Pearl #27 ~ Excerpt from Walking With Inkas

This is an excerpt from my travel blog, Walking with Inkas, and was originally written on June 12, 2006.

And Then Lima Was Home

Summary: Skipped church and went against all good motherly advice not to talk to strangers or follow them to unfamiliar locations. Thank God! Also took in an art show, some ocean air, and some sweets (mmm, gelato) while making new friends. An altogether musically charming weekend.

For Detail Lovers, Only:

I truly love this country, mainly for it's people. They are quite possibly the most friendly and welcoming people I've ever met. Yesterday, on my way to church, I stumbled upon a religious procession for El Señor de los Milagros (Father of Miracles).

True to his name, He created a little miracle for me. While I was taking pictures from the sidelines, one of the dancers came up to me and wanted to have his picture taken. He went and posed with one of his fellow dancers, and suddenly there were about fifteen of them, swarming to be on my camera!!! It was just like a bunch of clowns tumbling around at the circus! Haha, I snapped the photo (which is one of my favorites!), and then thought to myself, why not get a picture of me with them? So I handed my camera to a woman nearby, and had barely stepped out into the street when the dancers swarmed me and sucked me into their group. There was no going back!! We got the picture, and from then on, I was one of the crew.

Suddenly, I was approached every thirty seconds by another Peruvian (from the procession itself and other spectators) wanting to know who I was and where I was from and what I was doing there! It was as if there had never been a girl with snow-white skin and blue eyes in the country before! They were sooooo nice, and before I knew it, the procession was over and I was climbing on a bus with the dancers to head to some random school that I'll never be able to find again, so that we could continue the party! There was more dancing, and food and drink, and everything was taken care of for me. I didn't have to lift a finger, all I had to do was sit there and listen and talk to them about their culture and traditions and what was going on before me. I never made it to church, but it was one of the most spiritual days that I've had in a long time!

This was the perfect ending to what was an altogether fabulously Peruvian weekend. Friday night, Perla and I joined to share our second cultural event: "Noche de Arte". Solely featuring Peruvian work, this is the largest art exposition in Peru, and is partially sponsored by the Embassy. I couldn't help but marvel at the fact that there I was spending yet another Friday night eating hors d'oeuvres (some of which had caviar!) and drinking wine, as I discussed the merit of a photographer's use of a daisy in her first three pictures. After perusing each of the salons and taking in a spontaneous modern dance movement, Perla and I headed to my place to meet the rest of the interns. It was almost a relief to sit around in my living room and chat with them before we headed out to Bartini's to dance. My pedestal crumbled a bit and I went back to being a 20-something intern spending her summer in Peru.

The beauty of the evening didn't end with Noche de Arte, however. Bartini's is a lounge-style club situated in the heart of Larcomar, the prime tourist location in ritzy Miraflores, right on the cliffs that overlook the Pacific Ocean, with the skyline of Lima extending on either side. We had a great night of dancing and breathing the ocean air as we watched the mist roll in, obsuring the waves below. The Marines even showed up, although as exhilarated as we were to finally be hanging out with them (we've been trying to get together for the last three weekends) I doubt their presence did much to enhance an already excellent night.

Saturday was uneventful until about 6:00, when Brianna and I went to the house of Ana Maria la Rosa, an artist and musician who specializes in the native instruments of Peru. I had become fascinated with one such instrument, called a "whistling potter" when I attended the Nazca concert the previous Monday. It's a very simple and incomprehensible device made of two bottles connected together by a tube-like bridge. The sound is made by pouring water into one side and passing it through to the other, creating a bird-like whistle as pure as any you might find in the Amazon. Depending on the construction of the instrument, it's whistle may be either high or low, and we spent the better part of an hour choosing various potters to find the ones that best complemented one another. It was incredibly meditative.

The only thing that could have topped the weekend off was exactly what came to pass. Coming full circle, I spent Sunday evening back down at Larcomar with my new friend Jaime, from the OEA reception I went to a couple weeks ago. He greeted me with a beautiful black ceramic vase that he said was a ceremonial vessel of some ancient tribe (wow) and then treated me to a night of Peruvian chocolates, lemon gelato, and coffee! Granted, the coffee may not have been the wisest choice, given the fact that I drank it at 9:00 p.m. and couldn't get to sleep after I got home, making today even more of a struggle than usual as I willed MS Access to make sense! But I wouldn't have taken it back for anything. I look forward to the next weekend in Lima (just four days away)! For now, it's off to an intern movie night at my place . . . Ciao!