back in a land where i can communicate!

no, i'm not back in the states yet. i'm back in peru, in lima, and i can finally communicate with people again, and in spanish, no less! i had such a complex in argentina about my spanish. it got better, but it's nothing like here. my first two days here i had probably three conversations with people in spanish during which they mentioned how well i spoke or how clear my pronunciation was, which NEVER happened in buenos aires. it's good to be back in peru!

mostly. i'm also back in a place where i am a true novelty and definitely a tourist (as opposed to just most likely), so strangers are staring again. they stared in ba, too, but not quite as much as here in lima. and here random people keep trying to befriend me, which i've learned is not always as innocent as it seems. (yes, there's a story there. let's just say it started when i met a cute boy and ended with me losing my camera, sunglasses and a little bit of cash. i am a little embarrassed that i got taken in by him but, like i said, he was cute and he was pretty damn smooth. i thought i kept my guard up pretty well and didn't even consciously realize that i was trusting him until it was too late. learned that lesson!)

so no more talking to strangers here, which hopefully won't be too hard, since i'm heading back to san francisco tomorrow evening. i'm actually pretty excited to go home, but we'll see how long that lasts. for those of you whom i'll see soon, i can't wait! for the rest of you (if you're still out there), i do plan to continue this blog, since there are lots of things i never shared and photos i never posted. so more later!

yeah, i´m a smart one

i took my first subte (ba subway) ride today. i´ve been here a month and have only just experienced the joy of a buenos aires subway ride. it was fantastic, except that smart heather here decided it would be a good idea to go from the center of town out towards the burbs on a hot weekday during rush hour. oh lord. not good times...

nerd alert

i was watching television last night. you know, as a cultural study. i´ve found some lovely degrassi-esque shows for teens (that´s not the nerdy part - well, not the nerdiest part) and loads of fútbol and lots of american programs both dubbed and subtitled. i´ve found almost all the popular programs like gossip girl, ugly betty, samantha who, x-files, law and order, friends, the simpsons, etc. i´ve even found the most random movies - the fifth element, xxx, empire records, sweet home alabama, house on a haunted hill, uncle buck. you name it and i´ve found it. except for battlestar galactica. mock if you like, but it´s a pretty popular show. and damn good, too. so last night i was flipping through the channels and, lo! whast did i FINALLY FIND after being here for four weeks? battlestar galactica - subtitled. and, of course, i watched the whole thing.

seriously, that´s spanish?

first, a quick apology to everyone for being way out of commission the last few weeks. the internet has been less than reliable at my new apartment (but everything else about it is damn cool!) and i´ve been pretty busy, anyway. but i´m back! at least for the time being. so let´s dive right in, shall we?

i´ve been in buenos aires for almost a month now and have had a totally different experience with the spanish than i did in peru, for a variety of reasons. reason #1 - the cadence or rhythm of the spanish here in argentina is totally different from peru and mexico. it´s very italian, which has taken some getting used to. reason #2 - the ¨y¨ sounds are not pronounced as such. they are pronounced with either a ¨shh¨ sound or a ¨sjh¨ sound (as in ´asia´), or a combination of the two. reason #3- people here talk ridiculously fast. needless to say, my general response here tends to be not a comprehensive verbal reply but rather a blank stare followed by ¨¿cómo?¨ after peru where i felt like i was improving every second, it has been extremely embarassing, frustrating and humbling to learn to communicate with people here more by error than anything else. (though i can laugh about the interactions afterward, thank god.)

so today i was out taking a walk, on my way to the japanese gardens, when a group of four older folks stopped me to ask me a question. i immediately braced myself for the usual. the woman says one word to me. one word. it sounded like ´ici´, which means ´here´in french. i can´t figure out what she´s saying to me, why she would be speaking in french, racking my brain for anything in spanish that sounds remotely like that. nothing comes, so i break out my standard response - blank stare. she can tell i have no idea what she´s talking about and i mutter an apology in spanish and something about how my spanish is terrible. i walk away a little bit deflated. it´s one fucking word and i´m still useless. and they seemed nice, but were kind of chuckling like, ´well, shows us for asking the tourist in the first place. ´ then a flash of brilliance hits! the word isn´t in spanish or french - it´s in english! EASY! there is a huge home improvement store (like a home depot) nearby called easy. so i turn around, all excited, and say to them in my crappy spanish - ´the superstore?´ ´yes!´ they are just as excited as i am. ´yes, i know it! ´and i happily tell them how to get there. totally made my day!

in other news, spring has sprung here. the sun is out every day and it´s so hot that i learned today not to wear both long pants and tennis shoes, even with a tank top. the parks are gorgeous and the jacaranda´s are just itching to burst into bloom. it´s so nice and i´m so happy to be here! i´m sending sunny vibes to all of you with less than nice weather...

look, i'm back!

i am not entirely sure how more than a week has gone by without a peep from me. actually, that's a bald-faced lie. i know exactly how it happened. i arrived in buenos aires on sunday, october 5 and have been playing with my sister ever since. let me give you a rundown of what we've been up to...

* dining at ridiculously good restaurants
* staying out late (the 'until the birds start singing in the morning' kind of late)
* going to the argentina-uruguay world cup qualifier football game
* wandering around buenos aires - different neighborhoods, gardens, parks, etc.
* eating steak
* shopping (i have doubled the number of shoes i have here - brought four pairs with me on this trip and have, in the last week, acquired four more)
* enjoying spa treatments (i had my first hot stone massage) at our hotel
* drinking malbec and torrontes
* lounging around around fantastic hotel, in the room, in the lobby, a little by the pool (though the weather has been iffy)
* watching tango

good times have been had by all, but all good things must come to an end, they say. (i don't know why people say that - it's really not true.) my sister left argentina last night to return to chicago and i left our fabulous hotel this morning to return to hostel-land, which is more in my budget range. i'm currently looking for an apartment to live in for the next month, which i claim will help me save money on food. keep your fingers crossed for me that it actually will...

last days in peru...

it's exactly one month after i left the states and here i am preparing to leave peru. jamie and i left cusco yesterday (tear!) for a brief overnight in lima and are prepping and packing to fly to buenos aires today.

our last night in cusco was all good fun. we bounced around to many different places, but the highlight for me was certainly a lounge that luis and moses took us to called mushrooms. THEY HAD A POOL TABLE!! i hadn't seen a pool table in a month and almost had a coronary when i walked in. we sat down and ordered a few drinks but, before long, i left the conversation and was making new friends at the pool table. i even played a few games but was really nervous because they were all guys and i hadn't played in so long and my hands were clammy and they had no chalk so i SUCKED and lost every game, except for the last one and the guy totally let me win.

yeah, that's me not winning
but i've still got a winning attitude!

i still made a few good shots and had a fantastic time. i even met a bunch of peruvian guys and, random, a few from california.

other highlights of the evening
* dinner at fallen angel, running into kevin from boston, whom we'd met at another restaurant last week

this was a salad of red quinoa, tomatoes, fava beans, corn and andrean cheese
it was phenomenomal!

* seeing jesús, my spanish friend, again, at siete angelitos
* cards and beers at gypsy bar with my friend brian and a few of his friends
* dancing at siete angelitos with moses and luís

moses and luís

it was a good last night. i was full of good food, good drinks, good conversation and good feelings about my time here. i have totally fallen in love with peru - with cusco, with iquitos and with the jungle. and there's so much i didn't get to see! i'm excited to go to argentina but, as michael (one of my new pool buddies) told me last night, 'it's amazing in argentina, but you're basically going to europe now.' yeah, i know.

but that will be fun, too!

Hablas espanol muy bien!

Let me recount for you a conversation I have had over and over and over in my last three weeks in Peru. (My sister can even vouch for me on this one.) I’m writing it in English, but pretend it’s in Spanish, kay?

(Introduction, beginning of conversation - in Spanish - on a plane, in a restaurant, at a bar, wherever.)

“Where are you from? (Blah blah blah, leading to, inevitably…) Where did you study Spanish?”

“The United States.”

“Ahh, really? You speak Spanish very well!”

“Well, thank you!”

At first I thought it was a joke. Yes, I studied Spanish from the age of 13 to 18. But from then on, though I lived in California, I never really practiced or studied or immersed myself, other than a few trips to Spanish-speaking countries, which account for a total of three weeks or so in a ten-ish-year period. It always came back enough to get by, but I wasn’t really that proud of my ability because of lack of upkeep, compounded by the fact that I compared myself to the people around me, native Spanish speakers and others who lived or studied in Spanish-speaking countries for years. Relatively, I was not good at Spanish. I had enough in the back of my brain, but never brought it to the forefront of my mind.

Enter my trip to Peru. Relatively here, as an American-born tourist who has never actually studied the language in a Spanish-speaking country, I am apparently pretty good. I try not to think about whom I’m being compared to, but I have had feedback about my pronunciation and general conversation skills, thank you. I've been here for for weeks (to the day!) and can feel it getting easier and easier, even in just a month. And on Tuesday my sister and I did an all day tour of the Sacred Valley of the Incas. The tour was in Spanish and English, and I realized that I could have gotten by with only the Spanish tour and understood about 95% of what was being told to me.

That was pretty uplifting, let me tell you. It’s rekindling a dream of mine that I haven’t had since I was in high school - to become fluent. I could have reached it then, and know that I can reach it now, too, with practice. And, I have to say, I really enjoy being able to communicate in another language. Sure, when I’m really tired (after a 4 hour train ride from Machu Picchu, for example) it’s challenging enough to focus in English, let alone converse in Spanish, but think about how many people immigrate to America and have that exact experience every day? And, in the states, people expect you to speak English - they do not cater to you as a tourist and try to speak your language. You are the one who has to conform.

This leads me to a realization I had my first week here, which has only been reaffirmed the more time I spend here. Though I’m incredibly excited about my time in Southeast Asia and Oceania next year, I’ve decided to shorten that trip from eight months to five or six. I want to come back to the states in June or July and then continue on to another Spanish-speaking country. And, I don’t know how many of you know this, but, biologically I’m a quarter Mexican, so where is a better place for me to go than to Mexico? I don’t know what exactly I’ll do - I have visions of traveling and art classes and cooking school and jobs in film - but I do know that this will be a great opportunity for me to strive for fluency and to explore my Mexican roots.

I'll keep you all updated as to what comes with this new realization, as I'm sure my thoughts and desires will continue to evolve over my next six weeks here. No matter what, it's going to be interesting!