When people ask if you'd like to meet someone, you say yes

Around 3:30 yesterday afternoon, Indira invited me to join her to go have "lunch" (dinner... this is Peruvian time) with Jill, an ex-patriot writer and part-time botany professor in Seattle, who owns a house in somewhere in the Santa Rosa district of Cusco. She's leaving in a few days and the way it was phrased was that it would be a small get together. We took one of the crazy Cusco buses to get there, walked down a street that's so torn up it's not a street at the moment, and then around a corner, only to find a million stone steps leading up a mountain. When we finally got to the top, we were greeted at the door by a guy with a guitar and lead into the court yard.



Inside we found a group of 7 musicians that were happily singing and playing traditional music on guitars, a ukulele, pipes, flutes, maracas, and a few drums. There were 2 Americans other than me, one Australian, a bunch of Cuscuenans, and Jill, the owner of the house. In the kitchen, a gigantic Peruvian feast was being assembled, and the house was very similar to the one I am living in (ie. bigger than it seems and beautiful, though it doesn't look like much on the outside). It was decorated with a combination of Peruvian textiles, regional musical instruments, and (Pacific) Northwest Coast Indian paintings. I had forgotten how beautiful Northwest Coastal art is in person, and it was a surprise to find, but also just seemed to fit. Jill told me it was because she needed a bit of home around her, even though Cusco is like a second home to her.

The musicians played for a while while food was made ready, then they played a song for Jill's mother over skype, then they played some more, and only then was the food served. Muy Rico! There was a counter of cooked cold salads-- a Quinoia and carrot in sauce, a sugar snap pea with bacon, pineapple, red onion, and tomatoes, orzo, cheese, tomatoes, and some kind of local onion-- and sauces/dips--black olive, guacamole, something with tuna-- deviled eggs, cheese, more olives, and I'm sure I'm forgetting something. This was all to go with the roasted potatoes and amazingly seasoned chicken and stuffed spicy rocoto peppers. After dinner, it is traditional to drink shots of local vodka, for digestions of course! I ended up talking to the Americans and the Australian for a while after dinner, and they were telling me about places in Peru I should visit.


We finally left around seven, and took one of the crazy Peruvian buses back to Ave. Sol. The thing about the evening buses is they are so packed there's barely standing room. Indira had to get off before I did, so she told me my stop and left me on the bus! At some point I managed to get a seat, and a very nice Peruvian lady was asking me questions (the usual) and I managed not to embarrass myself. I got where I was going without trouble, and was happy to discover it was already half way to my house, so I walked it instead of trying to find a taxi in the dark. Ave sol is a big street, and at 7:30 it is still well lit and highly trafficked, so I was not worried.


I got home and had a glass of wine and read for a bit (I had abandoned my computer at the CTTC, not wanting to lug in on the bus all the way to Santa Rosa and back). Adrienne got home around 8:20. She moved some more stuff in, made herself a snack, and then we decided we would like to salsa, so off we went.

CREAMY AJI SAUCE

Ingredients :

1 lb 2 oz (1/2 kilo) ají amarillo fresco / fresh yellow aji (chili)
2 cloves garlic
1 small onion
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/8 cup sugar
~1/8 cup milk (enough liquid to help the blender blend)
Salt
Pepper

Preparation:

Clean and rinse ají, remove veins and seeds and cut in large pieces. Boil in water with sugar for 5 minutes. Drain.

Roughly chop onion and garlic. Heat oil in a skillet and saute aji, onion, and garlic for 6 minutes. Season with salt, pepper, sugar and stir like you mean it, just until sugar is lightly melted.

Pour the contents of your pan, including all that oil and sugar, into a blender, add milk, and blend until a thick, soft purée is obtained. Unless your blender is DULL like mine, then you can settle for creamy with some small pepper pieces.

This sauce is best over starchy things, like potatoes or on bread or with crackers... because it is both Dulce y Picante! (sweet and spicy!) Could also be good on chicken, but I haven't tried it yet

Ahh Espanol.

The women at work are very patient and helpful when it comes to me learning Spanish. The ones that do speak English will answer any question I have about what word to use to say this or that, and the ones that don't will just talk to me anyway, but slowly. One of the women today gave me a mini lesson as I was packing up, which was awesome and wonderful of her but also very tiring. She was teasing me that, after 5ms, I'll be fluent in Spanish and then I can move on to Quechua.... 5ms of one, 5ms of the other. I'm sure the face I made was classic.

Adrienne, my archeologist apt. mate, says she doesn't envy me. Even being fluent, she says she still gets tired after speaking in nothing but Spanish for more than an hour. Not having a choice is very strong motivation however.

The Peruvian Sweet Tooth

So I snuck these with my phone at a one of the many bakeries here... There are cake shops, pastry shops, and bakeries everywhere here. They seriously love their desert. And yet Katie-style cupcakes and brownies are a serious revelation... Maybe I should relocate here permanently and open a cupcake shop?

Textile Conservation Workshop

The CTTC runs workshops every so often, for the education of the public, and also for the education of the children in their affiliated weaving communities. The textile conservation workshop they run once a year began yesterday. Instead of heading out to Chinchero and weaving, I sat in on the morning portion of the workshop to get a better idea of what their textile conservation methods are. They have a conservation expert on staff, and get grant money to preserve the ancient textiles in their collection and to hold these workshops. Of course, it was completely in Spanish, so until the actual work started I was a little lost... However, I feel I followed along well enough to get the idea. ^_^

You begin by creating a clean work space-- plastic to cover the tables and archival tissue paper to go under the weavings. Then we laid them all out (9 in total, the oldest being an Incan vest that needed alot of help, the majority of the rest being colonial in their period). Then you begin describing and documenting the textile in question with photos. You catalog what's in need of help, as detailed as possible. Then out comes the cleaning tools: you use a soft brush to get particulates off the textile, then lay green plastic mesh over it and vacuum it. Then you remove the tissue paper from under it and replace it with paper towels. Wet the textile (damp not soaking) and block it (stretch it so it's completely flat), then use the tweezers to align the threads that have come unwoven. If it's really dirty, at this step you might use baby shampoo to wash it gently or a combination of rubbing alcohol and ammonia to clean it. Once it's clean and flat and the threads are aligned, you lay paper towels and then a sheet of glass over the top and let it stand. Once it's dry you use a combination of starched broad cloth and mesh fabrics to repair and stabilize the textile, so that it will not be as fragile. When I left, the girls had cleaned and pressed all their textiles and were practicing stitching for when they were allowed to stabilize the fabrics.

The girls are going to be coming to the center every weekend this month for the workshops. I think next weekend, however, I'm going to weave.

Mercado de Ttio

Found my way to the Mercado de Ttio today, the closest local market to my apt. It's GIGANTIC!! I got freshly ground cumin (as in, still in the grinder freshly ground), something that looks like tumeric and smells like a mild pepper, some toasted seeds, carrots, onions, garlic, peruvian black olives (which are everywhere and I keep being told are delicious-- and they are) and limes. It's a nice walk, 15-20min maybe? And directly across from it is the BIG grocery store. So one stop shopping if I need it (however, this is me.... I won't be going to the grocery store for it if I can get it at a market.) I also (finally) found a hairbrush (cepillo para mi pelo), which I've been looking for since I got to Cusco (mine bit the dust in Cincy).

And for dinner tonight? Quinoia pilaf with fresh peas, market carrots, onion, garlic, seedy things, and so many spices... It was SPICY (maybe should've backed off on the red spice... whatever it is) and delicious. Cooking here requires some thinking and planning however, because the veggies take forever to cook and they have to be cooked completely-- so add the water first instead of last, boil said veggies, and onion, garlic and spices and then quinoia last (this is so backwards....). No oil needed. Also, while I'm on the topic of cooking, I got brave and baked brownies last night. They're as amazing as ever, however they took 45min to cook instead of 20min. Le sigh.

Huaca Pucllana, a large temple ruin in Miraflores, Lima, Peru

I forgot to put up pictures of this when I went to it... So here's one, and there are more on my flickr.