So far I have just been giving the good old daily run down on life here, which may not always sound so exciting. Having had recent visitors (Mom and Den) it was a lot easier to see the many differences about living here in Cusco that I may not always pay attention to. I may not have been here for long but there are some things, about Cusco, about Peru, about South America that I became accustomed to in my previous months of travel that a person who has never been here before might be a bit....surprised by. LOL.
So, as might be expècted, things happen slowly here, or not at all or in an a way tha just doesn´t seem to make logical, normal sense. An example: my landlord was supposed to provide the house fully furnished as part of the rent and have hot water all day. The second bedroom has no furniture and hot water all day is laughable. Despite any number of complaints, change simply does not happen.
When I say I live at the top of a hill, it more like a freakin´ climb to the top of a mountain up cobblestone streets that are frequently filled not just with people but with dogs, llama, alpaca and donkey´s- I regularly have Alpaca´s outside my front door grazing in the morning. Although this does add to some charm this means the streets can be a bit of a minefield so you have to look where you walk! Also means when huffing and puffing up the hill on the way home when you get to the top you can count on getting a mouthful of foul smelling air from the donkey´s my nieghbors tie up on the sidewalk each night. (They being smart enough to realize its nice to have a beast of burden to carry your grocery´s up the hill from the market!)
Not that it is all BAD, I mean funny smells aren´t the end of the world and certainly not all there is here. Cusco is a gorgeous, charming, ancient city with architecture that continually blows my mind away, it is also a deeply spiritual place.
The major downfall to living in the most popular tourist destination in South America is the poverty that goes hand in hand with tourism. 14,000 children in Cusco are homeless or abandoned, not to mention the kids who work on the streets starting from age 6 and up for their parents hawking fingerpuppets (I highly doubt that handmade fingerpuppers were a cultural norm until someone realized it was hard for a gringo to say NO to a 7 year old with a handfull of the things) postcards, gum and water color paintings. It is annoying but it is also enough to break your heart. What makes it even more difficult is that you never know what the money is going to. If the kid has parents, it def. goes to them and hopefully that means they get some food. Or it means the parent might go get drunk. Maybe if the kid is homeless and the money goes to him, it means he or she eats or it means they go buy glue and sniff it (a hard reality but one that is not surprising given the circumstances of these kids lives). As hard as it is to always say no, I just can´t trust what the money goes to and only know that it means the kid will definitely be there the next day, to make more. So, I give food and to the kids I see often, encourage them to go to some of the NGO sites that offer feeding and school programs. Even the catholic churches here are rumored to charge the street children at night to seek refuge in the churches for the night- not something I think the church was originally intended for as a place of shelter! And it encourages the kids to keep working.
But, what makes this all so difficult is that (as pessimistic as it sounds) these kids don´t have options for a good life in all reality. Thousands of people come to Cusco from the Andean highlands looking for a better life but whether or not that is possible seems to have a lot to do with luck which in my experience is simply an accident of birth. Why are any of us born into the circumstances and lives in which we find ourselves? Interestingly, in tomorrow´s presidential elections (2 finalists from a run off election of 16) the country is faced with (in short and from what I´ve gathered among taxi drivers, friends, shopowners etc) Ollanta: tough military type, opposed to foreigners and totally politically inexperiences and Alan Garcia: former poltically corrupt President from the 90´s. Neither of whom many believe to be a good choice for positive change (although in this ¨democratic¨ country voting is compulsory and you have to pay a large fine if you don´t vote- i know many people who would rather pay the fine than vote for either of these two candidates) So, there you have it, read up on the net for more if your interested, or if you just thought that we were the only ones with unjust politics!! There are many rumors, truths and have truths floating about both candidates, naturally, some far more ugly and scary than others.
Now, all of that probably souned pretty negative, poverty, corruption, violence and so on. But the thing is...I love it here. Sometimes its hard to explain especially when faced with so many negative characteristics. But I guess the raw beauty of the country and the dynamic nature of its culture(s) is not only intriguing, but endearing. I have never felt unsafe here and although I am wary of the elections, I hope Garcia will win and hope that people, even politicians are cabable of positive change- no country should be prostrate to tourism but barring all foreigners as Ollanta proposes certainly won´t help much either. Every country I have visited has been vastly different than the last but Peru was what pulled me back. I wanted to be somewhere in flux, where people are exposed to visitors from all over the globe but still so lacking in basic life needs like an education, food, opportunity. I don´t think anyone, let alone myself can change the world, or change a community but I think that in places like this, and they exist ALL over the world it is possible to contribute, to help, even if you touch just one life, that life in turn touches your own and the perspective that provides is great.
I am no expert and no great humanitarian or political analyst but for those of you wondering what on earth I´m doing here it isn´t just personal growth and experience. I´m learning Spanish, I´m thinking about how I can make my Master´s integrate my experiences here so I can return in the future. I´m also working. South American Explorers is a member organization for people who want to travel here and I am taking over their volunteer database, researching NGO´s and Community organizations in Cusco and the Sacred Valley who have a legitimate need for foreign volunteers (not just for the financial resource they provide as many are corrupt) and then refer our members to these groups. I am also talking with a fellow volunteer about a community project he has started, helping a local highland community that is beyond desperately and miserably poor start a hotel and tourism business out of a gorgeous old hacienda on their land. It would involve field research and talking with individuals and groups in the community about what they want for themselves aside from a means to escape destitute poverty. Again, relying on tourism is by no means ideal but so often it is all people here have to escape their circumstances. Now, if only all of the thousands of tourists who come here each week could see the need to be responsible visitors- to not just go for the bottom dollar but to use tour operators, visit restaurants, buy handicrafts and visit places that support the local comunities and provide them with jobs and independance and an education they might otherwise not recieve. This, rather than supporting businesses who just pocket the profit and send it back to wherever they came from. The amount of money that comes through this area is mindblowing in comparison to the poverty which surrounds it.
Whew, so that was quite a lot, hopefully it made sense, and hopefully I don´t seem more crazy than I did before! But, any country or place can´t just be reduced to what makes it beautiful or amazing in terms of geography, ruins or scenery, the whole picture needs to be seen to understand the true beauty of any people or place. And that is why I love it here; I love the mess, the chaos and the conflicting worlds because it is real in a way I think the cookie cutter world of the US forgets, ignores or rationalizes away. The chaos and madness is humanity.
We all managed to survive the fiestas and subsequent dragging of feet by day and I even survived yet another stomach bug (yay Cipro). C and I made it to Machu Picchu and I did some imprompteau waitressing at Rupa Wasi where my friends were a little swamped with tour groups. Even found time to run down from the top of Machu Picchu which felt amazing although my legs suffered a bit the following days. Nothing a little dancing couldn´t take care of!
I do have pics of me and Caroline but will have to add those when I am on my laptop not uploading from my digi as she was the official photog last week...as always stay tuned for more news, insanity and general rambling from the navel of the world!
