Back to Cuzco

Hey everyone. I apologize for the delay. There was some technical difficulties on my end, so I’m publishing the rest of this after the fact now.

So the week after my adventure in Puerto Maldonado was great. I was able to talk to Reinaldo, my supervisor, about how I was here to do stuff like the other volunteers, and he seemed to get it. As I’ve said before, I excel when I’m in front of the class, doing stuff with them, more than when it’s so freeform as it usually is.

One day as I was walking down the steps from Colibri to head home, I met this woman who was trying to sell donkey hats, and we had the following interesting conversation:

Seller: “So what happened to your eyes?”

Me: “We don’t really know, I was just born that way.”

Seller: Asks a few more times before she is content with my answer. When she can’t get any more out of me, she asked: “Did you or your parents sin?”

Surprised, I said, “No! Isn’t there a place in your Bible where Jesus refutes that?”

Seller: “I don’t remember that part.”

We then proceed to talk about what I’m doing here in Cuzco and at Colibri.

Seller: “So how did you learn Spanish if you can’t read?”

Me: “I can read braille.”

Seller: “Read me.” (At first it sounded like she had said, “Read to me” because of how a sentence in Spanish is structured).

Me: “Well, I didn’t bring the device I use to read braille …”

Seller: “No, read me.” She stuck out her hand, palm up.

Me: “That’s not really how braille works. You put it on paper or a digital display, not skin.” (Although apparently some people have managed to get words in braille tattooed on their skin!)

Seller: “Oh …”

She then proceeded to try to sell me one of her hats. I honestly might have bought one, because it’s Cuzco, and I didn’t know of anywhere else I could get something like that; but (1) I don’t wear hats very often, and (2) I hadn’t bought any money. I told her this, but then she was like, “Why won’t you pay for a hat?” So I had to tell her again–and once or twice more.

Seller: “I can just come to your house, and then you can get it and pay me there.”

What?! I didn’t know what to think about this, but at this point I felt like we were done here.

The next day I shared this encounter with my Spanish professor, who has become one of my best friend in Cuzco–especially after I graduated from her class. While I found it at once surprising and rather amusing, she seemed a bit perturbed.

“Those people are just dumb. When she offered the hat, you should have just said, ‘No thanks, I’ve already bought one,’ and left as soon as possible. Also, I’m Catholic, like the majority of people here, and my Bible doesn’t say anything about disability being the result of you or someone else sinning.”

The highlight of my weekend was going on an excursion to the cathedral with Anna and Kyle, who were only going as part of their Spanish class. I didn’t take any pictures. From what I understood, it was a lot of paintings, at least some of which were done by natives–and they were really well done.

Next, catch me almost constantly on the move between Peru and Ecuador.