Chosica and this and that
Last Thursday, I went with the family up to Chosica, which is a little town on the way to the mountains about 30 minutes outside of Lima. The trip there and back was an adventure in and of itself, seeing as how we got lost both times and it took the three natives putting their heads all together to figure out how to get to our final destination. It was interesting to see how three people who have lived in a city all of their lives could get lost in it, going to a fairly well-known destination. It just goes to show how big Lima really is. After we got outside the city and started climbing higher and higher in altitude, the sun started coming out. A little more, a little more, until we reached Chosica and there we had it, the full-blown sun. It was the happiest weather day I’ve had since I got here!!! Oh my friend the sun, how I’ve missed you! Chosica was our place of choice, because the club that the family belongs to in Lima has another location up in Chosica (which is so convenient for the winter—drive one hour away and you get your sun back!). After weeks of being wrapped up in layer upon layer of clothing, we were finally able to bask in the sun in our swim suits by the pool.
I hope you can see the plethora of clouds there, too, because a sunny day in Lima during the winter is shrouded in clouds. The sun sort of shines through the clouds, but the clouds persist and never actually leave. Sometimes you can see a bit of blue that’s trying to peek out at you, but then right before your eyes the sun is whisked away yet again and you’re left feeling taunted. But I’m feeling pretty lucky to have had sun three days in one week—the sun just makes everything better! For example, there were a number of things that happened on Sunday that could easily have resulted in my thinking that it was a bad day. For one, my cell phone got stolen (yes, I have a cell phone--I’ve been using it for local calls and reservation-making, and it gives me a sense of security during my travels). I’m pretty sure it was this girl that was trying to get me to buy candy in the street, because she stayed by my side much longer than they usually do. And when I checked my pocket 10 minutes later, my cell phone was not to be found. So there’s that, my first experience of being pick-pocketed. On that same walk (the one I do every Sunday, down to the cliff tops, by the Parque del Amor and the park with the paragliders), I was approached three different times by three different Peruvian guys trying to talk to the tall blonde tourist girl. The first one actually called out my name, and said that we had met a few weeks before over by the paragliders. I remember meeting one guy (the conversation I was ever-so-proud to have had with a complete stranger), but this guy did not look like that person I’d been talking to. After about three blocks, I think this dude took account of how visibly uncomfortable I was with the situation and he left. And maybe 10 minutes later, as I was walking through a park, a guy passed me, which is strange because Peruvians don’t really walk fast—I walk fast, and I’m passing them all the time. But here’s the thing, he passed me, and then after about a minute, he slowed down so I would pass him again. I picked up my pace, because I figured he was playing a game, and sure enough when I was passing him he struck up conversation. “What are you visiting my country?” Dang it. Oh well, I guess I can practice my Spanish, right? So this second dude continued to converse with me for probably the next 20 minutes, after which he asked me to coffee and tried to give me his email address, both of which I declined. (P.S. here are a few pictures from my typical walk that I took that day:
Mama Peruana and the Senor...
A playground in the mountains...
And my first conversation with a llama (pronounce that "yama", please--and Ben, please take note, as I do plan to make more yama friends)
The idea of sunscreen did pass through my mind, but I brushed it off, wanting to take in my sun thoroughly. Mmm, that was decidedly not the best choice, I must say. While we were actually in Chosica, my skin appeared to be just fine, but after we returned to Lima and as the night progressed, my skin continued to grow to an ever-brighter shade of red. Yeah, I totally looked like a lobster, aside from my face which, thankfully, was protected by my daily face lotion with good ol’ SPF 15 in it—thank goodness I’m at least that smart. I went out and bought a giant bottle of lotion with aloe in it and it’s already almost a quarter gone, but I’m feeling much better now. : ) And you can be sure that before I head up to the beach towns, I will be replenishing my supply of sunblock. But I’m still just tickled that I actually got some real, untainted sun. Though I have to say, Sunday and Monday, we saw sun in Lima, too. Here’s what a sunny day looks like in Lima:
I hope you can see the plethora of clouds there, too, because a sunny day in Lima during the winter is shrouded in clouds. The sun sort of shines through the clouds, but the clouds persist and never actually leave. Sometimes you can see a bit of blue that’s trying to peek out at you, but then right before your eyes the sun is whisked away yet again and you’re left feeling taunted. But I’m feeling pretty lucky to have had sun three days in one week—the sun just makes everything better! For example, there were a number of things that happened on Sunday that could easily have resulted in my thinking that it was a bad day. For one, my cell phone got stolen (yes, I have a cell phone--I’ve been using it for local calls and reservation-making, and it gives me a sense of security during my travels). I’m pretty sure it was this girl that was trying to get me to buy candy in the street, because she stayed by my side much longer than they usually do. And when I checked my pocket 10 minutes later, my cell phone was not to be found. So there’s that, my first experience of being pick-pocketed. On that same walk (the one I do every Sunday, down to the cliff tops, by the Parque del Amor and the park with the paragliders), I was approached three different times by three different Peruvian guys trying to talk to the tall blonde tourist girl. The first one actually called out my name, and said that we had met a few weeks before over by the paragliders. I remember meeting one guy (the conversation I was ever-so-proud to have had with a complete stranger), but this guy did not look like that person I’d been talking to. After about three blocks, I think this dude took account of how visibly uncomfortable I was with the situation and he left. And maybe 10 minutes later, as I was walking through a park, a guy passed me, which is strange because Peruvians don’t really walk fast—I walk fast, and I’m passing them all the time. But here’s the thing, he passed me, and then after about a minute, he slowed down so I would pass him again. I picked up my pace, because I figured he was playing a game, and sure enough when I was passing him he struck up conversation. “What are you visiting my country?” Dang it. Oh well, I guess I can practice my Spanish, right? So this second dude continued to converse with me for probably the next 20 minutes, after which he asked me to coffee and tried to give me his email address, both of which I declined. (P.S. here are a few pictures from my typical walk that I took that day:
Finally, happy to be by myself again, I set off to the grocery store. And wouldn’t you know it, hombre number three plays the same game, passes me in the street, then slows down so he can talk to me. But I wasn’t having it, so I just said, ungrammatically, that I wanted to be by myself. I’m trying to be nice, to be polite, but seriously, I’m not a fan of this whole Peruvian-man-attracted-to-tourist-woman phenomenon, an occurrence that has been noted by many a person. From here on out, I am a married woman. Maybe I even have kids. Yeah, I thought you could use a laugh. : ) Seriously, though, I don’t like lying but I think it’ll make my travels much easier. And hey, I get to play the “dream man” game on an on-going basis, which is always fun. Hmm, let’s see, he’s tall and handsome (dark or light, no me importa). Maybe he’ll start out being an actor, then in the next city he can be a singer, then a non-profit worker, then maybe a professor or something scholarly. : ) He definitely speaks at least one other language. Oh, and should his name begin with an “M” or not, I can’t decide? : ) He he. I totally like this game.
Segue…I think I was formerly trying to say that my Sunday could have been viewed as being a bad day, what with having my phone stolen and being pseudo-stalked no less than three times. But from the moment that I saw sun out the window, I just knew it was going to be a good day, and that’s the attitude I took with me. I mean, first, I had the best cup of warm milk that I’ve ever had. (I have no idea why, but it tasted like coconut milk even though it was really soy milk. It was quite tasty, in fact.) Then I had a good bonding day with Vanessa, I got to chat with Peter online, and at the end of the day I ended up talking to Pericles for quite some time, me practicing in Spanish and him practicing his English a bit. (He again tried to convince me that I need a dog, and I again disagreed. I tried to convince him that he needs to make cookies with me, which he did agree to, then stood me up the next night. He’s promised me that he’ll make cookies with me on Wednesday. As in now, I am currently waiting for him. He’s never made cookies before, and this is something I feel I must change.) Anyway, I think the sun was the major instigator of my PMA. I’m stoked to get more soon.
Oh yeah, and on Saturday night I went to this huge benefit concert in the national stadium that was put together to raise money to support people in earthquake-affected areas. I went with Dorita, her boyfriend Hugo, and Hugo’s sister. The concert was organized by Gianmarco, who is apparently an immensely famous Peruvian artist.
Segue…I think I was formerly trying to say that my Sunday could have been viewed as being a bad day, what with having my phone stolen and being pseudo-stalked no less than three times. But from the moment that I saw sun out the window, I just knew it was going to be a good day, and that’s the attitude I took with me. I mean, first, I had the best cup of warm milk that I’ve ever had. (I have no idea why, but it tasted like coconut milk even though it was really soy milk. It was quite tasty, in fact.) Then I had a good bonding day with Vanessa, I got to chat with Peter online, and at the end of the day I ended up talking to Pericles for quite some time, me practicing in Spanish and him practicing his English a bit. (He again tried to convince me that I need a dog, and I again disagreed. I tried to convince him that he needs to make cookies with me, which he did agree to, then stood me up the next night. He’s promised me that he’ll make cookies with me on Wednesday. As in now, I am currently waiting for him. He’s never made cookies before, and this is something I feel I must change.) Anyway, I think the sun was the major instigator of my PMA. I’m stoked to get more soon.
Oh yeah, and on Saturday night I went to this huge benefit concert in the national stadium that was put together to raise money to support people in earthquake-affected areas. I went with Dorita, her boyfriend Hugo, and Hugo’s sister. The concert was organized by Gianmarco, who is apparently an immensely famous Peruvian artist.
Yeah, did I mention the dream man game? Uh-huh, this qualifies. Anyhew, COMPLETELY aside from being gorgeous...I liked him as soon as he entered the stage, but by the end of the show I had developed a great affection for him. He had a genuine smile on his face the entire time he was up on stage, and he seemed to be having such a good time. There were nine other artists that came to play with him at the concert, who are also very famous (easily observable, due to the fact that everyone in the stadium was singing along to every single song):
-JLuis Guerra—he’s from Mexico and had bouncy, enjoyable music that was pretty distinctive from the other artists
-Alejandro Fernandez—he has a good voice, but he seemed a little too excited about himself. He sang more songs by himself than any of the other artists playing with Gianmarco, and when he was singing, he was super serious and had that kind of, “I’m a rockstar!” air about him. Though to be fair, I was told that this was his first time playing in Peru, and that’s why he had more time. I still have a sneaking suspicion that he wanted his spotlight.
-Reyli—who’s also from Mexico. Dorita told me I should ask my friend Cynthia (he he, my poor Cindy, your name is always being changed to Cynthia!) from Mexico about Reyli.
-Erika Ender and Eva Ayllon—I can’t remember who is who, but one of them is from Panama and the other is a criollo singer from Peru, both of whom were enjoyable, but the criollo singer had this robust voice and did her cute, curvy little dance along with her powerful singing. The lady from Panama was also quite enjoyable, and had really good, upbeat music with a great dancing rhythmn.
-Christian Meier—as soon as Christian Meier walked out on the stage, all of the girls started screaming. After he and Gianmarco sang their first song together, the girls were still screaming, so Gianmarco walked over and unbuttoned the top few buttons on Christian Meier’s shirt to pacify the ladies—it was hilarious. Apparently he’s “churro” which is some sort of slang for good-looking. I just think of it in terms of dessert. A churro. Sweet. (I really hope you read that sweet with the voice of Crush the turtle from Finding Nemo. If you didn’t, go ahead and try it again for the full effect.)
-Pedro Suarez—sorry, I don’t really remember his music much.
-Marcelo Motta—ditto.
Each of the artists seemed to really like Gianmarco (I probably saw more hugs between Gianmarco and the rest of the artists than I’ve seen the entire time I’ve been here) and they all seemed to have a great deal of respect for him. He had this fantastically joyful way of being, and it was fun to watch him perform. He had a rapport with the crowd that I’ve never seen from an artist before—all of his interactions with the crowd were as if to say, “I love you, each and every one of you” and the crowd was responding with a, “We love you!” right back. He had a masterful control over this stadium full of people, but at the same time he was very humble and down to earth, as if he’s your next-door neighbor or that artist playing for quarters in the street. (I mean that in a strictly American-sense, by the way, since this occurrence has a bit of a different feel here in Peru.) He also never lost focus of what the concert was about, and although I could hardly understand a word of what he said, I could tell from his tone and from the response from the crowd every time he was bringing us back to the focal point of the concert—the people in the south. For the final song, all of the artists returned to the stage to sing with Gianmarco, though he maintained the role of central artist. My favorite part, though, was when he started singing in Quechuan. What a great statement—it was as if to say, “Hey, I’m proud of my country and my heritage,” even though he’s totally of Spanish descent. It was a great statement of respect for the people of Quechuan/Incan descent, and it was an act of forward-mindedness in a place where there is still a great divide between races. It’s the first major instance of liberal thinking that I’ve witnessed here, really, and I was overjoyed to see it on such a large scale, a declaration to thousands of people. Then, right there on stage, Gianmarco broke down in tears, something I’m told he hasn’t done for years. Crying, I can only imagine, because he was overwhelmed by the immense impact the earthquake has had on the lives of so many people. Overwhelmed by the culmination of his efforts to put the whole concert together. Overwhelmed by the support he was able to garner from so, so many people (they raised over $1.9 million soles). And then, he knelt down on stage and prayed. Now, I’m not a religious person, but that didn’t matter in the least. I have a great respect for this artist, this human being and for his genuine nature.
One other note? I loved being in the middle of a soccer stadium in Peru watching the crowd do the wave and thinking, “That was invented at my school…” :)
Dulces:
Churros. I'd always seen these at the language fairs in high school, and I've seen them in tons of kiosks since I've gotten here, but I actually tried one the other day. Oh grease and sugar...is there much more to a churro? I think not, though I was surprised to find manjarblanco in the middle. (That's the same filling as the alfajores.) And I burned my tongue, but interestingly enough, I wasn't really upset about it.
Guerguaro. I’ve been looking at this long, cylindrical, manjarblanco-filled postre at the grocery store for the last month, and I finally tried it today. Alfajores win, hands-down. (What can I say, I’m a sucker for the manjarblanco!)
Things I’ve seen/experienced:
Um, please see the blog above. I think I need to nullify this category from here on forward, since it’s a little redundant. We’ll see if something naturally comes to fill its place.
Things I have a new appreciation for:
Sunscreen. Yup, every time I get a major sunburn, I’m always reminded that sunscreen really is a lovely thing.
-JLuis Guerra—he’s from Mexico and had bouncy, enjoyable music that was pretty distinctive from the other artists
-Alejandro Fernandez—he has a good voice, but he seemed a little too excited about himself. He sang more songs by himself than any of the other artists playing with Gianmarco, and when he was singing, he was super serious and had that kind of, “I’m a rockstar!” air about him. Though to be fair, I was told that this was his first time playing in Peru, and that’s why he had more time. I still have a sneaking suspicion that he wanted his spotlight.
-Reyli—who’s also from Mexico. Dorita told me I should ask my friend Cynthia (he he, my poor Cindy, your name is always being changed to Cynthia!) from Mexico about Reyli.
-Erika Ender and Eva Ayllon—I can’t remember who is who, but one of them is from Panama and the other is a criollo singer from Peru, both of whom were enjoyable, but the criollo singer had this robust voice and did her cute, curvy little dance along with her powerful singing. The lady from Panama was also quite enjoyable, and had really good, upbeat music with a great dancing rhythmn.
-Christian Meier—as soon as Christian Meier walked out on the stage, all of the girls started screaming. After he and Gianmarco sang their first song together, the girls were still screaming, so Gianmarco walked over and unbuttoned the top few buttons on Christian Meier’s shirt to pacify the ladies—it was hilarious. Apparently he’s “churro” which is some sort of slang for good-looking. I just think of it in terms of dessert. A churro. Sweet. (I really hope you read that sweet with the voice of Crush the turtle from Finding Nemo. If you didn’t, go ahead and try it again for the full effect.)
-Pedro Suarez—sorry, I don’t really remember his music much.
-Marcelo Motta—ditto.
Each of the artists seemed to really like Gianmarco (I probably saw more hugs between Gianmarco and the rest of the artists than I’ve seen the entire time I’ve been here) and they all seemed to have a great deal of respect for him. He had this fantastically joyful way of being, and it was fun to watch him perform. He had a rapport with the crowd that I’ve never seen from an artist before—all of his interactions with the crowd were as if to say, “I love you, each and every one of you” and the crowd was responding with a, “We love you!” right back. He had a masterful control over this stadium full of people, but at the same time he was very humble and down to earth, as if he’s your next-door neighbor or that artist playing for quarters in the street. (I mean that in a strictly American-sense, by the way, since this occurrence has a bit of a different feel here in Peru.) He also never lost focus of what the concert was about, and although I could hardly understand a word of what he said, I could tell from his tone and from the response from the crowd every time he was bringing us back to the focal point of the concert—the people in the south. For the final song, all of the artists returned to the stage to sing with Gianmarco, though he maintained the role of central artist. My favorite part, though, was when he started singing in Quechuan. What a great statement—it was as if to say, “Hey, I’m proud of my country and my heritage,” even though he’s totally of Spanish descent. It was a great statement of respect for the people of Quechuan/Incan descent, and it was an act of forward-mindedness in a place where there is still a great divide between races. It’s the first major instance of liberal thinking that I’ve witnessed here, really, and I was overjoyed to see it on such a large scale, a declaration to thousands of people. Then, right there on stage, Gianmarco broke down in tears, something I’m told he hasn’t done for years. Crying, I can only imagine, because he was overwhelmed by the immense impact the earthquake has had on the lives of so many people. Overwhelmed by the culmination of his efforts to put the whole concert together. Overwhelmed by the support he was able to garner from so, so many people (they raised over $1.9 million soles). And then, he knelt down on stage and prayed. Now, I’m not a religious person, but that didn’t matter in the least. I have a great respect for this artist, this human being and for his genuine nature.
One other note? I loved being in the middle of a soccer stadium in Peru watching the crowd do the wave and thinking, “That was invented at my school…” :)
Dulces:
Churros. I'd always seen these at the language fairs in high school, and I've seen them in tons of kiosks since I've gotten here, but I actually tried one the other day. Oh grease and sugar...is there much more to a churro? I think not, though I was surprised to find manjarblanco in the middle. (That's the same filling as the alfajores.) And I burned my tongue, but interestingly enough, I wasn't really upset about it.
Guerguaro. I’ve been looking at this long, cylindrical, manjarblanco-filled postre at the grocery store for the last month, and I finally tried it today. Alfajores win, hands-down. (What can I say, I’m a sucker for the manjarblanco!)
Things I’ve seen/experienced:
Um, please see the blog above. I think I need to nullify this category from here on forward, since it’s a little redundant. We’ll see if something naturally comes to fill its place.
Things I have a new appreciation for:
Sunscreen. Yup, every time I get a major sunburn, I’m always reminded that sunscreen really is a lovely thing.
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