Salsa & Spanish
Trip Start
Oct 08, 2007
1
100
110
Trip End
Dec 16, 2008
Cuzco,
Peru
Sunday, August 3, 2008
I love Cuzco by day. The old center of town is gorgeous. It looks brand new. It is well maintained and dotted with sleek tourist shops and restaurants. It is sunny and busy. People go about their business. Students in school uniforms crisscross the streets. Tourists in shorts are snapping photos of indigenous ladies in ethnic outfits, carrying babies wrapped in colorful blankets on their backs. Occasionally I'd catch a glimpse of those same ladies shopping in the western type grocery stores. They look so out of place.
Once, I saw an alpaca (a cutely-bizarre, white, fluffy animal, surely a cross between a sheep and a giraffe) grazing the bushes on a busy intersection near the bus station, right next to the neighborhood internet café where little boys were comfortably sited in front of 27' monitor play stations. I'm only saying this to impress you. My capacity to be amazed has been oversaturated it seems. I only acknowledge and register nowadays. Maybe time to settle down.
At night, darkness descents upon Cuzco. The tourist center remains illuminated by thousands twinkling lights. The night life picks up in the numerous bars and dance clubs, frequented by tourists and locals alike.
Cuzco 01
It is truly enchanting to wonder about. Walk towards the suburbs however, and the streets get dustier, and the lights less bright and more sparse. Small plazas are inhabited by the shadows of smooching couples occasionally spotlighted in the headlights of passing cars. It is cold. Very cold. The cold seems to be everybody's favorite topic. "Buenas dias. Que friiioooo!", "Buenas noches! Que friiioooo!" Cuscuenos make no sense to me. Take for example the family I'm staying with (the nicest people, by the way). They have a lovely 3 story house in a nice area near the center of town. It is freezing in here. The explanation is that electricity is too expensive. No other hitting alternatives seem to be considered. Trying to heat this house, btw, would be like trying to fill in a bathtub with hot water without closing the drain. There is no such thing as insulation in here. Most of the thin windows have no frames. Just pick your hole to feel a draft.
So, no heating and no insulation. I am hugely unconvinced by the "no money" argument. If there is enough money for a 3 story house, surely there is some money for a heater. Or perhaps you build a 2 story house and spend the 3rd floor money on heating. Just throwing out ideas here. It seems like many people in Cusco like to think of themselves as poverty stricken. Look at me - I have no money for heating...and for hot water...never mind the house. Which makes me wonder again - what is poverty? I've seen people that own much less if anything, but are not complaining.
Cuzco 03
In fact, they looked quite content with their lives and rightfully deserved my sincere envy. Is poverty really a state of matter or a state of mind? And back on the freezing issue at hand. Just for the sake of the argument - here is the last one: "That's how it's always been". Traditions are to be kept, right? I think in societies with high regard of tradition, living standards improve slower. Haven't proven that one in a statistically significant way, so don't quote me on in your "Safe the World" thesis, but just think about it. When you spend so much energy preserving your traditional way of living, there isn't much energy left to improve it. Assuming that every tradition is worth keeping is like assuming that all the good staff has already been discovered already and there is no room for improvement. So you live on in discomfort, and keep on complaining "Que frio!".... Increible!
How do I deal with this freezing situation? I dance. I dance salsa almost every night. I found the cutest little dance school and have been learning to swing my hips with the local guys. Yes, the local guys. There are few local galls too, but noticeably more guys are into learning how to dance salsa well. It is so much harder for them, because they lead. Personally, learning to be lead is no less of a challenge. I though that dancing salsa was a birth right for every South American - something they learn to do right after learning to walk and before learning to talk. Well, I have a lot more to learn about the world. Salsa is no native to Peru, so Peruvians have to learn just like me, or almost just like me. We dance and speak Spanglish. If you are in Cuzco and in need of a salsa lesson: http://www.salseroscusco.net/
As to my Spanish, I am now able to speak (somewhat) about my past and my present. I am looking forward to learning how to talk about my future next week. So, one more week of Spanish & Salsa in Cuzco for me. I know, I know, I make no sense either...
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Hugs & Kisses, Vik
