Some pictures finally - a local market and the Plaza de Armas in Cusco
Thursday, July 21, 2005
Monday, July 18, 2005
Niños de calle
Or street children in English.
Yesterday I was having a little contemplative sit in the sun in one of the very lovely squares that exist in Cusco. Inevitably that means that a slow trickle of people will approach you to sell something. It's quite a gentle sales technique, you say "No, gracias" and on the whole they leave you alone. The children tend to be more hard core and ask why you don't want to buy, the other day a girl selling finger puppets said "Why not" and I said "Because I'm too big". A minute later she was back "But you could buy one as a present!"
However, yesterday was Sunday morning and lots of the tourists were off visiting the local markets in outlying villages, so it's a slow sales time. A boy approached me and asked if I wanted postcards, I said no and he didn't ask why not. He sat down and asked me where I was from (this is also quite common with people who want to practise their English doing the same), so I told him England and he then checked a load of English facts with me - capital city is London, prime minister is Tony Blair - is he a good prime minister - currency is pounds. Did I live in London, no I live in Southampton next to the sea. He thought that the sea must be really nice, a good place for thinking, I think he was around 12 or 13.
So I asked him where he lives. He lives in an institution for street children, he goes to school there and has to pay something towards it and buy his own clothes and shoes. His mother lives in a pueblo (village or small town) in the countryside but can't afford to feed the family so he came to the city (this is a reasonably common story for street children). He is going to school for another year or so and one day he would like to go to university, it is possible to go to public university part time and work to pay your way. He asked me if I believed in God and I said no and he said that he did but sometimes he found it hard to understand the reasons for things.
He wasn't self pitying but he knows he has a tough life and that in other countries it would be different. So I bought some postcards because I wanted to give him money but it was better all round that it was a commercial transaction. Then he asked if he could ask a question. Of course I said yes. He wondered if I had some old shoes that I didn't need, his feet were visible through the sides of his shoes. Unfortunately I don't as I only have sandals and walking boots with me, but I wish I had. So we said goodbye and I wished him luck and off we went to our very different lives.
50% of this country lives in poverty (UN definition less than $1 a day to live on per person) and the longer I am here the more I recognise that the only real difference between people in developing countries and the wealthy nations is an accident of birth.
Yesterday I was having a little contemplative sit in the sun in one of the very lovely squares that exist in Cusco. Inevitably that means that a slow trickle of people will approach you to sell something. It's quite a gentle sales technique, you say "No, gracias" and on the whole they leave you alone. The children tend to be more hard core and ask why you don't want to buy, the other day a girl selling finger puppets said "Why not" and I said "Because I'm too big". A minute later she was back "But you could buy one as a present!"
However, yesterday was Sunday morning and lots of the tourists were off visiting the local markets in outlying villages, so it's a slow sales time. A boy approached me and asked if I wanted postcards, I said no and he didn't ask why not. He sat down and asked me where I was from (this is also quite common with people who want to practise their English doing the same), so I told him England and he then checked a load of English facts with me - capital city is London, prime minister is Tony Blair - is he a good prime minister - currency is pounds. Did I live in London, no I live in Southampton next to the sea. He thought that the sea must be really nice, a good place for thinking, I think he was around 12 or 13.
So I asked him where he lives. He lives in an institution for street children, he goes to school there and has to pay something towards it and buy his own clothes and shoes. His mother lives in a pueblo (village or small town) in the countryside but can't afford to feed the family so he came to the city (this is a reasonably common story for street children). He is going to school for another year or so and one day he would like to go to university, it is possible to go to public university part time and work to pay your way. He asked me if I believed in God and I said no and he said that he did but sometimes he found it hard to understand the reasons for things.
He wasn't self pitying but he knows he has a tough life and that in other countries it would be different. So I bought some postcards because I wanted to give him money but it was better all round that it was a commercial transaction. Then he asked if he could ask a question. Of course I said yes. He wondered if I had some old shoes that I didn't need, his feet were visible through the sides of his shoes. Unfortunately I don't as I only have sandals and walking boots with me, but I wish I had. So we said goodbye and I wished him luck and off we went to our very different lives.
50% of this country lives in poverty (UN definition less than $1 a day to live on per person) and the longer I am here the more I recognise that the only real difference between people in developing countries and the wealthy nations is an accident of birth.
Tuesday, July 12, 2005
Parties in Peru
Last weekend I was lucky enough to go to two parties. On Friday it was Eduardo's (the father of my family) cumpleaños - birthday to you and me. The house is an "interesting" design and the integral garage converts into a good party space with easy access into the kitchen and sitting room (all the internal walls are glass!). So the car was taken out and chairs were put all round the room. Some slight differences to parties at home....
- the only drink anyone brought was rum, the choice was rum and coke (cuba libre) or coke on its own, good thing that I like rum and coke then
- you need a good party coat in Cusco as you're likely to be wearing it all evening. The houses are not really built for insulation despite the fact that it's often freezing at night and in this case the garage door doesn't fit that well
- all the men sat together and all the women sat together, men only asked their own wives to dance
- and the most surprising thing for me! When food was served at midnight, the women all went up first, filled up their plates and took them to their husbands. Fortunately as a foreigner with special status I got to serve myself at the same time as the women. Single men were last of all.
The party on Saturday was a bbq, started at midday and went on to midnight. Highlights were more rum and coke, the men building an earth oven to cook the potatoes in and also taking control of the bbq, flames and all. It must be something about male nature that as soon as cooking involves fire and building it's their job!
This weekend there is talk of an outing to a local fiesta, leave at 4pm and come back at 4 or 5am - no sleeping possible. I'll let you know what happens if I go, still trying to work out how much clothing I would/could wear!
- the only drink anyone brought was rum, the choice was rum and coke (cuba libre) or coke on its own, good thing that I like rum and coke then
- you need a good party coat in Cusco as you're likely to be wearing it all evening. The houses are not really built for insulation despite the fact that it's often freezing at night and in this case the garage door doesn't fit that well
- all the men sat together and all the women sat together, men only asked their own wives to dance
- and the most surprising thing for me! When food was served at midnight, the women all went up first, filled up their plates and took them to their husbands. Fortunately as a foreigner with special status I got to serve myself at the same time as the women. Single men were last of all.
The party on Saturday was a bbq, started at midday and went on to midnight. Highlights were more rum and coke, the men building an earth oven to cook the potatoes in and also taking control of the bbq, flames and all. It must be something about male nature that as soon as cooking involves fire and building it's their job!
This weekend there is talk of an outing to a local fiesta, leave at 4pm and come back at 4 or 5am - no sleeping possible. I'll let you know what happens if I go, still trying to work out how much clothing I would/could wear!
Friday, July 08, 2005
Being at school
Okay two weeks in now, so I think I have a feel for how it's going and can describe a typical day! For most of the first week, my head felt like it was going to explode with all the new information that I was taking in and trying to understand. I was with one other person for the first week and a half and she had a bit of a headstart of me, so I felt like I was working hard to hang on to her and not slow her down!
At the end of week two, I just feel tongue tied! Mainly because I am now aware of the mistakes that I am making when I speak, so I'm constantly self editing as I speak and stopping as I search for the correct ending for the verb in the correct tense. I sort of know...pasado perfecto, imperfecto and simple, futuro popular and simple, present and sort of sort the conditional (plus all those little phrases, pronouns etc that make speech understandable. At the moment we're focusing on improving my vocabulary and speaking correctly and more rapidly! The last two days I've been in a group of one, good but hard work for four hours in the morning.
Homework takes anything from 30 minutes to several hours, depending on how dedicated I'm feeling. Language at home with my family is entirely in Spanish (apart from me explaining why have a bread brand called Bimbo is funny!) and there have been days when I haven't spoken English to anyone. I'm also getting there on my aim of having a conversation, though they're verys low at the moment.
And finally I'm sure you'll be interested to know that my reading age in Spanish is infant! Not quite Janet and John but easy fairy tales.....and I need the dictionary for that!
At the end of week two, I just feel tongue tied! Mainly because I am now aware of the mistakes that I am making when I speak, so I'm constantly self editing as I speak and stopping as I search for the correct ending for the verb in the correct tense. I sort of know...pasado perfecto, imperfecto and simple, futuro popular and simple, present and sort of sort the conditional (plus all those little phrases, pronouns etc that make speech understandable. At the moment we're focusing on improving my vocabulary and speaking correctly and more rapidly! The last two days I've been in a group of one, good but hard work for four hours in the morning.
Homework takes anything from 30 minutes to several hours, depending on how dedicated I'm feeling. Language at home with my family is entirely in Spanish (apart from me explaining why have a bread brand called Bimbo is funny!) and there have been days when I haven't spoken English to anyone. I'm also getting there on my aim of having a conversation, though they're verys low at the moment.
And finally I'm sure you'll be interested to know that my reading age in Spanish is infant! Not quite Janet and John but easy fairy tales.....and I need the dictionary for that!
Saturday, July 02, 2005
Peruano transport
Having been in two places in Peru now, I thought you might be interested to hear about Peruano (Peruvian) transport.
In Puerto Maldonado one of the first things that strikes you is the huge number of motor bikes. They are mostly of the trail variety (as most of the roads are dirt) and all the drivers wear some form of helmet (it's a new law and everyone conforms rather than pay on the spot fines - however you don't need to do your strap up and you can wear anything that resembles a helmet, e.g. a hard hat). Most of the bikes that you see are actually taxis and they come in three varieties
- a bike, where the passenger rides pillion (no helmet is required for passengers), women often ride side saddle
- a tuk tuk with soft cover
- top of the range a tuk tuk with hard cover
There are some four wheel vehicles but not that many and no cars. I think the reason is that the only road into Puerto, over the Andes, is a really tough road, it's dirt and extremely rutty, so to get cars in would be extremely expensive.
In Cusco, the roads are also populated pretty much by taxis, but this time they are cars, they come in a Smart car type version and a pretty standard saloon version. The fare is set at a standard two soles (40p) for any trip within town. They offer a really good service except that you don't really want to pay any attention to the driving and other vehicles as it's very bad for your nerves! There are few sets of traffic lights and I think the idea at junctions is that it's like the States in terms of who gives way to who, but it's hard to tell because I haven't worked out a pattern yet. The thing to do seems to be to drive as fast as possible, to brake at the last possible moment and to try and squeeze through any available gap!
So far I've only seen one taxi accident, where in a slow moving queue of traffic, the front half of the queue had totally stopped and the taxi at the front of the second half gently drove into the rear light of the car in front until the sound of breaking glass brought the first driver out of his car! I was late for school and couldn't wait to see what happened next!
In Puerto Maldonado one of the first things that strikes you is the huge number of motor bikes. They are mostly of the trail variety (as most of the roads are dirt) and all the drivers wear some form of helmet (it's a new law and everyone conforms rather than pay on the spot fines - however you don't need to do your strap up and you can wear anything that resembles a helmet, e.g. a hard hat). Most of the bikes that you see are actually taxis and they come in three varieties
- a bike, where the passenger rides pillion (no helmet is required for passengers), women often ride side saddle
- a tuk tuk with soft cover
- top of the range a tuk tuk with hard cover
There are some four wheel vehicles but not that many and no cars. I think the reason is that the only road into Puerto, over the Andes, is a really tough road, it's dirt and extremely rutty, so to get cars in would be extremely expensive.
In Cusco, the roads are also populated pretty much by taxis, but this time they are cars, they come in a Smart car type version and a pretty standard saloon version. The fare is set at a standard two soles (40p) for any trip within town. They offer a really good service except that you don't really want to pay any attention to the driving and other vehicles as it's very bad for your nerves! There are few sets of traffic lights and I think the idea at junctions is that it's like the States in terms of who gives way to who, but it's hard to tell because I haven't worked out a pattern yet. The thing to do seems to be to drive as fast as possible, to brake at the last possible moment and to try and squeeze through any available gap!
So far I've only seen one taxi accident, where in a slow moving queue of traffic, the front half of the queue had totally stopped and the taxi at the front of the second half gently drove into the rear light of the car in front until the sound of breaking glass brought the first driver out of his car! I was late for school and couldn't wait to see what happened next!
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