@ the corner

It was around 10:00am and I was playing Go Fish with Eva and Katy when Mami Maria asked me if I could do her a favor. The other Mami who is usually here in the morning didn´t show up to work because she is sick. So I was asked to make a trip to the hospital to do something with some papers for two of the girls...I didn´t really understand exactly what I was supposed to do. But a pile of papers and forms were plopped into my hands. I was reassured when she told me that one of the girls, Susana, would be going with me and would explain exactly what I needed to do when I got there. When we got to the hospital, Susana said she was just dropping me off and had to go to school. She scribbled some stuff that I was supposed to ask for on my arm, left me in a line, and was off. lovely.

I was in line for two hours before it actually started to move. After standing in several lines, paying fees for medical histories, more lines, and making two appointments for the next day, I was done. It was around 1pm and I decided to sit for a couple of minutes outside before heading back to the girls´ home. An eldery woman was approaching me. She wore long gray braids under her hat which was full of some of the brightest flowers I´ve ever seen. When she got closer I smiled and said, ¨Allillanchu,¨ which is Quechua for ¨Hello¨ or ¨Good day.¨ Her face lit up. She set her cane down and stood next to me. I asked her what her name was and she must have thought I knew a lot of Quechua because she started talking really fast. All I understand was that she was going somewhere...the rest of it I just smiled and listened. I felt her eyes blaze right through me. Then she held out her hand. It took me a second to realize she was asking for money. I reached into my bag and handed her five soles. When she saw it, she immediately without hesitation threw her arms around me...mumbling sweetness to me and holding me tight.

She didn´t hesitate or hold anything back. It caught me by suprise. It was so genuine. I needed that hug. It felt so pure...from a perfect stranger who hadn´t thought twice about what she was doing. It was her reaction...without thought. She and I had no past, no shared experiences, no background together whatsoever. And just like that she shattered my world and showed me love without words. We stood there for a while. She didn´t seem to want to let go so I put my arms around her. The top of her head almost reached my shoulders.

She threw me a last twinkle from her eye before walking off. I watched her as she picked up a rubber band that was on the sidewalk. She looked back, smiled, and was off. Tears streamed down my face. I´m not even exactly sure why. It´s not that I felt sorry for her...it was her embrace that moved me. It felt like a brief moment´s release from something caging me in. And I cried there on the corner of Avenida la Cultura and Manzanares.

As quickly as she had come, she was gone. I was left with a full and grateful heart for the warmth of a pure hug. Thank you, God.

not reading in San Blas

Yesterday we had another bus strike in Cusco. Roads were blocked off by fallen trees, huge boulders, and trash to prevent any buses who chose not to strike from being able to drive. There were armed police on almost every corner. Many businesses closed for the day, along with almost all of the schools. This meant that the streets were crowded with school children playing volleyball and soccer in the street (in the middle of the trash, tree branches, and rocks), protesters, people on bikes, venders, and huge masses of people who had to walk (sometimes from way out in the campo) to work instead of taking the bus.

I left the girls´ home around 11am to go visit the girls at the bakery where Meghan works. It had been almost a month since the last time I had seen them. It took me an hour to make my way through the crowded streets and finally up the steep stairs to the bakery. But I was warmly greeted and it felt so nice to catch up with familiar smiles.

Around 1pm I decided I´d try to be productive instead of going home and taking a nap. It was a nice day to find a spot outside to read. I left the bakery and found myself seated on the steps in front of the church in the Plaza de San Blas. Right as I opened up my book to get my read on, Yanet made her entrance. Yanet is eight years old. She was trying to get the tourist sitting next to me to buy a knitted finger puppet that her stepmom had made. She asked the tourist where she was from. The answer she got in return was, ¨No.¨ So Yanet thought she would try her luck with me instead. We ended up sitting and talking for a good half an hour. In the end, I bought a chancho (pig) finger puppet that she would, after much thought and discussion, later name Tiolín. We shared some yellow jello stuff and she told me about how her stepmom had sent her into the city with 20 finger puppets to sell. Of these 20, 15 had been confiscated by police because Yanet got caught vending in the Plaza de Armas (which is prohibited). She sat there next to me trying to figure out what to do so that her stepmom wouldn´t beat her. Her mother had died just after her little sister was born. Yanet was two years old at the time. Her dad remarried and her stepmom was constantly hitting both her and her younger sister.

I had been her only sale for the day thus far. Yanet thanked me for the purchase and the jello and said she had to go make at least a few more sales before going to meet up with her aunt. After she left, I looked over at the tourist sitting next to me and asked her in English where she was from. I never caught her name, but she was a nurse from Seattle on vacation with some friends. She noticed that I was reading ¨The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down¨ which she had already read. This striked up some good conversation that lasted until Yanet came back. She was looking pretty discouraged until the nurse from Seattle decided to purchase a spotted dog finger puppet. She quickly got up again to go look for more possible clients.

I wished the nurse luck and safety in her travels and found a bench on the other side of the church...next to the big fountain. Five minutes into my reading, Yanet popped up next to me. She was tired and hungry. I offered her an orange I had in my purse. She thanked me but said she´d eat it later because if you eat an orange in the sun it will give you a fever. Moments later we were approached by Belizbez. Belizbez is 10 and knows Yanet because they both sell things in the Plaza de San Blas. Belizbez wanted me to buy a coin purse that her mom had knitted. I bought one and she took off to buy some lunch at the market. Shortly after, Yanet also left to go to her aunt´s store.

Opening my book again, I heard a familiar voice call out, ¨Tasi!¨ It was our good friend, Juan Carlos! I think the last time I saw him was when Meghan and I went to his son´s baptism...months ago. It was a pleasant suprise. He, too, had been kicked out of the Plaza de Armas where he was trying to sell some of his paintings. We chatted for a while before some more of his artist friends joined us and asked if we were going to go watch the big soccer game at the stadium. I thanked them for the invitation but told them I was on my way back to my apartment to eat lunch. Juan Carlos took down my new cell number and said he´d be calling Meghan and I to stop by and catch up with us.

Later in the afternoon, Meghan and I went to sit in the Plaza de Armas. There were so many people. One can definitely see that we are entering the height of tourist season. We enjoyed the downtime...in silence, people-watching, and also talking about where our thoughts were. Later in the evening, we decided to continue our relaxing night of fellowship with some arroz con leche. So we headed back to the Plaza de San Blas where a woman sits every night selling very rico arroz con leche. We took our disposable bowls and sat at the top of the fountain. As we slurped down the last of our delicious dessert, I recognized the beautiful face of a new friend. Yanet had come to the fountain with a bucket to gather water for her aunt who lived nearby. She seemed excited to bump into me again...and was more than pleased to get to meet Meghan, too. She couldn´t stay long but asked if we´d be back in San Blas tomorrow (today). We told her we´d try really hard to go and see her. She smiled and was off. It was the best day spent not reading ever.

It´s going on 2:30pm here in Cusco...another three hours until Yanet said she´d be in San Blas. It´s hard to believe that is already Thursday and tomorrow will be Friday. This weekend we´re going camping for a night. One of our friends, Freddy, has some beautiful property in the campo next to a lake. I am really looking forward to some relaxing time next to the fire, listening to friends singing and playing the guitar, sleeping under the stars, and playing soccer the next day.

I am definitely thinking about and missing everyone at home. Love you all and wishing you the best.

greetings from chile

It's been a long while since I last wrote. A lot has happened in the past month that I should have written about. I write this from a friend's laptop in Santiago, Chile. I arrived late last night and spent much of today on the metro and making my way to the Peruvian Embassy where I will return again tomorrow to hopefully finally get my resident visa. Before my arrival here in Santiago, I spent a wonderful week at the beach in Arequipa with the lovely Meghan Hurley, my roomie. It was our first real trip together. We spent some quality time soaking up some sun, staying up late talking on the balcony of our hotel, reflecting, relaxing, and recuperating from the Cusco flu...did I mention ceviche?!?! It was amazing to enjoy some fresh fish! Although it may have not been the best choice for my stomach, my taste buds were more than pleased. Meghan returned to Cusco and I continued my journey down south to Chile.

It was a good day. I was pretty proud of myself for not getting completely lost on the metro and for being able to find the Peruvian Embassy and whatnot. Afterwards I found myself passing a coffee shop that happened to be playing some Ella Fitzgerald..."First you say you do, and then you don't"...I don't know the name of the song but I hadn't heard it for a good while. It immediately sent me back to fourth grade. I remember gathering up enough courage to sing it when my dad had the karaoke machine in the class. It was right after Stephanie Saum sang "Don't Go Chasing Waterfalls" by TLC.

I landed me a spot in the corner on a comfy couch where I enjoyed a huge coffee, a little downtime of writing, and reading some of Paul Farmer's "Pathologies of Power." It's now going on 7:30pm. I'm staying with some friends who I met in New York during training to come to Peru. Their roommate, Michelle, has been here for over two years and will be catching a plane back to the states on Monday. So this weekend I am really looking forward to more downtime and enjoying the fellowship of friends and good company before hopping back on the long bus ride back to Cusco. Again, I apologize for not keeping this up to date. I will try to write more frequently. I hope this finds all of you well. You are missed and loved.

teach us to be one

Cusco sometimes seems like a place of extremes...or maybe extremes isn´t the word. Alot here is centered around tourism. If you walk around the Plaza de Armas at night you can plan on being bombarded by fliers for massage parlors, fancy shmancy restaurants, discotecas, and bars. Then there are also those who stay out until late vending anything from arroz con leche to crocheted Michael Jackson finger puppets. Even still, some sit out in the cold Cusco night with their hands held together and extended to anyone who might stop to give them some money. Weaving through it all every night are tourists...usually on their way to a club.

A while ago, Meghan and I began discussing the idea of walking around the plaza with hot tea and bread in hopes of offering some warmth and a sense of connectedness to what many times seems like Cusco´s cold and chaotic nights. On a Friday about a month ago at around 8:30pm Meghan and I filled up two thermoses with Canela y Clavo Tea and headed toward the plaza with a bag of 20 pieces of bread. This past Friday we were joined by four friends and with four thermoses and 50 pieces of bread, we walked around Cusco´s lively streets.

Most likely, tea and some bread on a Friday night will not change anyone´s circumstances in the grand scheme of things. But it is a step...an action towards...recognizing our brothers and sisters? Or at least it is an attempt at that.

As I walk down dusty roads or
busy concrete boulevards
help me God to take the time to see in the eyes of the other,
to recognize the other, in order to respect.

As I encounter many peoples, many races,
help me to appreciate the hand of the other,
to recognize those hands that create and build, in order to work together.

As my path calls me to various places,
help me to learn to walk together with others on paths that lead to peace,
recognizing that by walking with others, in working together,
we learn to recognize ourself in the other,
to recognize and appreciate our differences.

And begin to recognize what love is about.

-Jennifer Jag Jivan in Pakistan

the beat goes on

Tomorrow will complete the first week back in school for the girls. It´s weird to think that they just had their big summer vacation. I am starting to see the season change. The heavy rain is starting to fade woohoo! The mornings have been very warm and sunny and then around early evening it starts to get icy cold. But I am enjoying both extremes over rain...for now.

Things have been going pretty goooood here. I´m still on the 8am-4:30pm schedule but lately I´ve been spending some more time at the bakery where Meghan works. I´ve been hanging out there a good couple of hours a day. Today I snuck in to the kitchen while the guys were making empenaditas for Semana Santa...the dough kept sticking to the rolling pin and driving me crazy! But I learned some and got to enjoy hanging out with the bakery crew.

The girls back in school means that I get to walk with those who go to colegio at Chachaqomayoc. This year there are 17 girls that go in the afternoon so we make for a pretty good size mob. On Monday we ran into some marchers in the street for Dia de la Mujer. They were all chanting. The group of 17 girls looked up at me and Nancy started chanting, ¨Viva la mami Tasi.¨ Soon they all joined in...it was a little awkward haha. I felt like Oprah.

I have some more to write about but my afternoon workshop is supposed to start soon. I hope you are all doing well and enjoying spring! Allimpúnchai katchu (Have a beautiful day).

The picture is of (from left to right) Yhoni, Yanet, Reina, and Bety who are in my English/computer workshop in the afternoon.

current cure: laughter

No matter how funky I feel...when something is funny, it feels good to laugh. Lately, things just seem funky. But in the middle of all the funk, there have been moments of joy...mainly in the form of laughter. Yesterday was my first full day back at the Hogar and funk stood no chance.

It´s still choclo season. Choclo...you know...huge ass corn. Yesterday I worked in the kitchen from 8am-1pm with Mami Angelica (the cook and one of my favorites at the Hogar), Vicentina, Calestina, and Karen. The menu included crema de maiz, choclo, ensalada, and fried fish. There are constantly people coming into the kitchen...usually some of the girls or staff who are looking to mooch some grub. Now Mami Angelica is, as I´ve said before, a firecracker. She almost comes up to my shoulders but she sure is feisty. She spent much of yesterday fending off lurking kids by beating them over the head with giant corn that looks like its on steroids. In my funky senilty, I couldn´t stop laughing.

About half way through the morning, she sent Vicentina and Calestina out to the big sink to rinse out random cow parts for the next day´s lunch. I peeked out the kitchen window to see both of them playing with the lungs. They were holding them up to the faucet (which was turned on full blast) and poking holes in them...so semi-bloody water would gush out of each hole they made with their fingers. They were screaming and laughing when Mami Angelica came out to see what all the fuss was about. Her response was to grab a big chunk of the meat they had just cleaned...and whack them on the back with it. Calestina grabbed the cow heart and yelled out, ¨Ay! Mi corazon!¨ This started a minor cow part fight...but everyone was laughing...including Mami Angelica.

It was 1:30pm and I was sitting outside on one of the benches waiting for my English/Computer workshop to start at 2pm. Nayda, Vaneza, and Margarita came over to join me. Then out of nowhere Vaneza farted...and it was a proud fart. She scared herself and even jumped...the face she made was priceless. Usually, they try to fart discretely and no one really acknowledges them. But we all started busting up. In the middle of the laughing, Margarita accidentally let one out, too. I blurted out, ¨Now who´s turn is it?¨ Yup, it was Nayda´s turn. I felt kind of bad for encouraging such ¨cochina¨ness but it seemed worth it to me. Eventually 2pm rolled around and I was off to find my group. As I got up and walked away...I said, ¨Creo que he tenido mi turno.¨ The new way to say ¨tirar un pedo¨ is now ¨tener un turno.¨

The sun´s warmth was strong, so we decided to have class outside. We found a nice grassy area right behind where they keep all of the guinea pigs (not pets). We were talking about animals because they are working on writing short stories. I was helping Vicentina with her story about a butterfly when, off to the side, Yanet started meowing at me (her story is about a cat named Michelle that only speaks Quechua). I started to laugh but tried not to get too distracted while I was talking to Vicentina. The meowing got louder. I finally looked over at Yanet who looked back at me and said with a glare and a head nod, ¨Meow huh.¨ It was a challenge. A few seconds later I was attacked. Soon everyone was rolling around in the grass making crazy animal sounds and laughing...they had completely lost it. I don´t even think they knew what they were doing at that point. I´m not even sure I´ve ever seen them laugh that hard before. I knew I´d be busted if one of the Educadoras saw us like that...so I tried to get them to quiet down. Nothing worked. Finally I gave up and said, ¨Stop! You´re scaring the guinea pigs! They´re trying to sleep!¨ That was a stupid thing to say. They all ran to the window and started barking and meowing at them. Then the terrified guinea pigs joined in with their high pitched squeals. It was utter chaos. When the squeals got louder, the ground-rolling laughter started up again. It didn´t help that one of the girls decided to tener su freaking turno (the question of who farted still remains a mystery) and it was pretty stank. ¨Quien ha tenido su turno!¨ I finally completely gave up on trying to get the girls to write in their notebooks...we only had 15 minutes left anyway.

The girls at the Hogar are tough. They have endured a lot at a very young age. Sometimes they are in just plain rotten moods for a number of reasons that seem more than reasonable. Sometimes I´m in a rotten mood for no good reason at all. Regardless of reasons for funk, those moments where laughter conquers and covers over pain and sadness are more than precious. Even if they are only a momentary relief and rest from something heavy, I am grateful for laughter.

prayer requests

I have some prayer requests.

Please continue to keep the girls here in your prayers. Many of them are in the process of transitioning back home. As I wrote before, Melinda and Clara went home. Deysi and Milusca also went home after four years here at the Hogar...so I can imagine some tough transitions ahead for them. Alexandra, my white-sandal friend, also went home while Sean was here. But I was suprised and excited to get a phone call from her the other day. She said she wanted to check in, say hi, and plan a get together.

A friend and in some ways co-worker, Jesusa, is going to have a baby. She´s due in March. I went with her this weekend to help run some errands. She´s going home, to Arequipa, to have her baby because no one in her family wants her baby girl to be born in Cusco. But then she´s bringing her baby back to live with her at the residentado (she lives at a home for girls over 18 who are studying at the university).

Also, a really good friend of ours, Juan Carlos, came over really early Sunday morning because he and his wife got into a fight and are now separated. So if you could also please keep both Jesusa and Juan Carlos in your prayers.

Praise God! Antonio is back at home! Please continue to pray for the Raygoza family and Antonio´s health. Last Wednesday 12 of us were gathered at a prayer meeting at the Nazarene Church here in Cusco. We´re praying for you over here, too, Tony!

new schedule stuff

Right now I can hear the Grupo 5 music going on downstairs. The girls have exercise from 5:00pm until dinnertime every day. Everyone is on vacation which means the schedule is a lot more chill. I am happy to say I am no longer on night shift as of a week and a half ago. Instead I work from 8:00am-4:30pm. From 8:00am-1:00pm I am either helping out in the kitchen, or accompanying a group of girls on their fieldtrips. After lunch I teach English, music, and computer from 2:00-4:30pm. So I´m enjoying the chance to get a little more creative in what I´m doing. I LOVE working in the kitchen. The cook is a firecracker. I´ve been learning quechua and the kitchen has been a great place to practice pronunciation. Since the girls are on vacation, they get to go to different workshops outside of the Hogar. So I´ve been accompanying a group of girls to the pool a couple of times a week for swim lessons. It´s been fun to get to interact with them outside of the Hogar. It´s also made for some nice downtime to read and whatnot while I´m waiting for their class to get out. I usually get home between 5:30 and 6:00pm. Around 7:00pm, a friend comes over for a couple hours so that I can teach him English. He´s studying law and going for his Masters so he asked if I could help him learn English for one his classes. By the time our English sessions are finished, I´m pretty tired and ready to hit the hay.

In other news, Hna. Norma (the director of the girls´ home) decided that all of the staff is going to have matching uniforms...suits. I´ve been fitted for a brown and pink suit. yup...tasi in a suit...a pink suit...watch out world.

it´s a good feeling to know

It´s 5:00pm here at the Hogar. I just got out of my English class with Yanet, Nayda, Vicentina, and Delia. When I was trying to get class started, the girls were arguing and yelling at each other. I told them that if they were going to fight they had to do it in English (thinking that this would somehow make them stop). So Nayda yelled out, ¨Shit!¨ Everyone laughed, and the fighting did actually stop. I love Nayda.

I was sick this weekend...something I ate. So I spent the past few days in my bed. It felt so good to be back at work today. These girls bless me so much. I spend so much time overthinking stuff and worrying about things. And then here they are...ready to show me so much love and joy...simple. It´s overwhelming at times...to see so much life and joy around me...and then to be able to laugh along with them and feel their unrestrained hugs. It doesn´t give me a chance to doubt it or pick it apart. It´s just right here in front of me...consuming my senses. I think I´m addicted.

written @ the pool (1/15/09- 9am)

Here at the recreation center with the girls: Yovana, Margarita, Vaneza, Yhony, and Delia. It seems like a good program...although the pool looks freezing. On Tuesday Melinda and Clara went home. I saw pure joy that day. I´ll never forget Melinda´s adorable giggle. She was so excited. Her mom had come to visit the day before...along with her baby brother. I kept pacing by the door just to catch a glimpse of her playing with him outside...that laugh. I´ve never seen her so happy. I saw her, and she looked like a happy kid. She´s six. She was happy. And she was with her mom. When she left Tuesday, she had the biggest smile as she carried all her stuff to the taxi. Without a second glance behind her, they were both gone. I´ll never forget that lil´ rascal- with her crazy pigtails and how she always had her mouth full of food. She was pretty bad ass for a 6 year old. I don´t think she knows how much life she gave me, even just in the four months and a half of knowing her. She´s six. She has her whole life ahead of her. And I was lucky enough to sneak into an early chapter of her life and enjoy her glow. God keep her safe- her and Clara both. May they always feel loved and be comforted...especially in the hardest of circumstances.

long overdue...long entry...

Today is January 14th, 2009 and there is much to write about.

The official Christmas season has come and passed. Here in Cusco, it seemed like everyone celebrated and made a bigger deal out of December 24th than Christmas day itself. The Plaza de Armas was packed full of venders and the number one item being sold was: nativity scene moss. People here take their nativity scenes VERY seriously. It seemed like every house we went in had converted their living room into a life size nativity scene...the only thing missing was baby Jesus. The Plaza de Armas was also filled with people selling accessories for baby Jesus dolls: shoes for baby Jesus, cute crocheted outfits for baby Jesus, cribs, and other very ¨chevere¨ accessories. Baby Jesus didn´t go into the nativity scene until 12:00am December 25th. And it seemed more like a New Years´ celebration. Meghan and I were invited to our friend Yeni´s for the big Christmas Eve celebration. We shared some Paneton (bread with raisins and pieces of candy in it...they were EVERYWHERE!) while we counted down to Jesus´ birth. At midnight we shared a toast, put Baby Jesus in his manger, and ran outside to let off some fireworks...along with everyone else in Cusco. After, we went back inside to make Caldo de Gallina (Yeni said it´s what everyone eats for Christmas Eve). We continued on with some Grupo 5 jams. She has a son, Rodrigo, who is very precious. It was a great time visiting with friends, dancing with little Rodrigo, and overall enjoying everyone´s excitement as we celebrated the birth of our Savior.

Christmas morning, I was at the airport at 6:45am to pick up my brother! Talk about Christmas! Could I have asked for a better gift than to spend it with my brother?! I think not. He was supposed to get in to Cusco the day before, but due to bad weather he got stuck spending Christmas Eve in a hotel in Lima. But alas...he made it to Cusco and the next thing I knew we were in a cab on our way to Zaguan del Cielo K-2. We dropped off his luggage and took a walk around Cusco while we waited for Meghan to wake up. It was such a beautiful day! And I was walking around Cusco with my brother on Christmas day! I don´t know how many people tried to see if Sean would let them shine their shoes. After a couple of hours of walking, sitting, and catching up a bit we headed back to the house to start on Christmas breakfast. It was delicious. Meghan made her famous cinammon french toast and we cooked up some eggs and other treats before opening some presents. Sean really was like Papa Noel because he brought with him presents from afar along with lots of delicious Christmas ¨Treets¨. I have to say I had the hugest smile on my face when I opened up some boxes to find some footsie pjs and seasons 1-4 of Saved by the Bell. Of course, as you probably guessed, I was in those onesies faster than you can say ¨Hot Drank!¨ The rest of the day was spent relaxing, keeping warm, and out of the rain.

Sean´s stay in Cusco lasted for two weeks. We spent a lot of the mornings at an old folks´ home that is just up the street from where I live. After helping serve lunch and some short visiting with new friends, we would go to the girls´ home. The girls are on vacation, so the schedule at the hogar is pretty relax and chill. Most of the time we were there was spent sitting and hanging out with the girls, playing ¨mata gente¨, and some ¨pato, pato, ganzo.¨ Of course all of the girls flocked to Sean and couldn´t get over how tall he is.

New Years´ rolled around and I was a bit eager to see how it is celebrated Cusco-style. The week before New Years´ everyone is out on the streets selling yellow underwear. I guess you´re supposed to buy yellow underwear to give to a friend and it´s supposed to bring them fortune and good luck for the upcoming year. So Meghan and I dragged Sean with us and hit the streets in search for the right pairs...they were found. Meghan had to work until 7pm New Years´ Eve. So Sean and I spent the evening cooking up some caldo while listening to the Martin Luther King Choir. Around 11:00pm Meghan, Sean, and I made our way to the Plaza de Armas where we met up with a friend, Eddie, and his sister. It was packed. We sat up on the cathedral steps for a while...then the rain started in and it poured. As midnight was getting closer, people around us started the countdown. Sure enough, when the clock struck 12:00am...everyone started running. We were a big mob of a crowd dressed in yellow...and we were running around the Plaza de Armas. It´s supposed to be for good luck for the new year. People wear yellow and carry a representation of how they want good luck. For example, if they want good luck with travels, they carry luggage. I guess people wanted good luck with fireworks, because they were randomly letting them off in the middle of the crowd. Sean and I had to stop a bunch of times because people were lighting them and then throwing them on the ground. We made a few vueltas around the plaza and then decided the chaos was enough...so we headed back home. We were dripping wet. Meghan stayed out with Eddie and his sister. Sean and I went back home and ate some Caldo, watched some Saved by the Bell, and hit the hay.

Monday, January 5th, we went to Machu Picchu. Our trip started nice and early at 3:00am when we caught a taxi from Cusco to Ollantaytambo (about half way). Our driver was a proud Urubamban fellow named Mario. Mario picked us up at my doorstep and got us to the train station in Ollantaytambo around 5am. From there we caught our train and got to Machu Picchu around 7:00am. The train ride was nice. We sat facing a couple from Alaska (I think). They were pretty cheesy. Sean and I ate the breakfast we had packed for the way (¨the sandwich was really good¨) and studied the Machu Picchu map that Gladys had been kind enough to lend us (Gladys is a friend who works in a tourist shop). The train arrived in a little pueblo called ¨Aguas Calientes¨ which is just outside Machu Picchu. From there we had to catch a bus that took us a bunch of switchbacks...and we finally found ourselves at the entrance to Machu Picchu.

We had originally hoped to also subir Waynapicchu (the big mountain that´s always in the background of Machu Picchu pictures). They only allow 400 people to climb Waynapicchu a day...the first half goes at 7am...and the second half at 10am. But to reserve a spot...they give out tickets to the first 400 who ask at the entrance. The park opens up at 6am. By the time Sean and I got there, all of the Waynapicchu tickets had been snatched up. Around 9am, we were walking around Machu Picchu...you know...admiring all the rocks...when we overheard a girlfriend telling her boyfriend that she was tired and didn´t want to climb Waynapicchu anymore. Sean began to walk towards her, and she offered him her wayna ticket! Her boyfriend decided he was still going to go without her...but we had one ticket in our possession. If only, we could find another. At 10am we decided to head towards the wayna entrance...just in case the staff felt sorry for us and would let us in with just one ticket. Off to the side of the line, we saw a group of friends. They were trying to decide what to do because only some of them had wayna tickets. Before I knew it, Sean said, ¨Hurry Tasi go!¨ and I was walking towards the indecisive bunch. I tapped one of the guys on the shoulder and asked if he had an extra ticket that he was trying to get rid of. He answered no but pointed to a friend who was. His friend was flirting with a girl. ¨I´ll give you my wayna ticket if you give me some water.¨ Without thinking I blurted out, ¨I have water!¨ He just kind of looked at me and continued his water conversation with the other girl. Again, I blurted out, ¨We´ve got water!¨ So he handed me his ticket, told me God bless, and Sean and I were on our way!

Climbing up Waynapicchu was a beast. I was trying to catch my breathe the whole time. We made a few rest stops and each time, we´d pump ourselves up and say, ¨This is for Antonio!¨ This kept us going...and an hour later we were at the top. The view was breathtaking! I couldn´t believe that I was seeing what I was seeing...and that I was sharing that moment with my brother. Thank you, God. That whole day kept falling into place for us. So many things could´ve gone wrong. And not only did they not go wrong...they could not have gone better. Up until that Monday it was pouring...and the next day is poured. But we had sun...enough sun for some nice sunburns. The rain waited until we were done at 3pm. We caught the bus back down the mountainside...caught the train...and in Ollantaytambo Mario was waiting to take us home. What a day, what a day. All I can say is, thank you.

The last few days before Sean left, we visited the cathedral in the Plaza de Armas, spent some more time visiting friends at the old folks and girls´ home, and chilled at the bakery where Meghan works. Once again, fast horse and little bear were reunited...and it felt nice. Things always seem right when I´m hanging with my brother. Thanks, Sean, for coming to visit me! I am so blessed and lucky to have such a wonderful brother and friend. You brought so much life with you...you brought me back to life.