Super bowl Sunday in Peru

Words of the day:

cebolla: onion
palta: avocado (in Peru)
tocar el claxon: to honk the horn
por ejemplo: for example

First, a manilla folder update. It somehow managed to find its way into my checked baggage, meaning that I must have put it there after I picked my baggage up from the carousel. I´m a bit relieved that I wasn´t so despistado as to leave it on the plane. However, it´s unsettling to find that I was able to completely forget that I had put it there within the space of twenty minutes.

Anyway, today is much better from a fatigue/altitude sickness standpoint. Going up the stairs is still a bit exhausting, but my head no longer feels like someone is tapping on it gently but repeatedly with a ball-peen hammer.

Today I ventured out to la Plaza de Armas, which is the city center. In theory it´s a roughly half an hour walk from my host family´s home to la Plaza, but after a few blocks it seemed a better idea to get a taxi, as I was getting a bit short of breath. It´s uphill, you know. To get a taxi in Cusco, all you really have to do is look like you might want to go somewhere other than where you´re standing or walking. Sometimes you don´t even need to do that. Taxis are literally everywhere; they seem to be a main form of transportation for natives and tourists alike. To assess your desire for a taxi, the taxi driver will typically slow down a little bit, and honk his horn. If you make eye contact and give a nod after that, the taxi´s yours. Get in, say ¨Por favor, lleveme a la Plaza de Armas,¨and you´re off.

I spent only an hour or so wandering around la Plaza and the surrounding streets, so I think I should dedicate another post to it, after I´ve spent a little more time there, and seen the sights in a little more dedicated fashion.

This afternoon my host family´s daughter, son-in-law, three grandchildren, and son-in-law´s father came over for lunch. This made me quite happy, as it gave me a chance to give away the children´s toys I brought with me. These included two canisters of modular plastic pieces that you could snap together and apart to make different shapes and such, as well as what seemed like a baseball with a long vinyl tail sewn into it. It looks a little like a comet, except with a rainbow tail. Anyway, the toys seemed to be a hit with the grandchildren, the youngest of whom were ages two and four. The ball was in clamshell packaging, and as I watched the children´s father try to wrestle the thing open I thought for sure I was going to be directly responsible for the first clamshell packaging injury in Cusco. But it worked out okay.

I helped slice some avocadoes, and tried to learn the words for the different foods being prepared, with mixed success. The lunch itself was very good, with potatoes and beef slices and avocado salad and excellent soup that was at least partly made out of a squash. Following the conversation was essentially impossible for me, which is terribly unfortunate, because from about the 5% I was able to understand it seemed the topic of conversation was the global economy and how it affects Peru. There was also a hint of a discussion about water rights, which I believe is an issue in Peru in general and in Cusco in particular. The son-in-law seemed very knowledgeable and opinionated on matters; his frequent use of the phrase ¨por ejemplo¨ enhanced his credibility with me, anyway, even though I was generally pretty lost after that. I´ll get better!

As an aside, I´ve discovered that one of the most frustrating things about barely speaking the language of the country you´re in is the fact that you just can´t ask questions of any real depth or complexity. Similarly, you can´t answer questions with any depth or complexity. You´re limited to saying, por ejemplo, that it snows in Wisconsin. One experiences the culture just by being there, of course, but so much of culture is language and what is expressed in language that one invariably misses a lot. It makes me think that I´ll have to come back when my language skills have improved.

So at least one hostel in Cusco is showing the Super Bowl, so I guess I´m going to watch it with a bunch of drunk Americans after all. And me without my cheesehead.

Be well, everyone!