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.