a night club called Mama Africa. This place we my kind of disco. There were people, but not too many, the music was danceable, all in all a fun place. However, my lack of inebriation, and Amanda’s exhaustion made it a short stop on or nightclub circuit. As we were heading down the stairs we, once again, ran into my boss. Oh awkward days.

We walk out of Mama Africa and smack straight into Christian After some awkward conversation with Christian he decided to head onto his favorite establishment and we decided to head into Ukuku’s. I had been to Ukuku’s once before and found it a fairly pleasant establishment. It has some tables for sitting, a bar area, a small dance floor, and a stage often featuring local live music. However, as we attempted to walk into Ukuku’s they decided to try and charge us S./ 10 (10 soles). Hahahaha. Yeah right. That was quite unexpected since girls, especially Gringa girls, usually get in anywhere in Cusco for free. Perhaps because they were desperate and it was almost 2:30 am.

So we continued up the street and around the corner to a club se llama Zazu. Amanda had a free drink ticket and Zazu we headed on it. Oh wait, no we didn’t. The bouncer at Zazu attempted to charge us S./ 20!!!! Hahaha, like that would ever happen.

So, Amanda searched deep into her pockets and came up with another free drink ticket, at a new bar called “The Shot Bar”. As the name suggests, this bar serves nothing but shots. It turns out the bar was just opened by a very friendly but forgetful Australian (?) lady. So we got our free shots. Amanda choked down hers, and I choked down half of mine. As we sat there, however, who would show up but our favorite bartender. So after forcing the rest of my shot on Christian we continued to his favorite establishment: Wachuma (or previously referenced in my blog as Dreadlock Bar). Tonight, however, no one got the death glare at Dreadlock Bar (ok, maybe not no one, someone is bound to piss me off at 3:30 in the morning). But this time there were a reasonable amount of people that I wasn’t on the verge of crying or hyperventilation.

This ended up being our final bar. Christian introduced us to his friends who were quite friendly. As Amanda pointed out this bar is not only a local bar, but a Local Local bar (or a Niche Bar, (significa que lots of Cusquenian would be out of place in this Dreadlock Bar). So we had pleasant conversation with these Dreadlock Boys (actually, none of them actually had dreadlocks, but I swear! Everyone else there did!). I refused to dance (big surprise, right?) was told I looked Israeli because of my curly hair. Was offered plentiful amounts of drugs (of which I refused—don’t you worry). Finally, after standing against the wall scowling for what I deemed a significant amount of time I decided I was better off making a fool of myself dancing. So I did. It was decently fun, until they played salsa music and then I was so worried about making a fool of myself that I awkwardly rocked back and forth in my from of “dancing” (it seems everyone in Cusco can inherently dance salsa).

Ok ok finishing up. So that was about the end of our night. We danced. Drank. Chatted. Drank. Danced. Chatted. And then fell into bed.

Oh wait, no. We went home, dying of hunger. So as we are in the kitchen decided what to make for dinner (or breakfast?) boom, the house goes dark. No electricity. So we use our gas stove for light. Light our one candle, and eat our dinner/breakfast/snack. Then we fall into bed. Ok, night over. Literally. The sun was coming up.

Tourism Celebration

Well, yesterday was quite an exciting day of Cusquenian shenanigans. To start off, I did about two months of laundry (well, by did, I mean, put it in a bag and took

it to the laundry place—I need to pick it up today). Anyways, that is a diversion from my point of Cusquenian Shenanigans.

Amanda had previously promised some Israeli boys that she had met a couple days before that we would meet them in the plaza at 6. So, being the good wifey that I am (she has begun to call me this—probably because I am the cook of the house) I accompanied her to the plaza. We met up with the boys, had some drinks at Cross Keys (a bar where we have developed quite an affinity for the bartenders and hence it is always happy hour there for us—more on this later). In any case, we had some nice drinks with the Israelis and then pared ways. Aw, right, I have forgotten the craziness that is Cusco. So, when we arrived a bit early in the plaza (as per usual for me), there was a quite a set up there: a stage, a giant float, and people dressed in what I can only assume were ritualistic Incan costumes. When we arrived the people in traditional and ritual clothing were doing a march/dance around the plaza. The most interesting by far were the people in rainbow clothes with amazing masks dancing and occasional running up and scaring people. We found out from our amazing Spanish translation skills of the banners (that people were very bad at holding) that yesterday was what I will deep “Tourism Day”, a celebration of the maintenance of Cusquenian culture through tourism. So after walking around the plaza for a bit we met up with our Israelis and went to Cross Keys. Yeah, yeah, yeah, you heard that part already.

Ok, so. Where was I. Oh yes, after some drinks the Israelis went home to their hostel and Amanda and I found a quaint little restaurant to eat some food at. We ate. It was wonderful. We were full. We were tired. We were going to go home. But then! When we arrived back in the plaza, the party was in full force. There was now a band on the big stage that had been set up, and people milling around everywhere. So we walked around for a bit, and then found a bench to people watch on. Amanda decided that it had been quite a while since we had spent some time with our friend Randi (a girl, nay, lady) from the TEFL program who is now living in Cusco (more about Randi later). So Randi met us in the square and we found a nice café where we could watch the party but also catch up on the drama of the last few weeks. Randi is a much older lady (well for me at least, I think she is in her mid 50’s) and she has lately been getting involved in some amazing projects in Cusco. I really would like to get involved in some of her endeavors, but as of now am not quite sure how to (again, more on that later…maybe).

So we caught up, gossiped, and had a merry old time. Then it was bed time. Alas, I had promised Amanda that I would partake in a night of debauchery with her since her previous partner of debauchery has departed back to South Africa. Now, a promise of a night debauchery with me is a big deal, since the most I tend to go to bed around 1, and if someone forces me to stay out later, my past history has shown that I tend to find a nice couch in whatever disco we are at and take a pleasant nap. In any case, a promise is a promise right? So, Randi went home, and Amanda and I went to….where else? Cross keys!

Now, Amanda proceeded to drink many a happy hour drink, flirt with the bartender and become new bff’s with the lady bartender, Rose. Amanda’s affinity for Cross Keys is based a bit on her previous flirtation/fling with one of the bartenders, Jorge. So Amanda drank and batted her eyes, and I sat and rejected the flirtations of the other bartender, Christian. Christian has developed quite a crush on me in the last two days, and like usual with me and men, he is only more intrigued by me as I constantly and blatantly reject him. So we sit and we sit and we sit. The bartenders have promised us some fun times once they close the bar (around 2:30 or 3) so we sit some more. Amanda gets all the gossip about Jorge from Rose, and I proceed to take a nap with my head on the bar counter (I promised Amanda I would stay out, I did not promise I would stay awake).

So, 3:00 finally rolls around and we follow Jorge, Rose and Christian to what can only be deemed The Dreadlock Bar. Now, up until now I have not seen very many people in Cusco with dreadlocks, apparently because they have all been in this bar. At this point, I was in a bad mood, Amanda was determined to have a talk with Jorge about their “status”, Jorge was determined not to have a talk with Amanda about their “status”, the Dreadlock Bar was packed with people, and my Fear of Crowded Places was increasing by the minute. So I stood outside and waited for Amanda to finish her “talk”, Death Glare in hand, er, on my face. No one even dared come near me.

So, Amanda emerges from Dreadlock Bar, a look of desperation on her face. Like I said, Jorge was determined not to have this talk that she so badly wanted to have. And man was she pissed. And loud about it. Anyone who approached her (I still had the death glare so no one dared approach me) would get a question followed by a diatribe thrown at them. The first question being “are you Peruvian?” (answer: yes), Diatribe: “Te odio! Odio los peruanos! Odios los chicos peruanos! Dejame en paz!” (I hate you! I hate Peruvians! I hate Peruvian boys! Leave me in peace!). So, the good wifey that I am, I asked if she wanted to go to IncaTeam (her favorite disco) to find a new random boy to boost her self esteem. So we did, and it was…well, relatively decent I suppose. Considering it was IncaTeam (usually a very crowded and hateful place for me). Amanda found a boy who boosted her self esteem, I had a nice little dance on my own (death glare still pasted on my face, the few people who dared approach were greeted with a very blunt “No tocame” or “no hableme” (Don’t touch me, don’t speak to me). But, I did find a nice boy to dance with who kept a respectful distance and told me I spoke good Spanish. I think the only reason he was able to come within my three foot bubble was because he looked like a Mr. Max Roth. At one point he even asked me why I don’t like dancing, when I said I didn’t know he responded “I know. Because the boys try to come near you”. Very observant young Lima boy, very observant. In any case, we had a nice chat, and then Amanda and I hopped in a cab home and ended our “night of debauchery”.

Oh yeah, it was 5:30 in the morning when we left IncaTeam. Apparently the sunrises as 5:30. I didn’t know this before. Oh the things you discover when you make promises you shouldn’t make, and probably shouldn’t keep either.

i survived the plague

yay, my house is fully functional again. the water works, blackie is not vomiting. valerie is not vomiting. amanda is not vomiting. and i managed not to vomit through this whole endeavor. Although surviving this plague is just one small feat, as i have 5 more months of many plagues to survive. it is quite common here for people to get sick randomly and then be sick for weeks and weeks. i hope that i can survive for longer. or at least if i survive 2 more months without missing work i get two paid holidays. So i have to try and make it or else this last month will have been in vain.

lets see, what else. we didnt do much of anything this weekend. Friday night i went to karaoke with amanda and her coworkers at excel. the most exciting thing there was the tv fell off the wall and shattered. luckily it didnt fall on anyone. then we went to cross keys, where amandas boyfriendy type person is a bartender and we got cheap drinks and hung out there until 2 ish. At that point, i decided it was far beyond my bed time and hopped in a cab, while amanda and Jorge (the bartender) went to a disco. unfortunately, i got home, only to find that i was unable to open the door. so i hopped in cab, again, and went back to the disco. there i proceeded to steal amandas camera, sit there and take lots of pictures of myself making funny faces, and pictures of her and jorge canoodling (or groping) on the dance floor. I then decided at 4:30 to head back home by myself after I realized Amanda would not be accompanying me home. So i took her keys and headed back, flopped into bed, and woke up mid afternoon the next day.

the rest of the weekend was kind of a wash. except that my favorite student, Vianney, (who is sadly not going to be my student next month) came over and had a couple drinks with Amanda and I and then we went on a "postinar" adventure. Amanda had thought the existence of plan B in peru would be nill. but Vianney told her otherwise. so at 11:30 pm we headed to an open pharmacy in search. we found that not only does it definitely exist (and apparently it is embarassing to yell that we need postinar on the main streets in peru, well, embarassing for vianney at least) but it is also very inexpensive. it was 18 soles (about 6 dollars), plus it came with 3 FREE CONDOMS! what an offer! amazing that a drug company actually is trying to limit its sales by giving condoms with the drug!

so that was the weekend. now its raining and all i really want to do is curl up with a mug of hot chocolate but thats kind of hard to find around here. so ill settle for curling up with my kittens. tonight is the season finale of fringe. so that will have to do....

dying household

not much has happened lately, except for the deterioration of my house. Amanda (one of my roommates) was sick and vomiting and pooping on tuesday and yesterday, and then Blackie (one of our kittens) has been vomiting all over the house all week. And then last night Valerie was vomiting and pooping all night (luckily she was at her bf´s house). As if vomiting and pooping all the time isnt bad enough, add onto that that our water has been out since tuesday, meaning that we cannot flush the toilets (hence the luck that Val was at her bf´s house). Anyways, I hope I dont catch this plague that has apparently fallen upon our house....

The long overdue blog post

so a long time ago I promised you a post about apartment hunting. Here it is:

"I´m sorry it has been so long since I have updated. I have not been particularly inspired, especially because I have been so very engrossed in my schoolwork. But now that I am so very close to being done with all of my work for this TEFL class, I guess I can spare some time to write. Plus, a lot of exciting things have happened lately.


First of all, I got a job! If you are friends with me on facebook you probably already know this. I was one of the strongest students in my class at both the being a student part (which I´ve always been pretty good at) and, amazingly, the teaching part! I didn’t start out a very strong teacher but I quickly improved and got hired at Maximo Nivel. I am officially an employee here now as I have signed the contract and everything!


So, that’s one very exciting thing. However, I had been completely stressing out about where to live because I have to leave my apartment early tomorrow morning. I had booked a hostel for Sunday night and hoped for the best (figuring I can always extend my hostel stay). Anyways, today two other girls (Valerie and Amanda) and I made a date to go apartment hunting. It was an exciting adventure. We started out by buying one of the classifieds newspapers here. Luckily, Valerie speaks very Spanish very well, so we delegated her as our speaker. First we hopped in a taxi and went to H-2 Los Sauces. Unfortunately, H-2 did not want to be found. We asked countless people and could not figure out how the street worked. Finally, we found the apartment. We walked in and we fell in love. Each wall was painted a different vibrant color, the rooms were spacious and a ton of closet space. Unfortunately, after walking around, we noticed that it was completely unfurnished. This meant: no beds and no couches. Of course, we actually noticed this right away. But in walking into the kitchen we found that this also could hardly be called a kitchen. There was no refrigerator, no oven, no stove. Nothing. So, sadly, we told them that we needed those things and could not get the apartment. But, on the upside, there were some one month old puppies outside that belonged to the neighbors and so we got to play with them for a while and had a pleasant conversation (in Spanish) to the woman who owned them. They were very cute.


Anyways, the adventure continued. So, we had passed an apartment building in our wanderings to find H-2 in which a man had said hello to us and told us there were apartments in his building available. However, he turned out to be an interesting character, who really just wanted to flirt with some cute gringas. So after venturing into his apartment and getting a tour we decided it was time to continue our search (his apartment smelled quite rank and we wanted out!). So, we called another ad from the newspaper and headed on over.


This apartment was quite spectacular. Everything in it was brand new, it was furnished with nicely, it was all freshly painted, in a nice gated building on a street muy tranquilla. However, this apartment turned out to be WAY out of our price range at $680 a month (yes, in dollars—our max was around 500 at the MOST). So, we called yet another person from the classifieds and headed on our way. As we headed out to grab a taxi the nice ladies who had just showed us the expensive apartment asked us where we were headed. Then they very generously offered to drive us there! Although on the way they told us it was in a dangerous neighborhood, not nearly as nice as their neighborhood (of course they would say that!).


Anyways, we got there and were not too fond of the street, however the apartment was in a nice gated community with a cute little courtyard that cute little Peruvian kids played in. We toured the apartment and Amanda and I were sold. The bedrooms were a bit small, but it was well furnished and definitely affordable. However, Valerie had her doubts. So, we told the friendly man that we had one more apartment to see and would get back to him later tonight.
So we headed off yet again. Amanda and I were feeling pretty set on the apartment and couldn’t imagine a better one. However, when we walked into the next apartment we were taken aback. It was totally adorable, a little bit smaller than the other one but absolutely beautiful! The furniture was wonderful, and the neighborhood was quite nice. This apartment was a tid bit more expensive but we were in love. The final push was when we asked if we could have a cat and the couple said “yes, of course!”. We then spent another good while discussing how long to sign the lease for (it was cheaper to sign it for 6 months, but we didn’t know if one of the girls would be staying that long). So after much debating we put down a deposit, told them we wanted it for 6 months and signed a contract (well, a preliminary contract that consisted of the landlord writing some stuff on a piece of paper and Valerie signing it).


And that was that. We have an apartment. We move in on Monday. We get a cat next Saturday. I start teachings 6 classes a day a week from Monday. I have a life in Cusco!
Oh, and we are naming our cat Emoticon. “Moti” for short."


Haha, this post is so old. Now our cat is named Tito. Well, technically his name is still Emoticat, but we Pretty much only call him Tito. And we also have a second cat! Tito´s brother, Blackie. Blackie was the runt of the litter so he is much smaller than Tito, and possibly even more adorable. But together they are the masters at being cute.

We went duck hunting....with no gun....and no ducks...

Today was quite an exciting day. We planned a duck hunting trip in Lucre, a small town in the sacred valley known for their duck restaurants and duck hunting. Originally we had been planning to have a picnic with Natalie, our TEFL trainer in the sacred valley. When we went to talk to her about these plans, we learned that they had changed, and now we were going duck hunting, camo gear and all (well Natalie had camo gear). We met and grabbed a taxi to Lucre, about an hour outside of Cusco. When we arrived in Lucre, I learned that we had no gun, and really had no intention of duck hunting at all, but rather were going to embark on an adventure in the latest, and MOST extreme of all of the extreme sports: EXTREME IRONING. Yes, you heard me. We arrived in Lucre with ironing board and iron in hand, preceded to walk down a deserted road towards the lake in which we were going to extreme iron.

Well, we didn’t make it to the lake, but we did find some rocky mountains to extreme iron. We also stumbled upon some amazing, apparently previously unknown to tourists, Inkan ruins. It was quite amazing. So we extreme ironed a bit and then began our walk back. We even had some donkey extreme ironing. It was quite a cool town, and by the time we were done extreme ironing, we were very hungry and tired. So, since we had come to hunt duck, we went duck hunting. In a restaurant. Where we ordered different duck dishes and relaxed. It was quite a relaxing afternoon. We had some dessert, played with a cute baby, and headed back to Cusco. All in all, a nice afternoon with some beautiful views, exciting adventures, and delicious duck.

I have to say, I am now pro duck hunting

the other side of the spectrum

Being in front of the classroom instead of sitting in a classroom is a very different experience. I always wondered if the teacher watched the clock as scrupulously as I did as a student. I was always counting down the minutes until class was over, pondering how it was possible that the second hand seemed to stop for minutes at a time. I would do work for what felt like 15 minutes only to find out it had been 3.

Well, now I know. Yes, teachers do watch the clock counting down the time until class is over. But instead of being bored and wondering how class isnt over yet, I glance at my watch every few minutes, trying to calculate how it is that i am supposed to teach my students why you put "Do" in front of questions that use "have" and why "do" conjugates and not "have" (the main verb). (probably most of you weren´t even aware that you need do in have questions, and not in to be questions). Classes fly by now. The hour I teach for is only about 15 minutes long (and even shorter if you take into account the fact that its on Latin American time, which means students dont arrive until 10 after at the earliest). And then I go to my Spanish class. And I sit, and sit, and sit. And the hour never ends. Even when the class is actually fun!

hmph

ok, so I am still unable to update my epically long post. but, i will try again at a later date. anyways, we have moved into the new apartment and everything is going swimmingly. we will get "Emoticat" as we have dubbed him/her either later tonight or tomorrow, saturday at the latest. It depends whether or not we want to get her from a pet store or from the market that sells pets on saturday mornings. hmm, hard decision. I am sure they are both equally sketchtastic.

The apartment is quite nice, and the neighborhood is equally pleasant. I am revelling in the fact that we have cable and seemingly endless channels. It has give me little motivation to leave the apartment. Although Valerie and I did manage to go out yesterday afternoon. We went on a hunt for the pet store but sadly gave up because everything was closed for Peruvian Independence Day. So we headed to the center of town and found ourselves at a bar playing an epic game of spanish/english/way-too-many-letters Scrabble. Almost the entire board was filled by the end. Then we went to a quaint little French restaurant where I had a delicious meal while getting beat at Checkers and Valerie had a crepe. We also reviewed some French verbs and conjugations (my French has become truly atrocious). Then, at the late hour of 8, we decided we couldnt stand being away from our apartment a moment longer and headed home.

We had wanted to go on a nice vacation this week, but our boss decided he would schedule orientation for monday afternoon and thursday afternoon, meaning that we couldnt really go anywhere. that was quite unfortunate of him, and we were both just a bit peeved.

More exciting updates when the kitty arrives, I suppose!

GRRR, technology

So I wrote a really really long post, but i wrote it on word and now I can´t seem to upload it or even copy and paste it. REALLY FRUSTRATING! I´ll keep working on it, but I guess for now all you get is this teensy update.

My Very Own Diagon Alley

So it turns out when I venture out of my little TEFL bubble I can actually find cool things. Emily (my roommate) and I decided tonight we were sick of eating lentils and rice and bored of the chicken restaurants that we knew of in our two block vicinity. SO, we decided to make small step for us but a huge step for humanity and venture across the road! This was quite an epic adventure. First we had to walk up the stairs into the walking overpass. Then we had to walk A WHOLE 30 feet and THEN we had to walk DOWN the stairs. Whew, were we exhausted. We did find out that apparently the overpass is the new it place to be if you are a young couple that wants to make out in relative privacy. Anyways, we discovered A WHOLE NEW WORLD on the other side of the street (this is not just some little dinky street we are talking about here, I mean, 8 lanes of hardcore Latin American traffic going in all different directions). What do we discover in this whole new world you ask? Well I will tell you: PERU!

For the first time since I’ve been here I felt like I was in a bustling city of Peruvians completely unaware (or blissfully ignorant) of the many Gringos that parade around the higher parts of this city. I mean, obviously we knew we were in Peru, and we knew we lived in a fairly Peruvian neighborhood where we stand out as the silly mute Gringas, but this was different. There were restaurants other than pollerias (restaurants in which the only thing they serve is roast chicken and French fries, you just choose whether you want an eighth, a quarter, a half, or a whole chicken). So, we ended up postponing our hunt for food in favor of wandering the streets like true Peruanas. However, I’m sure we were quite conspicuous with our light skin and curly hair. Plus, our blatant English speaking and lack of awareness as to how restaurants work here were probably an even bigger tip off. In this epic adventure to the other side of the street, we also discovered the infamously sketchy El Molino Market in which you can get anything and everything at one low price! Well, I’m not sure about one low price, but anything and everything is for sure. We had heard of this market, and knew that it was hidden in a secret lair of unknown places that is our neighborhood, but neither of us had reported a sighting either from taxi or by foot. We had begun to assume that you needed a secret password and to tap a brick wall in a certain pattern, a la Diagon Alley, in order to reveal the passageway to this hidden market of treasures. Anyways, as we ventured forth past The River of Poop and into the heart of El Molino Market our bravery reserves were soon exhausted and we opted to settle in for dinner. We chose a very crowded Chifa restaurant (Peru’s version of Chinese food) and cautiously perused the menu unsure of what anything was until the waitress graciously pointed our attention to the pictures in the back of the menu. So we each chose our dish and settled in to a nice Chifa dinner. We wanted to eat some fried street food (some churro like desserts) but alas, we were sidetracked by our original second mission of finding toilet paper and bread (or really we just forgot and I’m blaming it on the TP).

So, while all of you are dressed in red and yellow with witches’ hats and sticks for wands waiting in line for that much anticipated movie, I was having my own adventure down my very own Diagon Alley. Now aren’t you jealous?

Mickey Mouse in My Bed

Its really amazing how different being a teacher is than being a student. I am so good at the student part—Grinnell trained me well for that—but whenever we have to do the teaching part I am not nearly as good. I am, however, enthusiastic, and exuberant so I guess that’s important because I can learn the practical teaching skills.

Unfortunately I feely like my goal to learn Spanish has diminished since I got here. As I was falling asleep last night (in my mickey mouse garb, which I will explain later) I remembered that I need to learn Spanish. I am just so exhausted after everyday of class that I don’t have the energy to talk to anyone, I just head home and try to get my homework done before I fall asleep and have to do it all again. I have mastered the art of watching Spanish dubbed television without being too bothered by not really understanding what is going on. Emily and my favorite shows include America’s Next Top Model on at 7 mon-fri (I’m not sure which season number but the one with Natasha and that bitch Rene who really should be home with her seven month old son), the Simpsons (on at various times, and sometimes dubbed really well and sometimes dubbed quite poorly). I would like to say I am learning Spanish for watching that but really I am just good at not knowing what is going on and not really caring anymore.

So, as for my Mickey Mouse sleeping garb. It is quite cold here at night. You would think I would be used to it from living in the negative temperatures of Iowa for the last four years, but Iowa, that wonderful state, has heating! Although it only gets down to the forties at night, it gets about that cold in my apartment too. So I have adapted my sleeping attire. Every night for the first week I added a new item of clothing to sleep until I have FINALLY figured out the right combination. Here is my Perfect Combination: leggings, fleece pants over my leggings, socks with my fleece pants tucked into them, a shirt, my sweatshirt, and the Mickey Mouse part: socks on my hands tucked into my sweatshirt. Sometimes I am just a bit too warm in this (depending on the night) and end up with one sock on and one sock off (my hands of course, the feet socks stay on always!).

There is a transportation strike today (whoa! BIG SURPRISE!). So Emily and I had planned to leave the apartment at 7:15 to walk all the way to the school to get there an hour early in order to do one of our mandatory class observations. So we leave the house, start walking and lo and behold, taxis! Everywhere! So we figure, why not, and hop on in. Turns out, indeed there is a transportation strike. But it doesn’t start until 8. Who would have thought getting up at the ghastly hour of 6 would have its pay off. Unfortunately, we failed at getting bread for our usual cheese, avocado (the avocadoes are amazing here!) and tomato sandwich, so we will be scrounging it for lunch. Maybe we can follow a stray dog to find the hot spots for discarded food!

Ah, and the Cusco air only lasted so long for my acne. I can always count on my period to overcome even the best acne medicines...

Cusco- number 1 dermatologist recommended

Well hello there. Yesterday was quite a day. Had a mishap with my computer that sent me reeling into "this is why I shouldn`t live in South America mode. Sometimes I think it would be so much easier if I were somewhere that was SOO different from what I am used to that when things go wrong I don`t get quite as frazzled. Cusco is urban enough and has enough amenities that I get very upset when I don`t have access to something that I would usually expect. If it were totally different and I didn`t expect anything, perhaps it would be easier. In any case, it has made me thing deeply about staying in Cusco after my TEFL course is done. I mean, the point of me being here (for the most part) is to learn Spanish, but if I teach English at a school like Maximo Nivel (where I am taking my TEFL class) it is so easy to be immersed in English and get by living here with very little Spanish. It makes me think that perhaps I would be better off in a place where I was the sole Gringa. Plus, I would rather teach at a middle school or elementary school. Although, unfortunately, I think the majority of the paid jobs are at schools like Maximo. Hmmm, what to do. I guess I`ll leave it up to the fates like usual.

Other things of importance to note...well, there is a little Grinnell Reunion in Cusco right now. We are going to gather and hang out to celebrate the independence of our fair country. There are actually four of us here, which is quite impressive.

Also, the Cusconians (?) seem to be celebrating something today as well. The market across from our street had a little festival going on. There was singing and dancing. As well as some cute furries for sale. Some rabbits and chickens and guinea pigs. Aww, what cute pets. Psych! I mean, awww, what a cute dinner! There were some very fat guinea pigs that I can imagine would serve quite a few people. Mmm, yummm, family pet for dinner.

I feel like there more things that I wanted to talk about but right now I am not sure what they are. I went out and saw a local Andean rock band last night. I think all rock bands need the addition of an Andean flute. It made for some rocking music.

Anything else? Oh, my acne is great here. The dry air does wonders for the skin. I would recommend a trip to Cusco for anyone suffering from bad acne. Screw accutane, just go to Cusco!

Stray Dog/Stray Kid Fansite?

This blogging thing is hard. I really just don’t have all that much to say, or at least the things that I might have to say, I really don’t think you care about reading about. So I guess I’ll just recap the last few days.

First day of class was on Monday. It was a really tame day and we got done with school at 12 and had barely any homework. The class is a good group of people. There is only one guy, but he has a cool British accent so it makes up for the lack of testosterone in the class. My favorite person is a girl named Valerie. She is from Millbrae and is two years older. She went to Mills and also played water polo. For any of you that know the area and the polo history between Mills and Woodside, this means that she was indeed there for the epic PAL championship game in which we won in sudden death after double overtime and proceeded to play “We Are the Champions”. They also filed a complaint against Becky and she had to write an apology letter. Valerie remembers being pinched by Becky. Valerie is also planning on staying around to find work or maybe going to Mexico or Guatemala for work, so hopefully she will stay here and I will have a friend and we can make Peruvian friends together (her goal really is to improve her Spanish also, but she is already much better than I am).

Let’s see, what else. On Monday some of the girls went to a couple bar/restaurants which was quite fun. We got free pisco sours and a couple of yummy hors’devoirs. And it’s true, you do get drunker faster at altitude, which is good for my wallet. The free pisco sours are also good for my wallet.

Ok, I’m not sure what else I’m supposed to say on here. I don’t really have all that much to say. Maybe that is why I never started a blog earlier.

Oh! But I was thinking it make this into a kind of “Stray Dog Fan Site” blog, and post a picture of a stray dog every day or every few days. There are so many stray dogs, and a lot of them are so cute. It may turn into a stray dog/stray kid fan site because if I have my camera out I’ll probably be more intrigued by the little babies running around with their adorable little ponchos and dirty hair and faces. Unfortunately, people are more picky about you taking pictures of their kids than random dogs on the street so I might have to learn to be sneaky…..

At least that way I’m updating every so often!

Jesus Cristo!

I went for a walk around Cusco today, a bit of exploring. I saw a lot of things that surprised me and a couple that didn’t. The first surprising encounter that I had was a baby lamb hanging out at a bus stop with a little girl. Mary had a little lamb perhaps? She brought that lamb to school….but oh wait, its Saturday….

I continued my walk to the Plaza de Armas—the center of town. I had heard that Cusco was a very touristy destination, but thus far I have encountered about 1 person who is not from here…and that is my roommate Emily. I guess my apartment is not in a tourist part of town, which I very much enjoy, and will be good for my Spanish speaking skills, but in the meantime is quite intimidating. Anyways, I got to the Plaza de Armas and was not surprised to see a couple handfuls of natives walking around selling trinkets. The best trinket seller was a boy of about 10 or 11. He didn’t even try to sell me anything, seemed more like he just wanted to date me. He did, however, have one of the best pickup lines I have heard in quite a while: “hello, my name is Michael Jackson.” He then proceeded to sit down next to me and talk to me about random things until eventually he asked if I wanted to buy a postcard. When I replied no, he quickly decided I either am not hot enough to date or he had other tourists to sell things too.

I continued to sit in my spot on the stairs leading to a fountain that was more like a statue since the water wasn’t running. As I people watched, I was shocked to see that the majority of the people that I saw were not tourists. Although I had already discovered this in my part of town, I thought that perhaps in the center would be different. Although there were more than by my apartment, most of the people that I observed seemed to be natives. Along this line, I was pleasantly surprised when an adorable family of Peruvians sat down right next to me. And when I say right, I mean RIGHT next to me. Fortunately, my new neighbor on this step was an adorable little Peruvian boy of about three years, and next to him his brother or uncle who was about 16 or 17. Now, I’m not quite sure if the little boy was trying to set me up with his bruncle, or if he wanted me himself, but he decided to play a game with his bruncle that I named “squish me into the cute American girl on my right”. The bruncle would move slightly closer to the little boy, and he would say “mas”, the bruncle would again move closer, “mas”, closer, “mas”. At this point, it took all of my restraint to not reach over and tickle the little boy. I sat with them for another 20 minutes or so until I decided perhaps it was time to go home.

I began the walk home, which thankfully, was now downhill. I must be really out of shape, or I could blame the altitude, because the walk to the Plaza had been VERY exhausting. The downhill walk was much easier, and made more interesting by a parade! A Jesus parade at that. Unfortunately no one was dressed up as Jesus they just chanted some little chant about him and there were lots of signs about how he lives on. There was, however, someone dressed up as a lion! I’m not sure what that has to do with Jesus, but it was amusing for me! I continued my walk home, made it home safe and sound with a brief stop in a little market store where I successfully bought butter and pasta. Well that’s all for tonight. Maybe more adventures tomorrow?