El Fin: A Month Later

Now I'm home, sitting in my childhood bed, watching Netflix and snuggling down in a Davidson sweatshirt. Things I would've missed 2 months ago in Arequipa but now am finding comforting but not overwhelmingly important.

My last month in Peru, from Halloween until Nov. 21st, was spent travelling. I slept in a jungle hut, wore native dress while visiting a floating Uros Island on Lake Titicaca, stood inside a Spanish cathedral that once was THE Inca sun temple in Cuzco and watched the sun set over the Pacific in Trujillo. I lived out of a suitcase for over 3 weeks and loved every minute of it. I caught a piranha. I saw a 3-toed sloth drag itself across the road in broad daylight. I met a shaman. I went over the continental divide at 16,000 ft. I ate lunch with a farming family just outside of Cuzco. I slept on a black beach and thought about nothing in particular. I relaxed.

Now I'm home, back to the craziness of Christmas. I got in just in time for a family Thanksgiving, the GRE and other major life decisions. For example, after my most recent to Davidson, I've decided to put off my MFA applications. I'm looking into teaching ESL at a local literacy center. I'm applying to a teaching/cultural ambassador program in Spain with a friend from Davidson. I'm home and every thing's the same while every thing's changing.

I still email with my host mom. Each letter makes me cry. Today, I talked to Fio on Facebook chat. I could only laugh when I realized that many of my friends finished exams today and are going home for winter break while today is Fio's start of summer vacation. That sounds so odd! Tonight, I practiced my Spanish by sitting at the table of one of my father's employees. Angel, the employee, is from Ecuador and has medical training. Now his step-daughter wants to be a pediatrician. I didn't catch every single word, but we understood each other. It felt like going home to something still not perfectly familiar. It was another home, though.

Now I'm home, about to attend a good friend's college graduation. This scares me because I only have a semester left until LIFE begins *duh duh duuuuh* Hopefully, this life will include many more travels, like my 1st to Peru. My only goal, teeny as it may be, is to see as many countries as I can in this life. Small, like I said.

I want to thank you, reader, for caring enough to read. I didn't even think about blogging until my best friend encouraged me to. When he did, however, all I could say was, "Who cares?!" But my Feedjit told me otherwise, all day, everyday while I was in Peru. My loved ones and even strangers began checking in on my life on a regular basis. They usually didn't comment, but I knew they were there, supporting me from home. So, again, thank you.

I'll end with a last Song of the Day. It was a fill-in-the-blank exercise for my Spanish class one day at UNSA, and it drove me crazy! Gian Marco is a Peruvian icon. He's on cellphone commercials, billboards, and all over the radio. He's basically the Billy Joel of Peru. This particular song is pure poetry. I'm including my (terrible, I'm sure) translation along with the lyrics. Read and listen. Disfrute y chao chao!

Retrato (Portrait)

I’m going to be a magician with a poem here tonight,
I am going to try to compile the heart,
Little by little confessing my diary and way of loving
Today my words only show what I am.


I am as complex as a book of theories
But simple, as if I started speaking about the sun
They say that I am usually a canteen or restaurant singer
And that I’m famous because of a love song.


I cut my hair because I detest combing it
And this tattoo is not a question of look,
I sold toys in the street
I slept on the beach and in the park,
I fell in love with my guitar on a balcony.


I have in a book the words of my mother
And in the memory of my father, a prayer,
They gave me so many good things,
They gave me wings and a thousand tests,
They taught me to always say “please”.


I have a little girl who lights up my day
And a woman who accelerates my heart,
I have defects and virtues
Sometimes I deliver for the clouds
When they speak to me and I don’t pay attention.


Today I undress, without fear, my happy times
And my sad times, I discover them without decency,
Today I keep on being the owner and the proprietor
Of my history and my dreams
And of my Friday nights at The Station. (Where he got his start)