surfing.

In an attempt to restore my spirits, and mostly because I have always wanted to, I have spent the past few days trying to learn to surf. I like it. I normally go to a break that has less consistent waves because there are less surfers there and I don't have to worry about stealing someone's wave or falling off my board and mowing over some child. This, however, means that I spend a lot of time sitting on my board waiting for waves, at which point I discover that I am out of position when the waves finally come (crashing down on my head).

All this sitting on my board gives me plenty of time to enjoy the ocean and think. Mostly I think about sharks. And shipwrecks. How did little Pi, Robinson Crusoe, Luis Alejandro Velasco (Story of a Shipwrecked Sailor), William Adams (Samurai William) all make it back to land after their disasters at sea? How did they ever survive? I am tired, burnt, and very thirsty after a mere hour on my surf board. Plus they had those sharks to worry about.

Do you see what happens?

All day I have been thinking about the scene in The Big Lebowski when Walter destroys the corvette yelling, "Do you see what happens, Larry? Do you see what happens when you **** a stranger in the ***? This is what happens..."



Mostly I think this because a guest at the hostel last night slipped out at 4 in the morning taking with him a lap top from reception and a bag of mine that had my camera, iPod, and every photo I've taken since January 1. If I ever see him again I'd like to give him the same lesson that Walter gave young Larry.

Rankings

The 2006 World Street Food Rankings are in. The best of food from street stalls around the world:


Not Worth a Mention (I don't even remember seeing street foods here):
Ethiopia
Namibia
South Africa

Honorable Mention (in alphabetical order):
Canada: Putin. Need I say more.
Greece: Gyros, sausage pitas, fruit stands, sesame seed bread sticks.
Japan: Not really street food, but great samples of chewy sweet things.
Peru: Hot fresh pop-corn makes it a contender, good turkey sandwiches too (though hard to find) plus ice cream, whipped and sugared egg whites, and the famous and delicious queso helado.

Third Place:
China: Steamed dumplings, barbecued meat on sticks, noodles, and all very very cheap. Most street food is cheap, but China is super cheap. Best feature: pointing and picking out ingredients for your noodles. Good fresh fruit options and gains points for things like fresh pineapple and Washington apples far from tropical areas, and from Washington, for that matter. Loses points for lack of good sweet options.

Runner Up (and a very hard decision):
Thailand: Great variety, fresh, very easy to order, even easier to find. Ordering is unintimidating. Also you can find good and spicy options. Added bonus: excellent banana, chocolate, and sugared crepes. Warm climate also helps make eating at street stands an even more attractive option.

World Champion:
Mexico: Spicy, everywhere, and great variety. Roast Chickens, hotdogs, hamburgers, tortas, tacos of all types, great fruit, roast corn with chile. Extra points for the abundant use of lime and the fact that even well-heeled business-people eat from street food stalls (slight deduction for mayonnaise obsession). There could be better dessert options but paletas offer decent variety.

los estadod unidos mexicanos.

In the words of Katherine Ketter, "Mexico. Be excited."

ollantaytambo

Nick White happened to be passing through Peru on his way to Bolivia where he will be working on a study of the social effects of micro-finance as it becomes more common in commercial banking.

Luckily he was able to break from this rigorous research to spend a couple of days exploring around the Sacred Valley, which, in my opinion, is as much of a canyon as Colca.

We went all over Cusco, then to Pisac, and finally to Ollantaytambo where it happened to be a festival week celebrating the patron saint of one of the churches there. There were fifteen groups of dancers all in costume and all with masks covering their faces. We were told that the groups were formed based on occupation or unions - like all the bakers were in one group. While there were both male and female dancers, I don't think that any of the groups were mixed. By and large, the dances weren't incredible or terribly compelling, much like the Matachines dance at the Taos Pueblo struggles to hold my attention. Furthermore, every few hours there seemed to be a procession from one church to the other for mass and then back.

There were, however, two very interesting events.

There was one group of dancers whose main job is to entertain the crowd, and they did this quite well - largely by whipping each other in the ankles. They would pair up, hold hands and whip each other's ankles to the point that I heard one exclaim, "ay, mamacita." Even the small boys in the dance did this, though they struggled to give the whip much momentum. Then, all the dancers dog-piled, but in a fashion like Jenga - three on the base then three on top at a 90 degree angle then more until the last few just jumped on top. Finally the man dressed as a woman climbed on top, jumped off, and peeled apart the dog pile while the other dancers acted dead. In order to revive the dancers the man dressed as a woman lifted his skirts and knelt with his crotch over each dancer's head until they were revived. That was pretty much the conclusion of the dance, but it was one that they did multiple times while we were in Ollantaytambo.

The other awesome thing was the fireworks show the night that we got there. There were spinning shooting things built on bamboo and it was all pretty fantastic. The most surprising part was when they re-enacted the Chile Peru War with a plane and boat that shot fire and sparks - into the crowd. I was protected primarily because either Nick or I spilled a protective layer of beer all over my jacket, but a monster spark burned through the neck of Nick's jacket. It was pretty funny that the whole goal seemed to be to shoot fireworks at people. At one point the Peruvian man behind me had to pat out my mohawk when a spark fell on it.

better

Nick White (photos later) told me that my last post was depressing. Perhaps it was, though brownies are like heaven.

On the assumption that it was, I thought I should say that things are in fact much better - Nick and I are off in the Sacred Valley, inspecting Inca walls, and getting close enough to tour groups to gather free information.

I am also eating again, and though I am tempted to sample Ollantaytambo's chicha that move may be a bit premature.

heaven

I've been pretty sick recently - able to only eat about a piece of bread a day - and that got me thinking that to be able to be home would be like heaven. I don't want to go home and stay (despite what I may have said on the phone to my parents the other night), but it would be nice to have my own clean bathroom and warm bed for a few days while beating this stomach bug.

As I considered this, I looked back in my notes at all the things that I have described as "like heaven" without thinking about it:

Nachos - Windhoek (Nam.)
Hot Shower - Ai-Ais (Nam.), Micro Papigo (Greece), Deqin (China)
Down Booties - Yubeng (China)
Christmas Eve Dinner - Rhodes (Greece)
Coconut Shake - Ko Mook (Thailand)
Brownie and Ice Cream - Sabie (S. Africa), Kunming (China)
Swim in Fish River - Fish River (Nam.)
Hot Chocolate - Deqin (China)
Hot Springs - Chivay (Peru)
Steak Dinner - Yanque (Peru), Arequipa (Peru)