Tiempo Libre - Free Time!

It's been a fun week off from work, filled with lots to do...

One day, my friend Kim and I went for a long walk and lunch. Another day we went shopping at Jockey Plaza (a big shopping mall here). She also inspired Arturo to cook his famous tacos since she gave us fantastic new dishes for Christmas - specifically for tacos as she knows about Arturo's obsession...

Arturo and I have also been shopping, but for a used car. We found one, but after the trip to the mechanic, decided it wasn't the car for us. We've got another appointment tomorrow. I really want to come back and have a car. Although there are tons of cheap buses within Lima, they are very, very slow and the routes rarely take you directly where you need to go. For example, in a taxi it takes about 30 minutes from my apartment to school. In a bus, it takes almost 2 hours and you have to transfer to two buses. So, a car is really a necesity here.

Another nice thing that started this week is exercise. I've been going to the gym again. Although I realize this is a false start as I leave for New York on Sunday and am sure I'll be eating my way through the next three weeks, it's always good to raise your heartbeat and burn some calories.

Tonight, a Swiss guest is making fondue and tomorrow we have another reunion with some of Arturo's friends from school.

Sunday I will hopefully be on an airplane. Close family friends gave me one of their stand-by tickets (they used to work for an airline) which is a blessing as it's saving me a lot of money, but it's a busy time of year so I hope I make the flight. If not, I'll be flying on New Year's Eve!

Christmas Celebrations

Fireworks! Cheering! Kissing! Champagne! What holiday am I talking about? Christmas in Peru, of course!


Christmas Eve started with a big turkey dinner at the hostel. There were about 10 of us, from the United States, Switzerland, Germany, Brasil, Australia and Peru. Arturo has 'discovered' that Brasilians call turkey peru (this is pavo in Spanish) because the turkey originated in Peru. I don't know if I believe this claim so I looked online and didn't find anything. Arturo has yet to provide me with a credible (or any) source to prove this. However, it is true that Brasilians called turkey Peru and I will leave it at that.


After dinner at the hostel, we went to Arturo's uncle's house for more of the same. His parents, brother, uncle and aunt and cousins all joined together to celebrate the holiday and, as promised, at midnight there were fireworks, cheering, champagne and a lot of kissing all around. Then, at midnight (!!!) dinner was served. After we ate, the kids were woken up, and presents were handed out. At about 3:30 a.m., his parents drove us back to our apartment where we promptly passed out.


One part about this tradition that I really like is that you don't have to buy presents for everyone. You exchange presents with your immediate family or the people you are closest to. No obligation to find some small, but nice, but inexpensive present for every single breathing being. We gave his mom new clothes, books to his dad, and a really cool laptop adapter set to his brother, as well as gifts to the young kids. His brother brought some food, and we brought three bottles of wine. Surprisingly, I also got some gifts myself. Arturo's brother gave me a fantastic t-shirt from Abercrombie and Finch, a pretty expensive brand here. He called Arturo a few weeks ago to ask my size. This made me feel very much a part of the family and means a lot to me. However, as nice as my t-shirt was, the star present was definitely Arturo's gift to me. He bought an incredible necklace/earring set from some designer he knows here in Lima. It's polished silver, and a piece of special wood from the jungle. It's beautiful and definitely the nicest piece of jewelry I own (perhaps it's time I stopped buying the $1 earrings on the street!).


More than just presents, though, what I enjoyed most was being part of Arturo's family. Everyone was friendly, gracious and warm. They even said that they were impressed with my Spanish (which, of course, made me like them immediately). It felt like any normal holiday, talking, laughing, catching up on old times, and getting to know new people (me!). I felt so comfortable. When I was telling Arturo how much I enjoyed the night and how sweet it was for his brother to buy me a gift, he said "of course, you're part of the family." (Is it too cheesy to write how great my boyfriend is?)


Christmas morning, December 25, we enjoyed a relaxed morning and delicious lunch (thanks to a big surprise and very appreciated food delivery from his brother and fiance in NJ). Then, Arturo went to the hostel and I went...drum roll, please...paragliding! An Australian guy, Pete, who has stayed in the hostel on and off for the past six months offered to take me (ok, he didn't exactly offer, I sort of asked - but he said yes!). Marco, who works at the hostel, went with me. I didn't feel nervous at all, even while Pete was connecting me to all the straps and tightening the helmet. Then, just before we took off, he started talking about how I shouldn't worry and it was safe. This, of course, made me a bit nervous. But, within two minutes we were floating in the air, sailing over the sea, the cliffs, the buildings of the city and it was incredible. I left the camera on the ground so all I needed to do was sit back, relax and enjoy. Many people feel queasy their first time. Luckily, this didn't happen with me and Pete told dirty jokes, old paragliding stories, and spun us up, down and around. It was beautiful and peaceful. Then, just as my stomach started to react, we cruised back to the ground and landed gently on the grass. I decided that instead of a car, we should buy two para gliders, but Arturo thinks that might be a difficult way to commute to work. I think we could make it work...

Holiday Cheer

Luckily, I have rebounded from the tough weekend last week. A few things have happened which have helped this along.

First, school ended and I don't have to work until Feb. 18. Yeah!

Second, I've been hanging out more with my friend Kim. This has been a great outlet to feel like I have my own life here. We went Christmas shopping together, have been walking on the weekends when we can, and talk on the phone regularly. It's starting to feel less like we're getting to know each other and more like we're just friends. Which is really, really nice.

Third, and most important, I went with Arturo to two reuniones (see below for more info.) and had a great time at both of them. One was with his close friends from school, grades K-12, and the other was with some friends from his university. Everyone was friendly and Spanish was flowing off my tongue (ok, that might be a bit of an exaggeration, but it was much easier). For the first time, I wasn't even aware of where Arturo was in the room. I just sat and talked...and it felt wonderful. Above is a photo of me deep in conversation -- in Spanish!


Along with this Holiday Cheer, I've realized that while the holiday season here is filled with much of the same commercial stuff, there are several Peruvians holiday traditions that continue to amaze me:

1) Reuniones
Reunion in Spanish means a meeting or gathering, but I think this isn't descriptive enough. It means you get together with friends/relatives and stay with each other until there is some major reason why you need to leave. Time is not an acceptable reason. If it's 3:00 a.m. and you don't have another reunion to go to, you just stay and talk. This idea is not only with close friends. If, for example, your company's holiday reunion is a lunch, you must go prepared to stay for many hours, possibly through dinner and into the night. (This idea extends to weddings where young and old stay out all night and the bride and groom must provide both dinner and breakfast for their guests)

2) Panetón
According to Wikipedia, panetón originated in Milan and comes with several different legends, many including romantic love, of course. I haven't heard any legends told, but I have realized that, whatever the reason, Peruvians are obsessed with getting their Christmas panetón. The dome-shaped bread is sweet and usually has some dried fruit or other delicious ingredients. However, it's just a sweet bread. I have been struggling to find out what the obsession is all about. For example, Arturo often receives clients from taxi drivers (they pick up foreigners at the airport and they need a place to stay). So, yesterday, we bought 20 panetónes for each driver. Every taxi driver I've had in the last two weeks has asked me if I've had panetón and if I love it.

3) Christmas Turkey
For the most part, people don't cook full, big turkeys in their house. It's something that is done for a special occasion. Here, everyone receives a voucher for a free turkey from the company they work for (yes, I received one from my school). There are special areas set up throughout Lima where you can go and claim your free turkey. Many people at school told me they give this voucher to their maids, as a big, frozen turkey can be more of a hassle than anything else. We went yesterday and the system is really incredible. In fact, it's one of the most organized things I've seen in Peru. Of course, my voucher (called a valet here) was for a 9 kg turkey and they only had 7 kg or 13 kg, for which you had to pay extra. Tricky, eh? Anyway, I think the most interesting part about the whole system is that most people don't actually cook the turkeys themselves. After you defrost the turkey, you bring it - in your own pan - to special turkey-baking places and pick it up about five hours later.

Now, I'm off to take a nap. At 5:00 we're having a Christmas dinner (complete with the turkey I got from my school) at the hostel, and then at 10:00 the family Christmas reunion begins. That's right: 10:00 p.m. is when it starts! Arturo told me we will most likely be finished around 2 or 3 in the morning...I think after my nap I'm going to get coffee!

The Best of Times...the Worst of Times

It was the best of times...it was the worst of times...

There have been some tough moments in Peru, but for sure the toughest was this past weekend. At the same time, though, it was an incredible weekend.

First, the incredible part...Every year, Arturo and his friends pitch in money to buy Christmas gifts for some small villages in the mountains. It's informal, but well organized. They get an official list of the names and ages of all school children in the village, and give each one a gift with his/her name. Every year is different depending on how much money there is or what is donated. For example, for the past 5 years, one baker has donated enough paneton (a special Christmas bread) for each child to have a piece. Other people give baseball hats with their company logos and others just donate money. This year, over 30 people made donations and a group of 20 went up north to visit the villages and hand out presents.

This was the amazing part.

We gather all the kids together, sing songs, get promises to study hard and be good, and then hand out gifts.

At first, this felt a bit superficial and classist. The light-skinned, tall Peruvians from Lima coming to the small mountain villages for one day -- and then most will leave and never think about these people again. However, watching the sheer joy on these kid's faces left me thinking that this did way more good than harm. It isn't with an official organization (so no money gets taken out for 'expenses' or lost), it isn't anything that gets promotion or advertising. It's just people who pool their resources together and donate money, products and often their time.

One interesting detail is that the parents are separated from the children. Why? Sadly, the parents tell their kids (who are grinning from ear to ear) that there present isn't enough and to go ask for more. Or, they thrust their babies in your face and ask for money. Without their parents, however, the kids are just kids enjoying themselves.

What was the bad part about the weekend?

Of the 20 people who went on this trip (which was an 8 hour drive each way, including an overnight stay), only a handful spoke to me. Some not only didn't speak to me, but actually ignored me when I spoke. There was no friendly encouragement to speak Spanish and despite a one-on-one acknowledgement that it's difficult when 6 people are all speaking at the same time, using slang, and speaking quickly, no one made an attempt to speak to me slowly and clearly. Obviously, Arturo was there, but it was so busy that outside of the car trip, he really didn't see how I was treated and we had no time alone to speak. He also, in his own way, just tried to be encouraging by telling me that it's normal and I should just relax. This was not very comforting. Essentially, I arrived back home and burst into tears.

For the first time since arriving, I began to seriously question if I wanted to be here. Learning a new language - really learning it, not just being able to order in a restaurant or tell a taxi driver where to take you - is hard. I hate having to constantly ask people to speak more slowly or to nod along and smile while not understanding what is being said.

At the same time, earlier this week, Arturo and I went out with his friend and wife and had a lovely time. I didn't get everything and couldn't say all that I wanted to, but it was all in Spanish and it was fun. I am speaking more quickly, I've expanded my vocabulary and I am reading a short Stephen King novella is Spanish.

So, I'm trying to be positive and just live life day by day (along with a friendly smile and Spanish-English dictionary).

A relaxing weekend

Now that I'm done with Fodor's and there is only one week left in the school year, I am left with only one question: What will I do with all of my free time?

We started enjoying the extra time by having Arturo's mom and brother over for lunch.

Here I am cooking our...well, our, edible lunch. I can't say it was the best food I've ever made, but the afternoon was fun anyway. The wine over lunch might have helped me to relax, speak Spanish and not obsess over the fact that the food was pretty bland.

This is the outside of our apartment building, surrounded by a black fence and a couple of parking spaces (which we do not have included in our rent).

Arturo and I even went for a walk in our neighborhood. We realized that it's actually the first time we walked together without an agenda.

The weather was lovely, the para gliders were out by the dozen, floating above the city, and the ice-cream vendors had a nice selection of refreshments to enjoy.

After, we lazed around for the day, watched a movie and went out to dinner with some friends who were in town for the weekend.

The next day, Sunday, we had a barbecue and then went to a rock concert. That's right, a rock concert. A famous Argentinian band, Soda Stereo is on tour and a group of seven of us went to enjoy the show. Soda Stereo began in 1982 so, needless to say, the crowd was a bit older. The music was great and the show was lots of fun. The midnight hour-long walk to find a taxi after wasn't fun, but it was worth it.

Checked off the To Do list!

It's been a busy and exciting week.

First: the Fodor's work is finished! Many late nights, many full days and much moaning and groaning on my part, and it is completed and sent to my editor. He told me that he's sure to have some questions in January, but to go ahead and send in my invoice. So, maybe I'll get paid back all of that money I spent already!

In addition to 'quite an experience,' I believe that this work is also testament to the strength of my relationship with Arturo. I can't say that I was easy to live with (or to look at) for the past week. Arturo took it all in stride, cooking me a fantastic taco meal, going to get me some coca-cola for an extra sugar/caffeine boost, making numerous phone calls to fact check information, and even putting up with having his picture taken.

Anyway, that is a load of both of our shoulders. Even when I wasn't working on it, I was thinking about it.

Second: grading at school is finished! Final exams were this past week and I have finished grading the exams and all the last minute homework/projects I've received. I've figured out my students' averages and written their individual comments for their report cards. There's tons more to do before school is over, but it will all be during the school day. No more work after school! Plus, in just a week and a half, I'm off for two months! Yeah!

Almost done...but so far to get there...

The final work for Fodor's is due at midnight tonight. And what am I doing? Blogging.

I just cannot motivate to get this done...but, I am showered, dressed and at the computer at 7:00 a.m. on a Sunday after staying up to work until 1:00 a.m. (of course, this is after procrastinating most of the day and going out for a cup of coffee with a friend).

Arturo has been amazing, putting up with my crankiness and cooking for me. Which, of course, just makes me more cranky because I just cannot write this bloody chapter.

I'm sure it will get done. It must. It will. I think I can, I think I can, I think I can....