Cuento #1: La Leyenda de Pachacamac

The Main Temple at Pachacamac - you can still see some of the red and yellow paint that used to cover it!

Because it's been more than a week since my trip has started, I figure it's high for a REAL story, not just my scattered ramblings - so I'd like to share with you the legend of Pachacamac, an ancient god whose temple we visited on Sunday. Another blog post is in the works, with information about what I've been up to for the past few days, but as a teaser (and so that post isn't 40 pages long) here's my first "Cuento" of the trip!


LA LEYENDA DE PACHACAMAC             (The Legend of Pachacamac)
according to our wonderful tour guide Carlos


Long ago, when the Earth was first born, the god Pachacamac created a man and a woman to inhabit it. But the land was hostile and barren, and it wasn't long before the man died. The woman cried out to Pachacamac's father, the Sun God, begging him to make another human who would keep her company and protect her in this inhospitable land. The Sun God took pity on the woman and gave her a child, Wichama, who he promised would one day grow into a strong and powerful demi-god.
When the young god Pachacamac saw his father doing so much to help this woman, he became extremely jealous. One night, he came down from the sky in a fit of rage and murdered her child, tearing the boy limb from limb. Pachacamac then decided to hide the dismembered pieces in the earth, so they would never be found. As Pachacamac finished his work, something strange began to happen: the buried parts of the child's body began to change and grow, until a plant had sprouted from every piece. From his teeth grew the first ear of corn; from his hair, the first cotton. Pachacamac rushed back to the sky, leaving a single piece of the Wichima's body by the place where his mother lay sleeping.
When the mother awoke, she found the Earth a completely different place, covered with plants which had grown from the bones of her child. When she realized that her son was dead, she once again called upon the Sun God, who used the piece which Pachacamac had left unburied to bring Wichama back to life. As the Sun God had promised, the boy grew tall and strong, and soon he began to travel long distances in his hunts for food. One night, when Wichama was far away, the god Pachacamac decided to punish these humans: he returned to the earth, this time killing the mother instead of her son.
Upon his return, Wichama was horrified to find his mother dead. He swore vengeance against Pachacamac, and spent years traveling the earth to find the cruel god. Finally, on the coast of what is now known as Lima, Perú, Wichama found Pachacamac's hiding place, and began to chase him into the sea. Pachacamac dove into the water, but as he hit the first wave he turned into an island. Wichama followed, and likewise was changed into a smaller island - and so, for all eternity, these two islands will float in the ocean, never touching, waiting to be released from their rocky prisons when the end of the world arrives.

Wichama and Pachamac, wet and cranky for all eternity

This took a lot longer to write than I thought it would, mostly because I kept second-guessing myself on my grammar. I keep writing things the way that I originally heard them/would say them in Spanish, and end up with a lot of phrases that make no sense. It's not that my Spanish is getting that much better (though it certainly has improved) - it's more that I'm a mediocre English speaker now.
¡Hasta pronto, amigos! Check back for another post (and more juicy details about Pachacamac) soon!

Lima: a few fun facts, lots of pictures

Hola todos!


I'm only 4 days into the trip, but so much happens every day that I feel like I've been here for ages. My Spanish still has a long way to go, but I'm starting to remember/figure out the phrases they don't teach you in Spanish Literature class. I can now officially ask for everything without ice (two other girls have already gotten sick from the water) and successfully bargain with the taxi drivers. There are no meters here - you hail a cab, tell them where you're going, and haggle over a price for the ride. Sometimes, if he doesn't like your price or just doesn't feel like driving wherever you're going, the taxista will just drive away and you have to start all over again! Luckily, the streets are chock-full of cabs, and the fares are extremely cheap. My roommates and I take a cab from our home in Barranco to La Universidad Católica in Lima every day... people in Peru are CRAZY drivers, but I've discovered that if I just hold my breath and press my right foot onto an imaginary break pedal, everything is fine  =)

Ocean view on our cab-ride to the Católica!

Today, the girls on my program and I took a tour around historic Lima, so I figured I would share a couple of the more interesting thing I've learned, both during our tour and in my Peruvian literature class.


DID YOU KNOW THAT...?


- The port city of Lima was founded in 1532 by Francisco Pizarro and his conquistador buddies, and was built on top of an Inca city after the indigenous people "gave up" their right to the land. As such, modern Lima is sort of a city on top of a city on top of a city, since many of the colonial buildings have been covered and are only now being excavated by people like our wonderful tour guide, Carlos. I don't have a picture of him, but he's the man.

- Since colonial times, Peru has struggled with prejudice and discrimination among its citizens. My professor, Eduardo Hopkins, explained to us that there are three main Peruvian races: Blancos, the white descendants of the Spanish colonials; mestizos, who come from mixed marriages between Europeans and indigenous peoples; and indios, the "indians" who have lived in Peru for centuries. The social system set up by Pizarro, with the Spaniards at the top and native Peruvians at the bottom, has proven difficult to change, and even now there's often a connection between the economic status of a family and their race, as well as the language they use. Although the indigenous language, Quechua, is widely spoken, official state business and university classes use Spanish, "the language of the conquistador", and there's a lot of resistance to making Peru a bilingual country. For the 15 years or so, the government has been taking steps to try and break down these class barriers and racial prejudices.

Two of the dancers at today's parade!

- Despite this clash, a lot of Peru's festivals and cultural events are the product of the country's mixed background: many of the nation's holidays combine Christian traditions with ancient indigenous rituals in a really fascinating way. Today was the start of la Fiesta de la Vírgin del Carmen, a celebration in Cusco that seems a lot like Venice's Carnival, with people in masks making mischief and partying for four days straight. When we went to visit the Plaza de Armas, representatives from Cusco were outside of the president's mansion doing native dances in honor of the festival. The thing on that little kid's back is a fake baby llama... there was some story about carrying the llama up a mountain because it represents the soul of the Virgin Mary, and also that of a bear. I don't know. I'm sure it makes sense to them.


- Our tour guide Carlos showed us a lot of buildings from the 1700's, which clearly used to be gorgeous but have fallen into disrepair. A lot of them have huge wooden balconies with lattice covering  everything (it's hard to explain, look at the picture!). Carlos explained that if you were a woman in the 18th century, you basically weren't allowed to see the light of day. When you went out, you had to wear a veil that covered everything but one eye (creepy), and the only way that these women could talk to men was through the lattice balcony, so that their faces were never seen. I'm not exactly sure who would benefit from a system like that, but at least the buildings are pretty.

- Inka Kola is the number-one selling soda in Peru. It's florescent yellow and tastes like cotton candy. The jury's still out on whether or not I actually like it.


As I settle in and get a routine, these posts are bound to be less frequent, but for now so much is new and exciting that I want to write it down/remember it! Right now the girls and I are resting in our tiny room - our Peruvian amigos took us to discotecas both last night and the night before (more on that part of Peruvian culture later) and we're completely exhausted! Tomorrow we go to an archeological site called Pachacamac. Have a lovely weekend, everyone!

Feliz día de Independencia!

Happy (late) Fourth of July, everyone!

Getting punny in the airport (llama means "pay attention" as well as the animal)

After 3,785 miles and 12 hours of travel on Tuesday, I celebrated the Fourth in true Peruvian style... not doing anything related to the US's Independence day! The 8 girls on the program (yes, we're all girls) spent the night in a hotel before going to La Pontífica Universidad Católica de Peru, where we're taking classes for the next 3 weeks. As we pulled up to the entrance, we were greeted by one of the many semi-tame deer that roam around the campus (!!!), as well as Professor Eduardo Hopkins, who'll be teaching my class on Contemporary Peruvian Literature.

Un venado de PUPC

Eduardo brought us to a classroom and gave us a crash course in Lima's transportation, food, money, weather, and history before bringing us to meet our "compañeros" from la Católica. These Peruvian students volunteer through the university to show us international students around and generally act as a resource. They're absolute sweeties - two of them studied abroad at Boston University last year! Ironically, they start their winter vacation this Friday, so we won't have any classes with them, but I guess that means they'll be free to hang out with us! 

After chatting with our new amigos, we were sent off once again to meet our host families. My mamá's name is Mónica, and she's been hosting international students for the past nine years. Right now, in addition to me and two other girls from my program, she's hosting two really lovely Belgian girls who've been here for about a year. Between all the international students, Mónica and her two children (Rafael, a 22 year old boy who invited me to jam with his punk band, and Camila, an adorable but wild 9 year old girl) and a bunch of friends who are in and out of the house all day, I have met more people and learned more names in the past 38 hours than I can possibly remember!

Today was our first real class, and the rest of my day was spent buying a cheap cell phone and organizing the teeny tiny room that I'm sharing with Heather and Kristen, the two girls from BU. It's very cozy: like, the 5-inches-between-each-bed-and-a-foot-from-the-bed-to-the-wall kind of cozy. But the apartment really is very nice, and I'm so glad to have such a nice family, who are used to dealing with exchange students like me  =)

Camila y yo  =D

I've keep having to hit backspace, because I'm listening to Camila (as she ricochets all over our room) and accidentally write in Spanish. And now, I'm going to kick her out of the room so I can do my readings for class tomorrow.

Hasta pronto, amigos americanos!

Let the adventures begin!

I love every kind of story, but especially travel stories. I come from a family of travelers, and grew up listening to accounts of motor-bike trips across Europe, casual references to "that time I lived in Singapore", and significantly too much information about when my mom got the flu in Greece. These stories are the result of trips that allowed them to learn about hundreds of interesting places, introduced them to our many multi-cultural friends, and helped to define their lives (and thus my life as well!).

And now, it's my turn to tell a travel story or two(Cuéntame un cuento means "tell me a story" in Spanish)! For the next 7 weeks, I'll be traveling around Peru, studying at two universities, working in a homeless shelter for children, speaking a whole lot of Spanish, avoiding the drinking water, and hopefully taking several pictures with llamas. It's important to set goals for yourself, right?

So here's a map of where I'm going:

- 3 weeks in Lima, studying Contemporary Peruvian Literature at the Universidad Católica

- 3 weeks in Ayacucho, studying Peruvian Politics During and After Shining Path at Universidad Nacional de San Cristobal, and working at la Casa Hogar los Cachorros

- 1 week in Cuzco, home of Machu Picchu and the namesake of this guy

So that's the plan! It's 1am, my bag is packed - somewhere between "light", as the program recommends, and actually bringing all the stuff that they require on our packing list - and I am ready and rearin' to go. The program's seven other students and I have 12 hours of travel tomorrow, and will land in Lima around 10pm CST. Once I get settled in my homestay and have internet access, I'll post periodic updates on my adventures.

Thank you for reading, and I hope you're all having amazing summers, wherever you may be!