This morning during breakfast, Kris mentioned wanting to go out to lunch, followed by shopping at the Artisanal Mall. Lots of our classmates have told us about this large market with textiles, souvenirs and more at good prices. My plan for the day had originally been to visit the Clínica San Juan de Dios, an activity run through the school. The clinic is a rehabilitation center for mentally and physically disabled children. The visit was scheduled from 12:30pm-2pm. I signed up when we went to class. After classes were over, I checked the sign-up sheet but only 1 other person signed up (not from NU) and the school needs 4 to go anywhere. So I rearranged my plans to go out to lunch followed by shopping with Kris.
Rachel tried to coordinate a meal at The Aldea Yanapay Restaurant and Café, a restaurant she had visited when she was in Cuzco a few years ago. The Restaurant supports an anti-capitalist, pro-fair economic system. The owner also founded an orphanage, a cultural center and some schools. It's for a good cause and is basically a big playground, with Jenga and little kid books. Due to a lack of reliable internet, Kris and I decided to go ahead and walk there without any definite plans. It turns out we were the only Northeasterners there, but Rachel and a few others headed out the next day. I ordered a Magic Garden salad, which had a huge variety of vegetables and honey mustard dressing, plus a hot chocolate. It was really good and helped satisfy my vegetable craving, since we eat so much bread, potatoes and meat here (I was hoping to get more than just bread for breakfast now that I'm in Cuzco but that's not the case).
After the restaurant, Kris and I walked to the Artisanal mall, where bought presents. Some highlights: something special for my mom and a matching set of a sweater, gloves, socks and a hat for my soon-to-be-born godchild. I spent about 100 soles and we headed home around 3:30, dropped our stuff off and hung out at home for a bit. Next, we went to the Plaza de Armas with the intention of getting some work done before our required movie at the school at 6:45. Once we got there, we ran into Cara, Rosanna and others. Rosanna had gotten a hair braid by a hippie at the plaza. I remember always getting the same thing in Florida during my childhood summer vacations; whereas the Florida ones were pre-braided, these are braided into your hair with beads of your choice. Kris and I decided to get one done; since her hair's longer, she spent 25 soles while I spent 20. The process took a while, and before we knew it, it was 6. We went to the school and at that point, I just socialized with our classmates til the movie, Palomas de Papel (Paper Dove), a fictional story about a family affected by terrorism. And while I say fictional, I mean the people were made-up but the plotline was very representative of many families during the 20-year era of terrorism. Innocent people were killed, tortured, raped and more, and children were forced into being communists.
When Kris and I got home, we had a long discussion with our host mother about terrorism in Peru. She’d witnessed many things firsthand in Cuzco and lived in constant fear, never knowing when or where the next attack could be. She knew the boy in one of pictures at the terrorism exhibit at the Museo de la Nacion. While many people were killed in cold blood during Fujimori's presidency, he made the country safer. The conversation put a new perspective on Ollanta's presidential election after hearing someone's personal account of living in an unstable, dangerous country.
The whole night was very informative but very depressing. Eventually, our host mother told us how her 10-year-old son, Alfonso, loves to make things out of clay. Ever since he was really small, he's been sculpting little figurines with no instruction. He showed us two boxes of his creations, including WWII planes, tiny but extremely intricate musicians, dinosaurs and more. It was amazing to see the creativity and detail someone so young had, and also helped lighten up the mood a bit. I ended the night on a slightly better note and went to sleep with a lot on my mind.
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