An Interesting Week

I’m taking a break from writing my diagnostic (in Spanish) to update you all on my rather interesting week (in English—I can write so much faster in English!).

It didn’t start out so well—I have a sinus infection and spent last Tuesday and Wednesday pretty much just resting. But Thursday I went to Trujillo to get antibiotics, which also meant I could stop at Starbucks for a coffee and a muffin! Starbucks in Peru may actually be better than in the US because they don’t charge me extra for lactose-free milk and they heat up the muffins for you. Small victories J

Friday is when life got a little too interesting. And by interesting, I mean itchy and gross. As in, my otherwise adorable cat, Cleo, gave me… fleas. Such a thoughtful animal! My head was feeling better, but finding little creatures crawling on me made me kind of nauseous, especially when it dawned on me that because I was finding quite a few of them all over my body and clothing meant that I’d probably had them for a while and just naively assumed the bites were from some other insects (not an unfair assumption—you should see my legs). Little did I know they were slowly building up their armies for that Friday morning attack! And since my APCD/boss Jorge was visiting that afternoon from Lima, all I really had time to do that day was call the medical office in a panic find out what, if anything, I could do to get rid of them. Like, right away. Please.

Following Suni’s advice, Saturday morning I immediately put all of my bedding and recently worn clothing in tubs of hot water (meaning out in direct sunlight, adding a kettle of boiling water to each to help the sun out a little bit). I left the laundry, along with 2 other buckets as bath water for myself, to heat up while I went to Chao to buy flea powder for my room and drops for the cat. Poor Cleo was briefly renamed “Effing Gato” until I could find her and cover her in “Pulpus L.A.”—whatever that means, the vet told me it’s the strongest anti-flea medicine they sell. When I got back, I was for once thankful for how sunny it has been, since without a washing machine with a “sanitize” setting, heating water in the sun and hanging the laundry in the UV rays was the best thing I could do to kill the little monsters. I sprinkled powder all over my room, on my mattress, and on my suitcase (where Effing Gato is fond of sleeping) just in case.

Since Saturday, I have found a couple of strays, but I think (knock on wood!) they are pretty much gone. Wheew! One good thing to come out of this—I discovered how well the sun heats up water. That should have been a no-brainer. Duh. But better late than never? So long as there is sun, I will never again take a cold bath!

Enough about fleas. They suck.

Saturday night was Señora Delia’s 60-something-th birthday party, which turned out to be both interesting and a lot of fun! Amidst all of the flea-killing, I also managed to bake a chocolate cake to bring with me that evening. But of course, first I had to eat dinner. As soon as I showed up, I was directed back to the kitchen and given 2 full plates of food—one with chicarrón de chanco (fried pork—sooooo delicious!) and another of carne de rez (beef, also delicious!). And of course lots of rice and potatoes.

Delia has a large family, and as more and more of them showed up, they were all directed towards plates of food—by the time that it seemed like everyone was done eating dinner and it might be time for cake, it was after 10:00. I was told that sometimes for birthdays they eat the cake at midnight, but Delia said that everyone was by then too drunk and busy dancing to really enjoy it. Since her family was spending the night, it would be better to eat it the next day.

Speaking of drunk and dancing—Peruvian families definitely enjoy their birthday parties! Everyone danced with everyone else, passing around the cerveza. Beer in Peru is sold in larger bottles than in the States and they typically share one bottle at a time, using one cup and passing it around, dumping out the foam in between drinkers—I got a few weird looks when I poured myself a glass “correctly” because then there was no foam! They also thought it was pretty strange that in the US, we really only dance with family like that at weddings.

One of the best parts of the night was finally meeting the “other gringa” who lives in my town, or really is in the process of moving here from Viru so isn’t always around just yet. Nora was, to say the least, pretty fascinating! She moved here from Sweden years ago—by now she is married to a Peruvian, works on her chacra like a Peruvian, dances like a Peruvian (and then some!) and is pretty much Peruvian now—just blond, and maybe a little crazier! After seeing her dance in a way I would not have thought possible for someone who looked like what might be her age, I finally had to ask her how old she is—she wouldn’t tell. But she did tell me some of her story—traveling a lot, finding Peru, moving here. She studied Spanish, English and some Russian in Sweden, but she said she is losing everything but the Spanish now that she lives here.

Of course, since she is the only other gringa in Buena Vista and we were speaking English for a while because she wanted to practice, when I came back on Sunday for cake quite a few people asked me why my mom hadn’t come with me this time! I wonder how long it will take to pasa la voz (“spread the word”) that my mom has come to live here now, and then how long it will take to pasa la voz again to dispel the rumor…

Sunday I returned after lunch for my cake (which I must say turned out really well!). I spent the afternoon talking to some of Delia’s nieces and their aunts in the kitchen, which was also pretty interesting. Peru tends to be more conservative than the US, but then, I guess it’s a good thing that the nieces feel comfortable talking amongst themselves and with their aunts about… well, what didn’t they talk about? When I first walked into the kitchen, I was immediately questioned about the color of my pubic hair and whether or not shaving it is cleaner or just unnatural. At first I thought I must be tired (which generally means that I can no longer understand Spanish), but no! That’s really what they said! Overall, it was a pretty fun afternoon (maybe even more so for them, since I’m pretty sure they spent a good deal of time making fun of me and how I couldn’t understand half of what was being discussed—sorry, but I don’t think most of the slang for sex parts can be found in my dictionary!).

And speaking of parties, I just found out that tonight my own host family is having a party after a mass for their grandfather! I left Delia’s at 11 because I still wasn’t feeling so great, but she said they dancing went until 3. In other words, I don’t think I will be sleeping very much tonight!