This little piggy....

The clouds are low today, brushing the tops of the buildings in the main square and bringing a misty sprinkle that is surprisingly warm. 

Walking to breakfast has me reflecting on how comfortable I am in these surroundings.  No longer am I stopping at the lights like a polite Canadian, but instead I weave my way through the traffic like a pro, jumping on and off the curbs, respectfully making my way around the various police groups.  If it weren’t for the light hair I might be momentarily mistaken for a local. 

I woke this morning to a pounding headache, and crawled out of bed joints screaming.  There is a “grippe” that has hit town suddenly and the sounds of illness made their way into my reality this morning.  I am so hoping the flu shot my doctor talked me into proves worth it. 

Yesterday was one of those interesting days that keeps morphing from plan to plan.  An early breakfast invite to Donna and Joses’  home started my day of with humitas, fruit salad and coffee.  Humitas are a local dish made from corn which is boiled, mashed, and then enfolded in sweet corn husks with bits of cheese tucked in for good measure.  After another round of cooking, it is served up to be unwrapped and eaten, a paella type delight.  There was the usual selection of sauces used as garnish, but I wasn’t sure my stomach would appreciate spicy corn and fruit salad in the same sitting.

I thought the day would be spent catching up on computer work and include another round of stairs.  But a surprise meet up with Carlos and Janet resulted in an invitation to go with them to visit her Grandparents in a small town in the hills.  Yes!  Off we headed to the market to pick up some food to take with us.  As far as market visits goes it was quick, but memorable to be sure.  After picking up some vegetables Janet lead me to an as yet unexplored area of the market for meat.  Huge slabs of the beef being carved up in front of us after being pinched for freshness.  Big hooks lined the front of the stalls and the vendors would carve a hunk and flip it up to be caught by the hook and inspected. 

Now in this situation I generally keep a fairly narrow vision field, not really wanting to see ALL the various body parts up for grabs.  Walking by one vender though there was no escaping the sight of what was on offer swine-wise.  On the counter was laid out what was a pig, minus the body bulk, the head carved in half… Looking like an abstract relief, pale white skin, little hooves, knees, curly tail, whiskered snout, ear pointing towards the ceiling and a single eye staring up.  Made quite an impression.  It I hadn’t thought it would cause offence I would have whipped out my camera for a photo.

I parted company at the Hostal with the plan that her brother would pick me up at 1:30 and away we would go. 

At 12:30 I awoke from my early siesta to Eduardo knocking on the door, delivering a message to come to Janets’.  Up and redressed I grabbed the bags of groceries that were left behind for pick up and hailed a cab, wondering how I was going to manage to cart them up the final couple of muddy roads to their home.  Thankfully Carlos had anticipated this and was waiting at the side of the road when I got there. 

An hour spent playing patty cake and monopoly with the kids was followed by a delicious lunch featuring another local specialty Papas a la Huancaina, boiled potatoes drenched in delicious, spicy, creamy cheese sauce.  It is typically served cold, with rice and salad greens, as mine was.  Mmmmm….  Top it off with some mint tea and my tummy was content.

After dinner we all went out into the fresh air for a round of blackberry picking.  The bushes here are different than at home, less dense, fewer thorns and much smaller berries.  The very positive (in my books) trade off for the smaller berries was that there were no big spiders to be seen, which resulted in zero arachnophobia freak outs on my part.  We somehow managed to fill the bowl despite the large quantity Daniel kept raiding.  Sound familiar? 

We ended up sitting on the hill overlooking their house and what is now my land.  The weather was nice and it was good to just sit and relax.  A few of Daniels’ friends gravitated our way, and we eventually ended up back at the house where the boys took to some kind of older version video game.  Again, sound familiar?

And of course by this time it had become very apparent that my anticipated visit to wizened, authentic local elders was not happening.  Don’t know why… maybe Janets brother couldn’t get the car, or maybe I would have made it one passenger too many… But in Peru I have learned that going with the flow makes for good days, and this one qualified.  Back to the hostal before nightfall, a couple of hours of trying to catch words while watching a movie, “Impact” I think is the name (with Morgan Freeman… asteroid… end of the world etc.), a delicious mango for dinner, tea and I was well ready to call it a day. 

Since it has been some days that I have not posted to the blog, I have more than the usual tidbits… if you have the time and inclination to read on.

As you may have deduced by now, this is not a run of the mill visit.  The aim is to put into motion the realization of a small house of my own, on a little patch of land with a view of the mountains surrounding town.  Regular neighbourhood, nondescript house, a garden to tend and within walking distance of friends.  Land: check.  Fence: check.  Fiddling with possible layouts: check.  New property survey:  coming.  Next off to the tax clearing office to get the paperwork to be able to actually leave the country. 

There have been doubts.  The language is a huge barrier and getting it done without being Gringo’ed is a daunting task.  Building and land costs here are miniscule compared to home so having a small place here is possible provided the locals decide I am one of their own.  And the weather here is not “snowbird” weather.  There will be rain and cold to go along with the tropical sun. 

I am getting older.  I am out of shape.  The tours are going out without me because I get tired.  Hopefully the next few weeks of rest and easy exercise will help with that. 

Keep thinking I should finally get to Mendosa to check out this famed area, but I can’t seem to get out of my mind the visions of people killed in traffic accidents on the road there.  It is another one of those dangerous drives that many people make safely.  But. 

After a couple of weeks carefully avoiding wheat I went out and had a lovely pastry treat… nope.  It seems this half century old body no longer wants the stuff.  Two days of feeling gross and it is wheat free for me from now on.  Which of course means a limited diet here because I don’t have a kitchen to call my own.  Rice and potatoes it is.

I had Clarinet Boy and friends join Guitar family for a few days of smoking and taking over the hostal courtyard.  Soooo glad they left yesterday.  No early morning kiddle noises.  No insidious second hand smoke wafting into my room. 

The stick-in-the-mud grouch I have become needs serious reflection on what it was to travel as an optimistic, naïve, free spirited youth… with all its fun and vision. 

I will settle for a good long walk I think.  Might need to wait though because the morning drizzle has long since become a steady downpour.  Looks like it is planning to stay a while. 

As I sit and write this post I have been bothered by an incredibly disrespectful peace corps conversation going on at a table near me.  Young, mid-western twanged Americans dissing the local customs and “backwardness”… talking about how they will bring “better things” to the area.  How disappointing.  When I spoke to some of them individually earlier it sounded like they were so respectful and had serious projects on the go in individual towns.  Today it is nothing but backwards languages, backwards customs, backwards practices.  God knows HOW these people have managed for the past, oh I don’t know… 2000 YEARS.

Puh-lease.

So, breakfast and three cups of coffee in, there you have it.  You are more or less up to date and I have managed to pass the morning successfully.

Alone, but not lonely…