no hay agua!

I have been in Cusco for 5 full days now and I really am enjoying life here.  I've become accustomed to brushing my teeth with bottled water, throwing TP in the garbage next to the toilet and the whole BYOTP thing (most places do not supply toilet paper...) I enjoy the fact that lunch is the biggest meal of the day and that pan (bread) is a staple in the diet.  As are potatoes. And rice. And desserts. Could I have picked a better place to immerse myself in the Spanish language? Probably not.

A few days ago I was talking to my host mom about my plans for weekend travel. She had urged me to travel this weekend and the next, as there is a possible "paro" (strike) or protest that might occur that last weekend I'm here.  Ana warned that either would complicate my travel plans, as safety during a strike or protest is threatened. I had been laying low in the evenings here after classes, so my original plan was to explore Cusco this weekend, do my Via Feratta in the Sacred Valley the second weekend here and either adventure to Bolivia OR somewhere in Peru that I could visit Lake Titicaca on the third.  When Ana told me about the strike/protest, I had succumbed to the idea that one of my travel weekends was out, but today after work I decided- the hell with it.  I searched some tours online and ended up walking down to the Avenida de Sol (about 30 minutes from my house) to visit with the travel agency that my volunteer program coordinator, Beatriz, had suggested.  I was proud of myself for being able to communicate with the travel agency man and plan this trip entirely in Spanish (even asking if the man was a liar when he said "yes!! the price was worth the trip!"), so I didn't mind that it added up to quite the expensive weekend.   I know it would have been cheaper had I did it all on my own, but I just didn't feel like thinking enough to plan it out on my own- SO, tomorrow morning at 6:30am I'm off on a "tour bus" to Puno, getting picked up by a man named Alan that will be holding a sign "Ali Folker" (I wish I could figure out a way to type the way Sr. Francisco said my name!) and being taken to a hotel...then Sunday I will be visiting two Islands in Lake Titicaca and then Sr. Alan will take be back to the bus stop for an overnight bus back to Cusco.  I just need to show up, which Sr. Francisco was a bit concerned about.  "Can I have your cell number so I can call you to make sure you make your buses?" "I don't have my phone with me and I don't know the number."  "But you'll bring your phone tomorrow, yes? you call or e-mail me with your number or I'll call Beatriz and get your number so I can stay in touch."  "you really don't trust me, do you?" "If you miss your bus it is bad." HA!! 

 

While he didn't trust that I'd actually make the bus, he did trust me enough to let me go on this trip without paying for it.  For the most part, here in Peru you pay first.  When I bought a headband from a department store in Lima I had to go to one desk to pay, then take that ticket over to another counter to redeem my merchandise.  Same with the ice cream places in Lima- you pay, then hand over the "ticket," and then pick your ice cream!  SAME with the panedaria here in Cusco- I tell the lady at the register what I want, I pay, she gives me a ticket with the total amount I paid on it and I race the other customers to hand my ticket over to the lady behind the bread/cake/ice cream counter to get my goods. But back to tonight: while letting Francisco plan my weekend adventure, it became known that I had to pay in cash, which I didn't have- so Francisco directed me to the closest ATM while he finished making arrangements.  The stupid ATM machine only let me take out a certain amount at time, which meant I had to do it in two transactions, which meant getting charged 20$ extra for the whole thing.  Whatever.  I hit the max for the first transaction and it said, "do you want to make another transaction?" si si! so I hit the max again, both times agreeing to pay the S.15 (15 sol = about 5 dollar) charge (+my own bank's charge/transaction).. then...no money came out. nada. I searched all nooks and crannies. nothing.  I knocked on the glass door to the bank, which had just closed, and the mean police officer sitting on his ass gave me an ugly face and told me to go away.  Defeated, I returned to Francisco, who listened to my sob story and said, "well, what can we do? you can pay when you get back!" That took me by total surprise!  SO, with tickets in hand and after promising that I wouldn't miss my bus, I set off on my journey home, which of course included a stop for two bolas (scoops) of ice cream and a visit to the neighborhood supermercado for water... 

...water. Like the strike/protest that is scheduled for the end of the month, apparently, if you're in the know, you can find out when water outages are planned too.  Ana had warned me on Wednesday night that there would be no water on Thursday.  Yesterday, Thursday, I woke up for work totally forgetting the possible water shortage, only smiling at the nice smell of the liquid soap I bought the day before(that actually has since gone missing- in Grandpa's room!!) as I washed my hands and brushed my teeth before work.  I made a mental note as I left for work that I was running low on bottled water and would need to stop to purchase some on the way home.  (Now, Ana does provide boiled water for us, but the amount of water I can consume in a day far exceeds the norm and I would rather not bother Ana with that!)  On my way home from work I had forgotten that I needed water until passing the bodega, y por eso, I decided to wait until after my Spanish classes to buy water. During my lessons with Ana, Ana and I laughed about the buckets of water Ana had prepared for us to use in the toilets and for washing dishes for when the water went out and yet we still had running water.  WELL, moments later, the water se fue.  When we wash our dishes as it is, we use the cold water that drips from the sink, so using a cup to dump water from a bucket over the plates/bowls/cups/silverware was really no different.  And, thanks to my lack of drinking water, I didn't have to pee that often- so really no running water in the house meant nothing to me. But, I needed drinking water, so after my lesson I set off on some errands.  First I hunted through the many "librerias" (from what I've noticed these are where they sell paper, notebooks, highlighters, envelopes, rubber stamps- basic office supplies, I guess) on the Av de la Cutulra to try to find "flash cards" (Ana suggested I use this word, and a man who knew a little English kept asking, "I don't get it-is it paper with light? like flash!!" [making a "flash" with his hands!]) After settling for thick paper that I could cut into flashcards, I stopped to get an ice cream(Peru life is only feeding the monster inside..) and I passed by the bodega only to find it was closed.  woof.  SO, today, after taking my first hot shower in over a week (and finally shaving my legs, thanks to Ale, Abuelito's caregiver, rescuing my razor from his room!) I set off to work with only a few sips of water and a few sols in my pocket to buy some on my way, but I didn't pass any vendors with agua!  Inca cola? si. agua? no. (On the topic of water, today at work I realized that the sterile water they use to cleanse wounds is boiled tap water, placed in thermoses until the "agua esterile" bottle is empty!) ANYWAYS, on my way home from work, completely parched, I stopped by the bodega yet again- where I was told, "no tengo mas agua!" HOLY HELL I JUST WANT SOME FREAKIN WATER!!!  As it turns out, the lady had small bottles and 1 big one (I had asked for 2..) and the big bottle looked as if it had been opened before- but I bought it anyway...and then decided two seconds later there was no way in hell I was drinking that...

I sit here now, huge 2.5L of water in hand, writing this, knowing that any second the wifi is going to turn off.  Chao