The Beautician and the Beast

Alright so as it turns out, it´s pretty important to get this one specific anti-rabies shot, the immune globulane (or something), or, as I will refer to it from now on, the Goods. It´s unavailable in South America.

So due to the certain death that would occur if I were to actually get rabies, I am hopping a flying machine tonight and going home to get the Goods. It is completely crazy and stressful, but I think it´ll be nice to be home for a good six days. And maybe they´ll have some sweet movies on the plane. Also I´ve been itching to hear John Frusciante´s new album that came out on Jan. 20th (thats what all that celebration was about, right?), so I´ll definitely scoop that up.

While you might be underwhelmed that the answer to my blog title will be ¨Easton, Connecticut¨ for the next six days, I can assure you that I will be back beneath the equator just as soon as I get these damn Goods. And I really didnt like the idea of taking this break, but, as my mom so eloquently put it: It is a medical emergency. This has been as close to a life or death situation I have ever gotten, but also I probably just dont have Rabies and am exaggerating.

Last night was trivia night at this one cafe, and one of the questions was ¨What movie climaxes with a jumbo jet landing on the main strip of Las Vegas?¨ I am well versed in Nicholas Cage movies, and I comforted my team (comprised soley of girls) with the kind words ¨I got this.¨

Also if you´re awake on Wednesdays from midnight to two AM, you should check out Tortilla Radio (Olé), with DJ Stuff and DJ I Like Stuff, aka Brian and Jesse´s weekly radio masterpiece. It can be heard at www.wrbbradio.org by clicking Listen.

The Werewolf from Thriller

So I´ve been going every morning so far to get the anti-rabies med at the hospital. Yesterday the hospital was on strike, but I managed to get in a back door and then sit by the doctor on strike for two hours until she gave in and gave me the shot. Phil: One, Strike: Zero. I was pretty determined, especially since I was convinced I´d die if I didnt get the shot.
They don´t have the new, more effective vaccine, so I´ve been getting the old one daily. Itll still work, but the drawback is that the shot itself hurts insanely bad, and for 14 hours after the shot, it feels like you´re walking around with a knife in your gut. But I´d rather that than rabies! Also all I could think of was the movie ¨Quarentine¨, a semi-trashy horror movie where humans got a bad case of rabies and they ate people. But the main character was a woman, which I´m not, so theres one thing thats not similar. And it probably wasnt based on real events anyway.
You´ve probably had enough of my tom-foolery. Here are two pictures.

Cusco

Dogs.

This morning on my way to work, I was attacked by three large dogs.
I´m ok.
As I´ve mentioned before, there are stray dogs everywhere. While walking on an empty street (an unavoidable leg of my commute to work) this morning, three dogs ran up behind me barking, and I continued walking with my eyes straight ahead. Before I could even process what was happening, these dogs were pouncing on me. They scratched, growled, and bit my legs, arms, and back, but all I could think to do was continue walking forward, with my arms close to my body. I didn´t want to exacerbate the situation by kicking or shouting, so I ignored them.
The dogs eventually stopped, and when I regained my sense of reality, I realized my leg was bleeding.
I went to the hospital, which was equally as unpleasant as being attacked by dogs. It was dirty, unorganized, and extremely confusing. After being directed to 10 different places, I finally saw a man who´s leg was bleeding like mine. I followed him until he recieved care for his wound (which was from a stray dog attacking him as well), and I followed suite. We went together to five different places in the hospital, one of which was a place where we had to buy our own syringes for 20 centamos (about seven cents). I finally got a rabbies shot, which hurt like no other shot I´ve ever had before, and was directed to return every day until Sunday for another shot.

On the bright side, I doubt any other day will be as bad as this one, so I´m looking forward to those other days.

Faces of Remar

So this is where I spend a good part of everyday-- The Remar ophanage. They loved getting their pictures taken, and I literally couldn´t point the camera anywhere without these kids diving into the frame, which was funny. They had a similar fascination with my guitar the other day. Check em out.




Locos

Hermanas

Walk to Work

Everyday, I have about a 40 minute commute to my orphanage. Here are a few of the daily sights en route.
He saw me right after this, and I dont think he was too happy.
Hot oven, 24 hours a day. ¨When you just need an oven, fast¨
Bootleg home security

I´m Alive!

I survived the Inca Trail.

I made it through thirty-something miles of trail, sleepless nights, 4 AM wake-ups, drunk farmers on strike, 9 hour hikes with 4 hour stretches of JUST uphill or JUST downhill, shakey knees, breath taking views, climbing to 13,600 ft, clouds, rain, a 30 lb backpack the whole way, aches, pains, truimphs, failures, wild life, mother nature, fear, hot, cold, great friends, and Machu Picchu.
This is where the Inca Trail begins. I clearly had no idea what I was in for.

That´s a cloud in front of me... This is Triumph in a photo.
Our guide led us in a brief ceremony involving coca leaves, asking the mountains for good weather and safety.
I found this a few steps away from my tent one night.
The boys at the end of our adventure. We made it.
There she is.

The Picchu

Tomorrow I´m leaving my home at 6 AM to set off on the Inca Trail, a 4 day, 31 mile trek that ends with Machu Picchu at sunrise.

I´m extremely excited, but also terrified. Why, you ask? Because its four days of nonstop mountain climbing, which will surely prove to be the biggest physical challenge of my life. Even tougher than that one time I played 2 on 2 basketball with Aaron, Brian, and a stranger for almost a half an hour. It´ll be amazing though, I´m sure.... I´ll let you know. Hopefully I´ll get a good picture or two. (P.S. look at the classic picture of machu picchu. Then tilt your head to the right. Machu Picchu is a face. LOOK. The big part is the nose.) http://trujillodi.files.wordpress.com/2008/06/machu-picchu-foto.jpg
Maybe it´s a hoax, or nothing... but I ate it right up.

I´ll be out of touch for the next four days. Until then...

Buah

(Super)market sweep

Yesterday I went to the small town of Chinchero where theres a great market every Sunday. We walked around the market, which was full of Alpaca made goods, food, and other small crafts. It was pretty incredible, and we (a fellow volunteer, Jen, and I) were among the handfull of tourists there. We were surrounded by mountains, and the cab rides there and back were beautiful.
Today I have a pretty wicked cold, so I´m trying to take it easy. Enjoy the pictures.

He was trying to sell me that little finger puppet. I declined.

This guy is the Clint Eastwood of Chinchero.



Powders at the market

Field Trip

I´ve been doing some serious exploring lately. Aside from being able to navigate the Quechua names of Cusco´s streets, I´ve had the chance to get out of the city a little. I checked out the ruins of Saqsaywaman (pronounced almost exactly like sexy woman), which made me feel like Indiana Jones. Check out some of the pictures from this paricular outing.

We found a cave. And went in.






It´s gone rogue!!!

S´more

Tried to post these yesterday, but it didn´t work.

As for the pictures... There are stray dogs EVERYWHERE. You can´t turn your head without seeing one, which is different. They are generally friendly, but I immediately judge anyone who touches or pets them. As for the rock... Its one piece of a huge wall, and this one stone is famous because of all the different sides it has. The Incas were mad good at stonemanshipmanship, and this is the proof. They´re pretty proud of it.

I am tempted to wash every meal down with a tall glass of hand sanitizer, but I refrain...although I´m unsure which is worse for me. Maybe I´m exaggerating, but hygene costs money, which there is not very much of here. Ergo, hygene is not a priority.

Hasta luego

Cusco Photos

So, here are a few pictures I´ve taken. In most situations here, its in extremely poor taste to take out a camera...so I dont. But here are a few.
Anyway, ¨wish you were here¨

Perspective

I went to the orphanage to work today, and it was profound. These kids were dirty and they literally had nothing and no one. There were ten kids coloring the same page of a coloring book when I got there. One young boy had dried blood all under his nose and on his face for hours until I helped him clean it up. It was disturbing. There are about 30 kids and virtually no supervision. They watched the most violent Jet Li movie I´d ever seen, and, since there are 16 year olds as well as 6 year olds, that´s just what they watched. I told them to call me Felipe, since most people here have a hard time pronouncing ¨Phil¨, but a lot of the kids called me ¨hermano¨, which was something.

At one point around noon, a 12 year old came by with a small bowl and offered lunch to the four younger kids. One kid stood up and was fed one mouthfull of goop, and he sat back down. That was his lunch. I asked about the rest of them, and they told me they usually don´t eat lunch. As for dinner, there was a raging fire next to the garbage in the back with a pot on top. Three kids, aged 9, 10, and 11, tended to this huge pot by stirring it and feeding the flame their old worksheets and pages from coloring books. It was not safe or OK really. It kindof broke my heart.

I´ve met a few other great people outside my family, which is sweet. Theres one guy named Willfred who has been here for over a year. He told me that Cusco is great, but you have to accept it before you can appreciate it. I think he´s right.

I´ll put up pictures when I figure out a way to... and when that day comes, there probably won´t be as many words here.

Adios

So, I made it

I am very much in Cusco right now.

Some interesting points so far:
-There are tons of alpaca (llamas) walking around everywhere
-Everything looks and feels ancient. Probably because it is, but you know.
-I´m constantly surrounded my mountains, which is the best.

I´ve been walking around exploring a ton, and today I started taking pictures. I figured I was being safe with my camera, until a car sped by and a kid reached from the window and grabbed at me, unsuccessfully. His hat fell off and they kept going. I was dumbfounded, and I realized I´ll just be the most careful man alive from now on. Shake it off.

My family is pretty interesting so far. There are seven members of the family living in the house, and I´ve now met five. I would have met the other two had I not fallen asleep at 7 last night and slept until 8 this morning. On the bright side, when I woke up I felt like a hundred bucks.

I´ve made one American friend so far and one Peruvian friend (who I spoke to for a half hour earlier, and then ran into again on the other side of Cusco today).

No pictures yet. I´ll figure out how to manuver that later. Until then...
Adios