Remembering a friend

The first time I met him I was a sophomore at college.  I had just depledged a fraternity and was looking for a place to live.  You see, in my infinite wisdom as a 19 year-old I had decided to live in the on-campus fraternity floor in a dorm while I was a pledge.  After depledging, I needed to get out of that living situation fast.  Luckily, I found a room with a spare bed in on another floor of the dorm I was living.  So I packed up my stuff and moved.  I remember taking the elevator up to the 6^th floor where my new room was located.  As the door opened, there was this kid doing a handstand and spinning around on his head in the middle of the common area right in front of me.   As a saw this I asked myself “Is this the floor where all the up and coming carne folk live?”.  All of the sudden, the kid stopped…turned around, and said with a massive grin on his face “What’s up?  I’m Loren…care for a spin”.  That was how I met Loren Waage who became one of my best friends.  He passed away last week, the details of how and why are unimportant.

 

Loren never ceased to amaze and surprise me with his caring and free spirit and ability to relate to and charm anyone (especially the ladies).   To refer to him as someone who “marches to the beat of different drummer” or is “unpredictable” is really to misrepresent and misunderstand him.    Spend anytime with him and you know how comfortable and relaxed he made people feel, how truly at ease with themselves he made them feel.  He brought out the best in people, always.       

Therefore, this post is dedicated to him and to the memories and experiences that I was fortunate enough to share with him over the past decade (too many to recount).  They are moments that I will never forget and that have helped shape who I am as a person.  For that, I am eternally grateful.  

To say that I am sad that he is gone doesn’t go far enough…its more of a loss, as if the world, even down here in Peru is slightly different, a little more grey, a little more stale with him gone.  While this emptiness is upsetting, I have to believe that Loren and his passing were part of some unintelligible system of the cosmos.  I believe Loren was too big a person for this world.  His caring and giving spirit were too much for this place.  I relish in the times I have shared with him, retreat to them when I need a laugh or a smile and will remember them forever.  

If can just indulge in one wish as a final closing to this post, it is that our path’s cross again and I get the privilege of hearing that addictive laugh once again and maybe, just maybe, having a cold one together.

To Loren…great guy, best friend, true brother.

Loren (on right), Danny and Myself...does that dude ever stop smiling!!!!

I think that fish bought Loren a drink later on the evening.

 Pile of stones at 16,000 feet in the Colca Valley, Peru.  A small monument to big guy. 

Feliz aniversario a nos!

Today is the one-month anniversary our arrival in Peru.  It may seem silly to celebrate, but it’s been a long month.  You know how at certain moments in your life, time seems to speed-up or slow-down from its regular tempo?  This has been a month of minute-long seconds, weeklong days, a year in a month.

We spent our first few weeks in a bit of a stupor.  We were warned not to drink the water, not eat fresh food, not to take taxis, not take the bus, not to walk alone, not to walk at all after dark, not to wear jewelry, to beware of pick-pockets, to be careful at the ATM, etc, etc…  I felt like I had to be cautious in every everlasting moment.  And to top it off, I couldn’t understand or speak to save my life, in the event that I’d actually have to save my life.

It turns out though, that we can brush our teeth with tap water, we can eat salad, we can take taxis, we can take the bus (though we haven’t yet- mostly because we can walk almost everywhere we need to go).  Bad things have happened to people in Lima, but seriously, we just moved here from Baltimore- how much worse could it be?  We think that people warned us to be overly cautious because in the past the water was more contaminated, but it’s better now.  There used to be more crime, but if you are street smart you know how to avoid it.

By now things are starting to speed back up again.  We are finally settled into a routine.  We have made some friends that we see somewhat regularly.  Morgan is working and I am painting.  And our Spanish is improving, Gracias a dios!  I actually read a full-page article yesterday in El Comercio, the major newspaper here.  I had to look up a few words, but I read it, and I understood it!  It feels kind of miraculous to understand when people are speaking to you, and to be able to respond is even better. 

We’re getting there.

We are finding our niches as well.  I spent a few days last week volunteering for Noche de Arte (Night of Art), an event organized by the U.S. Embassy Association.   The event is an exhibition of works by artists living in Peru and 40% of the proceeds go to funding cross-cultural embassy programming through out the year.  I worked for two evenings making gift bags and then labeling the works in the show, with a group of women that didn’t speak much English.  But we had a great time working together anyway.  The embassy will begin planning for next year’s event in about a month, so I’m hoping to volunteer more in the future.

Morgan is getting busier with work.  He has met lots of interesting public health people down here, and there are some promising projects on the horizon.  He’ll fill you in on all the details as things sure up.

We’re getting comfortable in our new neighborhood, finding the nice restaurants, the cozy cafes, the beautiful parks.  There are a lot of cute little parks in our part of Lima.  You can stumble upon one every few blocks.    And we’ve been doing a lot of walking.  Here’s to being carless!  I don’t ever want to go back.  But don’t quote me on that.

It has been an adjustment.  Still, we both know that in 8 months, time will be racing by and we'll be thinking, "where did it go?"

So, happy anniversary to us and Lima!  Here's to changing tempo.  ¡Saludos!

just pictures

Our classroom

No Hablo Español

Us with our converstation professora, Jenifer

Friday afternoon is pisco sour time

Helena, the cute Swede with her pisco

Our friend Dirk saying his goodbyes.  He's off to Machu-Pichu.

Yay! An organic market in walking distance to our apartment.

Lechuga, zanahorias y café, por supuesto

Looks like it gonna be tasty

and it is... yum

ceviche... double yum

Microclimin' in Lomos de Lachay

What a weekend!  First traveling through the less well-known parts of Lima to tour Pachacamac, then a day trip to Lomos de Lachay.  .  Lomos de Lachay (hills of Lachay) is a national park that is a forest 2-3 miles east of complete desert and is fed by the moisture from the ocean.  The park is one of literally hundreds of different microclimates spread throughout the western deserts of Peru.  Its located about 60-70 miles north of Lima.  Needless to say the stark contrast of driving through “Lawrence of Arabia” sand-dunes to green mountains filled with plants and animals was mind boggling.  Even more incredible was the journey out of Lima.

Part I: Getting out of Lima.

Our friend Daniel invited us for this day trip odyssey with his co-workers Miguel and Melissa who were kind enough to drive.  In return for their generosity offering to drive, Rachel and I introduced Miguel and Melissa to the concept of the Photobomb http://www.facebook.com/#!/photo.php?fbid=436298727595&set=a.436298567595.230014.740032595. 

So we set out from our apartment around 9:30AM, met Daniel in a cab that took us to San Isidro to meet up with Miguel and Melissa and off we went.  The drive was supposed to take about 2 hours, most of that time was spent just getting out of Lima.  Neighborhood after neighborhood, Lima seemed without limits.  I think the term “city” should be applied loosely to Lima as neighborhoods vary from urban metropolis with tall building, paved roads and mass transit to shantytown settlements with nothing but wooden homes spread out amongst sand dunes.  Towards the outer limits of Lima proper, we saw whole communities comprised of nothing more than wooden boxes evenly spaced across an arid and inhospitable landscape with no evidence of utilities of any sort such as electricity or plumbing.  Part of me, upon witnessing this, thought to myself “Is this what the frontier of the US must have been like?” and on a less serious note “So this is what Tatooine is like?” 

Interestingly, we were informed that these collection of wooden shacks are in fact settlement communities that are eventually incorporated into the city of Lima.  These settlers, usually poorer people from the mountains (but sometimes middle-class individuals who wish some land of their own),  simply arrive and set up shop.  Over time the government of Lima city, if these individuals take care of their wooden frame homes and make improvements, recognize groups of these houses as legitamite communities and develop infrastructure to accommodate them.  Honestly, I was amazed at the patience and resilience of these settlers to come and live in a wooden box in the middle of the desert in the hope that sometime, someday, the government would recognize them.

The first brave pioneer...

Then, a few more brave souls set up camp...

Soon enough, a community is born...

And then it thrives...

Part II: Arriving at the Park
So after leaving Lima we drove for quite some time through the desert on the Panamerican highway, stopped for a quick lunch at a gas station and then proceeded to the park.  As I mentioned earlier, the park is located about 2-3 miles east of the highway.  The trip from the highway to the ranger station was like travelling into another world.  As we travelled east, the yellow desert sands turned slightly dark and then black (sign of algae and small plant growth), we then noticed grass, followed by shrubs and then trees…all within a 5-10 min. drive!!!  Furthermore, the clouds started to get closer and closer the higher and higher we drove into the mountains and without knowing it, we were driving through them with what was the dry air now heavy with moisture.

View from the car

Forest in the foreground...desert in the background

Netting set up to catch condensation from the clouds

We parked our car in the general parking area and then set out.  The first thing that struck me when we got out of the car was the silence.  Even though Rachel and I arrived in Lima not more than 2 weeks prior, I had completely forgotten what silence sounds like.  It was great to hear my own thoughts again against a backdrop of the wind. To give an example of the how quiet it was, during our first few minutes on the trail the silence was broken by the sound of a brass orchestra playing a slow march.  After zeroing in on the source, we realized that it was a funeral procession across the valley from where we were.

Funeral procession from across the valley

The hike was pretty much on dirt paths that were very well kept.  Initially, the incline was pretty substantial as we were hiking up onto the top of a ridge.  All along the trails going upwards, there were these amazing boulders that basically looked like they had their innards scooped out.

I went up to look at one and noticed that they had a fair amount of bat guano so I quickly retreated.  After we got up onto the ridge it was pretty straightforward.    What was interesting was that we were hiking through dense cloud cover.  Visibility was about 10-15 feet which made for a pretty ethereal walk.  Fellow hikers coming in the opposite direction were appearing and disappearing in the dense fog.  At one point, I think someone asked if “this what purgatory was like” to which someone replied “if so, I hope we are walking the right way”.  Towards the end of the hike, we came across a pair of large nets at the very top of one of the mountains we climbed.  These nets were used to catch moisture for the clouds to water the vegetation below.   Pretty ingenious idea.

Misty road to ????

Fellow travelers from a distance

Part III: Lunch
After the hike, we returned to the parking area and decided to have some lunch.  Fortuntately,  there was a small restaurant that had in front a rather large rack of some meat cooking over a wood fire.  Daniel informed me that it was chicharon which is a Peruvian pork.  In addition,  there was a 50 gallon drum also set over a wood fire that contained within it roast duck (Pato de cilindrico).  With my mouth watering over the prospect of duck, I quietly mentioned that I would be fine with eating here.  This was pretty much the most amazing lunch I have had in Peru since I have arrived.  Rach and I had the roast duck with a beet salad, rice and potatoes (of course)  while Daniel and Melissa had the chicharon (with what else but rice and potatoes).  The duck was covered in this really delicious teriyaki-like sauce that had a slight kick of hot pepper.   Although the main dishes were amazing, I think Rachel was a little turned off by her starter dish which was a chicken soup which had a few too many chicken parts still left over (like a foot).  In addition to the taste, the price was also amazing…Half a duck with beet salad, potatoes and rice and a starter…8 soles (<4 dollars USD).

Now that is what I am talking about.

What the what??

Part IV: The wrap up
After lunch, we got back into the car, all super tired.  We all talked the entire way back, me in English, everyone else in Spanish, just to keep us awake on the drive.  All in all, this was a great trip…we got to meet some great people, see some pretty amazing stuff and above all, have some pretty kick ass food.   This day outing has got me super excited to explore the many other national parks and outdoor spaces this country has to offer.  Best...Morgan and Rachel.

In Ruins

Last weekend we took a few day trips to sights near Lima.  On Saturday we took a field trip, organized by our Spanish school, to Pachacamac.

stray dog on the road to the ruins

The drive from Miraflores to the Lurin Valley, where Pachacamac is located, was an educational one.   The level of poverty in the districts we drove through was shocking to both of us.  Lima was established in the desert and as the city has grown, people set up villages in the sand dunes on the outskirts of the city-center.

the yellow stairways installed by the municipality 

The below ground infrastructure is non existent; water, if there is any, is trucked in and held in rooftop storage tanks; there are no roads up through the settlements, only the yellow painted stairs that the municipality has installed in the last 6 or so years.

another shot from the taxi window on the way to ruins

There were power lines that ran to the houses, but the slapdash home construction, dirth of paved roads, the complete lack of plant life, horrible air quality and level of trash everywhere, was worse than anything we had ever seen before. We had read about the extreme disparity of wealth in Peru but this was the first time we had seen it close up. And it will not be the last.

Pachacamac (which is Wari for “Earth Creator” ) is a pre-Columbian citadel, made of small adobe bricks that are stacked liked books on a shelf to be earthquake resistant.   Pachacamac was home to an oracle and so people from all over the Andean Region made pilgrimages to the site to make offerings to the god.  At the highest point on the site lies the Temple of the Sun, where only the highest priests stayed and the most important festivals were held. Pachacamac was first established by the Lima Cuture around 200 a.d.  It was consequently occupied by and expanded by the Wari, the Ichsma, and then the Incas until 1533 when Hernando Pizarro invaded the citadel and declared Pachacamac to be a false god.

an example of the adobe brick work

Convent of the Sun Virgins (where second wives and women to be sacrificed lived)

The citadel was abandoned  shorty after Pizarro's conquest of Peru and remained abondoned until excavation began in the late 1800's.  In the 1940's certain areas, including the Convent of the Sun Virgin were renovated.

a few alpacas on the property

visitors walking the switchback up the Temple of the Sun

the main North/South route through the site

us with our classmates and guide, Juan Miguel at the Temple of the Sun

the Pacific Ocean and the Lurin River delta seen from the top

Its Morgan!!! First Impression and random blatherings....

OK!!!!!!  I first want to apologize for not posting sooner.   Needless to say this has been quite an adjustment and I can finally sit down, compose myself and tell everyone what has been going on.  Some of this might seem repetitive from my lovely wife’s post but I will do my best to make this interesting. 

In a word...Lima is CRAZY!!!  The endless symphony of taxi cabs trying to find a fare and bus drivers yelling out the destinations on their still moving vehicles for people to hop combined with a density of people that rivals anything I have seen before (save Beijing) gives this city an energy that is incalculable.  This combined with my complete lack of Spanish made the first few days here mind numbing.  After two weeks, my mind is still scrambled but becoming less so and I am actually beginning to get into it.  It helps that we are renting a fantastic apartment in a great neighborhood that is blocks from our Spanish school.  Ah, espanol…I wish I could say that I am picking up the language quickly and beginning to write my first novella in Spanish as well as conversing regularly with everyone I meet on topics ranging from politics to philosophy and pop culture, but alas, its proving difficult for me to even say “What is your name?” (Como te llama?  Creo?).     I will persevere and tame this beast once and for all!!! 

I just want to dedicate this section of the post to one thing that has amazed me here…THE FOOD!!!!  Peruvian eating schedule is similar to most southern European and Latin American countries where the main meal is lunch.  Restaurants serve lunch typically two ways, either with dishes ordered ala carte or as a combination placed off of a Menu which includes an small appetizer and main dish for one set cost (generally <$10 US or sometimes <$5).  Given my difficulty with the language, it was easier to order the menu as I could just point to a starter and main dish on a instead of negotiate separate dishes.  Typically starters include some sort of chicken soup or salad (or even seafood…I got some baked conches at one place) and the main dishes include chicken, beef or fish.  Each main dish is generally served with large portions of both rice and potatoes (so much starch!!!).  The popular dishes that people tend to recommend are the Lomo Saltado (Beef with vegetables in an almost teriyaki sauce), Arroz con Pollo (of course), beefsteak (exactly how it sounds…beef baby).  Furthermore, the dish of notoriety down here is ceviche.  Ceviche, for those who aren’t familiar is fish, typically a white fish such as grouper or other, cooked in lime and lemon juice along with hot peppers, cilantro, and onions.  In addition, the fish is served with large kernels of Peruvian corn, called choclo and a steamed sweet potato.   At first, after hearing story after story about how sick people got from jumping too quickly into the cuisine, I was definitely on guard.  However, after trying my first proper ceviche at the restaurant La 57 in the Barranco neighborhood, I was addicted…my Jewish stomach be damned!!   I expected, upon my first bite, strong flavors to jump out all at once similar to Mexican or other Latin/south American foods.  I was shocked to find the dishes were all very subtle in taste.  Don’t get me wrong, they had lots of flavor, and not only that but flavor from a variety of sources, including Latin American and Asian.  The use of cilantro and cayenne pepper in combination with ginger and other non-western spices made for some surprising and super enjoyable meals.  I am really excited to get out of Lima and taste other foods from around Peru, including, that’s right, Cuy (google it if you are curious).  Expect a full post on that soon.

Peace out!!

Our new apartment

Here is a little video tour of our new apartment!  We love it!  It's fully furnished with everything we need.  We are 5 blocks from Spanish school, 1 block from LarcoMar (a mall and movie theater, etc) and 2 blocks from the ocean.  There is a beautiful walking path that goes along the coast for a few miles in each direction from here.  Come visit us!

video tour of the apartment in Miraflores from Rachel Sitkin on Vimeo.

(I said I'll post our mailing address, but on second thought I'll e-mail it out. ;)

Today we are going on a school organized trip to Pachacamac, a site of ruins in Southern Lima about an hour away from Miraflores.  We'll post pics and tell you all about our Spanish progress in a day or two.

Los Queremos! (thanks for the correction, Carlos)

Spring Time in Lima

First, a few pictures from our weekend in Manhattan.  We spent Saturday and Sunday in New York before we flew out on Monday morning.

Us on the Highline

The meat counter in Mario Battali's Eataly on 23rd and 5th Ave.

Eataly

yumm...

fountain in Madison Sq. Park

Late afternoon shadows

we stumbled into the feast of San Gimignano in Little Italy

sausage?

Loren having a moment with the catfish in China Town

Morgan, Danny and Loren at The Whiskey Tavern

“Spring Time in Lima”… doesn’t have the same ring to it as “Spring Time in New York”.  It’s not quite as sweet either.  Spring time in Lima, as with most of the year is overcast from dawn ‘till dusk.  On a slightly less cloudy day, we can see the closest peaks of the Andes foothills peaking out on the horizon.   We have been told that come December, the sun really will shine, and intensely too since we are so close to the equator.   I hope so- I am in need of some sunshine.

Our first few days have been good but challenging, as was to be expected.  We got to JFK at 3:30am on Monday morning.  Our first flight out of New York was cancelled, but only after we had boarded and spent 2 ½ hours sitting on the tarmac, did they decide to cancel it.   At 11am we finally took off on another flight to El Salvador.  We had been specifically warned to NOT fly through El Salvador because our luggage might be rifled through and possibly stolen. But when we arrived at 9pm in Lima all of our luggage arrived safely with us and nothing had been taken.  It was a LONG day of travel but all-in-all ok.

We are currently staying in San Isidro, an upscale neighborhood in Lima, at the apartment of Morgan’s boss, Bob Gilman. This flat is a sort of way-station for American students coming to work with Bob, so we have met a handful of Americans already and tonight we are going to a housewarming party for 3 girls here on Fogarty Fellowships.   As a side note, on the corner of Bob’s street, there is a Pizza Hut, a Dominos, a Starbucks and an Adidas store.  Crazy.



Morgan got right to work on Tuesday and I have spent the week exploring the neighborhood and looking for an apartment.  I was fortunate to find an English speaking broker who has been SO generous, driving me all over San Isidro and Miraflores, another upscale neighborhood, to look at rentals.  Eric, the broker, was born in… wait for it… State College, PA!  That’s right, he’s a Penn State baby too. Both his parents are Peruvian and were Phd students there when he was born.  We are…  Penn State!

Morgan in a nice park in our neighborhood

We’ve looked at 10 or so places already and yesterday afternoon found a place that we LOVE!  It is in Miraflores, only 6 blocks from the water and 5 blocks from El Sol (the school where we’ll be taking Spanish classes).  Cross your fingers for us that is works out. 

On Monday I begin my Spanish immersion class.  It can’t come soon enough.  We have been managing but barely.  We got cell phones yesterday and it was a comedy routine.  Between our broken Spanish, the teller’s broken English and hand signals, we managed though.  Many people speak a little English and everyone has been very patient with us, so I think we’ll be ok until we get more comfortable with speaking.

So, we haven’t done any sightseeing yet, it’s been all business.   This weekend we are planning a visit to the Museo de Arte de Lima to see the Gordon Matta Clark exhibit.  I am Psyched!  Hopefully we’ll check out some other sights too.  I am eager to visit the Huaca Pucllana, a pyramid from the Lima culture that dates to 500 A.D.  It is right in the middle of Miraflores and the modern city was just built around it.

The view from Bob's Apartment

the camera didn't pick it up but there are mountains back there

I’ll post more pictures next time, I promise.  Hablar con todos pronto!