So I’m living in San Ignacio

I finally have some photos of the city.  (Thanks for waiting,)  We were able to borrow Xavier’s uncle’s motorcycle so we could ride around and leave the city/town/village and get to see it from above…and take some photos in route.  It’s interesting because inside the city is equipped with electricity, running water, street lights, etc.  But as you leave the city, you hit a point where it becomes the rustic countryside…

 

This is more towards the outskirts of the city, farther up.  On the left is a moto-taxi, the main mode of transportation.  It’s a motocycle/scooter with a carriage attached to the back.

 

In the city…

Plaza Integración (The city center park named after the peace achieved between Perú and Ecuador)

  

 

It’s cloudy a lot during the sunset hour.  But some days we get a beautiful sky.

 

The view from inside a moto-taxi…looking down my street.

Where am I exactly?

People have wondered where I am exactly in Peru.  So here is a map of where Peru is first (for those that know it’s in South America but which side and how close to the equator is it?).  The second map has a little red marker with the letter “A” – this is the city of San Ignacio, where I live.  If you want to look for it. on for example Google Maps, you need to know it’s San Ignacio in the department of Cajamarca.  So type San Ignacio, Cajamarca, Peru.  It’s near the border of Ecuador, in the Andes mountains.  To the west you have the coast, which is more desert.  To the east you have the northern Peruvian portion of the Amazon rainforest.

My Contact Info

You have my email, but if you want to call me on Skype, look up shireensbya.  If you want to call on the phone, call 51 76 356387.  You probably have to dial 011 first if you are dialing from a US landline to make an international call.  Do not call directly from your cell phone.  I think it’s expensive….ridiculously so.

Skype is definitely the way to go though.  It’s free to talk through computers – you just need a microphone. 

Or email me your number.  I don’t have people’s numbers…didn’t have time to get them out of my cell before leaving.  It’s cheaper for me to call you than you to call me I think…

My Birthday – Mi Cumpleaños

I forgot I had my 30th birthday 2 weeks ago.  Oh jeez.  So we actually had a storm and the power was out the entire afternoon and night of my birthday.  Well, not my exact birth day (Feb 25) but the day before.  Here they celebrate the night before, called the quema (pronounced kayma) which means burn.  At the moment of 12:00 and upon entering the actual day of your birth, there is a birthday toast.  And then you continue celebrating past midnight of course.  So since there was no electricity, we couldn’t really party in the house with music and dancing, which is typical.  And most people could not maneuver in the dark streets to get here.  But the ones that live close stumbled over and, after starting by candlelight inside with a bottle of red wine (how romantic!), we ended up moving outside on the front stoop and sitting under the stars.  As we drank through our case(s?) of cerveza, we pulled up his dad’s car and played music through the car stereo.  The best part of the night - there was an incredible amount of stars out!  Because of being in the mountains and especially now because it is more of the rainy season, many nights are cloudy.  And they told me this was unusual to see so many stars.  I have definitely never seen this amount of stars before, even in the south-western deserts of the US.  It was quite amazing.  Especially after coming from DC where you can only see about 5 stars.

     

some of the family (and me standing)

Xavier’s grandma, Mami Nora

Xavier’s sister, Indira, and his uncle, Calin

 

sitting next to Xavier’s sister, Norma

(sorry no photos of Xavier…he had the camera)

(I was actually looking forward to my 30th birthday all year.  How wonderful to enter a new decade of womanhood.  I figured I’d spend some of it reflecting on my life, what I have experienced, what my hopes and dreams are to come.  But it came and went so fast…I hardly realized it was happening.  But sometimes the best way to travel the river of life is to just hop in your raft and go rather than looking at a map.)   :-)

Always doing something...and thinking even more

So this past week Xavier and I had to travel to Lima to take care of his immigration/visa. This involves a 12 hour bus ride, during the night, to the coast to the city Chiclayo. We stayed there at his cousin’s house during the day where I was able to enjoy the tastiest fruit in the world, lucuma. As a fruit alone, it is really dry and not pleasant to eat. But mixed with water and a bit of sugar for juice or even better, milk and then frozen, for ice cream, popsicles, or frozen slushy in a bag, it is absolutely delicious!!!!! I think I had 4 that day. Then that night another 12 hour bus ride to Lima. The week was spent at a hostel for backpackers that his friend owns. Xavier ran around the city doing paperwork while I tried to get some work done using their computers there. And then I finally found the frozen popsicles in a bag (marcianos) of lucuma…right outside the hostal. So I was able to enjoy another couple days of this heavenly treat. We spent only 3 nights there. The first we shared wine and beer with his friends and their friends that were staying at the hostel. The second night we went to bed (relatively) early to prepare for the following day at the embassy. The last night we celebrated together with cerveza (of course) and then went out dancing for a little bit with some of our new friends. But the discoteca was located in a part of Lima that is really expensive and the cerveza was ridiculously over-priced so Xavier and I left to look at the ocean, reminiscing of us standing there 2 1/2 years ago but in a completely different place personally and in our relationship (which had really just begun). Who would have thought…

The following day we made our way back to Chiclayo (after enjoying a few more marcianos de lucuma….my mouth is watering just thinking about it), but the bus broke down a few hours into our trip and we had to wait for another one to come so we could switch. In Chiclayo, in too much summer sun and heat, we headed to the market to buy my very own fruit of lucuma to carry back to San Ignacio (they do not grow it here nor bring it here to sell) so that I can make my OWN marcianos.

This week was interesting personally for two reasons. One was the idea of an international relationship and the difference between the (typical and exciting) initial meeting and traveling together as a pair and the (not always occurring and less exciting) living a regular life together as a couple. We met the brother of his friend (who owns the hostel) who is dating a girl from the US and a girl in Germany, both of whom had come to Peru, met him here, traveled together, and have since returned to their respective countries. So we talked with him about what it is like to maintain a relationship across continents with occasional visits, how exciting it is to travel across one’s country together with a foreigner and what memories that makes and how it brings you together, and most reflective for me, how different your relationship becomes if you do in fact stay together and end up living a regular life as a couple. Xavier started this theme by pointing out the difference between our friend’s stories of how glorious and thrilling it was to be with *name omitted to protect privacy* and the moments they shared versus how Xavier’s and my lives are now, where many conversations are about what do you want to eat for dinner, who’s going to wash the dishes, how much money do we have, etc. It’s a completely different world. And while I of course realized that our relationship has completely changed from visiting new cities, experiencing new cultures, and him sharing stories about his country, it was interesting to really have it expressed. And it just sort of happens…

The second was Xavier mentioning how I am completely obsessed with food, always talk about food, and do in fact dream about food, and me wondering….since food IS so important to me (and really to all of us…it’s what keeps us alive) if Xavier did not enjoy the same foods as I do, could we even be together? At the hostel at night, we ate really simply (as you have to when you’re traveling and do not want to eat a restaurant for every meal) – bread with avocado and vegetables, and sometimes cheese. Some of his friends made comments about or questioned his eating vegetarian and that he liked it. It’s really not typical for a Peruano to eat the way I do (with vegetables!!!). :-) But Xavier actually likes vegetables. and actually likes the food I like… The other part of our diet that brings us closer is that he loves sweets too…perhaps as much as I do! So while I headed to the dessert shop three times one day for the marcianos of lucuma, Xavier was right there with me, just as excited to eat his third one of the day as I was. And other times he is the instigator to go out of our way in search of that special sweet treat . Ah yes…love…

And I sure do love that lucuma! stayed tuned for how my very own marcianos of lucuma turn out…

us sharing lunch with Xavier’s friends of the hostel and our new friends from France