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Monday, September 24, 2007Not Enough Happens in Peru |
Wednesday, August 22, 2007 My flight home was relatively painless though it seems like the pushiest people fly in the middle of the night from Lima. One of my checked luggage was a woven plastic bag, which is a proven method of taking my stuff home from previous years. In the airport I was approached to have my bag wrapped in plastic for $8. I figured why not, and had it done. It certainly made my luggage stand out:
 {My luggage is ready for anything.} All told, my woven plastic bag luggage cost around $12. And since my woven plastic bag was protected, I now have a convenient place to store my winter clothes. The day after the earthquakes hit Peru. While the news outlets reported from Lima, understandable since it is the most well-known city in the earthquake area, I saw on the maps that the epicenter was right next to Pisco and Ica, two of the towns I visited with the archaeoastronomy students and Lin. In the following days, word filtered through from those towns. The main plaza of Pisco was in ruins: Fortunately, Bob and other people I know in Peru are all safe. As usual, the major news outlets were full of speculation and misinformation in the hours after the earthquake. Oddly, the best place for straight news that I found was on my Wii's News Channel. It displays AP articles and photos on a gorgeous interactive globe. link : 4:24 PM
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Sunday, August 12, 2007I Have Two Days Left, What Could Possibly Happen? I was planning to go to a wedding party with Lin, hence the tuxedo talk. He never showed up and since he didn't have my number I figured that was his way of saying it wasn't going to happen. I had things to do in Miraflores so I hopped on a bus there.
I said goodbye to Juan Carlos... which reminds me I forgot to write about him. For kicks I had dinner in McDonald's. I was disappointed when my Big Mac, Fanta, and fries tasted just like in the United States. Places like Burger King had some local variations of their hamburgers. After that I hopped on another bus heading back to Jesus Maria. The but mysteriously stopped a few blocks down, much to the disdain of the passengers. I looked towards the front and saw that we had been pulled over by a motorcycle policewoman (!). She told us to all get off the bus and we got our fare back. Everyone waited for the next bus to arrive. I figured that if eight people hop on the next bus, i'll be pretty crowded. So I waited for the one after. I sat up near the front on a sideways-facing seat. A forward-facing seat opened up so I moved there. It was the seat reserved for the needy, but I could move if I had to. It also fits two people, and a few stops later a pregnant woman sat next to me. Then the bus started to fill up. In fact, I've never seen so many people on a bus before. I was fairly wedged in and couldn't really move. The bus went by where I wanted to get off, but I didn't want to get a pregnant woman and ten other people out of my way so I kept riding. The bus kept going and going full of people. We went through a few of the large plazas in downtown Lima. When some of the people got off the bus, I thought it would be a good opportunity to get out myself. I looked out the window and saw a pile of rubble and a burned out husk of a van. I kept riding the bus. The bus crossed the Rímac river, and entered a busy intersection. The pregnant woman got out there and I quickly followed her out. On the street I was surrounded by tables selling wine. I kept going and saw some booths selling different food items. Across the street I saw a large outdoor market. I walked a bit but I'd rather get home so I went across the street and took a bus going back the way I came. I sat right next to the door so no matter what I could get out when I wanted. Along the way back I felt the beginnings of a stomach ache and a little bit of nausea. I thought it was from all of the bus travel, though I'm not really known for motion sickness. In fact, the last time I threw up was when I was ten or so, a record I'm quite proud of. I got back to the Villa Rica with no other problems. I sat on my bed and surfed the web, emailing Bob that I was feeling sick. After another few minutes my stomach completely shifted to a new level of aching. I stumbled towards the toilet. Some instinct told me it was time and I lifted the toilet lid, got on my knees, and blasted a gooey mix of french fries and Fanta into the toilet. Oh, um sorry if you were eating while reading this. Amusingly I was mad that my streak was over. I rolled into bed and looked for web information on food poisoning. Then I passed out. At 4AM I woke up with a severe craving for water. I called downstairs for a bottle and went back to sleep after I got it and had a sip. The next morning Bob had gotten me a lot of supplies for the sick, since he's had a lot of experience treating sick students. He got me some crackers and three liters of Fanta, among some other things like Cipro. Unfortunatley my stomach didn't take to the pills and my next streak lasted only 8 hours or so. I spent the rest of today sleeping and surfing the web, with sips of Fanta and water in between. Update 9:05PM: Feeling better now. I went through a period where I was either moaning, saying the f-word, or raising my arms and roaring softly. While Kristin would tell you that's within the range of variation for my behavior, it usually doesn't come out all at once. Now I'm packing up my stuff so I have more time tomorrow. I have a few things to give out, and someone to see. link : 5:42 PM
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Friday, August 10, 2007Can I Rent a Smoking? We sat in a smoke-filled bar on Av. La Marina, a popular strip of department stores, hamburger joints, and discotecas. The place was a big bar, which had an appropriate name: Big Bar. It was my going-away party with my coworkers. We just came back to our tables after a round of dancing and we're enjoying our beers. In my case, I had a coke. Lin, who had taken us on the trip to the south, leaned towards me. I could barely hear what he said over the music and the lasers (which somehow interfered with my hearing).
Lin: ***** smoking **** aquilar.Lin takes a breath and thinks of another way of saying what he is saying. I know the word smoking. I know the word aquilar (to rent). But I can't think of a sentence where those two words would make sense. Was he talking about the smoke in the bar? But why rent? Is that a phrase for second hand smoke? Lin continued: Lin: *translated from Spanish* Aquilar is when, for example I let you use this glass *picks up his glass of beer.* You pay me 50 soles and I let you use it. Then you give it back when you're done.I confirmed that aguilar is to rent. But... smoking? Lin took another breath, encouraged that I got that part down. Lin: *translated from Spanish* "Smoking" is clothes you wear to a wedding. We'll need it tomorrow when we go to my friend's wedding. We're going to rent "smoking" tomorrow afternoon.Smoking is Spanish for tuxedo!!!! What?! How... that boggles the mind. Back in my hotel room I checked my new Spanish dictionary and the translation widget:  Indeed: Smoking, spelled exactly the same way, means a tuxedo in Spanish. That's not confusing at all! Labels: linguistics, personal, peru link : 10:58 PM
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Tuesday, August 7, 2007Burger Was The Taste that They Gave Me Since I lost my credit cards here in Peru, I have a limited amount of cash to live off of. I guess I could borrow from those around me, but I rather not. To pinch centimos I found an even better source of tasty food, as cheap as the free samples at the Metro. It is 2 soles roundtrip to get there and back, after all. There's a hamburger stand one block away from the Villa Rica on Av. Arenales. It actually belongs to a hamburger cafe on the same block. For 2 soles I can have a "plain" hamburger which actually is loaded with lettuce, onions, crushed potato chips (you laugh, but it's really good!), and a bunch of sauces: ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise and local favorite ají, or chili sauce. It also comes with a drink. Pretty good for 62¢!
Another stand on the opposite corner sells "emoliente," which is a warm drink mix made of different grains such as quinoa and maca. They also sell little sandwiches filled with "tortilla," which is what they call an omlette, or camote, which is sweet potato. Each of those items is 50 centimos or 15¢. That is what I call a cheap breakfast! Labels: peru link : 9:31 PM
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Sunday, August 5, 2007Notes on Peru
link : 5:19 PM
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Saturday, July 28, 2007Touring the South Coast Last weekend the students and I were led on a tour of southern Peru by Lin, who works... wow we just had a small earthquake*. Anyway, he works at the same museum the bioarchaeology students and I work at and he's helped us to adjust a great deal. While the archaeoastronomy students and I were hanging out with him and some other Peruvian students, he invited us to go with him to see some of the southern towns. Apparently he has a brother who has connections there. The following weekend (one week ago) we hopped on a tour bus. Destination: Pisco.
Pisco is a town which shares its name with the brandy it produces. We arrived late a night. The town looks like a bomb went off, with piles of construction rubble and broken sidewalks scattered about. We quickly got settled in the hotel "The Eden" for the night. Far from being a paradise, it was creepy and smelly. It didn't matter too much to us (though the yellow stain on the wall adjacent to my bed was worrisome) and we slept in preparation for the next day. The next morning we were roused awake when the tour bus arrived a half hour earlier than what we were told. Lin was not there yet (we think he stayed with a friend) so we were very confused. Eventually we got on the bus and headed towards the town of Paracas to see the Islas Ballestas. The Islas Ballestas are a chain of islands compared to the Galapagos islands. In the 1800s it was important because guano miners could excavate some bird poo for sale to other countries as fertilizer. There are meters of bird poo that still cover the islands since it's a renewable resource. If I remember right, 80% of the Peru GNP was guano during that time. Unfortunately, the goldmine of poo was sought after by Chile, which in part lead to wars between the two countries, which Peru pretty much lost. To see these islands, we take speedboats. The dock had swarms of pelicans milling about waiting for a kid holding a raw fish to toss it in the air for them to fight over. One one side, several men were trying to tow a car towing a boat that had somehow sank into the water. The lead car tried to pull them both out, but the cable connecting them snapped and the stuck car got stuck even more. I didn't want to take pictures of someone's bad day so I kept going to the boat. The dock also had some interesting signs:  With a mish-mash of tourists from all over Europe we jetted off for the islands. The tour was awesome: there were pelicans, sea lions, cool rock formations, and yes, bioarch students: we saw that penguins do indeed live in Peru:  After the boat tour we got in a cab to see Paracas proper. Unlike the tiny modern town, the Reserva Natural de Paracas is a gigantic wildlife and archaeology reserve. It covers a section of the coastal desert, and part of the ocean as well. We saw the little but well-made museum which had some examples of Paracas textiles and the famous funerary bundles of cotton and other offerings. After the museum, we saw some of the natural formations on the coast, such as the Catedral:  {Click for a panorama.} From the reserve we were driven to Tambo Colorado, an Inca outpost a few kilometers inland. It is one of the top five examples of Inca design in Peru. We had the site all to ourselves so Lin showed us the maze of corridors and rooms. He grew up in the area and spent some of his childhood exploring the site before it became a protected tourist attraction. Tambo Colorado (Tambo means an Inca outpost and Colorado means colored, because some red paint still exists on some of the walls) was a local ceremonial center, storehouse, and elite getaway for the Sapa Inca, the Inca leader. The site now shows the mark of five hundred years of history: in some of the Inca niches visitors in the 19th century had carved poems in cursive into the plaster wall. After Tambo Colorado we went back to Pisco to eat and rest. There was nothing planned that night, but we were awoken from our naps by a blast of live music. We thought it must have been really close, but we looked out the window and saw that it was coming from a stage all the way across the plaza:  {For those about to sleep, we salute you!} The Lonely Planet guide says this town is dangerous at night so we were a bit reluctant to leave "The Eden." Being a bit daring ("I'm unrobbable!") I went off by myself to check out the concert scene. Pisco was very lively. People were watching the concert, kids ran around the plaza, and I saw a very busy pedestrian street. I found that it was lined by restaurants, bars, and strangely, giant electronic store chains shrunken to Pisco size. I walked around taking it all in before returning to the hotel to report that Pisco at night was indeed safe. We went out to dinner and most of us pooped out after that. Patrick went out with Lin to a baby shower and then dancing. The plaza concert lasted until 2AM or so, keeping us awake. There was no time for rest as we were off again the next morning at 6AM. This time we were getting on a bus first to the town of Ica, capital of the Ica department, and then off to Nasca. Lin offered to take us there so we could fly over the Nasca lines and being archaeology dorks, we all leapt at the chance. Nasca was scorching and we felt even more tired. We learned that early morning clouds had delayed the flights, and the earliest we could possibly get into the air was 3PM. We had lunch and Lin took us around. We went to some ceramic and metallurgy workshops to see how they do their crafts. When our flight was delayed to the next morning, we went 25km away to Cahuachi, a Nasca site. There was an archaeological field school going on at the time. One of the Peruvian archaeology students showed us around. We couldn't get too close but I did take a 360° panorama:  {Cool site + friendly archaeologists = win. Click for a panorama.} We had dinner at a chicken restaurant near our Nasca hotel. I rested a bit while Lin was away doing Lin things and the students went to a planetarium to see their presentation. We walked around Nasca at night, which was a lot more charming and temperate than in the afternoon, and spent the night in town. The next morning we went to the Nasca Aerodome where the small planes for tours over the lines are located. After a little bit of waiting they asked for three of us to volunteer to go. I didn't want to turn this decision into a drawn out thing so I kind of ordered the three students to go. They gladly went while I waited on the ground and took pictures. They came back after a half hour or so and it was my turn, sharing a plane with a young Italian couple. I sat in the front seat next to the pilot. I've always been wary of small planes but the flight was very enjoyable. We did some hard banking over the lines for our photography needs but I didn't feel a thing. I heard that two of the students had a puke fest on the first flight. To be honest the line formations that made pictures of animals and things looked really small from so high above. I don't believe for a minute that you cannot appreciate them from the ground, especially if you know what is there beforehand. They're also far from perfectly shaped. If I had 500 people holding hands I could have them spread out and form a large shape in the sand. Once they are in place I'd have them remove the soil around their feet, join these clearings with their neighbors' and we'd have a picture of whatever I wanted of comparable quality. No aliens needed. After I landed we were off again on our next adventure: sandboarding! Near the town of Ica is a small oasis resort called Huacachina. There we hopped on a dune buggy and were taken on a bumpy tour of the local sand dunes. How bumpy was it? Well see for yourself: The dune buggy stopped on top of a fair-sized dune. The driver, Luis, hopped out and pulled some sandboards out of the back. They looked pretty much like snowboards. He showed us how to lay on them surfer style and launch ourselves down the sand dune. It was awesome! The sheer sense of speed is something that will stay with me for a long time. He picked us up again at the bottom of the dune and drove us to a bigger one. By the fourth set of dunes we were looking down hundreds of yards of sand. We all had a lot of fun. Since I weighed more than the others I went the farthest (Force equals mass times acceleration). So in a way, I got more out of it, lol. After our pockets and shoes were well-filled with sand, Luis drove us back to the resort. We got some much needed cold drinks and ice cream. At the inn we were based at, there was an odd menagerie of animals milling about. There were peacocks, dogs, a turtle, and a monkey of all things. The monkey was very nice and cute. Maybe, too nice. I found that, unlike a cat which I could brush off of me, the monkey would not be put down. It's little prehensile hands and and feet would grab anything on me: my shirt, my lip (!), my camera, etc. It preferred holding on to me rather than the tree it was leashed to or the grass. It was also extremely bitey, chewing the heck out of my fingers, arm, and camera just for kicks.  {I call the small one "Bitey."} A British guy helped me out by taking the monkey from me, but then it was stuck to him. We laughed that it's like a cold: we can only get rid of it by passing it to someone else (Ok, not really, but it's a folk belief). Eventually we got away when it hopped on the ground to transfer itself between us and we both darted out of the range of his leash. The other guy must have felt sorry for it because when I came back out from a cafe, the monkey was back on his shoulder. We left Huacachina and went back to the bus station in Ica. There we got on a bus back to Lima, a four and a half hour trip. We were exhausted and I passed out as soon as I hit my bed at the Villa Rica. It was amazing that I made it to work on time the next day. Well, Ok I was 15 minutes late. Thanks for reading through all this. We had a busy weekend! It's been a week and I'm still tired from the trip and bruised from the dune buggy. *Today is Fiestas Patrias, Peru's independence day. The fact that an earthquake occurred during a Catholic mass at the main cathedral with the president in the audience is not a good omen! Labels: anthropology:archaeology, peru link : 5:23 PM
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Friday, July 27, 2007Me Robó The title sounds like I'm telling you that I'm a robot, but it actually means that I was robbed. Which I was, unfortunately.
Thursday morning began like any other. I wake up 2 hours before I have to go to work. I surf the net for 90 minutes and hurriedly get ready to go and eat breakfast in the last half hour. I checked for my wallet in my jacket, and noted that my travel pouch with my passport is under a pile of clothes in my hotel room. I leave the Villa Rica and walk down a block to catch a bus. On the bus I sit alone, but then a man sitting somewhere behind me moved to sit next to me. It's not so unusual as I figured that he had a stop coming up and wanted to be closer to the door. He was kind of large so I was squished against the bus window. I wrapped my arms around my backpack, which had my computer and camera and was on my lap. The man jostled a bit. He had a large yellow plastic bag with him with some cardboard or something inside. He got off a few corners later. I myself hopped off the bus a few more blocks past that. I started walking to the museum when I noticed that my jacket's pocket was open. I put my hand in and nothing was there. I patted down my pants pocket, the other place I put my wallet. Nothing there either. Just like that, I was professionally robbed. After some fast, frantic thinking about my options I decided to hop on a bus going back towards the Villa Rica. I searched my room for my wallet, in case I had left it there. I got online to tell Kristin what happened. As I chatted with her I looked online for advice about what to do in this situation. I checked the US Embassy in Lima, wikihow.com, and then my online banking site. When I saw the statement I noticed that there was already a new charge: around $3.50 at an inn in Lima. I was excited that I had a lead already so I bolted downstairs to ask the hotel staff what I should do. They got me a cab to the nearest police station. The police station was like any other building in Jesus María. It was made of brick plastered over and had alternating sections with and without a ceiling. Florescent lights made everything green. After explaining to several officers that my wallet was stolen and my card was being used, I was led to a room where they took my statement. Jesus María is not a tourist district so it must be rare for them to deal with foreigners (or was it...). The officer I was assigned was nice even though answering each question seemed like its own confusing ordeal. He hand-wrote the statement and directed me back downstairs. As I left, a group of police officers called me to another corner of the room. I had no idea what was going on. They asked me if I spoke English. I said yes and they led me into the circle of officers. In the center was a white-looking person dressed in a t-shirt and shorts, hardly appropriate for a cold wet morning. They wanted me to talk to this guy, and get the basic information from him. Following their instructions I asked the man for his name, where he came from, and his birthday. He answered all three with a slight grin and a shake of the head which to me said "Whatever, dude." It dawned on me that this guy didn't come here on his own for help; the police brought him in for something! I put myself on alert as I was a foot from this strange guy. The police tried to get me to engage him in conversation but the man wouldn't comply. They sent me away again. Downstairs an officer was typing up my statement into an old PC. When she was done she had a printout stamped and signed by another officer and I was told I could go. All told, my first real experience with the police was very positive. Back at the Villa Rica, Kristin told me via chat that she had cancelled my Columbia cards. On her advice I took a nap to rest. I got up to have lunch and went to work finally at 2PM. When I told my coworkers what happened they were very empathetic. I have something of a reputation for just leaving my valuables hanging around while I run errands so they cautioned me on my lax personal security (I'm actually careful, I swear!). They affirmed that that would be last experience with crime here in Lima. One aspect of my personal security practices that paid off was that I keep money and documents in separate locations. I had around $8 in another pocket, which sustained me for the two days before I could reach Bob for help. My passport is safe. It's just $30, some credit cards and ID cards which were taken. Actually, that sounds kind of bad. Maybe I should re-evaluate my plan. Hmm. link : 10:15 PM
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Wednesday, July 18, 2007It's Not All Chicha Morada and Tripe In the past week, massive strikes have occurred in the major cities of Perú. The strikes here have a typical pattern much different than in the U.S.. Instead of the weak "Honk your horn for X," protesters here block major highways with boulders, sometimes using dump trucks and bulldozers to do so. Peruvians also have a penchant for throwing small objects, such as rocks and eggs.
The strikes were started by a teacher's union who objected to a new proficiency exam. Laborers then joined to show their dislike off the current president, Alan Garcia, who was also president once before during the tumultuous 80's (his opponent in the 2006 elections was even shadier than he was). link : 9:53 PM
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Monday, July 16, 2007¡Lima, Ya Es Diferente! I went with the archaeoastronomy students to the Museo de la Nación. Like the Museo Nacional de Arqueología, etc. where I work, it is filled with exhibits about precolumbian Perú. The Museo de la Nación has more gigantic reconstructed displays while the other seems to have smaller, more genuine things to see. They're both worth a visit for those interested in archaeology. There was a new exhibit at the Museo de la Nación on the 6th floor (did I mention that this building is huge?). It was an exhibit of photographs telling the story of Perú in the 1980's and 90's. It's a sad story.
 {El Museo de La Nación.} Starting in the late 70's, a rural college professor became the leader of the Sendero Luminoso, a group following the teachings of Mao who wanted to overthrow the government. Unfortunately they did not quite believe in the social equality part and instead opted to murder large numbers of people in the rural Andes. The Peruvian government sent what could accurately be called death squads to fight the Sendero. Villages were caught in the middle and faced death from whatever side they did not ally themselves with. Tragedy was everywhere: for example, eight journalists were killed by Andean villagers when their cameras were mistaken for Sendero guns. The rebellion and counterattack eventually spread from the Andes to Lima and intensified there in the early nineties. Backpack and car bombs were used by the Sendero to kill civilians. Military death squads started abducting university students. Perú's congress was disbanded by then-president Fujimori for raising objections to the military's actions. Fujimori's tactics eventually prevailed as the main leaders of the Sendero Luminoso were captured in 1992, reducing the group to rural drug trafficking. Fujimori's government also faced some consequences for its actions during this period. After accusations of election fraud in 2000, Fujimori fled to Japan and resigned as president. Japan has a policy of not extraditing its citizens for trials in foreign countries (though it is odd that being a common Japanese citizen supercedes being the president of a South American country). He was nabbed in Chile on an inexplicable trip back to the Americas and placed under house arrest. Just last week, a Chilean judge ruled that Fujimori cannot be extradited to Perú. He is actually running for senate in Japan while staying in Chile. While that sounds like the worst plan ever, he actually has support in Japan for his handling of a hostage situation at the Japanese embassy in Lima in 1992 when soldiers under his command stormed the building, freed the hostages, and killed the assailants, allegedly after they had surrendered. Well, I suppose Japan had their own death squads not six decades ago so why not. The museum exhibit was very well done, with over twenty rooms of photos, each relating to a certain incident or general theme. Hidden speakers played speeches and TV clips. The photos were graphic but not gratuitously so. We left for our next destination, the shopping mall Jockey Plaza, saddened but appreciative of Perú as it is now.  {A few of the photos from the exhibit.} While Perú is still feeling the effects the horrendous 80's and 90's, it has improved dramatically in the past decade. Even in the time from my first visit in 2003 I can see that Perú is steadily becoming a better, more stable place to live. On the Panamerican highway there are billboards titled "¡Lima, Ya es Diferente!" ("Lima, it is already different!") which show both the latest improvements to the city, and plans for upcoming ones. On a smaller scale, I see many public works projects in the different districts I frequent. The notoriously deteriorated sidewalks and streets are being repaired. Gardens are being revitalized by both city workers and homeowners and new flowers are being planted in the parks. I do believe there are more traffic lights and crosswalk signals, and the people actually follow them. A lot of these developments are accompanied by signs attributed to the mayor of the district that ask the people to care for their new constructions. As Perú approaches its Fiestas Patrias (independence day), July 28th, the local pride has grown even more noticeably. Maybe it's a social response to the awful circumstances they lived through, but generally people are very cordial to fellow inhabitants. People go out of their way for others in a way that not even the friendlier people in Columbia can conceive of (me included). Here's an example. Last night I was at Saga Fallabella, one of the two major department stores in Lima. I've been looking for a jacket the past few weeks. The ones at Saga Fallabella were close to what I was looking for, something light with lots of pockets. I've been to the one at Jockey Plaza a few times and I haven't found any I like. Just to see what it was like, I went to another store in Miraflores. This one was a bit bigger, with four floors instead of three. There were also very few people there for whatever reason so I felt a little more comfortable. I found a nice fleece-like jacket from their Mountain Gear line. I also picked up some nice exercising shorts to sleep in. You have no idea how long I've been looking for a decent pair of shorts in the States, by the way. When I went to check out, the cashier said something... complex. I looked puzzled so she explained it a lot slower: since she assumes that I do not have a Saga Falabella credit card (and she's right), she'll have to put my charge on someone else's credit card for me to receive the full discount. I understood the words of slow version, but didn't really get what she meant. There's a discount? Who's credit card are we using? As I was finishing that thought, she already walked around the register and was out of sight behind me. She came back with two apparently random guys. She explained to one of them that if he charges my jacket on his card, I get a discount. And... he agreed! What? I'm a total stranger (who looks kind of freakish compared to the rest of the population). She's also a stranger from what I gather. If someone asked me to do that I would have to decline as it sounds like the worst identity theft scam ever. But without hesitating, this guy was going to do this favor for me. He got out his credit card, and bought my jacket with it. I gave the cashier the money. She then instantly refunded the guy's credit card. She did warn me that I cannot return the jacket since it's on his card. I shook the guy's hand, as it's common to do between Peruvian chums. I looked at my receipt: instead of 79 soles ($25), the jacket was only 59 soles ($19). Good deal! So I've taken us through a roller coaster of Peruvian history and culture, past and present. I really like it here. It sounds weird, but I'm really happy for this country. As I live here, study the distant past, and get caught up with recent history, I see a country that has seen a lot of changes. I'm also happy that it seems to be improving, even past another controversial election. I like the limeño life All of the faires, the hole-in-the-wall restaurants, the small parks strewn about every few blocks... I really enjoy being in the outdoors with total strangers here. I'm a little sad that I have less than a month left. link : 9:01 PM
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Friday, July 6, 2007Church Faires Are Also Awesome Before I took the new students to the Inti Raymi faire I went alone through Jesus María to get to the Metro for some groceries. Along the way, I passed by the local church and there was a lot going on. A church faire!
 The fact that faires now get me really excited is no secret. I immediately changed course and headed right into it. It was a small event, but it did have a stage with amps. On the stage was a guy in a cheap clown suit (no makeup!) and a guy dressed up like Spider-Man. There were several row of tables of people selling freshly cooked food. Looking at the signs, I thought they represented local churches and different denomination. I had a plate of tallarín con salsa de carne, which is spaghetti with meat sauce. For the first time in Peru I felt like someone who was part of the community and not some Chinese weirdo walking through town. Here's what happened: the church let out and many tens of people suddenly spilled out into the faire area. As they walked by me they saw me standing there like a weirdo eating a plate of spaghetti. Some people walked up to me, but instead of commenting on me, they asked me if the spaghetti was good and how much it was. They valued my opinion! There were also some faire games set up. One was a simple cointoss onto a platform. Another was jail which I considered joining but I was concerned that no one would pay to let me out. As I was looking around a woman came up to me with some numbered tickets. She asked me to pick one for one sol. I chose 4 for no reason in particular and then I saw the setup she was attending to. It was a ring of boxes surrounding a box in the center. On each box on the outside was some cheap item: stickers, condensed milk, things like that. I had no idea what was going on:  {I paid 1 sol before I knew how this game worked.} When she sold off all of the tickets she called a guy over who reached into a box and picked up a cuy (guinea pig)! I got it: the guinea pig was going to be placed in the box in the center and when it's uncovered, it would scaredly run into a box. The person who had the ticket for that box wins! That was exactly what happened as seen in this video: The video was actually the second cuy run I saw. On the first one, the cuy ran into box 4. I won! My incredible prize was a pack of rigatoni pasta with a bottle of white glue and a green marker taped to it.  {Now my party can really get started.} At another event, someone was selling rolled up tickets. When I paid a sol and picked one, I unrolled it to reveal a number. Then another person working there would get some cheap item that corresponded with that number. Simple enough, right? Except that Peruvians are rather pushy at times and the people running that booth were kind of slow. I waited patiently to buy my ticket and have it exchanged for my item. One of the guys came up to me and handed me a tiny orange plastic flute. His expression said "Pfft, here you go dude" while mine was more "Uh, thanks, I think." I later gave the flute away to the daughter of anthropologist Rick Sutter, who happened to stop by with his family to visit Bob. There's a chance that he absolutely despises me now. link : 9:04 PM
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Thursday, July 5, 2007Life is A Faire Another batch of field students, another excuse to go to the Inti Raymi faire! I took the first two archaeoastronomy students to arrive to the Parque de la Exposición to partake in the festivities. This time, the next to last day of the faire, had a much larger turnout. There were more booths set up as well. I bought some wooden knicknacs like bookmarks and stuff from one booth. While I stopped buying things for my now-ex-girlfriend Kristin, I figure a future girlfriend might like it. That's right ladies, going out with me has door prizes!
Ahem, anyway the students seemed like the dive-in headfirst sort so I had them all buy the anticuchos and tripe plate from my previous trip. They all tried the tripe, and while it didn't fit their tastes exactly, they get credit for having some. We walked around some more as it got later into the night. I picked up some refrigerator magnets depicting Peruvian staples such as empanadas and purple corn. In the real-food category I had some ponche, which is like rice pudding but with quinoa and more liquidy. There was the option of adding a shot of pisco to it but I declined.  {The booth where I got some delicious ponche} I also had some manjar blanco, a condensed milk spread. To wash it all down I had a cup of freshly made cane juice. The new students tried some pisco sours: we were all hopeful because the girl at the booth made a blender full, but then only poured out two shots worth for them. Even so, I think we all had a good time! *I tried to look up the phrase "door prize" on Google to make sure I got the definition right. I found out that it is also a slang term for when someone hits a bicyclist with a car door. That makes my sentence above a lot more hilarious. Labels: peru link : 8:42 PM
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Saturday, June 30, 2007Personal Interlude 2: Rite of Passage... Passed! Mercedes Delgado, Peruvian archaeologist, approached me with an envelope. She had me take out the contents. An official invitation to present at a anthropometry/bioarchaeology workshop at the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, here in Lima. !!! She said I could present in English, so no pressure. I was just to give a brief lecture on my work here this winter in Peru. I accepted, as I had three weeks to prepare.
Fast forward: the presentation went great! The workshop was around 25 people or so, mostly students with a few faculty. Mercedes chatted with me before my talk and said "You're talking in English right?" I answered "No, I'm talking in Spanish." and she replied "Wow thank you thank you!" She's great, by the way. Anyway I got up and just delivered a talk in Spanish. I suffer from One More Day Syndrome and I wished I had one more day to work on the presentation to get it just right. My first half is well rehearsed, but the last half was full of me asking the crowd what the Spanish word for brain was, etc. Still, Bob said I didn't need one more day and I gave a grade A talk. Nice! After the talk, two students came up to ask me to elaborate on cranial deformation. Silly me, I glossed over the whys and hows of it because I assumed that they as Peruvian students would know. I guess it's like someone assuming that I know all about the Han Dynasty. I did give them my email though. Yay for meeting new colleagues. The talk will appear on this site in the Professional section. I do have to start promoting myself for when I have to apply for jobs. I can see my CV entry now: 2007: Made and gave a talk in g#*d@&%ed Spanish!!!!!! link : 9:13 PM
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Personal Interlude 1: Pachakuteq According to one version of Inca history, when Cusi Yupanqui defeated the invading Chancay people and drove them from Cusco, he started a period of conquest that would soon reach over two thousand miles along the Pacific Coast of South America. He gave himself a new name as leader of the Inca people: Pachakuteq, which is literally "world turner," but the connotation can be more like "earthquaker" or the more extreme "reality remaker."
I'll get to the point before you wonder why this is called a personal interlude. Two weeks ago Kristin and i broke up. All of a sudden, the future I had envisioned for us was overturned. I'm talking about the next decades. I just assumed that we'd be together for a long time, and it never really occurred to me that that might not happen. (On a sidenote I have to admit that my mom was right, maybe intermingling the house purchase finances might not have been the bestest idea.) Kristin hung on when I was at my lowest, and I literally owe her my life. But more recently we developed different social interests (basically she had them and I didn't), and while I thought that was fine for us, she didn't feel the same. The field school students were very nice when they found out. They got me some flowers and a lúcuma mousse which was great. Kristin and I still friends, best friends even, and we already joke around the breakup. I'll still have a cool house and 3 cats when I get back home in August. But one day when I get my PhD and find a job, I'll be leaving Columbia and Kristin will stay behind. Yeah, I'm scared as hell about that day. My reality just got remade. link : 8:54 PM
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Friday, June 29, 2007A Weekend Excursion to Pachacamac Last weekend we took a field trip down to Pachacamac, a site/tourist attraction to the south of Lima. I'm very familiar with the site: we had a tour there in 2004 and on my second trip I worked there with some of the radiologists. This time I took the students back for a quick view of the site.
Pachacamac was a ceremonial site for the local groups which grew in prominence as an oracle center. Peoples from far off areas of the Andes would make pilgrimages there to hear spiritual advice and make offerings to the powerful dieties who inhabited it. When the Inca arrived, they built their own gigantic temple near the structures already there, putting their stamp on the local religion. The Pachacamac diety was embodied by a carved wooden pole, the "staff god." When the Spanish sacked Pachacamac, Pizarro's brother broke it apart. Today what remains of the site are several pyramids, and many remnants of walls and floors. There are always active archaeological digs going on on the premises to learn more about the various people who lived there. The area is also pretty big. While the tour can be done on foot, it is far more convenient to hop in a vehicle and go from structure to structure.  {A pick-up motorcycle, or something. Luckily, this was not our ride in Pachacamac.} We had arrived in a hired cab driven by Sandros, whom Bob has worked with for several years (I'm a bit hazy on their history). He is really nice and friendly to us even though we're a bunch of loud kids and he's in his cab all day. We went through the small onsite museum and then got in our cab. Our first stop was the Mamacuña, a structure which housed women removed from society in order to produce textiles and beer for the Inca royalty. They were also given to local lords as concubines like a type of reward. This is the most-restored of the Pachacamac structures, though it's a work in progress so we weren't allowed to enter (with some official help we did go inside during the previous field season though).  {The restored Mamacuña} We then went to the Inca Templo del Sol. It has restored steps so one could climb up and admire the view of the ocean and some islands. A dog greeted us at the pyramid. It seemed to latch on to our group, walking just ahead of us as if leading us through the ruins. Surprisingly, it kept us on the path, going as any group of tourists would. If we lingered to take photos, the dog would go out ahead and look back at us, waiting. We joked that we should give it a treat since we were supposed to tip tour guides. At one point, it broke off from our group and ran up to the security guard at the pyramid for some attention before coming back to us. We were sad to see it go as we drove off in our cab to the next site, but I was adamant about not taking any dogs with us.  {The bestest guide dog ever. Yes he is!} We left Pachacamac and went to a nearby restaurant, where I had eaten every day when I worked there. It's a higher class place and I ordered before seeing the menu so I didn't know what the prices were (I asked the waitress what the daily specials were). I ordered an arroz con mariscos, which was rice covered in all kinds of seafood, from clams to shrimp to even jellyfish and sea snails. When I got it, it was gigantic. On the plate was a whole hardboiled egg and a small lobster! When I got the bill I found out that my plate was 40 soles ($12.70 or so). Our individual lunch budget was 9 soles. Oops! Well since Bob wasn't there I was the boss so I pardoned myself. Besides, that was the best arroz con mariscos I've had here. Our next and last stop before returning was San Bartolo, a local surfing town. Since it is winter here, the town is pretty much closed up. But, we went for the archaeology! Well, sort of. The town sits on a giant shell midden which was made when prehistoric people dumped their seafood trash over thousands of years. Now, the ground is sedimentary rock overlaid by topsoil-like substrate with shells and bones embedded within. That's interesting as it is, but when I climbed a hill overlooking the ocean, we found that the view was far cooler.  {A huge-tastic view of San Bartolo.} We spent a lot of time there watching the waves, climbing rocks, and looking at crabs as they skittered around. After that, we went home to grungy old Lima. But is Lima so bad? That's the topic of my next big post. Labels: anthropology:archaeology, peru link : 6:53 PM
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Friday, June 22, 2007A Night at the Faire In my previous trips to Peru, I've gone to a faire that has been held in the nearby Parque de la Exposición. It's a pretty big park built expressly to add culture to the city. It has several art museums, and a nice fountain. There are also amphitheaters and even a puppet show building for kids. I really wanted to go to the faire this year as well, but didn't really know how to find out about it. I scoured the internet for a calendar of cultural events in Lima but didn't really find anything. I did find that there was going to be a concert at the park on father's day. I asked the staff at the hostal but I didn't really understand the conversation. Either the fair is closed on holidays, or it really picks up on holidays. Holidays... like father's day! They also told me that Sundays are a good day to go to the faire. I wanted to ask Bob, but he was busy handling details for a trip to Buena Vista to observe a possible astronomical alignment that coincides with the winter equinox, a major event for the Incas and people living here today. In Cusco they have a giant celebration called Inti Raymi with parades and ceremonies.
The pieces fell into place in my head: a concert at the park for one holiday, which is on a Sunday. A major cultural event coming up... maybe the faire will be there that day? On Sunday morning, I walked to the park to see what was there. I was greeted by gigantic banners advertising the Inti Raymi festival at the park. Another banner was for the concert taking place that same day. Cool! I walked in and saw people setting up. Already, whole pigs were on the grill, with delicious smoke rising into the air. It was going to be awesome. I went back to the hostal to tell the students the good news. They had gone to some parties with a Peruvian student so they were slow to awaken. I told them all the cool stuff that was going down that day. We had already decided to go to Miraflores that day so Beckie could pick up a skirt she wanted at Juan Carlos' booth at the circle market. Juan Carlos? Oh right, he needs his own post lol. Anyway our cab ride there was very entertaining because our driver spoke a lot of English and had a nice car. We got a taste of that when I talked him down from 10 soles for the cab ride (a ridiculous price). He pleaded that it was father's day so I should be generous! I did get him down to 8 soles. On the way we talked about a lot of the usual things like why we were in Peru and how long we were staying. When he found out we were archaeologists the conversation changed to the rich archaeology of Peru. We talked about Caral/Chupacigarro (he was surprised we've been there already), the Incas in general, and the mystery of the Nasca lines. In Miraflores he told us to try the lúcuma ice cream and was surprised again when we told him that we were way ahead of him. In the end we gave him 10 soles for the ride. Beckie got her skirt and we immediately set off back towards Jesus María for the faire. When we got there it was already dark (heading towards the winter equinox does mean that the nights are getting longer). There weren't as many booths set up as I had thought as many stalls were empty. There was a lot of stuff going on though, including a motion simulator ride:  Once again what is popular at the faire has changed. The first one I went to, in 2003, had predominantly touristy stuff and local food. The second year, 2004, had a much larger showing of health-related products: vegetarian food, natural ingredients, etc. That was also the first time i saw sorpresas there, grab-bag goodies that can be bought for 1 sol each. This year, there are very few tourist goods, and many more redundant booths. There were at least 3 booths selling the same soy chicharrones. A few artists were doing spray paint/fire breathing demonstrations. The restaurant area was a lot larger though. There was a large section of tables and chairs with rows of booths grilling all kinds of meat. I spied anticuchos (beef hearts), hot dogs, tripe (mmm), and a pile of cuy chactado (guinea pig on a stick). Another aisle was all alcohol. At one end of the food area was a concert stage, where most of the people were. This wasn't the concert that was advertised, but rather where some smaller bands entertained the crowd.  We split up and went through the aisles. I bought some mazamorra morada for people to try. This is what i affectionately call "chicha snot-rada" because it tastes like chicha morada, the regional purple corn drink, but with a mucus-like consistency. Most of us picked up a little something. I got a little knit cap for Kristin. Andrea got a spraypainting of what appears to be a waterfall, explosion, and a panda. Eventually we all got back together and they decided to leave to get dinner. I had other plans so when I got them a cab, I told them I was staying. They were shocked (perhaps I should've told them beforehand) and thought I was mad at them. I just wanted the explore some more! I also wanted to try out the faire food. After they left I walked around the entire fairgrounds, picking up a lot of sorpresas for Kristin. Dinner was winding down and that meant a lot of freshly grilled food wasn't so fresh anymore. I found a place that was still grilling things and ordered the standard plate there. The chef was very nice and even put on her bandana when I asked to take her picture. It didn't show up in this one, but I have another picture where the bandana paid off:  The plate I got was this:  {Mmmm} It has some grilled potato, a grilled piece of corn, two sticks of anticuchos, all covered in delicious tripe. Pretty sweet for 6 soles ($2 or so). They started closing off the fairgrounds at 8:30 or so, which I thought was kind of early for a culture known for their parties to 3AM. I walked back to the hostel and snapped some pictures along the way:  Next: this weekend! link : 12:15 PM
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Sunday, June 17, 2007You Almost Hit Me! Take Me to the Pizza Hut! A little bit of non-linear storytelling here: before the homeless guy incident below, we had decided to get some American-style cuisine. Namely, KFC. I looked up the nearest KFC/Pizza Hut in Lima (they have double stores, like Hardee's and Red Burrito). It's on the way to the museum we work at so I've seen it before. We hailed a cab and I asked to go to the Pizza Hut, since I didn't know how to say KFC in Spanish. While sitting in another tin box/cab I realized that I just turned into a customer in the game Crazy Taxi. In fact, being in a Peruvian cab is a lot like being in Crazy Taxi, except I have no control of the car. Being nerds, the students thought that comparison was funny.
Our nerdiness showed up again when we entered KFC. We found out that if we bought a kid's meal (una Cajita Chicky) we would get a Mario Party 8 watch. Beckie, who has a Mario fetish, just stood there with her mouth hanging open for a while. We bought two kids's meals since we couldn't outright buy the watches (we asked). We did get to choose though. Beckie got a Yoshi watch and I got a Luigi one. It didn't fit my wrist so I sold it to Crystal at a discount as it was her birthday. link : 10:16 AM
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Saturday, June 16, 2007Work is Not Much to Write About The field school kicked off for real towards the beginning of the second week. Things are going quite well. Bob and I are impressed by how quickly the students are learning. They've already handled a large spectrum of peoples, from stillborn babies to older men. On Monday they will start another round of skeletal material.
Meanwhile I have been taking their comments to make an improved skeletal inventory form. The form that we use right now is from another MU researcher. While it does a good job at organizing the collected data, it uses many abbreviations that confuse the beginning bioarchaeologist. My goal is to make a form that records the same information, but with a much clearer layout. I believe the new form will be done just in time for Monday's class, so they won't have to relearn too much to use my form. --- On a completely different note, we saw a homeless guy take a dump on the side of the street today while we were walking home from KFC. I'd feel sorry for him, but he obviously is not starving, judging by his output. Labels: peru, perversion link : 3:05 PM
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Sunday, June 10, 2007How to Eat for Free (and Safely) in Peru On weekends I like to visit the Metro and stock up on things like snacks and tea. I grab a cheap lunch there as well since they have many little booths of food. Today I went to the good ol' Chinese food booth. For 4 soles (around $1.25), I had a chicken wing, a pork dumpling, another kind of pork dumpling, two fried wontons, and a pork bun. Oh, and a dixie cup of Inka Cola. I was still wanting more though so I went around the supermarket. They have many people giving out free samples during peak hours. After a few circuits around, I had eaten samples of ham, sausage, tamales, cheese, ramen in soup, and rice pudding. Now that's a lunch!
link : 12:32 PM
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Saturday, June 9, 2007Even My Backup Plans Have Backup Plans On Thursday Bob was sick and had to run errands rather than have field school class as usual so I went with him. As for the students there was supposed to be a tour of downtown Lima. While riding a cab with Bob, zipping around Pueblo Libre, we got a phone call: the tour guide no-showed and the students have been waiting around for almost an hour. Quite studiously, they awaited further instructions instead of running off. I immediately gave them my backup plan: go themselves to the Museo de la Nación, and we'll reimburse them for tickets and food. It's good to have a backup plan in Peru. And a backup backup plan.
Labels: peru link : 11:13 PM
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Thursday, June 7, 2007First Visit to the Museum On Monday, the museum we were to work at, the National Museum of Anthropology, Archaeology, and History, had a special occasion: they were celebrating the deathdate of Julio C. Tello, the first Peruvian archaeologist who conducted scientific investigations. We piled into a taxi and went to the museum to meet Bob. While usually security is extremely tight at the museum, we were ushered in by Vidal, the hostess of the ceremony. We were led to some folding chairs placed in rows facing a concrete walkway. It turned out that the walkway was the tomb of Tello himself, in the middle of the museum grounds! Extremely well-dressed Peruvian researchers and professors started to fill the seats. Bob had to sit with other professors in the front row so Mercedes Delgado, a Peruvian archaeologist sat with us.
The ceremony was very diverse. After some opening words by the hostess, wreaths were brought out to the tomb. She then had numerous people stand up to be recognized, including the students and I! Vidal told the crowd that we were students from America led by Bob who will soon be working at the museum. We stood up and smiled for a picture before nervously sitting back down. Different professors started to give short speeches, supposedly on Tello's contribution and personal stories. One professor started a very impassioned speech. It basically said that foreign students studying in Peru was what is exactly wrong with Peruvian archaeology and against what Tello stood for: homebrewed researchers. Awkward! The next speaker went on a similar rant about how the Peruvian government is not doing enough to recover artifacts that have been absconded to the United States and Europe, sometimes falling into the hands of what would otherwise be legitimate museums. That speech irked a speaker, the director of the museum, who requested to get back to the podium. She defended the Peruvian government's efforts, citing that any funds are sucked up fighting the tricky American lawyers. We were by now quite uncomfortable. The hostess knew this tangent was making the crowd (especially us) feel weird so she gave a neutral speech about how cultural patrimony is everyone's responsibility and moved on. The next section was an ethnic dance by a group from a local small town. I'm not sure what happened but there was some communication problem between the dancers and the band and the performance was rather lackluster.  {Andean dancers perform at the ceremony.}  {Standing at Tello's tomb after the ceremony.} Labels: anthropology:archaeology, peru link : 12:28 PM
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