The hysteria of living abroad (Part I)

There are somethings that happen in the average day here that you quickly learn to either ignore, stop noticing or laugh about rather than lost your mind to the insanity of it all (and believe me it is all a bit insane) the following is a random sampling of a day in the life.

-extract self from the weight (and warmth) of roughly a dozen Alpaca blankets

-light bunsun burner style stove for tea

-cross fingers there is still water at this hour for a truly hot shower (left hand knob has propane heated water only available until around 9 or so each day)

-if no water (most people don´t have any water at all after 8 or so, I´m lucky in this regard) flip circuit breaker style switch on wall above shower, double check that wires running from said switch to shower head are properly secured

-give electricity a bit to get to shower head, turn right hand knob as LITTLE as possible but enough to electrical resistance heater kicks in, warms water to hot, if your lucky, luke warm if not...either way only the upper body gets truly warm, the legs stay a tad chilly

-get breakfast (eggs, pretty much the only option, ever), wash dishes using paste soap (an entire lack of liquid dish soaps here) run out the door for work, checking propane tanks on the way out the door, wouldn´t want to run out after work...call delivery boy if necessary

-marvel over inefficiency of on demand propane tank delivery via teenagers on mopeds with tanks strapped to the sides, careening down excessively steep cobblestone streets ::shrug:: order the next tank for S/. 25 anyway (about 7 bucks)

- avoid animal excrement, neighbors peeing etc and hurry off to work, late of course which wouldn´t matter anywhere else in South America except for organizations run by gringos who maintain the western standard concept of puncuality; i being habitualy late all the time anyway, regardless of hemispherical location have found that my constant tardiness is a good indicator in terms of my adaptation to life in latin america, woudln´t want to be on time here, or even where you´re supposed to be when you say you will be!

-get funny looks from locals at the sight of someone rushing somewhere

-drop off excessive bag of laundry (complete in third world country plaid, plastic zipper bag) next to work

-hit the buzzer, heave up the 3 flights of stairs to work, huffing but slightly less so than a month ago from climbing anything at altitude (we gringos have seriously underutilized lungs) collapse on couch, get tea, help people get to Machu Picchu, look for other volunteer opportunities.

Nest Time: The hazards of being noticeably foreign aka walking in the Plaza de Armas!