Week 2-Chinatown, Folklore Dance, Pachacamac

Hello again everyone~

My apologies if you checked on the blog Friday for a new post and canceled your weekend plans in eager anticipation of my next entry onto the blog. The previous week was somewhat quiet, unless you wanted to hear my thoughts on Batman: The Dark Prince or how I did in my fantasy football drafts. While I´m sure there are some members of the reading audience who are interested in my fantasy football team, I figured I might scare off the vast majority, so I decided to wait until after this past weekend to add a post, as we were pretty active over the weekend. So, without further ado, here´s what we´ve been up to recently in Peru:

Chinatown

Around the turn of the 19th century, a significant number of Chinese people immigrated to Peru to work in the numerous mineral mines in this country. Upon arrival in Peru, they formed their own community not too far from downtown Lima that continues to thrive in population and visitors to the area. We were fortunate to visit on Sunday, when the mass of people isn´t as thick as other days and we were able to walk down the streets pretty unimpeded. There are many different shops and markets to buy a variety of things from, but the main reason to come to Chinatown is the food. Upon our immediate arrival, the first thing we did was travel to a little unnamed restaurant where two picnic benches serve as seating and if those seats are filled you stand and eat your food. It´s well worth the inconveinence though-I was introduced to this place last summer when visiting and I have been looking forward to returning since I landed in Lima. The reason is a delicious little item called Mien Po (pronounced Mean Pow!) that is a little larger than a Hot Pocket, but stuffed with pork in a gravy sauce in a soft doughy breading. We each savored our Mien Pos and after Marianella´s brother German treated us to an ala carte order of duck, we proceeded to wander through Chinatown, mostly window shopping with a few items bought here and there before we decided to have a sit down dinner at a Chinese restaurant that doesn´t look much different than your Chinese restaurants in the States. The difference lies in the food preparation-while the Chinese food in the States always seems to be heavy on the frying, the Peruvian style doesn´t lean so heavily on frying the food. It´s delicious and after finishing the meal, we didn´t feel loaded down by our dinner. (Unfortunately our pictures from Chinatown did not turn out very well so you´ll have to use your imagination).

Folklore Dance

In a previous post, I mentioned how much Peruvians love to dance, which I don´t know is any different than other Latin/South American countries, but I do know this-Peruvians really really love to dance. That heritage comes from all over the country, where each region features at least one traditional dance that it is known for and proudly displays whenever given the chance. On Friday night we were treated to a performance by one of Marianella´s aunts (not a blood relative, but an aunt nonetheless) at one of Lima´s biggest tourist attractions. While this performance hall hosts shows every night of the week except Tuesday, their topline dancers perform only on the weekends and we were treated to an incredible display of dancing. Housed in a double tiered hall with an emcee and a house band playing the music, we were treated to a wide variety of dances which covered the vast regions of Peru and kept your attention as you marveled at the grace, the athleticism, and the stamina of these dancers. In between each of the traditional dances, the house band would continue playing and the audience would spill onto the dance floor to showcase their skills. By the time the night ended we were exhausted from both witnessing and participating in the dancing, but the last dance, the traditional marinera from the northern region of Peru brought the house down with the style, grace, and skill displayed by the two dancers.

Pachacamac

When you talk to most people about Peru, it doesn´t take long before Macchu Picchu, the ancient Inca city comes into the conversation. Deservedly the center of attention, both of Inca culture and Peruvian destinations, it is by no means the only historical site where you can learn about Inca and pre-Inca cultures in Peru. Perhaps the closest site to Lima is Pachacamac, less than an hour drive south of Lima and where we spent our Sunday. As stated, nothing can rival the grandeur of Macchu Picchu, but it is nonetheless fascinating to visit any place where the origins of people are determined to have existed somewhere between 0-600 A.D. The Inca culture didn´t come along until about 1400 A.D., so Pachacamac also showcases the other civilizations that existed in pre-Inca time. Not a bad little day trip for the Vizcarra/Stokes clan. (The first picture you see below is from the Temple of the Women; the 2nd picture is from the Pyramid Temples; the other pictures are from the top of the Temple of the Sun, with Marianella´s family).

Personal

Spanish lessons continue in earnest and while it´s still a jumble in my head, some of the jumble is starting to clarify and make sense a little bit. While engaging in a conversation beyond two sentences is still a pipe dream, I feel like progress is being made. I also continue to pursue jobs in the Lima area. More than likely I will be employed as an English teacher at an Institute, it´s just finding the right one. I had an interview two Saturdays ago where I was offered a position, but when Marianella and I sat down and considered it, it just didn´t make financial sense to take the offer. I have an interview at another institute tomorrow and we´re hopeful that it is a good match for me. The important news we received in the past week was that the paperwork for our wedding certificate and my birth certificate were verified and approved by the Peruvian consulate in Chicago, which basically means that it makes it much easier for me to gain employment in Peru. We just have to see how long that process takes and we should find that out this week. It also means that we can move forward with the wedding ceremony we are planning to have in Peru, so that Marianella´s parents and family can see us "tie the knot". Our original plan was to do this in September, but we´ve moved the date back to early October, to coincide with Marianella´s spring break. We´re looking forward to another wedding (we had so much fun at the first :)) and also a honeymoon somewhere in South America, yet to be fully determined. Anyway, that about covers it for now, thanks for sticking through til the end and have a good week, we send our best from Peru.

P.S.

In case you are interested. . .I think I did pretty well in my fantasy football drafts, of course everyone believes that before the season starts. It will be interesting to see how I do in a season where I´m not sure that I´ll see any football games, but that´s the beauty of the internet, it doesn´t matter if I´m sitting in St. Paul or Lima, I receive the same information as everyone else. Plus, if I do win, it allows me to trash talk quite a bit and if I have a bad season, well, it was because I wasn´t able to see and evaluate any games. I already have my built in excuses ready to go :).