I've been a busy bee since landing in Chicago last week! I went through a week of training for the National Youth Leadership Forum on Medicine (I'm a faculty advisor...faculty advisor = teacher of high school students interested in the field of medicine). The first conference started on Sunday and it's been CRAZY. I won't go into too much detail, but my 8 days back so far have included:
Meeting all my awesome colleagues at NYLF Chicago...
Seeing STEVIE WONDER live in concert for FREE! (amazing show, by the way...perfect weather and he played for 2 hours and Jesse Jackson was there and the people watching was better than I've seen in a really long time)...
Hanging out with old Chicago friends and hitting all my favorite old spots...
Learning as much about medicine and teaching in one week as I possibly can...
Meeting 402 high school students from all over the country...
Downloading new music and trading music with my co-workers...
Hanging out in the Bat Cave...
Drinking adult beverages...
Playing WA!...
It's amazing being back and this conference is pretty fantabulous. Exhausting, but fantabulous. My days go from 7AM - 1130PM and some days we start even earlier. (Tomorrow we're heading to Madison to see UW's medical school...bus boarding is 550AM...) Anyway, it's interesting to be hanging out with all the students and attempting to teach them about a field that I know nothing about. My goals are currently to a.) Not loose/kill any of my students; and 2.) Not cause any mental damage/harm to any of my students. So wish me luck!
On that note, I am heading to my plastic twin bed so that I'm not the one showing up late for bus boarding tomorrow morning. I'll try to write more later. Night all!
I had to say my goodbyes to the Urubamba staff on Thursday night at the Grupo Cinco show, which, by the way, was INSANE. I heart Grupo Cinco FOREVER. Friday was my last day in the office and my last day in Cusco. My co-workers and friends made my despedida last all day, which made me feel so loved (and made me hate having to leave...).
Irma made my favorite mid morning snack, fried yucca and aji. After we all devoured it, I went to lunch with Sandrita to say our goodbyes and then went to San Blas (the SoHo of Cusco) to buy some art. Now, I don't know a lot about art, but the pieces that I bought are pretty amazing. One of the galleries I went into was featuring a Cusquenan artist named Walter Hurtado Bejar, who does abstract oil and acrylic paintings. I bought a bunch - probably too many, but I couldn't help myself. I'll post pics of them once I'm not in an airport and hopefully one day I'll find myself some walls to display them.
Anyway, after lunch and shopping, I went home to finish packing up my apartment (amazingly I was able to maneuver everything I own into just 2 checked bags, 1 carry on and my guitar). Packing was too sad, so I went back to the office and received many hugs, a fantastic leather bag and...my Lucia concert ticket! So exciting! Rebecca, Jackie and I headed over early to nab a table and Sandra, Milagro, Liz and Carmen met us there a bit later.
The concert was at Pachamama in Cusco. Pachamama is a restaurant, an expensive restaurant, but I guess since we all paid s/40 for the concert ticket, they thought it'd be ok if we didn't eat their food. Everyone was going across the street to the market and bringing in their own food and after awhile, people started bringing in pizzas, which made me totally jealous.
Anyway, there were a few opening numbers, the first being a group of 6 or 7 dudes playing their guitars and singing along, nothing very remarkable. Following the group of dudes, someone announced the next performer to be Ms. Poala Ruiz. Some of my friends' reactions were as follows:
"She is really beautiful - in a whore way." - Sandrita "Ms.? Ms. Whore." - Milagros (ProPeru's 40-something party animal)
Sandrita also said the girls at Base Men were "hookers" so I didn't really believe her description of Poala Ruiz. As soon as Ms. Whore/Ruiz came out, I changed my mind. Wearing her little lingerie outfit, she came out with a microphone, so I prepared myself for a nice little musical number...but...wait...no...There was no singing. Instead she just kind of shimmied around the stage and she wasn't even that good at the shimmying! After shaking her big boobies around the stage for a bit, she finally had a dance contest with 3 random dudes she selected from the audience. It was a pretty hilarious spectacle, but I have to admit, Sandrita was right in her description. Really beautiful, but in a whore way.
This is exactly what she did last night - same song, same dance, different outfit.
FINALLY, the main act came out. Lucia is a famous Criolla singer from Lima and she is AMAZING. I'm pretty sure both Tyra and Tim would agree that she is FIERCE. Her voice is huge, her laugh is hilarious, her lyrics are great and she was constantly walking around the venue, taking pictures with people while singing. My group was definitely a.) the most intoxicated and b.) the biggest Lucia fans, so I'm pretty sure Lucia knew who we were by the end of the night. =)
So that was my despedida. I said goodbye to everyone this morning, lugged all my stuff to the airport and off I went. And thus my summer of airports and airplanes begins with 8 hours sitting in the Lima airport, a stop for customs in New Jersey and finally landing in Chicago. At least for the next four weeks. =)
Chau, Cusco. We've had our differences in the eight months that I've called you home, but I am honestly going to miss you.
For being a part of my life in Cusco,
Gracias a the ProPeru staff, for helping me out when I needed it; for having patience with me as I butchered your language; and for the beautiful bag and well wishes.
Gracias a Sandra, for making me get out even when I was feeling lonely or missing home; for always trying to make me feel connected to the community and to Peru; and for just being my friend.
Gracias a Liz, for always making me laugh when I needed it and for keeping me company in la oficina; I'll see you in Oaxaca!
Gracias a Jackie, for teaching me to cook tallarin al horno; for dancing with me at Grupo Cinco and Lucia; and for being one of the most genuinely nice people I met in Cusco.
Gracias a Irma, who always made me feel happy with her fried yucca, hot chocolate, avocado sandwiches and saltenas; for helping me with my laundry; and all those days of letting me into the office when I couldn't get the door open.
Gracias a Kenny, for sometimes being a dickhead and making me appreciate my friends but always being there for support or help when I needed it.
Gracias a Rebecca, for watching endless episodes of Lost with me when I was sick and for putting up with my messiness in the A.P.T. Good luck with the rest of your summer and I'll see you back state side!
I'll miss you all and hope our paths cross again sometime!
Ingredients: Medium pot full of sliced onions; Medium pot full of sliced tomatoes, skinned; 3 boxes of noodles; 12 eggs; Handful of black olives, sliced; Brick of cheese, sliced; Olive oil; Paprika; Garlic salt; Salt; Butter; Milk
In one giant pot, boil noodles and 6 eggs. Pour olive oil in another giant pot. Let heat for a few minutes and add onions. After a few minutes of letting the onions simmer in there, pour in the tomatoes. Add paprika and garlic salt (just throw some in). When noodles and eggs are done, strain. Butter large casserole and put in a layer of noodles, followed by a layer of the onion/tomato mixture. Add a layer of black olives, sliced hard boiled eggs and cheese. Repeat with second round of noodles, onion/tomato mixture, olives, hard boiled eggs, cheese. Cover with another layer of noodles. In a bowl, mix 3 eggs with a few cups of milk. Pour over the noodles, letting the milk/egg mixture soak through. In another bowl, mix 3 egg whites, beating until fluffy. Once fluffy, add 1 egg yolk, mix it in and then spread the fluff over the top of the noodle pie.
We dropped ours off at a public oven, which is basically a wood burning pizza oven. They told us 30 minutes. Not sure how you would cook this in a regular oven, but you can guesstimate maybe.
It kinda sounds like an odd mixture of foods, but it's a pretty common dish in Cusco. Mi amiga Jackie insisted that I learn to cook something Peruvian before I left, so we made 2 huge dishes of it at lunch time. We're having my despedida at the office before we go to Grupo Cinco tonight, so we made enough to feed both the Cusco and Urubamba staffs. Our arms almost fell off carrying the casserole dishes from her house to the ovens they were so heavy. I'm such a sissy.
Anyway, now I know how to cook some of this noodle pie stuff if anyone wants some. Muchisimo gracias, Jackie, for teaching me!
I don't know why I like these dudes so much. They're played EVERYWHERE in Cusco - taxis, stores, restaurants, el molino, ring tones, EVERYWHERE. I guess I would compare them to one of the boy bands back in the 90s except that they're not boys, they're kinda old and are lacking the choreographed dances. Oh, and they play cumbia music, not American pop. Everyone here is crazy for them and they're playing in Cusco at some festival tonight. Obviously, I'm going. GRUP-O CINC-O!
The other night I went to a get together with a bunch of "ex-pats." Some were tour guides, others worked in/owned restaurants and bars, some were long-term volunteers, and Kenny and I were representing the community development and international education sector. There was a heavy US and UK presence, with people from Boston, Vermont, Michigan (me), Scotland and England; there was an Aussie, a South African, a German and a Peruvian. Everyone had somehow found their way to Peru and made their life in Cusco.
It was such an awesome hodge podge of people and it vaguely reminded me of my student co-op experience in E.Lansing - a strange mix of slightly strange people all thrown together to make their own little family unit. I forgot what a great feeling it is to find a "family" like that. It seems to get harder and harder to find the further I get away from college. It also reminded me of the movie L'Auberge Espagnole. Good stuff. Love it. Sigh.
I'm going to miss my life here in Peru. Little by little, I am getting more emotional about leaving. I wish I'd had more time to spend with people, more time to explore, more time to do a lot of things. Maybe one day I'll wander back down as a tourist and take my time with everything.
As sad as I am to go, I'm equally as amped for the next 5 months of my life - Chicago, Florida, New Orleans, DC, Baltimore, NYC, California and a move to Mexico in October. How can I not be excited for that? Honestly. Life. Crazy times.
My co-worker said this to describe Irma, our amazing employee who makes the best hot chocolate ever in the universe - she actually melts the chocolate down, adds sugar and milk. After I confirmed that she had in fact called someone "The Poo," I proceeded to roll on the ground laughing for about 10 minutes. The Poo....
I just had to share the comment because it pretty much made my day. The end.
So it's probably a little over eight months coming, but I finally got around to starting a blog! Hoorah! Is it weird that I did it at 4 in the A.M. about a week before I'm LEAVING Peru? Oh well, hopefully there will be more adventures coming.
Yes, it's true. I'm leaving Peru in T - 5 days and like most things in my life, I don't think that I've fully wrapped my head around it. For the amount of time it took me and Peru to become friends, it's weird to think that I'm going to miss it. We had quite a lot of disagreements: homelessness, sketchy landlord, no water, no electricity, trying not to get typhoid while living with Typhoid Autumn, not being able to eat the CHEESE (obviously, my favorite food), the stalker, constantly being harassed, etc. etc. Peru and I, we had our differences. But now, as I'm getting ready to leave, I have to admit, I think I might miss it. Just a tad.
We had our moments - there was Mancora, Christmas in the plaza, Machu Picchu, the sunshine in Urubamba, the hilarious British/Peruvian "chef," crazy times at Mama Africa, the lunch time siestas, the delicious mid morning snacks, good old Lake Titicaca, trips to the Amazon, attempting to cross the Bolivian border, the Brazilian invasion in January, meeting Typhoid Autumn, the fresh mango...mmm....mango. All good things.
And as much as I hated my apartment, my sketchy landlord, my stupid shower that NEVER worked, the endless line of men who were constantly peeing outside my window, the fact that the roof wasn't completely closed off causing a draft every night...as much as I hated Joaquin, the stupid dog that NEVER stopped yapping next door...I still think of that apartment as home.
I'm not prepared at all to go. My stuff is EVERYWHERE. God only knows what I'm going to do with all the apartment stuff I now own in Peru - an amazing dinette set for 6, a fantastic nonstick frying pan (harder to find than one might think), sheets, candle sticks, a dart gun. Wait, no, the dart gun is definitely coming back with me. Mary and I have some trixies to shoot.
Anyhoozle, there's that. My mission this week is trying to fit my entire life back into 2 suitcases and bidding Peru a fond farewell. Oh, and if I have time, there's a Grupo Cinco concert on Thursday. That's my other mission. Very importante stuff. Wish me luck!
