Thursday, January 10. 2008
On summer in Lithuania
This is something that I wrote while I was still in Lithuania, so probably September 2007.
Well... always an interesting time. Now... I am going back home. 
What I miss from South America:
- My little Sarita. My gosh, living without her has been an experience. I hope I don't have to do this too long.
- The disposition of people. Ok, this is something I wasn't really expecting. You know, people from Peru/Indonesia would often describe themselves as being from a "third-world" country. This title does not do them any justice whatsoever. There are some great evils in this world that keep people separated based on their nationalities. These separations are most visibly financial and consumerist differences. I remember a small number of people in Indonesia and in South America that had some kind of bitterness against me just for being from Europe and having the freedom of movement that they couldn't have: due to currencies and visas mainly. This was definitely a minority. A lot of times I remember people mainly being curious and inquisitive about me. Why am I there? How do I like the food? Where have I been? What do I think of the women in whichever country I was in? What foods have I tried there? People begging from me and the joy to be had with being able to talk with them at least somewhat. The street kids that I gave money to and who started calling me Tio (uncle).
- The prevalence of the music. You know I remember reading in a guide book that South America (again this single entity) is POWERED by music. Ok, so the guidebook over-romanticised it somewhat. I think I got de-sensitized to it somewhat, which is something of a shame. I had been accused (by the two most important women in my life) of being a musical snob. It's true. But I do really miss the random music that you find in Argentina and Peru on the buses, the stalls, the markets, the shops, the taxis, the combis, the supermarkets (actually no), and .. the country away from the capitals.
- The currency. Being the rich man is nice, for sure.
On lithuania:
- The saunas.Well, I guess I was going to write about them, but that is all I seem to have written. I did enjoy the saunas in Lithuania. The best was on the beach (beautiful beaches in Lithuania), you go in the sauna, then when it's too hot to handle, run into the sea. Really invigorating.
- The cepelinai. These are really awesome meals made from... well... potatoes cooked several times in different ways... really heavy food and really delicious.
- Algis Jusionis' Studio: This is the place we were living, it was really a great space. Algis was an artist and teacher. Tadas knew his him and his wife very well. It was a really inspiring place to be staying. Unfortunately, it took a lot of effort to heat
, being so big, but it was an awesome space.
What I look forward to going home to:
- Music. Boy. I have really missed this. Lithuania... no it's not the greatest place. I miss the variety, the emotion, the fact that not having an ear is much more uncomman than having an ear for music.
- The language. Being able to talk to random people, understand what people are saying on the street. Sure, in Peru I was beginning to get it. But, it was still guessing somewhat and an effort. I hope I can make an effort more to talk to random people. Hopefully after 17 months of being mainly around non-native english speakers, I will appreciate the opportunities and hooks to get into conversation.
- Obviously, my family. Why do I only mention them third? Well, they know I love them; I know they will forgive me.
- Magna Tandoori. My god I have missed a good curry. I did have a nice one in Georgetown, Panang, Malaysia. With REAL indians. But you know, it wasn't my home-grown indian subculture's curry. Sure, it was cheaper. But those guys in Magna are deservedly expensive.
- My guitars, computers and all my techno-junk. What? This is only third? Well, I definitely don't have to worry about offending these guys. There are some tools though, that I have missed, that I had previously under-utilized.
So now ... I am to return to the UK.
And since then, I have, I got my Sara over here, Christmas has come and gone, it's a new year, and I resolved to do a bit more blogging, so here is the catch-up.
Tuesday, May 22. 2007
Across Europe in 3 days
So... my last few days in Lima... I was kind of too occupied to really think about it too much. Spending my last few days with Sara, eating well, as usual there, not really doing too much work, as usual. 
On my flight to Madrid, I was checked-in to a first-class seat! So I managed to sleep through the free food (which would have been welcome, where are the signs saying "yes you CAN wake me up for meals!" that i can hang around my neck)? Landing in Spain and walking around a sleepy Saturday-evening Madrid was a bit of a culture shock, to tell the truth. Europe is so QUIET, so LIGHT and so SHUT! Having it be light at 8pm and everything be shut, along with the quiet was kind of depressing in a way. One very organised bus ride later with no tags on my luggage (what if someone steals it!?), no vendors selling food before/on/after/under/out-of-the-window-of the bus, only europeans and some backpackers, not really talking to each other.
Actually, it was in Barcelona (where I wish I had stayed another night instead of Germany) that I realized how far my Spanish had come. I boarded the plane, leaving the Spanish zone, realizing that I really had no communication problems in Spain at all. Sure, they talked differently, but expressing myself and repeating things back with rougly the right conjugations to confirm that I had understood was no problem.
So we landed in The Middle-of-Nowhere, near Frankfurt, Germany. I stayed in a €30/night B&B (after sleeping on a plane, then a bus, and not really washing or changing properly, it was a welcome splurge). I was just too tired to think, probably should have ventured into the centre. Anyway, it was so ghastly quiet, I hadn't slept properly, walked into the completely dead sunday-afternoon village with one shop (an off-license, closed). Very depressing.
One thing that cheered me up... a HOT SHOWER! It had been quite a while since I really had a hot shower that didn't have a track record of personal electrocutions. Heating elements in your face! Why? Well, it was ok in the summer...
Anyway, so I flew across from this place and to the tiny airport of Kaunas. Mantas, a guy I had met one evening, two years ago, picked me up. AFter we failed in finding a bus to Klaipeda from there, I stayed at his place in Vilnius for the night.
Next morning, got a bus to Klaipeda.
Tuesday, May 15. 2007
The Highlands
journey to Macchu Picchu. However, we didn't do the Inka Trail.
The highlands were great... lots of markets with cheap combinado/surtido mixed
fresh fruit juices , sweet breads most days for breakfasts in the markets. The
persuit of food seems something of an occupation (compared to where I am now,
Lithuania).
Juice sections in every market:
Yet more cheesy pictures:
Some deep burial... holes...
Ancient aboriginal makeup, it's a parasite of cactus, white, powdery insect, that is a strong red pigment when you crush it... so:
mmm corn for sale on top of the hill... there weren't many customers...
Public transport, small minibuses:
Unfortunately, my camera is kind of on the blink now. It's very tempramental. So I didn't get too many shots of the towns we were visiting. It did involve some tortuous bus-rides though. The second-to-last one, where we were riding on the very back seats was so bumpy we were trying to lie down but were being thrown in the air through some stretches of road. As a night-bus, it was very tiring....
A few towns later, we arrived in Cuzco (or Q'osqo, or something like that in Quechua), the ancient (800 years or something?) capital of the Inka rulers. The archaeological capital of and most ancient city in the Americas (well, the "longest continually occupied", anyway). It is used as a stepping-stone to Macchu Picchu and thus, was
full of gringos.
So it seems that the Spanish basically came and dismantled any monument they
found with good stone in it, to build their cathedrals, which are all over the
highlands. Supposedly, they thought the natives were worshipping demons. When
the Spanish came to Inka rulers and Quechua people, their population was 11
million and, fairly rapidly, that dropped to 4 million. Some combination of
civil war, smallpox and ... Well ... the population today is 90% catholic.
Miraculously (by the power of the Inkas, probably), my camera woke up for
Macchu Picchu. Maybe it's just getting fussy. We did get some disposable
cameras though.
“Quick, before the camera dies!”
Tight stone work with big rocks:
Macchu Picchu Llama Sanctuary (or so we dubbed it) itself is a fairly awesome thing to behold. A few kilometers above sea-level and probably one above the river that runs all around it, it's surrounded by steep mountain drop-offs and jungly rain-forest (though I was told it wasn't the proper rain-forest, it was good enough for me [for the mean-time]).
During our visit there, we actually saw a Llama give birth!
Before (you can just about see the shadow of it hanging out):
After (it didn't move for quite a few minutes):
And the must-have postcard shots:
Walking up and down Macchu Picchu all day is pretty tiring...
The camera again miraculously came back to life for one afternoon in Cuzco! So here's some walls!
And this is supposed to be a ... puma.... riiiight....
Like this:
This shop in the market in Cuzco seemed to sell only corn, of every colour!
The view of Cuzco... from the hostel...
After those bus rides, we were praising the fact that we had a flight back to Lima...
And back in Lima for those last few precious days before leaving for Europe... sigh...
Aji de Gallina:
as made by Sara's Mum:
or maybe her brother, Johan:
So long Perú, hasta la próxima vez!
