Cutra

Nothing too exciting has happened to me recently here in Perú. So I´ll write about an event that I notice is ocurring more often as Nelson and I travel between the house here in San Martín de Porres and Lomas de Carabayllo. It is called "cutra" and is slang for an action similar to what we would call a bribe in the States. The police set themselves up along certain parts of the Pan Americana Highway (and other areas all over the city, but in our case we are frequently stopped on the highway). We always travel home from Lomas in a Combis since it is the most available transportation at that time of night. So there are many combis and taxis pulling up to bus stops along the side of the road and then taking off again during the route and it is not uncommon to be drawn into one of the police traps. I sometimes feel like I can sense everyone in the combis holding their breath as we approach the band of police; we are all waiting to see if our combis will be called out. So on those occaisions when we are called out the police simply blow their whistles and wave their hands to us in a "pull over" motion which the driver acknowledges (or doesn´t and dashes away behind some giant truck placed perfectly between the police and us as we pass) and we come to a stop at the side of the road. Usually a male officer approaches and is sometimes demanding although most of the time he is not. The driver presents his papers, the cop may search the vehicle where the passengers are, on rare occaisions he asks the passengers for their documents (although he only selects certain passengers), and eventually we are allowed to pass. Not, however, before the driver slips the cop a little money (usually the equivalent of $1-$5). I think everybody hates it when this happens because of the inconvenience it causes more than for any other reason. The first few times I witnessed this "cutra" process I felt angry at the police for acting in a way that seemed to do nothing for the people they are suppose to be protecting. Back then I assumed that the other passengers in the van felt the same way. However, I now view the "cutra" as a time wasting event that usually takes place at an inconvinient hour of the night. To put a positive spin on the "cutra", I simply think of it as an effective speed bump placed somewhere in the middle of an oftentimes too speedy van ride home. Perhaps in that way, the police really are protecting us all (they just need a little bonus for doing so)!

On an entirely unrelated note, I just purchased a "surtido" across the street and I´m pretty sure the lady put beets in it. I thought a "surtido" was made only with fruit (a fruit juice) but I know there was beets in that one because you never forget a taste like that of beets!

Thanksgiving and Paracas

Last Wednesday night the six Peru YAVs met at Debbie´s house to begin our November retreat during which we would celebrate Thanksgiving together . We started off the long weekend the right way by going out to eat at a Chili´s restaurant here in Lima. It was a much needed meal for all of us, especially Sean, and after some delicious Fajitas, guacamole, chips, black beans, cooked onions, and NO rice, (it´s really hard to find Mexican food here) I think it´s safe to say we were all feeling pretty satisfied. During the retreat we stayed at the home of the Barreda family where Lynn lived during the first two weeks of orientation here in Lima. Thursday, Thanksgiving day, the six of us returned to Debbie´s to begin cooking our dishes. The three male YAVs (Alex, Sean, and I) decided we would try to combine our powers in the hopes of successfully creating one simple favorite, greenbean cassarole. We soon learned that the local grocercy store did not sell green beans in a can, cream of mushroom soup in a can, or french fried onions in a can. Needless to say we were going to have to use a bit of creativity and extra skill in order to pull it off. And believe it or not, we did! We purchased fresh green beans at the local market, along with some potatos for a garlic mashed potato dish. Alex found a package of powder mushroom soup that we mixed with some milk to make a cream of mushroom substitute. Sean "french cut" the green beans we used for the cassarole, giving the impression that we were more than inexperienced chefs. I deep fried some onions and after an hour or so everything was beginning to look pretty good. Harry Horne, Debbie´s husband, was having the time of his life watching the three of us huddled around the stove trying to figure things out and meanwhile watching onions fry. We all had some good laughs but were soon becoming more and more convinced that this dish was not going to be a total failure. We missed one step that one may or may not consider crucial for a green bean cassarole, that is, we forgot to cook the beans before mixing everything together and baking the thing. So our cassarole was a bit crunchy. I personally liked the crunchiness (maybe only because I felt like I had invested my time and energy into it). The rest of the meal was delicious as well. Leslie prepared an incredible spinach cassarole using ingredients brought from the United States, Lynn found a way to make a variation of pumkin pie using the calabaza (which is a pumkin like vegetable here). So it was like having a squash pie, and it was delicious! Of course there was stuffing, Turkey, mashed potatos, sweet potato cassarole, and other delicious foods as well (I wonder how many times I will use the word delicious in this entry). One of the highlights of the weekend was the food really. I don´t think I ate anything really Peruvian (except for breakfast and some ceviche in Paracas). Speaking of Paracas, that was a whole element of our retreat that was incredible. We took a four hour bus ride south of Lima to Paracas Friday morning and that day went on a boat tour of the islands off the coast of Paracas. The islands are host to sea lions, penguins, whales (I think), turtles, and various different kinds of birds. Check out the photos I posted of this tour since they can do a better job of describing the beauty of the place than I can with words. We also visted a reserve containing beaches of red sand, the location where the Catedral once stood (now gone due to an earthquake that ocurred a little more than a year ago), and heaps of seashells and fossils that clued us in to the fact that part of the area was once under water. If you ever make it to Peru, you should definitely try to visit Paracas.

After rereading this post I realize that food was a priority this weekend.