Fun with a llama
Lima - this is a long one
After our trip to the theater after our arrival we took cabs to the Pacific ocean which was about 20 blocks away. We walked through a nice park on a cliff above the ocean. We saw the huge statue of Christ in the distance and the surfers in wet suits just ~200 ft below us. We walked to a nice shopping mall where we ate dinner. I had tiradito, a less fussy ceviche dish that one of the embassy employees had told us about. It was quite good.
From Cusco to Lima we
flew over the Andes Mountains and then as we were
landing in Lima at sea level we passed some
fishing boats - maybe catching the fish for my
tiradito. Here's the group that went for the walk
along the coast. The bright blob in the
background is the statue of Christ.
Here is our hotel,
which was adequate but not nearly as nice as the
one in Cusco- outside, inside and the lovely view
Some scenes around
our hotel. We stayed in the Miraflores area of
Lima which is a nice residential area. It was
safe to walk alone in the day but not at night.
After out first night
in Lima when I got almost a full 8 hours of sleep
bedtime became later and later. After opening
night we went to a Chinese Restaurant with
Embassy folks and the director of the dance
festival and as we were leaving we passed a
Casino so we played slots for about an hour.
Susan, who you see playing here, actually made
some money. Everyone else lost everything
although I don't think anyone played more than
$5.00. Then we met up with Dana and went to a gay
bar called BoBo Bar and danced for a while.
After the Friday
night performance we went to the Embassy Public
Affairs Officer beautiful house for a nice dinner
party. Dana has some wonderful friends in Peru
and they were invited as well. After this party
many of us went to a lesbian bar called Twin
Life. In this picture you see fashion designer
Miragolas, lighting designer Qui Que, his
girlfriend Desiree, then Mecho, who helped me
navigate the huge computer mall and has a great
sense of humor (Miragolas is his girlfriend),
Richard from MIT and dancer Shu Chen. Dana's love
interest, a Japanese Peruvian guy named Johan who
is also very nice, is in the back behind Desiree.
Saturday we went on a
city tour with a guide. We went to a museum of
ancient artifacts, the main square and then to
the catacombs under the Church of San Francisco
used for burials and a hiding space from pirates,
Unfortunately we could not take any pictures in
the church (last picture).
I think it was
Saturday that the techies - Sara, Susan, Richard
and I - performed a dance we choreographed mostly
using dance movements that we liked from Dana's
choreography. We used the laundrymat song from
Dr. Horrible's Video Blog and it lasted two
minutes. The company thoroughly enjoyed it and
hopefully I can get a video of it from one of the
dancers. This picture is from Miyako's
collection.
Saturday night was
the final performance and afterwards we went to a
really nice restaurant near the hotel where I ate
ravioli and a cappuccino parfait (ice cream).
Then the whole company went back to Twin Life
bar. That night it was packed and very loud so we
mostly sat on the sofas outside what I would call
a dance cavern and people watched while drinking
our favorite Cusquena beer.
Sunday was the day
for shopping, which I had done none of in Lima,
and leaving. The best shopping we were told was
at the Inca Market about 7 blocks from the hotel.
And it was. The goods ranged from cheap trinkets
and silly tshirts to beads to textiles to
religious art to fine silver jewelry. You had to
do a little bit of bargaining but not too much. I
found prices were pretty consistent for the same
goods in the various stores. Sara was good at
finding the unusual stuff in Cusco and she did
the same in Lima. I bought some nice things from
the guy in the rust colored scarf. I like the way
he sort of blends in with his wares. From the
market we went and at falafel at an Arab-Peruvian
restaurant.
Before heading to the
airport we piled into 4 taxis and had a scary
crazy ride to Tati's parents beautiful home for
snacks and dessert. Tati's mother served all
sorts of unusual fruit desserts and wonderful
cakes and pisco rum, straight up. For some reason
my favorite was the relatively bland but
delicious artichoke salad tea sandwich.
So it was a great trip. Dana's dancers are all
great to travel with - fun and no drama. There
were a couple of illnesses and mishaps. Sarah the
dancer had a stomach flu after the Cusco
performance but was well agin by the first Lima
performance. Richard the MIT student had some
stomach pains the first morning in Lima and as a
precaution Dana sent him to the Anglo-Peruvian
Hospital where they discovered he had
appendicitis. He was operated on that night and
two days later was back to normal. The Embassy
staff was very helpful in getting him the best
care possible. Sara from MIT had her purse stolen
in a restaurant. We were all sitting in a group
of tables around hers and saw nothing. They were
good. Her passport and iPhone were stolen and she
and Dana stayed a extra day in Lima to get
everything settled. The police were very
responsive and helpful but alas the thief was
long gone. I had a cold and lost a red alpaca
scarf that I had bought in Machu Picchu. But
luckily Dana found it at the BoBo bar the last
night we were there. He had become friends with
the doorman. He was also a good friend of the
owner of Twin Life by the time we left.
I would definitely go to Peru again in a
heartbeat. I need to see more of Lima and some of
the more ancient archeological sites in Peru. I
would also love spending more time with Dana's
amazing friends from Lima.
ICPNA
Here are some press sites:
interview
pictures
more pictures
Some shots around the school and theater:
Dana being interviewed for a local dance blog
Ceasar and Fernando were part of the theater
crew. These guys were great.
Diplomatic Affairs
We arrived Tuesday morning and after settling into the hotel (which is sparse but has the most important amenity - wireless) Dana, Sara, Connie and I were whisked away by a cultural attache named Jose Carlos to the US embassy to meet the ambassador. Security was very tight but once inside it was just like any other office building, except that there were certain elevators we were not allowed to use. There was an official photographer waiting with the ambassador to take our picture as soon as we walked in which was fun. He sent me the picture which was great. It is so much better than anything I could do.
We talked to the ambassador for about 20 minutes about dance, movies, arts funding, real estate in Washington and the unrest in the north of Peru. He said he was planning to attend the performance Thursday, which he did. I stood next to one of the secret service men during the performance. There was one situated on either side of the audience and then several outside the entrance to the theater.
Here's the impressive embassy building from the outside:
Last days in Cusco
Sunday,
June 7 & Monday, June 9
The performance in Cusco went really well. There
were about 150 in the audience which was better
than we expected. I hung out in the tech booth
most of the day with the theater lighting and
sound guys who were all fun as well as
professional.
Again on the way to the theater there was all
sorts of stuff going on. There have been protests
due to the unrest in the amazon area so there was
a strong police presence and then there was some
sort of typical Sunday morning parade.
I had a very good trout ceviche for lunch.
After the performance
we had Pisco sours and food at a children's
themed restaurant. We had fun with hats. After
that we went to a bar and danced the night away.
On Monday several of us went to the church of
Santa Domingo, a Spanish church built on top of
an Incan temple. There was a interesting museum
of large religious oil painting which were used
to teach the Incas the ways of Christianity. The
gardens were also lovely and the inside of the
church - where photography was not involved - was
filled with wonderful paintings and statues. On
the way to the church we paid to take pictures
with two women with farm animals.
After leaving the
church we walked down another typical Incan stone
wall street and came across a small. This is
where I made my first purchase of beads. The
saleswoman's little girl was cute but a bit shy.
Lunch was a ham and
cheese sandwich with fries and a beer with coco
leaf flavoring. I would never have it again but I
am glad I tried it. Note the funny color of the
ketchup.
We spent our last night in Cusco at a big
handicraft market. We saw a lot of the same stuff
we had seen at other markets but I did buy some
gifts. Dana helped me get the best price. After
the market we ate some pretty decent Mexican food
Machu Picchu
The Incas built the site around 1400 AD and abandoned it about 100 years later. Walking around the site we really had a sense of what it had been like living in this isolated small area surrounded by huge mountains. Our guide was good. I had read most of the information in the travel book but she provided that information and more. It was a beautiful sunny day, around 70 degrees. Everyone who went was glad they did. It was not cheap but it was worth it.
We had to take a train and a van home. On the train there was entertainment which was scary and cheesy. One of the conductors dressed up and wore a mask that was a little clown and a lot scary (I had a nightmare about him that night and cringe when I see the mask in the markets) Then there was a fashion show featuring alpaca wool garments. You were of course encouraged to buy the garments. The van ride was nice because we drove through small villages and saw some of the night life. There was a parade on the highway that seemed a bit dangerous. The stars were bright which was unusual because the moon was almost as bright as the sun. If the moon had not been up the stars would have been absolutely amazing. The moon made it possible to see the snow on the mountain peaks.
Some sites on the way to Machu Picchu. I took the picture of the outside of the train from the bathroom. Shu-Chen, Ricardo and I posed for Ricardo's camera at a train stop.
The cute but touristy town of Agua Caliente (we actually had a nice meal there before returning). The man sitting next to me on the train was a Spaniard who works for the cell phone company - Telefonica. He was very nice and gave us some good places to visit in Lima. I took his picture next to a Telefonica ad.
Looking down at Machu Picchu at the start of our tour. Katie and Sarah had been encouraged to pose this way when they visited the pyramids in Egypt. We insisted that the do the same here.
Tati and I posed as we did in a similar setting in India. Sarah and Susan from MIT. Susan had bought a new SLR camera cheap the day before and was very excited to use it. Tati and Miyako both protected from the sun.
Florain, Miyako and Shu-Chen strike some dance poses.
Fun with Llamas.
The train ride home. Tell me that guy isn't scary! I took the last picture while waiting for the van at the last train stop.
Cusco
Good news: my altitude sickness is gone and we are all in the same hotel - the good one.
We went to the theater Saturday morning to continue the technical setup for the show (which is Sunday). The technical crew at the theater Josse, Fidel, Luco, William - are all lots of fun even with the language barrier. Two of the MIT group speak spanish fairly well so we are managing. After the tech setup we all went out for pizza and beer.
In the afternoon we all went to a travel agency and paid for our tickets to Machu Picchu, did a little shopping, went to the market that is very near the theater to buy baskets (we could not transport the props for one of the dance pieces so bought substitutes here).
Later in the hotel lobby we worked on the music for the new piece with the various audio/video software we had. We needed to incorporate some poem readings by one of the dancers Shu-Chen into the music, timing it with video and adjusting the levels of the music so she could be heard. While working we ate our dinner - beef and chicken jerky, nuts and fruit, Twix bars, starbursts, beer and coco tea..
On Sesame Street
there was a cool little cartoon and song about
finding your way back home by noting the
landmarks. I have thought about that a lot as I
go back and forth from hotel to theater. The
above pictures are sight on the way to the
theater up the hill, through the Santa Clara
arch, past the sewing shop to the Kusikay
Theater. On the way there are many people who
approach me with flyers for restaurants,
entertainment, etc. We have started collecting
ones for massages.
In the last picture in front of the theater you
see Dana, dancers Kelly, Miyako, Florian,
Ricardo, then Sara and Richard from MIT, Enrique
the lighting designer from Lima, Susan from MIT,
Luco the sound guy from Cusco
Dana buying baskets at the market and the group
working on sound and eating junk food
Tomorrow, Machu Picchu!
Cusco - first day
The Washington contingent left around 8:15pm June 3 (almost 2 hours late due to storms) and now four planes later we're finally here. We almost did not make the last flight due to some customs issues involving a $10,000 projector (bought at a discount for $5000) but we did make it with Dana being the last person on just before the doors were shut. There are 16 of us total - 5 technical people (that includes me, a lighting designer from Lima and 3 video and sound experts from MIT, Boston), 10 dancers and one girlfriend. When we arrived in Cusco there was a band of Andean musicians playing for us and lots of people trying to sell us something.
Cusco, (11,000ft above sea level) is a beautiful town nestled in the Andes mountains. There are narrow steep stone streets, big plazas, and again lots of locals trying to sell us something. We are split into two hotels and the techies and one of the dancers, Ricardo, are the lucky ones. We are in Casa Andina, a modern hotel with hot water, internet access, free breakfast and a good location. The other hotel has only occasional hot water.
I am suffering from altitude sickness - head ache and a little nausea. It probably did not help that we ate some absolutely delicious but rich food and drank local beer at a place called the Inca Grill and then walked up to the theatre 10 blocks away and then made the round to trip again to get DVDs and other equipment for a tech run through. I went to sleep at 9:00pm and missed a nice meal at a tea shop. I have been drinking coco leaf tea which is supposed to help but although it is differently delicious I am not sure it is having any effect.
The Cusco airport and the tech crew - Richard,
me, Sara, Susan, Enrique (AKA Batman)
Our hotel room/internet cafe (Sara and Susan)
The views from our hotel room. The main plaza is
to the right where the churches are.
The stone foundations you see here and which are
all over the city are from the Incan era.
The Spaniards built on top of them.
The main plaza and my Andean trout/potato dinner
- our hotel is off to the right of this church