DAY ONE
I still do not venture on here too often as I still find it more than a bit self-indulgent to fester over my own happenings but today was a day of relevantsignificance for me. Today was my first full day....start to end in my new home town of Illimo, Peru. I arose after a night of sleep comparable to that of a truck driver chewing meth tablets on Interstate 95 (this is not to infer all truck drivers use meth--my brother in law is in fact a case in point). My new house is fine...my room is in the back of the house-modest but potentially comfortable....the problem with last eve was I had not a pillow, a blanket, or anything else to go along with my child sized bed......when I think of the spoils of home I usually lust most about my pillow top queen sized mattress that now sits in my mother’s guest bed room.....I then think of how many guests must have had a slumber on her and I go into a small bit of mental anguish thinking about her being used like that. I digress.....so the family put a bed in there but nothing else...I not knowing what I needed did not purchase anything pre arrival...so I used my bathing towel as my pillow and two sweaters as an oddly blanket....luckily my toe nails are the size and strength of eagles talons and I was able to grasp on and hook the sweater properly. It is not cold here by any stretch but it is the dead of winter...which means 80 during the day or more and cool in the evening....needing a blanket type of thing.....I can only imagine how I will bake when the Summer swell comes. To go along with that I could not locate my ear plugs....the family I am living with has at least 25 birds.....chickens, roosters, ducks--add to that a donkey off in the chakra somewhere that sounds severely irritated every half an hour or so and you have me in the fetal position clock watching from 1-7 am. Regardless I dredged myself up from my bed and gave myself a proper bit of a tongue lashing for being already mentally defeated from the struggle during the eve. I had not a plan minus to show up to the municipality as I had during the week I had visited my site initially.
I was served my breakfast by one of the many members of the household who all upon meeting me gazed in amazement at how I came to be as pale as I am, as bald as I am, and as un educated I am in the ways of speaking in their native tongue. Thank the good lord for children as last night upon my arrival it was a nephew...a four year old who saved my eve....asking me over and over "donde es tu pelo" over and over....Where is your hair? He was fascinated....it seems that almost all of Peruvians retain their hair......a bald man is rare and a bald man with a shaved down head is like seeing a unicorn. Regardless we all had a laugh about that and it eased the awkwardness of the first meeting a bit-I am obviously in the infantile stages of speaking Spanish so not only is it hard to describe why I am here but I also find it odd to sit across from people and tell them I am here because I had a good and ordinary life at home and I left it to sit here with you like a jackass. Most of what any human being pursues is contentment and at some point when they think they have found it they stop...or they take what they believe is as close as they can get and just live their lives.....some or many have good lives this way.....to tell people I was not interested in that in my own language is hard enough...let alone one that I know 100 words in.
After my breakfast I arrived promptly at 8:30 at the municipality where a photo shoot was being taken of the new purchases made for a project to fumigate the Mercado (which is a relatively large indoor structure) it consisted of two rakes, a leaf blower and a power washer....all nice things but they essentially were having the equivalent of a ribbon cutting service regarding it or a second launching of the titantic...pictures with the mayor and the whole nine. I was greeted warmly by those I had met previously and escorted into the building. During that process I was told that they were having a reunion (Spanish word for meeting) of all the employees of the township. I was invited to the meeting and of course given a chair in front of about 100 people at the table in front facing the crowd with the Mayor and the councilman (7) and Councilwoman (1) flanking him on the left and right. The Mayor called the meeting to order and went into an immediate welcoming mode--it is an odd thing to know you are being spoken of but not the exact message being given. I could decipher him telling the town to be welcoming of me, to share their kindness, and the culture of the town with me. He then proceeded to tell them I would be working with the schools, businesses etc. He did me the favor of mentioning I knew very little Spanish but asked me to stand and asked me "Tienes poco palabras o no?" so...I stood up....and spoke in Spanish for at least three minutes to the crowd of at least 100 and I believe they understood what I said or at least what I wanted to say.....and they responded with a very polite applause....after the mayor went as far to joke that I had been faking my Spanish failings with him in personal conversations. So while it was an insignificant moment for the room....for me it was immense.
Afterwards I snuck out and took a combi down to the capital and shopped about for the needed comfort items I needed.....which sounds basic enough but getting about here is an altogether different process then I have ever experienced....none the less I succeeded without getting robbed, or more likely run over. I ran errands like a normal human being...post office, bank, super market, to the Mercado Moderno...which is an immense market in the center of the capital with a thousand vendors selling everything from furniture to children.......maybe with the children....(poor joke) not children. Bartering is permissible...so even though I do not speak the language of Spanish I do appreciate the barter.....I barter with taxi drivers, moto taxistas....anybody that does not have a menu or a price board is open to a shakedown...and I of course being a gringo am a prime target for mark up. So I usually end up with the right price and no better....and I am sure there are times when I am snookered...after shopping I took a taxi back to equivalent of the bus station and went I got out of this taxi I exaggerate not when I say I had four grown men trying to draw and quarter me ....all trying to get me to get into their small combi (bus) for the fare....I thought I was going to be dismantled....I finally jerked like the mule I am and shook them down.....when I got a step back I could see they were sort of having a go at me...all smiling and saying gringo this and that.....I could appreciate it.....they all via for customers and they all converged and had a laugh....no issue. On my way back in the overcrowded combi stuffed full of people and goods I realized how ugly....physically the area is where I live....it is essentially a long stretch of the Pan American Highway North.....dessert surrounded by dessert....with trash strewn everywhere. Companies here and there that appear to be selling agricultural products and people randomly standing on the side of the road.......but while all this was occurring I started chatting with the fellow to my right...where you from....what are you doing here.....the basics. Very nice guy.......he quiets...the music gets turned up and it is Black Betty by I do not know who......a song I usually despise but its blaring.....dessert sand is swirling in the air and we are cruising down the Pan American and I am taking in the ugliness and appreciating it all the same. The fella calls for a drop off and off he goes.......Black Betty blaring...and a turn he wishes me good luck. It is an odd thing how quickly perceptions can change-and how that music and that man changed my outlook of the current situation. Within ten minutes another fellow leans up and tells me he lives in my town....small talk etc....30 minutes later we get off the bus together and he invites me into his home. Serves me an orange, a beer, introduces his wife, the music of his home region, a meal, and invites me back for dinner tomorrow night to speak about his business and meet his children.
I know not every day is going to be today but I do know that I was fortunate to have it. I am thankful for the experience of the ups and downs-for the kindness of those who were part of it, and some new memories for the bank of life.
I was served my breakfast by one of the many members of the household who all upon meeting me gazed in amazement at how I came to be as pale as I am, as bald as I am, and as un educated I am in the ways of speaking in their native tongue. Thank the good lord for children as last night upon my arrival it was a nephew...a four year old who saved my eve....asking me over and over "donde es tu pelo" over and over....Where is your hair? He was fascinated....it seems that almost all of Peruvians retain their hair......a bald man is rare and a bald man with a shaved down head is like seeing a unicorn. Regardless we all had a laugh about that and it eased the awkwardness of the first meeting a bit-I am obviously in the infantile stages of speaking Spanish so not only is it hard to describe why I am here but I also find it odd to sit across from people and tell them I am here because I had a good and ordinary life at home and I left it to sit here with you like a jackass. Most of what any human being pursues is contentment and at some point when they think they have found it they stop...or they take what they believe is as close as they can get and just live their lives.....some or many have good lives this way.....to tell people I was not interested in that in my own language is hard enough...let alone one that I know 100 words in.
After my breakfast I arrived promptly at 8:30 at the municipality where a photo shoot was being taken of the new purchases made for a project to fumigate the Mercado (which is a relatively large indoor structure) it consisted of two rakes, a leaf blower and a power washer....all nice things but they essentially were having the equivalent of a ribbon cutting service regarding it or a second launching of the titantic...pictures with the mayor and the whole nine. I was greeted warmly by those I had met previously and escorted into the building. During that process I was told that they were having a reunion (Spanish word for meeting) of all the employees of the township. I was invited to the meeting and of course given a chair in front of about 100 people at the table in front facing the crowd with the Mayor and the councilman (7) and Councilwoman (1) flanking him on the left and right. The Mayor called the meeting to order and went into an immediate welcoming mode--it is an odd thing to know you are being spoken of but not the exact message being given. I could decipher him telling the town to be welcoming of me, to share their kindness, and the culture of the town with me. He then proceeded to tell them I would be working with the schools, businesses etc. He did me the favor of mentioning I knew very little Spanish but asked me to stand and asked me "Tienes poco palabras o no?" so...I stood up....and spoke in Spanish for at least three minutes to the crowd of at least 100 and I believe they understood what I said or at least what I wanted to say.....and they responded with a very polite applause....after the mayor went as far to joke that I had been faking my Spanish failings with him in personal conversations. So while it was an insignificant moment for the room....for me it was immense.
Afterwards I snuck out and took a combi down to the capital and shopped about for the needed comfort items I needed.....which sounds basic enough but getting about here is an altogether different process then I have ever experienced....none the less I succeeded without getting robbed, or more likely run over. I ran errands like a normal human being...post office, bank, super market, to the Mercado Moderno...which is an immense market in the center of the capital with a thousand vendors selling everything from furniture to children.......maybe with the children....(poor joke) not children. Bartering is permissible...so even though I do not speak the language of Spanish I do appreciate the barter.....I barter with taxi drivers, moto taxistas....anybody that does not have a menu or a price board is open to a shakedown...and I of course being a gringo am a prime target for mark up. So I usually end up with the right price and no better....and I am sure there are times when I am snookered...after shopping I took a taxi back to equivalent of the bus station and went I got out of this taxi I exaggerate not when I say I had four grown men trying to draw and quarter me ....all trying to get me to get into their small combi (bus) for the fare....I thought I was going to be dismantled....I finally jerked like the mule I am and shook them down.....when I got a step back I could see they were sort of having a go at me...all smiling and saying gringo this and that.....I could appreciate it.....they all via for customers and they all converged and had a laugh....no issue. On my way back in the overcrowded combi stuffed full of people and goods I realized how ugly....physically the area is where I live....it is essentially a long stretch of the Pan American Highway North.....dessert surrounded by dessert....with trash strewn everywhere. Companies here and there that appear to be selling agricultural products and people randomly standing on the side of the road.......but while all this was occurring I started chatting with the fellow to my right...where you from....what are you doing here.....the basics. Very nice guy.......he quiets...the music gets turned up and it is Black Betty by I do not know who......a song I usually despise but its blaring.....dessert sand is swirling in the air and we are cruising down the Pan American and I am taking in the ugliness and appreciating it all the same. The fella calls for a drop off and off he goes.......Black Betty blaring...and a turn he wishes me good luck. It is an odd thing how quickly perceptions can change-and how that music and that man changed my outlook of the current situation. Within ten minutes another fellow leans up and tells me he lives in my town....small talk etc....30 minutes later we get off the bus together and he invites me into his home. Serves me an orange, a beer, introduces his wife, the music of his home region, a meal, and invites me back for dinner tomorrow night to speak about his business and meet his children.
I know not every day is going to be today but I do know that I was fortunate to have it. I am thankful for the experience of the ups and downs-for the kindness of those who were part of it, and some new memories for the bank of life.
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