Paz
Michael and I are now an formidable force with our matching pocket dictionaries. There’ll be no more charade-playing. We now speak Spanish although it can take up to 30 seconds to answer a question depending on how hard to find the word is.
Our weekends are now Sunday and Monday. Turns out a hatred of Mondays transcends age and race so the Casa Del Ninos is only open Tuesday through Saturday. Our weekend started with our first trip to Peruvian mass. As we were leaving our place it was suggested to us that we might bring a coat as they hadn’t quite got around to putting a roof on the church yet. These people like to build things bit by bit, and don’t let the fact that a building is half-done stop them using it. As expected we kissed everyone on arrival. I helped the priest set up his microphone system and Michael did the more religious aspects of the altar. The priest is Tony, the guy looking after us during our time here. The service was very enjoyable. Lots of music with a really groovy drummer. The priest seemed to have an MC helping him run the show. She seemed to introduce the readings and tell people what to say. Mid way through the mass someone seemed to offer up their perfume. Later in the mass this was raffled off and won by the husband of the raffle organiser. That didn’t go down so well. I was determined to not screw up the peace offering part after making an ass of myself in India. I shook the person next to me’s hand to their absolute horror. In India one bows to the people next to them and does not engage in physical contact. Peru is the exact opposite. We kissed and hugged and everyone says ‘Paz’ which means peace. Me, (destined to screw this part up) kept saying ‘Hola, crap no I mean paz’. After mass we kissed everyone for the third time and went on our way. We even got a invite to dinner out of that mass.
In the evening we had the esteemed pleasure of being at a house-warming. Normally these are not such a big deal but when it’s for a family who have always lived in a shack it’s a damn big deal. We couldn’t understand what was being said but still knew it was a moving moment (mostly by the fact that the guy talking had tears in his eyes). The house was beautiful and built by a guy not much older than myself. Tony had given him work on a few building sites and he had saved up all the money to build this house for his mother. We had just had dinner at the Columbian Missionaries HQ but couldn’t say no to a lovely old lady who was offering us chicken, chips, rice and Inca Kola. Inca Kola is a disgusting (Michael loves it) yellow soft drink that tastes like Red Bull. But I still buy it because I love that it’s a local beverage that’s bigger than Coca Cola.
Monday was as lazy a day as Sunday. Had lunch with some people and did some shopping. Michael and I decided to venture out to explore the nearest town, Huandoy. I got to see the house shaped like a boat up close. I’ll get photos of that up when I get a chance. It is the coolest house, made by our local Japanese marine engineer. Mike had to jump and shield my eyes at one stage of our walk so I wouldn’t see the dead dog on our road. (Michael now reads this so I have say nice things about him. Hi Mike!) I’d probably have barely noticed the dog in the sea of rubbish and sand with bonfires scattered randomly around the place. We decided to give the Peruvian food a miss for yet another night and went to Norky’s, Peru’s answer to Supermacs (Ireland’s answer to McDonalds).
I’d heard a lot about male supremacy here and how women are 2nd class citizens. But I presumed it was a myth. Turns out it’s not. I got my first taste of this while dining in the aforementioned Norky’s. Only Michael was given a menu. When I tried to ask for another one I supposedly ordered something. It was all very confusing. I finally got one even though at that stage I knew what I wanted so it was only on principle. Whenever the waiter came over he made it clear he was talking to Michael. He was so shocked to be talking to a woman that he couldn’t comprehend my order (or it may have been the bad Spanish). I’ll put this in English for you less linguistically blessed.
Me: “Can I have a Fanta please” (pointing at the word Fanta)
Macho Pig: “Fanta??”
“Yes Fanta,Fanta!”
“Oh, you mean a glass of Fanta?
“Ehh…ya”
“And to eat?”
“Chips please”
“A quarter chicken and chips?”
“No, just chips!!”
“Oh ok, and to drink?”
“ARGH”
I may not have “Argh-ed”. Either way it was a frustrating meal. Of course Michael laughed at his every chauvinist move. I made a point of being the one to ask for the bill and he made an even clearer point of handing it to Michael. It killed me that I didn’t have any change and Mick had to pay. Before I leave this town there will be a women’s march right down the middle of it and many a bra will be thrown on those bonfires.
We got back to Casa Hogar (finally got the right name for it, incidentally there is a massive sign that says ‘Casa Hogar’ on our roof) just in time to hang out with the little ones before they went to bed. While the others were stilll saying ‘hello’, Liselith had already made a beeline for me repeating her new catchphrase ‘Su radio, su radio’. I’m pretty sure if I went home in the morning it would take her at least til the weekend to realise I’m gone, as long as I left the ipod. I tried out some new music on her this evening. Leanne if you’re reading, “Hard to Grasp” seemed to scare her a bit but “Something Else” made her smile! She doesn’t like Irish trad music but she likes No Doubt and that’s the main thing. After they went to bed we had a jig saw making competition with Jackeline. As Michael said “She does this for a living” so we don’t feel too bad about losing.
My photos from Sao Paulo are up. They’re in the ‘Sao Paulo Photos’ entry from a few days ago. You had better love them because putting them up almost killed me. At least I now know not to put my finger into a Peruvian computer. I think I’m still a little electric hours after that shock. And just as my headache was getting really bad I walked into a pole head first.
I’ve noticed that my spelling and stuff is really bad on my blog. I don’t know how, it’s perfect on my laptop (this may be a lie) but when I transfer it over to the main computer it goes all wrong. It also puts little – signs randomly in words. To anyone who doesn´t know me English really is my first language I just seem to have forgotten how to write now that I´m out of formal education. Until I hire a sub editor I hope you can bare with me.
Chau!
Tags: 2 - Peru
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