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…
No comments:
Post a Comment