HomeBeing

{{Home is where the heart is}}

I have officially been home a week from Peru and still feel quite strange being back in the States. I'm no longer accustomed to life here and getting back into the rhythm of life at home is hard. I feel different, separated from the other people I see around me, people who haven't just gotten back from living in Peru and don't know what it's like to return after immersing yourself so fully in another culture. I felt like a complete stranger, completely disconnected as I walked through the Atlanta airport, back on American soil for the first time in three months. Why did I only hear English around me? Why did everyone seem so rushed, so hurried, talking on their cell phones, running in expensive high heels, lugging their heavy Louis Vuitton suitcases? Why did a cup of coffee cost $5 instead of s/5 (1 sol is equal to about 30¢)? Why did I have to speak English to everyone?

I think about Peru almost constantly. I miss being there, waking up in the morning to look at the mist upon Chicón glacier, walking through the busy market at midday, conversing with my family over soup and a second every lunch while commenting on the antics of Laura on Lima Limón and waiting anxiously to find out who won Miss Cumbia 2009 while disparaging it nonetheless, wandering through the Plaza de Armas with my friends, building stoves in Yucay and then following it up with several big glasses of amazing juice from the juice lady, playing with my hermanita, Killary, at home just to watch her break out in an amazingly lit smile, waiting anxiously in the market around 6 for churro man to appear, making occasional forays into Cusco that left us overly stuffed with American-style food from Jacks and exhausted, dodging motos, walking the pista to Spanish class, laughing around an amazing plate of comotoe chips or guacamole or potato wedges until late at night at the Muse with an amazing mixture of Germans, Peruvians, and Americans, at least two languages always going at once. My experience in Peru was absolutely spectacular and I could have asked for nothing better. The perfect combination of people in a beautiful, interesting, and unique place that I was lucky to call my home for three months.

Some little differences or things that I have noted about being home.
-I still think in Spanish, and sometimes expressions or words I use often come to my mind and/or lips first in Spanish and I really have to think about the English translation
-Everything needs to be more spicy and salty. As I have not yet managed to find ají here, I'm finding cayenne pepper a passable substitute for my soups and any bland dish that seems to need extra help. And if I eat cheese, it's only pepper jack
-When I meet people, I find myself automatically moving towards them to give them the customary kiss-on-the-cheek that Peruvians do. Upon entering a room, Peruvians greet each other this way. By the end of my time in Peru, all us Americans did it to each other upon entering a room without even thinking about it
-I find myself having to turn down the heat on my shower because I am so used to the Urubamba lukewarm showers
-I still hesitate before crossing the street, even if the cars I'm crossing in front of have a red light, for fear they won't obey and will run me over
-I feel strange when cars follow the road signs (especially posted speed limits), there are seatbelts in the back seats, and cars don't just drive on the left side because they feel like it or pass on curves
-I still hesitate about throwing toilet paper down the toilet and look for the little bathroom trash can (Peruvian sewer systems don't take toilet paper)
-I feel hemmed in by too many trees
-I get overwhelmed in supermarkets because they are way too big. And the prices for fruit and vegetables--which often aren't even that amazing--are ridiculous. $6 for 2 avocados?! I could get 3 for like s/5 (about $1.5).
-I am amazed I can eat fruit and vegetables with every meal
-I really miss seeing motos in the street
-Having to drive everywhere seems a sin...everything I could possibly need should be no more than a 15-minute walk from my house
-Doing my own laundry again is strange (almost everyone takes it to a lavandaria or hires someone to wash it in their house. And there are no driers...sometimes there are washing machines).
-In fact, I'm no longer used to doing any household chores (the most my family would do was let me set the table)
-I feel cold almost 24/7. Even if it rains at night, I'm supposed to see the sun during the day!
-Clothing looks much more drab after seeing Quechua women's brightly colored dresses
-I feel like the family should always get back together for lunch

I couldn't have asked for a better first-half-of-bridge-year experience than Peru. It was fun, fulfilling, different, unique, a really special chance to engage myself in another culture and live like them. Not just to experience a country as a tourist (though I did some of that, making sure I saw Machu Picchu and Lake Titicaca, along with the other Inca ruins in the Sacred Valley), but to really get to know the place and understand the people. I am proud now to call myself an Urubambina and a Cusqueña...to feel pride in my heart when I see the baby blue flag of Urubamba or the rainbow flag of Cusco province. They say that home is where the heart is, and now Peru and Urubamba have taken some of my heart and I am proud to call it my home. ¡Hasta pronto, Urubamba! Cuídate, eres buenazo, un lugar muy chévere.

You Know You've Lived in Urubamba When...

{{...porque al fondo hay sitio}}

• You can distinguish between the sound of an oncoming moto and combi to a) know how far to move out of the street and b) know whether to stick your hand out for a ride
• Paying more than 20 soles for a meal is murder
• You dread breaking 100 sole notes…50s get a sigh, and even 20s are bad in the market
• You can sleep through the early morning chorus of barking dogs and moto horns without a problem
• You have almost been hit by a moto or combi more times than you can count
• You don’t flinch at the sound of horns
• You’re not afraid if a combi whizzes past your shoulder
• A plate doesn’t look complete without at least two forms of starch: potatoes, rice, yucca, pasta, and bread
• You can’t eat your pizza without salsa de rocotto, extra oregano, and creamy garlic sauce
• You think that potatoes taste much better with ají and mayo
• In fact, anything that’s bland tastes better with ají
• You think it’s strange not to carry a coat with you at all times—even when it’s hot and sunny
• You know that “ahorita” means anything between “right now” and “sometime tomorrow”
• You think you should only ever have to pay 1 sol to go anywhere in Urubamba
• Only psychedelic motos with bright, flashy, crazy lights are cool enough to be ridden in at night
• You’ve memorized the songs for Gloria, Soy Vida, Coca-Cola, Ayudín, Brahma, and every other product with a commercial and find them stuck in your head 24/7
• Songs for telenovelas like “La Tormenta”, “Al Fondo Hay Sitio”, “Niños Ricos, Pobres Padres”, “El Diablo”, “Un Gancho Al Corazón” also come to your head 24/7
• You always drink your Cusqueña, but can’t stand Pilsen or Cristal
• You know to take a shower before 8 p.m. because the water turns off in Urubamba at night and know only cold Urubamba showers have high water pressure
• Adding “ito/ita” to any adjective makes it much better
• You find yourself singing along to cumbia songs on the radio
• You revere churro man and wish he were open all day for constant carmel-y churro goodness
• You recognize certain combis and motos by their stickers or signs
• You know that when you start seeing scorpions, rain’s a-coming
• You’ve learned most of your Quechua words from the names of Urubamba hotels
• You know how much anything good costs in Pisac and aren’t afraid to bargain until you get that price—not the gringo price
• Every morning, you love to look upon the mist upon the mountains
• You know that the Muse potato wedges are a food from God and far superior to the Muse yucca fries (and require plenty of ketchup, salsa de rocotto, and that mustard-y sauce)
• You aren't fazed by traveling with a sheep under your seat, a bag of cuy, and a box of chickens in your combi. Tomorrow, you'll probably travel with sheep on top of your combi and a bag of rabbits.
• You both love and hate Cusco

The Final Goodbyes

Y se llama Perú













href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_d_obd3QE7m0/SyCP9PQs17I/AAAAAAAAAEA/fU6TwGP8lKE/s1600-h/12640_749972287484_12315412_43294033_6587292_n.jpg">






This weekend I had to undertake the difficult and very sad task of saying my final goodbyes to my friends, my family, and Urubamba. All last week I dreaded my upcoming goodbyes and tried to take advantage of every last moment in Urubamba. I lingered over meals with my family, sat and thought in the Plaza, took lots of photos of everything, did my final stoves work, and visited with my friends during every free moment. And don't forget pack...the great ordeal of leaving any place you have lived for a long time. I borrowed a scale from the ProPeru office and packed and repacked and organized all of my things several times over to make sure I wouldn't have to pay overage charges. I managed success....every one of my bags weighed exactly their limit. Though 8 kilos for a carry on is quite heavy, I can assure you that.

Time behaved strangely my last week, until it was suddenly Wednesday without my even realizing it. Wednesday was my last night with all my friends with the Princeton Bridge Year group, who left early Thursday morning for Lima and Trujillo. That night there was a big party at The Muse, one of our favorite restaurants/hangouts, because it was moving to Cusco to make more money (the owner wanted to raise all the prices at least 5 soles, which the person who runs it knew no one would ever pay because only volunteers and Peruvians, not tourists, go to The Muse in Urubamba). So I went with David, Brian, Tugce, Agnes, Leah, some of the ProPeru staff, Katie and Mary, several Germans, and a few of our Peruvian friends to give it a last goodbye and celebrate my times with my Princeton friends. It was great fun and a perfect ending to my time with the five of them. The ProPeru staff had us take shots of tequila (my first shot ever), we played pop quiz for the first time and won (good thing we had the germans to help us translate some words for one of the questions!), I ate my last ever plate of potato wedges (though, unfortunately, Maddie wasn't there to enjoy them with me), there was laughter all around with my friends, and we even got a free plate of guacamole, comote chips, and potato wedges to enjoy. The only bad part of the night was the part when my Princeton friends all left bit-by-bit and I had to say goodbye, not knowing when I'll see them next. We're all planning a big reunion in Martha's Vineyard for next fall when we're all over there for college! How much fun will that be...Peru, only in Boston instead. Tugce, Agnes, David, Leah, and Brian were five great people to spend the entirety of my three months and I'm very glad I got to meet them all. Five completely different personalities that all brought something unique and exciting to ProPeru. Working on everything from stoves to a woman's group to after-school-programs to filters to teaching English, bringing so much to all of us. Thank you all for helping to make my experience in Peru wonderful and contributing so much to Urubamba!!

The next few days were a blur of more preparations and packing and quality friend time until the weekend came up. I made sure to spend lots of time with everyone Friday and Saturday in preparation for my early early out Sunday morning. I had my last dinner with Emily and Kusi Thursday night (cinnamon-and-apple pancakes...she is amazing if you want food!!), we went for my last dinner in the Green House and then enjoyed the plaza on Friday night, and then came the final day: Saturday.

I spent the majority of my day with Katie and Mary in Cusco, enjoying my last time navigating the city that we all both love and hate, saying "no" to the last time to the women offering massages, eating my last (spectacular!) veggie burger at Jack's, making my last personal purchase of a scarf at the Artesian Market (leaving me with s/ 20 for my day in Lima with Ònia on Sunday), looking at the waving rainbow Cusco flag in the Plaza de Armas for the last time, riding in my last combi. When I returned I finished my packing until I fit exactly within the limits and enjoyed final quality time with my hermanita, Killary. I also had to say my final goodbyes to Kate, Travis, and Laura, the three of the ProPeru staff with whom I spent the most time and bonded the most. Kate was truly amazing for any problem, concern, or just for a smile; my mom here in Peru. Always there for a hug, sweet, able to help with any problem (if she didn't know the solution she would get on finding out exactly who knew it and get any issue solved), always worried about taking care of you and making sure you were enjoying your time in Urubamba to the fullest. Travis was my stoves leader and one of the funniest people I knew in my time in Urubamba. He made us want to go out for every stoves day, even if it was in Yucay (where he also introduced us to the marvelous juice lady!), and always impressed us with his energy, dedication, and the amazing ways he found to destroy a stove when necessary (pulling the gigantic cloth-wrapped rock through a chimney to create a gigantic hole in the bottom tubo was by far the best). Thank you both for working so hard to make my time working with ProPeru as productive, interesting, and rewarding as it could be and always striving to make changes for the best.

And then, before I knew it, it was nighttime and time for my goodbye party with my friends. It turned out to be my aunt's birthday party as well, so I spent the early evening entrenched in fun final family activities at her restaurant, Pizza Wasi. We all waited anxiously to see the boxing match between the Peruvian star Kina Malpartida and an Englishwoman (Kina won, just like they had all predicted), ate vegetarian pizza (as always, doctored up with ají, rocotto, and the amazing creamy garlic sauce), drank ponche de ava (which is hot pink and actually really good, which I hadn't expected when I looked at it. But my mantra in Peru was to always try everything at least once), and socialized as one big, happy family. But then finally the time came where I had to say my big goodbyes to go for my final night with all of my friends, Germans, Peruvians, and Americans. It was sad hugging every member of my family, people who had dropped by my house for lunch and dinner, people who had come from Cusco for a variety of family birthday parties, my little cousins who, on my first Sunday in Peru, had shown me beautiful trees with orange/pink flowers, made me climb trees with them, and went for bike rides with me. And who knows when I shall see them again? The road through life takes us on a variety of different paths and you never know where you may end up so you can always hope you may come upon someone again, but never know when or in what context. Fortunately, however, my goodbyes to my mom, sister, grandma, and grandpa were able to wait until a little later or it would have been too much at once.

Once I left Pizza Wasi I headed over to Tequila, the biggest indoor space in Urubamba (which isn't saying much) where all of my friends were waiting there to say goodbye to me and many more would stop by later. Germans Larissa, Pancho, Vicky, Sophie, and Marcus, Peruvians Pasu, Nube, Carlos, Franco, Fernando, Arson, Eddie, Jose Luis, and Coqui, Americans Katie and Mary. We all laughed together for the last time, played games together, swapped stories of the last three months in Peru, and took advantage of every last moment we had together to celebrate our friendship. Every one of them has brought something unique and special to my time in Urubamba and without them my experience would have been quite different. It will be hard to see some of these amazing people again, but we have many ways to keep in touch (facebook, skype, email, snail mail) and I'm sure that someday we will find a way to meet up again, even if different countries and a few oceans separate us. But even if we know that in our heads, our hearts couldn't help but constrict and bring not a few tears to all our eyes and extra big squeezes to our hugs as we promised we'd write lots.

The last goodbyes I had to make were among the hardest: my goodbyes to my family. My goodbyes to the people I spent almost every meal with, who watched out for me, took care of me, let me see into their lives and their hearts. My goodbyes to my adorable hermanita Killary, who I had watched grow astoundingly in my three months in Peru, who now laughed when I laughed, smiled when I waved to her or called her name or asked her how she was. My goodbyes to my mom, who, being 26 and close to my age, was more like a friend than a mom, always wanting to chat about my life and her life, always there with a smile and kind words. My goodbyes to my grandma, who cooked every delicious meal I ate in Urubamba, who worried over how much I was eating and if I was wearing sufficient layers to go outside. My goodbyes to my granddad, who always worried about my safety if I went out at night, who was intensely interested in the work that I did with stoves and filters, who joked with me about everything. My Peruvian family--different from my family at home, but same in the way they loved and cared for me.

My experience in Peru was absolutely spectacular and there is nothing I would change about it. I am so fortunate to have been able to spend time in this unique, interesting, diverse country with such a complex culture and history. I know that living in Peru has deeply changed me and I'm proud to call myself an urubambina. Peru has left a stamp on my heart that can never be denied or forgotten and I'm lucky it's there. Thank you, Urubamba, for making the first part of my gap year a success!

We Miss You, Mad Dog

{{Tanto tiempo juntos y ahora te tienes que ir}}

This past weekend I had to say goodbye to two more of my friends here, Maddie and Pasta. Maddie came down to Peru with me in the beginning of September and we did everything together from the very beginning. First time in Cusco, Machu Picchu, Lake Titicaca, early explorations of Urubamba, Halloween, Pitusiry hike, meeting the "plaza men", Ollantaytambo, Pisac, all our time around Urubamba. She and I got to be very close and Peru just doesn't feel the same now that she's gone. Who else is going to make fun of me with her big smile, bright curly blonde hair, and sarcastic, bring-me-back-to-earth comments? It's just strange knowing that now when I walk to ProPeru I can't poke my head in her window in the green house just down Torrechayoc to see what she's up to and if she wants to go get potato wedges (the answer is always yes!).

Pasta was a Peruvian friend from Lima who lived with two of our other good friends. Hilarious and fun to be around, he quickly became someone I would always look to hang out with when we were all together. He, too, teased me 24/7, renamed me Wheeeeee, and added another dimension of amazing people to my stay in Urubamba. "Pasta pásamelo pasta pasta pásamelo pásamelo pasta". He's hopefully coming to live and work in Barcelona next spring, so I'm hoping I'll be able to see him and we can explore Barcelona together!

Having to say these goodbyes this weekend reminded me of just how soon I am leaving. Now it's only two days until the great departure date and I can't believe how time has passed. I have to think about things like packing and obeying weight restrictions and paying exit taxes and how hard it's going to be to do those final goodbyes. It'll be easy to reunite with my ProPeru friends and the staff, who have all made my time here absolutely spectacular, but so much more effort and much less likely with my German and Peruvian friends, who were a special extra touch in my life and made it even more international. There are so many more things I wish I could do here--go to my friend Nube's birthday party, explore the Sacred Valley even more, install more stoves--but I guess it's true that all good things have to end. But I do have amazing memories (and lots of pictures!) to sustain me until the next time I see everyone and Peru. But I'm not gone yet...still got another day and a half to take full advantage of my city, Urubamba!