On-the-Road Tales

Life at over 11000 feet has its annoyances. For instance, since all the bottling plants are in Lima or other parts of the country at sea level – without fail – the bottles of water you open, especially with bubbles, overflow and make a right mess. This goes for anything closed ie it is fun to explain why you have toothpaste all over the place. No mentos needed here for spectaculer diet coike fountain displays! Additionaly, they do not warn you in the guide books that lotions utlising pumps are a bad thing because well the pressure differential just overcomes that little obstacle and squirts stuff everywhere. Liquids at this altitude boil at a lower temperature so the soups etc get about luke warm, nothing is piping hot.

We had some rather deep discussions in class yesterday regarding social problems in Peru, lopsided justice etc. It is better economically than in the past but there is still no employment for a majority of the country. It is necessary to pay for university but when you get out the only decent money is teaching english for instance. The pay might be 2$, considering we pay the school about 10$ per hour you wonder where the rest of it goes. Most people have several jobs just to make ends meet.

Another day of classes. Even after more than a week, it is very unnatural to get used to not ingesting any water, even to the point of wetting your toothbrush, all agua must be bought or boiled. The shower at the host family has hot water, a welcome addition until I tried it out. The hot water is via a small electrical device attached to the shower head and there is one knob so you get scalding or frigid. No middle ground. Oh and if you touch the exposed wiring on the shower head with your wet hands, well yeah, you can die. Hmm think I prefer the cold shower.

We came in the other day from the rain and one girl was trying to download some photos with the USB and got a nasty shock. So more than just the showers are not grounded here. Once I find a safe USB port I may try and upload some photos!

Attended a fabulous presentation after class last night on Puno and Lake Titicaca. Puno is the folkloric capital of the country. The women were traditional costumes of 20 skirts which are supposed to represnet the colors and shapes of the Andes. I have read that they have found seashells in the banks of the Lake and the professor said it was true. It is believed that the highest navigable lake in the world, at upwards of 12000 feet was once at a sea level and shifting of the plates pushed it to its present location. The Incas believe the Isla in the middle of the lake was their birthplace. Some scientists in recent years using sonor techgnology to scan the lake bed have discovered, the remains of an ancient civilization once believed to be on the banks but now underwater. Sadly, this may be exposed once again for the wrong reasons as Peru is rapidly losing its glaciers at several feet per year dues to once again global warming.

The presentor talked alot about the spiritual and intellectual knowledge of the Incas and how their civilization existed in another dimension per se. ie they had a greater linking with their surroundings and the earth and our rational thinking these days does not allow us to fully comprehend the extent of their culture. He discussed the combination of Inca tradition and catholicism that exists )as introduced by the conquerers) and said how many people are reverting to their natural religion.

I am a big fan of public transportation so instead of taking a 75 cent taxi ride, I decided to brave the bus. This morning I took a microbus to school. It is a crazy system but it ... [Continue reading this entry]

I met up with another student from the school at 0830 for a tour of the ruins just outside cusco on horseback. We went to several temples, ceromonial centers, baths and rode in the backcountry, it was impressive. Of ... [Continue reading this entry]

We took a taxi the hour back to Cusco for around $3.00 wach. That is an average wage here in Peru so with 4 people, the driver made many days worth. Petrol runs about $16 a gallon!! So ... [Continue reading this entry]

Bonfire went well, the only comon songs we could sing around the fire were John Lennon or [we are the World so we spikked the singing thing. The stars were amazing until the fork lightening started hitting the Andean ... [Continue reading this entry]

Learned the past tense today. It took us a whole year in highschool to learn this stuff, things move fast here in Peru. This afternoon we took the minibus up a road that would most certainly be condemned in ... [Continue reading this entry]

Classes today we learned the present tense. This will disrupt my pattern of saying everything in the present as I do now "yo estoy en Bolivia" No tu es en Peru "Si mas yo estoy in Bolivia despues" it ... [Continue reading this entry]

After class today, we piled into a minivan to visit some salt mines about 30 minutes away. As soon as we turned onto tarmac we were pulled over at a police checkpoint. THe driver apparently did not have ... [Continue reading this entry]

Classes a la manana, review but i need it since my summer class seems so far away. In the afternoon I hiked up a valley, past a waterfall and up a switchback. This valley is only 8000 feet ... [Continue reading this entry]