Me voy por avión

I’m sad to say that the end of my time here in Peru will soon come to an end. Can you believe how quickly the months have passed? At times it felt like it would never end but now that it is the time is slipping through my fingers and I will be leaving in less than a week. Tears will be spilled for sure when I leave my family and Denis and everyone else that I’ve met here. But I’ll also be thrilled to come home. So I’m stuck here in the middle, torn between two worlds I love…

Things I Won’t Miss About Cusco

• the number of stray dogs on the street that could decide to be rabid at any moment (I have a pretty irrational fear built up and I still avoid the mean dog down the street)
• the lack of toilet paper in every bathroom
• cab drivers that get a little too personal and/or try to give you the gringa price
• the forever uneven sidewalks that create impassable puddles of muddy water
• the cloud of black smog that follows every bus
• the river lleno de garbage
• the fact that in the touristy areas my white face says dollar signs to every vendor within a three mile radius
• the amount of gas I have at this altitude and not being able to control it at key moments… haha…

Things I Will Miss TERRIBLY About Cusco

• Being able to communicate in SPANISH all day every day
• My family and our little house with the white picket fence
• When Edson decides to sing a song while wearing a shawl over his head like a widow
• Greeting every single person with a kiss on the cheek when I walk in a room
• Being called “Laurita”
• Hearing a song I like on the radio and telling the cab driver to turn it up!
• The orange roofs and the blue, blue sky
• Hearing the doormen on the combis speak like auctioneers as they fly by
• Watching the ladies from the campo with their mantas and realizing just when I am right behind them that they have a little baby wrapped up in those blankets on their backs
• Buying Princesa bars at a grocery store called La Canasta (the basket)
• Listening to my sobrinos (nieces and nephews) play and hearing Estrella say funny things like ‘aña instead of España and saying “mío” all the time
• Meeting Denis and speaking our own mixture of Spanish and English while walking in the rain every time
• The satisfaction of grasping a great deal more about the politics of Latin America than I did when I came
• Eating mangoes, Maria’s hot chocolate, choclo and the big popcorn it makes, quinua, coca tea, muña (the Peruvian mint)
• My favorite tree in all of Cusco
• My favorite plazoleta
• Dancing my heart out at Garabatos
• Playing with the kids at Conchacalla
• Maria’s smile that only fades when she yells at me to wear my coat!
• The fact that every single child I have ever seen here has been adorable
• That certain place on the way to school where the cab and combi drivers always cross themselves
• Watching women weave or spinning their alpaca yarn
• The Andes
• Evelyn’s accent when she speaks English and the way she says everything is “superlindo”
• The heavy, warm alpaca blankets on my bed
• Cusqueña
• Edson, Evelyn, Denis, Maria, Esmeralda, Milagro, Irma, Lucio, Pepe, Suci, the really nice smiley man who sits at the reception desk at the CBC, the girl in the bakery who’s learning English, the old man who sits on the stone with our street name every morning, the ladies selling papaya with their monotone voices, etc.