Peru: Day 1: Lima

Welcome to Peru!

After we landed at the airport, we took our time navigating the less-than-clear signage and made our way through customs to meet our driver. He was a nice 50-year old Incan with about as much English as I have Spanish. That is, enough to have a nice conversation, but nothing deep. He drove us to our hotel, giving us a little tour of our neighborhood in the process.

S and I both noticed how the billboards in foreign countries are slightly different, from a graphic design perspective, than American billboards. Maybe it's the coloring, or the cropping, or the focus.

Our driver drove us to our hotel, located in Miraflores, one of the tony districts of Lima. The first thing I noticed about Miraflores is that even in the fancypants district, the poverty is clear. Trash on the sidewalk, beggars in the street, housing projects in the near distance. Children wander into cafés to hawk cheap trinkets. The owners only half-heartedly chase them out. Everyone needs to make a buck. This is unlike the fancy sections of Paris, or London, or Rome, or Prague, or Istanbul, or even Dubrovnik. The line between rich and poor is blurry. Everyone cohabitates. Not sure if this is good or bad.

We checked into our hotel without a problem. S rested while I showered and went in search of lunch, money, and bottled water (we're not supposed to drink the water from the tap). I went to a little restaurant with a menu entirely in Spanish and ordered by guessing. First, a fish soup with rice (which I was told later is very good for a hangover). Second, Ocopa a la Arequipeña, a small salad of potato and hard-boiled egg, dressed with a garlic-dill sauce. Third, Rocoto Relleño, a red bell pepper stuffed with meat, peppers, and carrots! topped wit belted salty farmer's cheese. I was hoping I'd picked a ceviche, but no such luck. To drink, a local beer, Cusqueño.

The food was delicious, but the beer came out frozen. No matter! The proprietress shoved a butter knife into the bottle until the beer thawed enough to pour. At which point it started fizzing over, forcing me (never one to let good beer go to waste), to sip off the top. So, there I was, slurping the fizz off a beer while the proprietress is yelling at the waiter for giving me a frozen beer. The waiter, you should know, was cheering me on. The whole event reminded me of a story my mom told me about her and Aunt Penny at an Italian restaurant.

The food was delicious, and apparently, I'd picked well. As I looked around the restaurant, half of the people there had either the Ocopa or the Rocoto. Clearly, they were good choices.

A note on the climate: the weather here is humid and cool. High in the mid-60's. 93% humidity. Cool and wet. Apparently, it almost never rains in Lima. The plants are green because there's so much water in the air. It was cloudy today, but we were told that it had been sunny up until today. Guess we brought the clouds with us. Just like Eyeore.

Here's a view from the cafe where I had lunch. You can see the housing projects in the distance:

After lunch, we met up with G, one of S's friends for YSD. G works as a playwright, screenwriter, and translator in Peru, and he had some time to take us around to see the sights. First stop: Barranca, the bohemian district, with lots of artsy people and high real estate costs (a municipal restriction on buildings over four stories keep property values high):

The Barranca district is full of beautiful old buildings and wonderful nooks and crannies. We took a walk down to an overlook viewing the ocean:

On the way back up from the overlook, I found a tabby who seemed to be very photogenic, but when I got my camera out, she sure showed me what she thought of my photography skills:

Next, G took us into the main section of town, where the history lives. Lots of beautiful old buildings. Courthouses, cathedrals, presidential palaces, etc.

We walked around for an hour or so, dodging the busy locals leaving work. G showed us a few of the theaters where he's done some work, and we talked about the upcoming vote on civil unions for the LGBT community in Peru.

After the old square, G dropped S and I at one of his favorites restaurants for dinner. We had grilled octopus, breaded grouper, and beef heart kabobs. I had a Pisco Sour (ok, I had two). After dinner, a short walk back to the hotel. We were in by 8.45 ish. Not bad for being mildly jet lagged.

Right now I'm debating one more beer before bed. Tomorrow we meet a tour guide at 10 for a whirlwind of Lima before our flight to Arequipa!

 

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Peru: Day 0: Travel

The school year is done, final projects are graded, the MFAs have had their commencement ceremony, and after a very busy spring, its time for a trip!

 

This spring was an exceptionally busy one. I had four major pieces go up in the past few months. The first was a sound installation in Fort Worth, Texas. The second was a design and music for Five Mile Lake at South Coast Repertory, the third was a workshop of a new immersive theatre piece called Elysian Roux, and the fourth was a design of The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales, also at SCR. So, now I'm beat.

 

In the middle of all that, S and I celebrated our tenth anniversary, so now we're taking a trip to Peru to celebrate. On Monday afternoon, our friend Ni came by with her friend Na to pick us up and shuttle us to the airport. En route, we stopped at one of our favorite restaurants, Fishing With Dynamite, to have dinner. Once we got to the airport, we hung out in the international terminal for a few hours, waiting for our flight. This was my first time in the new international terminal, which has recently been renovated and looks beautiful. Shortly after 11pm, we boarded, and just after midnight on Tuesday morning, we took off.

 

I got about six solid hours of sleep during the flight, and now I'm sitting in the middle seat, wedged between S and a stranger, slowly waking myself up before we land. Once we pass through passport control, we'll have a day in Lima to play!

 

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A Guide to Gift-Giving for Long-Distance Givers

Here in LA, most of us are transplants from elsewhere in the country. My family is in Virginia, and my wife’s is in Missouri.  Every January, as the holidays wind down, I hear lots of stories about gift-giving gone awry due to the great distance (physical and psychological) between gifter and giftee.  Of course, the gifts are given with generosity of spirit and magnanimity of soul, but despite good intentions, the process of giving and receiving can often miss the mark and cause more stress.  I hope that I can mitigate some of that stress by compiling a small collection of guidelines for long-distance gift-giving.  Follow these guidelines, and the gift-giving-and-receiving process will be more focused on the spirit of the season and less on the stress of commerce and retail.

• If the recipient will be flying, avoid giving large gifts.  No microwaves, no cases of wine, no bulky sports equipment.  If you want to give something that’s sizable, consider giving them a photograph to open in person. My sister Denise suggests that if you want to give large gifts to travelers far from home, the giver should take responsibility for shipping the gift back to the recipient’s home. Think of the shipping postage as part of the expense of the gift.
• Unless you are absolutely sure of the recipient’s taste and size, make sure you give gifts that the recipient can return in THEIR hometown, not yours.  National chains (Macy’s, Target, etc.) allow you to buy at one store and return at another.  Or, perhaps there are local boutiques in your recipient’s hometown that you can shop via the internet?
• Even if the recipient is visiting you, restrain from buying from local boutique in your hometown. If the gift doesn’t work out, your recipient will need to spend time during their visit returning the gifts instead of spending time with you.
• Are you shipping a gift?  Confirm the shipping address with the recipient.  Many people have different addresses for receiving letters and packages, and if you send packages to a mailbox, they can often end up disappearing.
• Are you buying for children (grandkids, neices, nephews, etc.)?  Avoid the desire to buy every cute outfit and stuffed animal you see, and instead, focus on gifts that are meaningful.  Ask the child’s parents for great gift ideas.  Says pal Lael Logan:  “Many of us are trying to give our kids the joy and excitement of presents while also balancing it with teaching the "true" meaning of this time. Perhaps you could take the kids on a special holiday outing instead - to see Santa, or ride a train - creating traditions and memories is how we'd like to teach our kids about this season.”
• Make a donation.  It’s a terrific way to give something with meaning for more than just your recipient, and it’s very convenient for weary travelers.  Says friend Katherine Resch: “We're doing that for the adults on my side of the family this year, and we're having a lot of fun choosing a charity that will be personal to each family unit.”
• Give a membership. Pal Meredith Leonard Morton says that she and her sister “giving annual memberships or admission tickets to a museum or other local attractions.” It’s a gift that you can personalize and can be enjoyed for a whole year!
• Don’t give crap.  Are you sending your loved one a candy-cane filled with M&Ms?  A bobblehead Santa?  If so, consider just abandoning the gift altogether.  Maybe just send a card, or a gift certificate, which brings me to my last guideline:
• Gift cards, gift certificates, and cash are always welcome, though some think they’re too impersonal.  You can make them less impersonal by buying a gift card for a specific store that’s local to the recipient.  Was there a boutique that you discovered the last time you visited your sister?  Buy her a gift card for that place, and when she calls to thank you for the gift, you can have a nice time remembering your trip.  See!  Much nicer than a boring sweater from Macy’s.

These guidelines are assembled from my experiences as a long-distance giver and receiver, and those of my friends.  If you’ve got any additional guidelines, feel free to comment, and next year, when I repost, I’ll try to include some of them!

Holidays & Kona

It's the end of the year.  I dropped the ball on keeping up posts recently, but here's what's been happening.  Once classes ended, I had two weeks of steady work at home and the U. Grading papers, prepping for new classes, reviewing applications for the committee I'm chairing.  S had plenty of work to do for Glee, so we both stayed busy. We had a few holiday events to take part in (including seeing the LA Gay Men's Chorus's Holiday Show), but mostly, we worked and worked until we left LA on 23 December.

From LA, we flew to Virginia Beach, where we spent Christmas with my family. It was the first time in quite a few years where all of the kids of my generation were together, and we celebrated with a photo:

We had a terrific time seeing family and friends. S got to meet cousin J's girlfriend R, and on the night of the 26th, S, D, and I went to visit one of my great friends from when I was a kid.  K and his wife W threw us a nice dinner, and we got to see some of his family as well.  Was great!

On Thursday evening, S and I got back on a plane to fly back to LAX via ORD. Our flight before Christmas was uneventful, so we had built up some bad karma that came back to haunt us in ORD. At any rate, we landed at LAX two hours late (12.30am instead of 10.30pm). We hurried home to finish packing our new bags and get about 90 minutes of sleep before zipping back to LAX for a morning fight to Hawaii.  That flight was truly uneventful, and we're now spending our first of seven nights on the Big Island.

We flew into Kona today and picked up the rental car. A woman in the Avis line ahead of us was trying to find a rental car, but she hadn't made a reservation. No such luck. She was trying all of the car companies, but no one had a vehicle for her. Fortunately, we made reservations, so our car was waiting for us.

We were too early to check into the hotel, so we drove into Kona for lunch (pork sandwich, cheeseburger) and drinks (a mai tai for me), a bit of culture (the Governor's Palace in Kona), and some browsing (I might come home with a ukelele...). The Governor's Palace was small, but it was well-appointed with historical artifacts and attended by knowledgable docents. Our guide did an excellent job telling us all about the building and the people who lived in it and visited it.  Kona itself, at least the parts we saw, were very touristy and less exciting for me.  We found a neat farmer's market and have made some mental notes of things we want to bring home with us: musical instruments, mango tea, eucalyptus honey, volcanic sea salt.

We checked into the hotel late in the afternoon and spent the rest of the night chilling out and exploring the resort. The Sheraton resort is huge, with a massive pool structure, multiple restaurants, game room, spa, gym, tennis courts, basketball courts, manta-viewing platform, and a sports equipment shop. We grabbed a quick bite at one of the restaurants and were back in the hotel room by 9, pooped.

Tomorrow, we hope to catch up with a whale-watching tour. The tour was sold out, but the guide told us over the phone that the early tour usually has no-shows.  If that's the case, then we'll be able to jump on the tour and hopefully see some whales!  More tomorrow.

Happy Independence Day!

Independence Day has always been my favorite holiday. I like the history, the significance, the idealism, the food, and the proximity to my birthday (Mom has a theory that for most of us, our favorite holiday is the one closest to our birthday). in recent years, I've started making a tradition of reading the Declaration of Independence. Usually, I read it to myself (S thinks it's silly), but on occasion, I read it out loud.

This year, S and I are in Independence, Iowa, at a family reunion. We spent yesterday visiting with lots of distant family and eating lots of yummy food. Today, after breakfast and goodbyes, we'll be headed home to California. With any luck, we'll be sleeping in our own bed tonight!

(pause...)

After breakfast and a long drive from Iowa back to St. Louis with B and A (and a lunch at Steak'n'Shake), we headed to the airport to catch our 6.17 flight through Houston. Which was overbooked. Fortunately, the gate agent saw that we might be able to catch an earlier flight through Phoenix that would get us home an hour early. We zipped through security (S drank her entire water bottle because she forgot to empty it) and ran to the gate for the flight to Houston. As we headed to the gate, we were paged. The page was to put us on the flight to Phoenix. We managed to get onto the Phoenix flight as they were closing the doors. We think our bags made it. We sat down in our seats, and S texted her brother while I texted our ride back in LA. Then, the doors shut and we zipped away. As I write this, we are en route from St. Louis to Phoenix.

(pause...)

Got to Phoenix. Flight delayed an hour. Finally home, with luggage, just shy of midnight. The long ordeal is over. Thanks to everyone who hauled us around. Thanks to everyone who let us vent over twitter, Facebook, irl. Thanks to the occasional kind and sympathetic airline agent. No thanks to the airlines themselves, particularly USAir, a truly terrible organization of sadistic beings.