Peru: Day 2: Lima & Arequipa

This morning, after a fitful night's sleep, I got up and went for a run. The neighborhood where our hotel is, Miraflores, is close to the ocean, and I found a path down to the beach. 'Down' is accurate, as the beach in Lima is lined with 80-meter cliffs. The beach is rocky and desolate. There are plenty of surfers and some well-heeled restaurants, but mostly it's kind of ugly and is just used as an express lane for cars shooting north and south along the western edge of the city.

At 10:00, we checked out of our hotel and met Nancy and Wilfredo. N was our guide for the day, and W was our driver. First stop was Huaca Pucllana, an ancient temple shaped like a pyramid with a flat top. The flat top was used for rituals and sacrifices. N told us that Peru is lousy with these ancient sites, most of which had been built on top of over the centuries. Peru has only taken an active role in archeological preservation in the last few decades, so many newer structures were allowed to be built on the ruins.

From there, we took a roundabout route back to downtown, where we visited with G last night. As we walked along the streets, N told us about how so many of the buildings are centuries old and are only recently being renovated. We walked into the courtyard of an old mansion. The mansion was now a shoe store. The former house of one of Peru's most famous poets is now a place to buy designer jeans. Capitalism pays.

The Plaza de Armas, which was crazy with traffic last night, was much quieter today, as vehicles were banned due to a pensioners' protest. Only protesters were allowed in, but N had her official tour guide card, so we got access as well. We watched the changing of the guard at the president's palace (the band played the first section of Orff's Carmina Burana).

We went inside the mayor's office, which was as beautiful as any municipal building in Paris. Once again, N got us access due to her guide pass.

As we were walking, N talked about how Peru was a conservative country. S asked how the civil union vote had gone the previous day. N quickly figured out that we are pro-CU. We quickly determined that she was not. We all changed the subject.

We dropped into the Hotel Bolivar, where G told us last night that the Pisco Sour was invented. N corrected us: the cocktail was invented elsewhere in Lima, but it was perfected at the Bolivar. The bar inside was beautiful, but since it was before noon and I would have been the only one drinking, we decided not to stop for a cocktail.

On to the monastery of St. Francis, which had a number of beautiful cloisters and stunning catacombs. Unlike Rome, where the catacombs are scrubbed pretty free of the remains of the dead, this place was full of bones. Femurs were arranged artfully in cases. Skulls stared at you. Photos were prohibited.

Peru has come a long way in the thirty years since poverty and terrorism threatened its foundations, but there are still big gaps between what I've seen in the historic sections of the big European cities and what we saw in historic Lima. It's not uncommon to see a two-story building where the ground floor houses a tidy shop and the top floor has busted-out windows.

After our walk, we took lunch at a seafood restaurant near downtown. This is one of the only cevicherias in downtown (most are in neighborhoods closer to the ocean, and it has only been open six months. I had ceviche and chicken salad wrapped in potato. S had a cilantro paella. There was a Papa Johns across the sidewalk. We made the right choice.

Then, back in the van with W and on to the airport, where we grabbed a coffee, practiced our (terrible) Spanish, and hopped the 60-minute flight to Arequipa. Arequipa begins the high-altitude portion of the trip; it is approximately the same altitude as Park City, UT. We'll be here for a few days before ascending to Puno, where the altitude matches the summit at Copper Mountain, CO.

Once we hit Arequipa, we met up with Roberto, who has been our contact as we've been putting the tour together. R picked us up at the airport and delivered us to the hotel. S settled in while R and I went for food. Empanadas and beer in hand, I returned to the hotel to dine and chill.

The hotel here in Arequipa is stunning. It's in the old section of town, in an estate house that used to house a mint. The reception area is right off the courtyard, and our room is a good size, and very well-appointed. We're in the hotel now, relaxing, adjusting to the altitude, and checking email.

 

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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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90

My grandmother, my only living grandparent, who spoiled me rotten when I was young, who sent me candy every Easter and Halloween while I was in grad school, who raised two kids who turned out pretty well, who watched those kids marry good spouses, who loved her five grandkids and watched some of them marry good spouses, who was devoted to her husband as he was devoted to her, who makes a mean marinara sauce, who makes a mean bracciole, who makes a mean eggplant parmesan, who taught me to fry my meatballs and make my gnocchi small, whose cheesecake has ruined all other cheesecakes for me, who manages to stay in touch with family across the world, who filled huge stockings with gifts at Christmastime, who always has a story about a cousin or an aunt or an uncle, who says 'muah' very loudly when she kisses me, who watched us when my folks left town, who traveled through Europe with my sister, who traveled through Europe with me, who has a small but valuable group of friends, who watches Penn State football games and soap operas with indulgence, who takes the time to talk to me every Saturday (usually), who warned my college roommate that not eating vegetables would keep him irregular, who always stressed the importance of education, who came to every junior high and high school concert I (and my sisters and cousins) sang and played, who drinks a Brandy Alexander every year (whether she needs it or not), who played Centipede late into the night on the Atari 5200, whose stern look can stop you in your tracks, whose big laugh is infectious, who played the 'straight man' to my grandfather in their lifetime comedy act, turns 90 today.

Happy Birthday Mom-Mom!  I love you.

Something's coming...

I don't know
what it is

but it is
gonna be grand