As I sit here listening to country music drinking coffee on the porch of the non-profit office before going to teach today, I thought I'd ramble for no apparent reason. Last night, I realized just how much I've learned here, and I can't wait to share that with my mom and sister, touching down in Cusco tomorrow morning. A few moments have stood out when I think back on how much I've grown from an uninformed American to a member of the community around here.
-My host family is extremely involved in the Festival de Sr. de Torrechayoc, a religious celebration and dance festival in Urubamba. That being said, Dave and I put in a big effort and roasted in the sun for a few hours this weekend in order to watch our relatives tear up some serious rug as they marched through the street in their traditional garb. The culminating celebration for the 30 or so person dance group was at our house on Sunday night. The party fired up around 730pm as neighbors and relatives strode through the door with crates and crates of bottles of Cusquena and boxes of unbelievable food. We feasted on roast chicken, noodles spiced up with some questionable goodness, and sweet potatoes. Around 10, Dave and I had grooved our asses into chairs, throwing back some cold ones conversing with relatives excited to hear about who we were and where we'd come from. The good vibes continued, and Dulia (our host mom) had a rock band come over and play for the party. We thought it'd be a grand old night of relaxation until our uncle, Andres, pulled us onto the dance floor after a few too many cocktails and taught us how to salsa with the support of a large circle of clapping relatives. I couldn't help but laughing at the situation at the time, but looking back on it now, it's pretty cool how accepting the family has been, and I for that, I owe them a tremendous amount of gratitude.
-Also along that note of familiarity, I've recently been striking up some good convos with the elderly woman who slings "papa rellenas," the greatest gift from God since disc golf. These soft baked potatoes stuffed with vegetables will run you 50 cents in soles, the equivalent of about 19 US cents, and they'll plaster a smile on your face all day. I'm happy to say that I've conquered street food in Uru without contracting anymore of the familiar gringo buzzkills, known as salmonella or giardia.
To end on a less weird note, I'm taking Wednesday-Friday off from work to go hang with my mom and sis. Should be an amazing week, and I hope they realize that they'll be seeing some of the coolest ancient ruins in the world, except for the remnants of Karen's favorite patio chair in our woods that oddly disappeared after our parents were out of town for the weekend and a multitude of thejim's friend may or may not have come over.
Anyways! Tomorrow afternoon, I'm gonna take them on a food tour of Cusco with the other Dukies, then we'll head back to Urubamba at night. If my vivacious mamabear is down for a night on the town, I'll take her and my sister out to see the bizarre nightlife of Urubamba. On Thursday, we're white water rafting in a nearby town, Ollantaytambo. Friday will be full of preparations for our trip to Machu Picchu, then we'll take off on our bike/hike trek to the famous Incan civilization from Cusco on Saturday morning. Assuming we don't end up falling off a cliff or contracting an incurable disease from a rogue llama, we'll be in MP on Monday.
That's all in the flat land of spiders, but just to make my mom feel better about my littlest sister's shenanigans during her absence at home, my brother has assured me that she most definitely won't be aiming at the neighbor's cats with a BB gun.
Live it up today,
Chris
No comments:
Post a Comment