So welcome to my first full length post on Dreamtime's tour through Peru. One week down and things have been pretty smooth so far. Lima wasn't meant to be our first congregation point but it worked out that way. We were only in Lima for a day and a half or so, but we made the most of our downtime before the official start of our tour. The peruvians we met in Lima were very friendly and easy to talk to. Even with my broken Spanish, I was able to follow a lot of the conversations and even carry a few of my own, most of which started with some one glancing down, double taking, and then yelling "Me gusta sus zapatos!" (I was wearing my Vibrams).
Our second day in Lima, the plan was to scour the city for various odds and ends we needed and then set off for Chincha that afternoon (about two hours south by bus) Come 1:00 we had all of our baggage downstairs and a hired bus driver claiming he'd be 6 hours late. It turned out our collective luggage was so massive that a second van was needed to make the journey. We're hoping that this will cease to be a problem as we embark on public transportation, but that will open a whole new can of worms that none of us have really considered for the sake of our own mental health. In any case, 11:30 that evening saw us at our contact Mayten's house in Chincha.
Mayten is an incredibly open-hearted woman who grew up in the circus herself and has devoted her life and home to providing creative and educational outlets for the youth of Chincha. Every morning Mayten wakes up to the calls of children outside her door begging to come in and learn. Chincha doesn't have too much in the way of...well really anything. The town was devastated by a disastrous earthquake some years back and poverty and violence are decently rampant. Mayten's one request in return for sharing her home and time with all of us was to spend as much time as we could with her kids and share the creative spirit. After meeting them, I was a little confused what she thought we could improve upon. All of her kids are incredibly creative, intelligent, affectionate and wonderful to be with. However it is clear that Mayten is really all they have in regards to higher expression. In a way, I see Chincha as a shadow of what California could become, seeing as my own state has compeltely cut the budget for arts and music and with our own earthquake risk. Mayten's work hardly stops in her community as she also helps with many humanitarian projects in Cusco and in the local shelters around Chincha.
We've had to split our time three ways between working on our own show and circus duties,working with Mayten's community of children, and keeping ourselves healthy, rested and sane. We were finally able to spend a whole day with the kids yesterday and the whole of the circus took off for a beach day with Mayten and company. We made juggling balls filled with sand and splashed around with the kids all day and were feeling pretty good about ourselves until we got back home and realized nearly every one of ourselves wer covered in a tropical sunburn, myself included. (hence the title of this post, clever no?) IT wasn't that we didn't prepare for the sun, many of us used ample sunblock (yes me too) and one of our circus members, Riko, who had been trekking through Brazil prior, had covered himself with some jungle seed oil the night before that turned his entire body bright orange (think Ernie and Bert) and even he turned bright red (like Elmo)
Our show and mission are proceeding on track, though bumps and questions are fairly common. On top of the sunburns, people are starting to cave in to sickeness. Mumu has been struggling with a stomach bug, but seems to be doing a little better of late. A lot of the time these litle ailments never amount to much but you can't help but be scared by them while travelling. I had my own difficulty the first day in Chincha when I tried putting on my contact lens. The dusty, dry, and sweltering heat (70 degree nights and 85 + days) were not kind and my cornea began to get extremeley irritated in my left eye. After trying Japanese anti-biotics drops, cold showers, and a make shift eye patch. I bit the bullet and ran to a Chinchan farmacia to ge anti-inflammatory drops. Those didn't work either. Thankfully the chamomile compress and a good nights sleep did and I'm happy to report that my eye is feeling much much better, although I don't plan to use my contacts for some time.
Now those who know me intimately (albeit not biblically) understand that I pride myself on my modesty and damn good looks. And yes, I'm not usualy one to boast at my own clever witticisms however brilliant, but I have to put this in for the sake of my old time Barefoot Monkey crew who remember the glory days. At the height of my eye trouble, we were starting one of our brief four hour meetings and we were ging around the circle with a quick check in. It might have been th oversized Mtich Hedberg-esque shades I was wearing, but a flash of inspiration hit me and I just had to say it:
"My name is Alex.....Mucciolo
Mi ojo.....es rojo
So, no quiero.....diabolo
Pero.....estoy contento"
Maybe you had to be there. Hoping to make the next post from our next location, probably close to Nazca or Arquipa, but it's looking like we might make the most a good situation and stay here for a little longer. In any case, adios until then.
Alex
For more blog posts by Alex, please click here.
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