Peru 14- Odds n' Ends

To commemorate my half-way point (3 weeks behind, 3 weeks ahead), I thought I'd do a post full of random thoughts about this crazy country and my experiences in it. Some of them will be loving, some of them will be scathing, and others will leave you not knowing what to think. Let's begin.

• Food is delicious, and very cheap. I often get the "menu," which is the special set meal, and includes soup/salad, main entree, dessert, and usually a cold beverage to begin with and a hot beverage to end with. This meal is much cheaper than buying everything seperately, and is often even cheaper than any individual entree. The other day, I got an avocado salad, alpaca steak with mixed vegetables, fruit salad, and a pisco sour to begin with and coffee to end with. Price? About $8, which was higher than normal because it was more of a touristy restaurant. At a local place, you can get the menu for anywhere from 3-8 soles.
• And to go with food, the drinks are delicious as well. The beers are mostly light, but you can get a dark Cusqueño if you are at a decent place. Inca Kola has won my affection, though it turns my mouth yellow. You can also get a great fresh-squeezed fruit juice pretty much anywhere. And if I say that I like Pisco Sour, does that make me gay? Well too bad, because it's wonderful. Sweet, sour, and very strong. Yum, yum. Lastly, today, I had purple drink. No, not that purple drink. This is a juice made from purple corn that is much more delicious than it sounds.
• From every local I've talked to, I've noticed there's a lot of racism in Peru. The indigenous folk hate the Spaniards, and vice-versa. Maybe it's less racism, and more class struggle, because the white Europeans get all the best jobs and government positions, while the indigenous folk are relegated to the noble positions like street-sweeper (with broom and dustpan). This is also seen international, in the same way. Peruvians hate Bolivians because they are poor and dirty, and they hate the Chileans because they are rich and arrogant. It's really quite fun to watch!
• I absolutely love the layout of every city I've been in. They are so easy to navigate. Drop me off anywhere in Arequipa, and I'd have a much better chance at figuring out where I am than if you did the same to me in Seattle.
• You can pretty much buy anything you need, anywhere. In Puno, a small town on Lake Titicaca, I walked down a quiet side street and passed a store full of LCD TVs. Should I have wanted one right then, I could have bought one. It's that easy. Well, maybe not that easy. Every time I've bought something at an official store, it has required lots of paperwork. When I bought my camera, the clerk actually opened the box and showed me how to use it. Yes, this Peruvian woman showed me, an American male in his 20s, how to use a digital camera that he said was a replacement for one just like it that he already owned.
• I've found that my limit (currently) to traveling solo with no goals or destination is 3 weeks. At a certain point, I get "travel fatigue" and just want to sit around and do nothing. I spent hours one day just sitting in the park on a bench, reading, and looking around. Luckily, family is coming down soon, and I'll gain my second wind.
• Transportation within the city couldn't be easier. If I want to get somewhere within the city, I need not look far, because almost every car is a taxi. Now, you might think I'm exaggerating, but it is literally hard to find a private automobile in the inner-city. One night, I was walking down the street in Arequipa, and I counted 14 taxis pass me before one private vehicle. And, they're so damn cheap. You can go anywhere within any city for 2-3 soles, which is less than $1. Which makes me wonder, how do they make money? I don't see how $1 can pay for the driver's salary, management, gas, maintinence, and whatever else.
• Buses are also a breeze. Every city has a terminal (or two), and there are dozens of bus companies at your beck and call. Many of them are nice, many of them are not so nice, but the only one for me is Cruz del Sur. This company has nice buses, attendents, bathrooms, air and lights overhead, meals, and English films. They also have seats that recline far back enough so you can sleep comfortably. A 6-hour trip costs about $10-15.
• There are not nearly enough Americans down here. Not like that matters, because Americans tend to be annoying abroad, but it's still kind of sad. Either we don't care about the world that surrounds us, or we're just too busy at work to take a couple weeks off and leave. But quite the opposite, I've seen enough German's to bring a tear to Hitler's eye. They are everywhere. They fill the hostals, restaurants and bars, buses, tours, trails, and everywhere else that a person could fit. You would think the Nazi's won by how many Germans there are. There are also a lot of French, Brits, Japanese, other Latinos, and even a few Aussies.
• Theaters should always show movies in their originally-recorded language, and use subtitles for the dominant language of the area the film is being played in if it's not the same as the original. If I have the decency to watch "City of Men" in Portuguese at the Varsity Theater, they can at least reciprocate by showing "The Dark Knight" in English at the Cineplanet 7.
• The drivers here are absolutely batshit crazy. It doesn't matter how big or small, how fast or slow, every car and its driver has complete disregard for the rules of the road. They squeeze in where they don't fit, and they pass at dangerous places. I can't tell you how many times I've braced myself for the narrowly averted head-on collision. You might think that the buses take it easy? No! They are the bullies of the highway. They no that nothing will hurt them, so they go anywhere they want. YET, I've never seen an accident (though I'm sure there's plenty).
• The people here couldn't be friendlier. Everyone wants to stop and chat. While Rafael and I were hiking back up the canyon, he stopped to shoot the breeze with every canyon-dwelling local that was on their way down. Peruvians that don't know eachother talk to eachother like they've been the best of friends for decades. It's really quite something, coming from an area where we gather in places to drink coffee and be lonely together.
• I'm kind of glad that all must stuff was stolen. Now, I'm traveling much lighter than I was before. I've also almost completely forgotten about the whole ordeal. It bothered me for a few days, but then it disappeared from my mind. The only thing that reminds me of it is when I wake up every morning and put on the same pants I've been wearing since it happened.
• I think my Spanish is getting a little bit better. Though there are more English-speakers here than in Nicaragua, there aren't enough to make an English-speaking gringo feel at home. Therefore, my mind has been slowly starting to translate things on its own.
• So far, the towns that I thought I wouldn't like have surprised me. Lima, or at least the Miraflores neighborhood, is very fun. And Arequipa, a town I planned on staying in for 3 days, I ended up staying in for over a week. Hell, I might even go back there, if time permits, which I don't see why it wouldn't.
• It took me a while, but I finally started reading James Joyce' "Ulysses." The man is a literary genius, but the book shouldn't be undertaken lightly. Not only is it ridiculously long (my copy is almost 800 pages), but the writing style is divine. You get such a good sense of the characters, because all traditions and conventions are done away with to give you the raw story. Even his formatting is unique. Unfortunately, you have to really dedicate yourself to the book. I recommend using Cliffsnotes or other along with it, to make sure you know what's going on.
• When it comes to lodging, I will not sleep in a dorm. This isn't junior high summer camp anymore. I know that I won't be the victim of teabagging, an atomic sit-up, or having the word "penis" written on my forehead in permanent ink, but I still don't want to be stuck in a room with a bunch of stinky strangers. Besides, with private rooms being so cheap ($10-20 a night), why would I bother with a dorm? And they always put me in a room with too many beds. At one point, I was in a room with four beds. Oddly, I only slept in one. I should've made a giant fort out of them; that would've been awesome. I could've thrown a party in my bed-fort, but I'm sure that management wouldn't approve. Also, it's important to have a TV and cable. Since I'm not the bar/club/shenanigans kind of guy, I'm in my room by about 9 every night. Therefore, a decent TV is important, as is a decent cable selection.
• Speaking of cable selection, I've been watching the weirdest television programming down here. If it's not the movie of the night on Cinecanal, I watch AXN. This is a channel dedicated to crime shows. Law & Order (all versions), CSI (all versions), NCIS, Criminal Minds, and many other shows of this genre are played around the clock. I never watch them at home, but I can't get enough of them here.
• The landscape here is gorgeous. Not just in the places where you go to see it, such as in Cañon del Colca and Islas Ballestas, but also in the surroundings. Every bus ride I've been on has had spectacular views. I mean, if scenery is good enough to draw me away from "Underdog," then it must be gorgeous! Maybe that was a bad example. Nonetheless, even the long-distance rides on the bus are a treat.
• Lastly, I must give some props to the pooches. They don't bark, they don't bite, they just quietly wander the streets. The other day, a sad-looking pooch with droopy ears stared into my eyes, and I stared back. They looked almost human. I almost wanted to throw him a sole or two, so he would swallow them and choke to death soon, rather than enduring a long and painful death in an alley while slowly being eaten by other animals. You ever heard the term "let sleeping dogs lie." I've adapted it for Latin America: "let sleeping (or dead) dogs lie."

That's all I'm going to say for now, because my fingers are tired. I'm gonna go grab a pizza and watch someone get murdered on the TV. See you soon (some sooner than others)!