It's just kind of been one of those weeks... when I haven't really done a whole lot. Which has been both lovely and not so lovely all at the same time. So, I returned from my trek on Monday night and spent most of Tuesday recovering, sleeping, writing emails, etc. Then I spent the rest of the week looking at lots and lots of rocks (ruin after ruin after ruin. They are so seductive). (Yes, Dad, I just wrote that).
Cusco is a trap. Not necessarily in a bad way, but it is just REALLY, really hard to escape from. It's comfortable, there's tons of good food (Peruvian and otherwise-- mostly, after living with a host family, I was pretty into the 'otherwise.' Especially the vegetables.) and there's plenty to do and see, even if that just means wandering around, getting a fresh juice, and people watching in one of the gorgeous plazas. So I finally found my way out last night, and am now in Nasca. Arrived early this morning, bewildered and bleary was shaken awake by the attendant on the bus, and shooed off into the hot sunlight of the desert. It's now 9am and I can't check into my room until 12:30, but all I really want is a shower and a nap (overnight bus rides are not all they're cracked up to be. Oh wait, I think they might not have had such high reputations to begin with...) so I'm sitting in the common area of the hostel writing in my blog. I think I might have to venture forth into the streets shortly, though, to find some food.
A couple of interesting cultural notes, since I don't have a whole lot of activity to report on. Firstly, the novelty of 'photos with la gringa' (which I think is going to be the title of my new telenovela). Here's what happens: I walk into a main plaza (this happens mostly in Cusco, which is weird as there are SO MANY TOURISTS there you would think it wouldn't be so exciting) and there is a group of school age children, usually probably in their early teens. I try to look at the ground, walk quickly, avoid eye contact, but inevitably I am tackled by one or a group and they say 'Por favor, una phota senorita?' The first time this happened, I thought that they wanted me to take a photo of them. But no, the idea is that they stand next to ME and have their photo taken. And then their friend does the same thing, and then this other guy, and then a couple more, until my face hurts and I know my smile looks so fake, and I've had about 25 photos taken of me with random Peruvian schoolchildren. I still don't exactly know why this happens, but I think it has something to do with being tall, blonde, and very pale. In the two-ish weeks I was in Cusco, it happened approximately 4 or 5 times, each occasion spawning probably around 20-30 different photos. I wonder what they are going to do with all of those images of me standing about a foot higher than my little Peruvian friends and smiling so awkwardly? Keep an eye out...
Second cultural note of interest: in the smaller towns around Peru, both ones that I have stayed in and ones that I have passed en route to various cities, the buildings are plastered with campain advertisments. There is a big election coming up (a new president will soon be coming into office, but there are other positions up for renewal as well) and it is obvious that the politicians are very much trying to engage voters in more rural areas. These advertisements take the form of graffiti, more or less, with the name of the cantidate in huge letters, and then next to it a box with an image in it. These images range from simple drawings of mountain ranges, to depictions of the traditional andean alpaca wool hat, to a yellow and purple potato (I know it was a potato because it said 'papas' over it). On some of the buildings, there is the image in the box and it has a large, black X through it. At first I thought that this was an attack against that particular politician-- their adversaires crossing out the campain image. However, I've become convinced that it is actually a genius plan for getting people who are illiterate involved in voting. I think that when the people go to vote, there will be, in addition to the names of the cantidates, a little picture in a box that corrosponds with that name. So that even if the people can't read, they can still vote. I've decided that I would vote for the yellow and purple potato, simply because I like the picture best... Hopefully, that's not how the rest of the voters will choose, but I suppose you always run that risk (even in the US we have the photos of the cantidates accompanying their names... and I bet a lot of people just pick the guy with the best hair...)
Anyways, I'm going to try to get a flight over the Nasca lines today or tomorrow. There is also supposedly a great museum here of the woman who discovered the lines, and a lecture on her this evening. But not much else to do in Nasca, so I'll be moving on up the coast on Wednesday morning. Love to all.
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