Fiestas Patrias, Cieneguilla

On Friday evening, we went to the fancy mall here (called Jockey Plaza) because I need to set up cel service and to have dinner. The shops are all the big name, schmancy places...ritzier than American malls by a long shot. Jen pointed out that, though it was packed, no one was carrying bags so not a lot of people buying things at those prices. Before dinner, we came upon a troupe of performers came out with lighted costumes much like Cirque du Soleil.

Saturday was Peruvian independence day and we headed out to the outskirts of Lima, to an area called Cieneguilla that is technically part of Lima but lies over a mountain and in a comparatively picturesque valley. It was nice just to get someplace that could show us a bit of Peru that is more than just Lima. Clearly many Peruvians go out there for the day, and the little river is lined with outdoor restaurants where families have lunch and the kids run around. It was touristy, but Peruvian touristy, a kind of big picnic type of outing...except you don't have to bring the picnic.

We went to a place called Mesas Piedra where all the tables are big slabs of stone. I had pachamanca for the first time, in Quechua: "earth ceramic pot". A ceramic casserole pot is loaded with meat and sundry and spices and backed under hot stones. Mine had chicken, pork and beef in a savory sauce. Also included was an Andean sweet potato, a sweet tamale, a plantain and some giant beans that were not my favorite. Families sit around their lunch, with pitchers of chicha morada (a sweet drink made from purple corn, clove and cinnamon) or frozen lemonade. A Peruvian band was playing and, at one point, traditional dancers. Carter horsed around on a super playground with a multi-tier wooden play structure and we took our soccer ball out to bop around with some of the other families. We did not do a horse ride, but did take a couple of turns on the ATV loop. There was a good, mellow vibe and it's a great way to spend a nice day.



The trip out there and back was less idyllic, but in some ways also good just to see a little bit of reality. The road went through a dusty strip of mechanics and hardware shops, with poorer housing up and down the slopes. The traffic was bad, which meant some of the more aggressive types would zoom down the dirt side roads in front of the businesses.

Peruvian driving philosophy (beta version): No mercy, no hesitation, no resentment.

The dump is along this route, and what appeared to be a slum rising from it called Las Estrellas (The Stars), with many shacks and shipping containers apparently being used as homes. Many of the homes had a big star painted on them. From the main road, people not walking catch mototaxis to get up and down the hills: basically, 3-wheeled moped rickshaws.

Sunday we had a mellow day, sleeping in, exercising, etc. In the late afternoon, we went for tea at Sanjay & Garima's house (Sanjay is the Peru country director). It was Indian tea, so Jen and I said, "Oh, chai!" ...which to an Indian is kind of a gringo thing to say. It turns out that chai just means "tea", and Garima served a couple varieties, one a very nice ginger tea. In addition to other things, there was a small fruit that looked like yellow cherry tomatoes, but tasted like a zingy lemon-raspberry hybrid. I think it was called agua-something...further investigation needed! Carter and their older kids played soccer until they were sweaty and Carter held his own...he may pick up some Peruvian soccer skills when all is said and done.

Gold. GOLD, I tell you!

This week with Carter not yet in school, and with myself having to work a fair amount, has us cooped up and a little stir crazy. Carter has been allowed to watch a lot more tv than he is used to and now is seeming loathe to leave the room. So it was good today to have an expedition to the nearby Museo Oro del Perú.

The place seems a jumble, one man's collection of pre-Pizarro artifacts and (strangely) a collection of world weaponry. Apparently there was a scandal in which much of the collection was deemed fraudulent but what remains is said to be real. And there is a LOT.

Carter, being 6 and male, wanted to talk and talk about the weaponry. Suits of armor, crossbows, daggers. But the collection also included items from more modern eras...SS daggers, dictator's rifles, etc. Having so much crammed together, and the continuum from blunderbuss to machine gun all laid out together, it removed some of the naive romance of medieval weaponry.

Downstairs, through a vault door, is the gold (and other antiquities). It really is quite amazing to see the amount of gold, all hand-worked. Glittering jewelry and accessories, ceremonial tools and trinkets, even a whole wall covered in decorative, pounded gold leaf. There were some ancient textiles, carved fetishes, and even a few mummies and trophy heads. Carter decided to close his eyes in that room (not because he was particularly freaked out, he just said "Omigosh, that is GROSS!") A couple of items we recognized as very similar to items shown in our reading of Tintin in Temple of the Sun, clearly Hergé did some reasearch. On the way out, we got Carter a pan flute at the gift shop and walked back to the hotel.

My verdict? It wasn't cheap, it seemed an unscholarly jumble, but still...I can't remember the last time I've seen so many new things all at once.

 

Captain Beefheart

The Peace Corps director, Sanjay, and his wife Garima had a company party in their backyard. It was my chance to meet many of Jen's coworkers, with some dancing thrown in. BBQ was served, kebobs of beef heart, served with corn and potatoes. I think this might have been my first heart, but it was not so different from other parts of the cow...I suppose it is just a muscle like much of the beef we eat otherwise. Fresh donuts with maple syrup for desert.

There are many different personalities at the Peace Corps, and the party showed it: the MBA educated in London, the driver not long out of the pueblo, the committed regional director, the 2 extended volunteers who are reupping and swear they are not leaving. The common denominator seems to be that they are unerringly friendly. 

Luckily, my visits to the Dominican Republic have taught me to loosen up my hips so I could keep up on the dance floor. (Peru, at least at first glance, is much more forgiving towards for a dancing gringo...the DR takes its dancing seriously!) I did not quite get the "Borracho" dance, a kind of stomping, informal flamenco Riverdance.