Welcome to Chiclayo, Land of the Novelty Horn, Peru

TM: After 15 straight hours of riding on buses and waiting in stations, we arrived in the small Peruvian town of Chiclayo, renowned for its strange horns and small buildings. They can't build more than 6 stories high because if they do, the buildings will weigh too much and sink into the aquifer and stuff. Also, big supports driven into the ground create springs. Anyway, this place is steamy hot, and it reminds me of Florida with about half the humidity. It is a really nice place, I like it here. Also, I can speak Spanish pretty fluently, and my mom said that today during lunch she heard me give the longest discourse she has ever heard. This was because when she tried to talk, I just kept on going, unlike I usually do, which is let her grab hold of the conversation. And I described, without knowing the sceintific word, what stem cells are to our friend here, Miguel. He is an awesome guy, lemme tell you. He is just a lot of fun to be around.







Some conclusions I have reached in the last few days:
1) People here are generally more alive and know how to have fun much better than in the States. I am going to take what I learn here and try to show it to my friends when I return. I mean, even at Rowe, where people were much more into living life to the fullest, I think only Carlos really had what I am talking about. Go figure.
2) When I get back to the states, I must make EVERY EFFORT not to fall back into my old routine and to change my life. I don't want to return to the sedentary lifestyle I lead before, and I don't want to fall back into the stagnant and reflectionless pool of the internet. I WILL CHANGE!
3)I think, after seeing the exhibits in the Museums here, that if the Spaniards hadnt come over, that South America would be the one dominant power in the world right now. Their technological innovations and ideas were really quite advanced for the amount of time the ancient cultures had to develope. It is quite interesting.


In other news, it would appear my ass is a hot comodity here. I am going to start a count. A count of the number of "Hellooo"s and Hissing indrawn breaths I get. So far, its 5.

Count: 5

I never realized before I came here that I might actually be attractive, but then my dad mentioned to me that I have in fact been asked out by two seperate girls in the States, and that that had never happened to him. I dunno if it is a common occurance nowadays, but it made me feel better about going home to relative nondesript-ness. That is, other than my flamboyant personality, which has hyperthophied in SA due to repression (being flamboyant while it sounds like your toung is tied in a knot is bad). I just never thought about girls much before. Or, I did, but I kept it so well hidden from myself that it took falling head over heels in love to open it up again. And here, for a while I tried to bottle it up again. NO MORE! I will now, instead of being a yellow chicken bastard, talk to girls who smile at me. I will take the first step. Because it is the exact opposite of what my instincts tell me to do, and it scares me. Because I know it is good. Go me.

Diane: Although Chiclayo is a significantly smaller city than Cuenca, the energy of the city pulses more forcefully here. In Cuenca, with a population of 300,000-500,000 depending on whom you believe, we used to joke that there were really only 100 people residing there. On a given day, as I made my way from the apartment to my Spanish class to lunch and beyond, I would always bump into somebody I knew. I believe I encountered every acquaintance at some point while out walking. And if you smiled at people you didn't know, they usually smiled back.

In Chiclayo there are more people concentrated in the city center. As a result, it is quite crowded most of the day. The sidewalks seem even narrower than in Cuenca. If two of us are walking side-by-side, there is no room for anyone else to get by. There are no buses in the center; consequently, there are tons of taxis. Each taxi has its own unique horn signal. Some are musical; some are more insistent; some sound more like car alarms; and I'm fairly sure that some started life as clown horns. Crossing the street is even worse than in Cuenca (who woulda thunk it). With fewer traffic lights and nobody having the right of way, the fearless pedestrian must brazenly thread their way through the unpredictable stop-and-go traffic. It's sort of like having 4-way stops at each intersection, but without the traffic conventions that generally govern them. Mindful chaos rules.

Rarely do people smile at me as I pass by. I don't think it has anything do with unfriendliness. People are just moving at a faster pace and they have to pay attention if they don't want to get run over. On the other hand, more people seem to talk, point, and stare at Calliope as we pass. For the most part I can't understand them, but Calliope seems to have perfect comprehension for this babble.

Although Calliope gets quite a bit of unwanted attention, TM is even more of a target. I had no idea that young women were making comments about him as we passed, until Miguel told me what one or two of them said. I'm now tuned in to some of the other dynamics. For instance, the street vendors who approach us when TM is around are more likely to be women. They come back multiple times with the same goods. I don't think they are so much interested in a sale as in getting a good look at TM.

The main plaza is always full of people and activity. Adding to the general hubbub, there is a sidewalk alongside where men thrust calculators in our faces. I couldn't figure out why they thought I would want to buy a calculator from them. Is a calculator an essential travel item for foreign tourists? Today, after listening to what they were saying, I realized that they were offering to exchange currency for us. Some were even speaking English, but I hadn't recognized it as such.

Our lodgings are at the top of a fifth floor walk-up. We share this perch with several vultures.






With them we get a bird's eye view of the town surrounding us. The only buildings higher than this are a couple of prominent churches and a new-fangled hotel. Evidently, buildings sink into the sand, when they get too tall.

Speaking of sand, northern coastal Peru is a desert land, which only greens up on its own during the rains that come with an El Niño phenomenon. El Niño also causes severe flooding, which can wipe out roads, entire cities, and probably whole civilizations. Diane's theory of why there is so little known about the many ancient cultures of Northern Peru is that the wholesale destruction caused by El Niño left locals overwhelmed with the search for a new homeland and very little for archeologists to work with.

I miss the wonderful, rich soups of Ecuador. But, I love the generous, dry heat here. I have exchanged the confines of my sweatshirt for the freedom of sandals and a tank top. And, I'm considering letting down my Spanish-study discipline and engaging in the decadent act of reading a novel written in English.