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Arequipa Perú in Pocas Palabras

Our adventure in Arequipa, Perú, has ended, and so I would like to sum up our experience there in a few words (pocas palabras).

Rocoto Relleno — Possibly the most common dish in Arequipa, this spicy stuffed pepper is delicious.

San Camino Market — The largest market in the center of town is a great place to find bargains and cheap produce.

Purple Corn Juice (Chicha) — Served everywhere.

Alpaca Yarn — Perú is famous for this soft yarn.

Ceviche — Though Arequipa is two hours from the coast, this fresh fish that is marinated (or “cooked”) in lemon and/or lime juice is a staple.

Traffic — Arequipa has grown rapidly in the last 10 years, and the roads are not well equiped to handle the increase in traffic.

Papaya and Mango — My two favorite local fruits, and I will miss them.

Sun — Shines virtually every day this time of year.

Cheese Ice Cream — Yum!

Inka Terraces — Farming the Inka way is still commonly done thanks to the many terraces left behind by this native community.

Potatoes — There are seemingly dozens of varities.

Combis — Vans and buses packed with commuters that clog the streets.

Aji — The national spice of Perú, and in different varieties.

Plaza de Armas — The central square and park.

Drinkable Yogurt — Many varieties and in large containers, however low-fat and low-sugar versions are scarce.

Walking — Without exaggeration I walked well more than 100 miles a month while there.

Menu del Día — The daily lunch menu of soup, entre, and beverage, all for as little as $2.

Vicuñas — The smallest of the camel family, these beautiful animals yield the most expensive yarn in the world.

Inka Cola — It’s yellow and tastes like cream soda, but it’s the most popular soda in Arequipa.

Catholic Church Buildings — They are all over town, including monasteries, parishes, and the grand cathedral that anchors the central square.

Bottled Water — That’s all I drank for two months after my early bought with Montezuma’s Revenge.

Pigeons — All over town.

Vea — Kind of like a mini Walmart, and my favorite grocery store.

Taxis — They dominate the streets.

Cheese — Several local and tasty varieties.

Slow Internet — Enough said.

Cornbread — Deliciosa!

Narrow Sidewalks — Always an adventure, but I won’t miss them.

Maca — This root vegetable that may only be found in Perú is purported to be a wonder food.

Club International — This sporting and exercise facility close to the center of town sits on about 5 acres right next to the river and it has just about everything you can imagine.

Coca — The leaves from which cocaine is made is all over town and used in teas, snacks, etc. … I would have loved to try it, but didn’t want to risk failing a job-related drug test back home.

Misti — One of the volcanoes that tower over Arequipa, it is your constant companion while there.

Buñuelos — A Peruvian donut drizzled in honey, need I say more?

3:30 AM in Perú

Today is Sunday, and I am so glad that I woke up early today because I am getting an early start on my day off from teaching English and being tutored in Spanish.

No one is completely extroverted, and no one is completely introverted, but since I am more introverted I find myself peopled-out by the end of a week of trying to infuse my students with the English language. An extroverted person might find that really energizing and want more, more, more — not me! Nonetheless, I don´t want to spend the whole day cooped up in my room, so I wonder if I can venture out into this city of half a million people and appear invisible? (Invisible appearance, my new oxymoron).

In any case, it is so wonderful to wake up early enough to watch the sky be gradually enlightened by the rising sun. From 3:00 AM until 4:00 AM is the best hour of the day because the night owls have finally gone to bed, but the early birds are not quite up, so it feels like you have the whole world to yourself … and then you get to watch the sun rise. They say that the 3:00 hour is the most spiritual hour of the day because the world is still and quiet like God.

How can it be that God´s one and only voice is silence, and how can it be that God dwells in stillness? It seems so contrary to the busy and noisy lives that so many of us live. Yet God´s silent voice speaks volumes, and God´s stillness moves all things … therefore it seems to me that we would all do well to speak less in order to say more, and we would all do well to remain still in order to do more — just like God.

We are one with the One who is the silent voice and effortless power at the core of our being. In the same way that a slice of orange tastes just like the orange from which it was sliced, and in fact is part of that very orange from which it was sliced, we are all like the One from which we came. We are all made in the image of God, therefore it stands to reason that we are also made with the ability to say a lot without saying anything, and to do a lot effortlessly. Jesus said that even the least among us can do all that he did and even greater things. Do we really believe that? No we don´t because we have been trained to believe that those words applied only to the so-called “age of miracles” when God was present in human form, and that those words applied only to a short period in history. Prophecies will end, and miracles will cease, but no one can prove that this has come to pass … so many of us live our lives believing that we don´t have access to the same effortless power and silent voice that … can do even greater things.

I refuse to believe that the full power of God is no longer available in and through us … or to put that in the positive, I believe that the full power of God is within each of us.

There´s no doubt that some people will read what I just wrote and say that I am full of shit, or at least misinformed. They will say that I have to believe this or that first, that I have to do this or that first, that after many years of loving … and believing … and doing … and praying … and fasting … and serving … and penance … and alms … and self-flagellation … and whatever, I MIGHT get access to the full power of God, but only for a brief moment, and only if God just happens to make a momentary exception in my case. Nonsense! What a negative, limited, discouraging way to think and live! Or, to put that in the vernacular … what a shitty way to think and live!

In any given moment, without having to satisfy a laundry list of requirements, each of us can tap into the full power of God. It can happen in an instant. Even the least among us has access to God´s power, even me. And really, the only requirement is that we BELIEVE. Everything that is not inconsistent with God´s nature, that is, everything that is true and beautiful and love and more, is available to us if we only believe and act on that belief.

Someone who believes that they are healthy will act on that belief and be healthy. But if by chance they forget who they are and what they believe with the result that they feel unhealthy for a season, all they need to do is remember that they are healthy and act on that belief in order to manifest the habits and help that will enable them to return to being healthy.

Someone who believes that they are abundant will act on that belief and give freely to others because they know that there is no end to the abundance that flows through them, and that same abundance will never cease to flow into their life because they believe that they are abundant. Give and it shall be given to you, overflowing into your life, for by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return.

Someone who believes that they are creative will act on that belief and do creative things, and though there may be people around them who inadvertantly or even deliberately try to hinder their creativity, the creative person holds fast to their belief that they are creative. Thus, they live their life constantly inspired, seeing what others don´t see, creating something out of nothing, and they will always inspire others to be creative as well.

Someone who believes that they are truthful will act on that belief and live an honest and truthful life. They will return money and things that don´t belong to them, and they will not enrich themself at the expense of others. The truth that is within them is evident to all because they know that they are truthful and act on that belief.

Someone who encourages others is an Encourager … they act on the belief that encouragement is what everyone needs, and so they go about encouraging others. They don´t criticize or ridicule or belittle other people because all of us are made in the image of God. It seems unnecessary, even foolish, to criticize or ridicule or belittle the handiwork of God, doesn´t it? So it goes without saying that an Encourager does not discourage, but instead serves as a vessel of hope and support and help and encouragement to others.

Someone who wants to bring peace into the world will act on that belief and do peaceful things. They will manifest peace where there is strife, and thus dissolve strife through their peace in the same way that light dissolves darkness. People who live in peace with others are Peacemakers, and if it weren´t for these Peacemakers our world would be full of strife. Mother Teresa was once asked to join a march against war, but she refused to join because she was a Peacemaker … so then she told the anti-war movement that if they were to hold a march for peace, she would be there. Thank God for Peacemakers because they reflect the peaceful nature of God, and they bring peace into our world.

Someone who believes that they are loving will act on that belief and love themself and others. They will be a centered person who has a healthy sense of self-respect and self-love because they know that they are made in the image of God … and God don´t make junk. Someone who believes in the love of God within them will act on that belief and spread genuine, unconditional, love throughout the world. God is love, and those who live to love are living in God.

The full power of God is within each of us, so let´s all believe and act on those beliefs in order to manifest “even greater things” for all to enjoy.

Keith

Words

Obviously, you cannot get wet from the word “water” because a word only points to something or someone beyond itself … a word is merely a collection of letters, or a symbol, or a sound that points to some reality beyond itself. With that in mind, below are at least 70 inspirational words that you can use like a mantra to meditate on. So for example, if you want to manifest more laughter in your life and in the lives of the people around you, just carry the word “laugh” in your mind throughout the day … and you will no doubt be prompted to laugh during the day because you have been carrying that thought in your mind. Pick an inspirational word to meditate on today, and may you experience the reality beyond each word.

Believe, word, create, wellbeing, breathe, water, communicate, vegetables, be, universe, dance, stillness, drink, spirituality, eat, sky, encourage, silence, exercise, rest, feel, recreation, flow, peace, give, now, gratitude, grow, nature, help, music, hug, mindfulness, imagine, meditation, kiss, love, know, light, laugh, life, learn, language, listen, joy, live, hope, love, happiness, manifest, God, share, gap, beauty, smile, fruits, teach, freedom, think, energy, touch, earth, travel, discipline, volunteer, detachment, truth, walk, being, watch, acceptance, write, abundance.

Teacher

Here in Perú almost all of my students call me “Teacher” instead of Keith, even my adult students.  I can only assume that in this culture the students call you “Teacher” as a sign of respect, however I´m not sure that I was feeling much respect from the teenage boys I taught on Saturday morning last month.  One of those boys gave me the middle finger about 40 minutes into his first class after I had told him for the 4th time to put away his cell phone.  When talking about those boys I had to force myself to refer to them as my “angels” instead of as my “devils” … and I did that only because I was afraid of the consequences of calling them devils, fearing that they would fully become what I labeled them and what I perceived them to be.  Granted, there are the “name it, claim it” charlatans that are out there just trying to make a buck off naive followers, but I do believe that there is enormous power in words … for with a single word you can tear down or build up.  In any case, my teenage angels and I made it through the month relatively unscathed.

I´ve worn many hats in my life, and teacher is just one of them.  For these two months in Perú I am working in the official capacity as teacher, however the reality is that our teachers are everywhere, and everyone of us is a teacher.

I have come to believe that every single person that we cross paths with in life can be our teacher … from the child gleefully kicking a plastic bottle down the street and who teaches us how to find joy in the simple things of everyday life, to the elderly blue-haired lady who is in front us driving 20 MPH in a 45 MPH zone while teaching us to slow the hell down, and I could go on and on.  We can view everyone as our teacher.

On the other side of the coin, in everyday life I tend to be a little hesitant about making myself out to be anyone´s teacher.  Is there anyone who actually enjoys being around someone who acts like they know the answers to all of life´s questions?  When I am around people like that I generally disregard most (if not all) of what they say, and then I try to get as far away from them as possible just as soon as I possibly can.  An over-inflated ego is moving away from wisdom and not toward it.  So, I try to remember that the best time to offer advice is when someone asks for it, and if I do offer unsolicited advice, I try to do it with a genuine attitude of service.  They say that all the answers are within us, so perhaps real teaching is about helping people discover the wisdom that is within.

The business of teaching English as a second language has been a very eye-opening experience for me.  First of all, it is a business, and there is a fair amount of money to be made in this business … that is, if you are a school owner or in administration.  Generally speaking, English teachers are not raking in the big bucks.  I´ve heard that the best places to make money teaching English are in South Korea and in the oil-rich countries such as Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar and others.  One really good thing about this business is that if you are willing to travel and adapt to different cultures, you will have no trouble finding work.  All the world is learning English.

One other aspect of this business that I´ve discovered is that in many places (especially in Spanish America) it is only the upper class rich people who can afford to pay for English classes in a private school like the one where I am teaching right now.  What that means is that you have to be prepared to deal with a fair amount of snobby, spoiled, generally unmotivated students.  In fact, during teacher orientation here I was told NOT to give any of my students homework, that homework is not something they want or will do.  But as for me, in every place I have taken Spanish classes I have insisted on receiving homework virtually every day because I am very motivated to improve my Spanish.

To this day, the best experience I have ever had teaching English was in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, through a program that was known at the time as “Children of the Dump.”  A large evangelical local church was operating an after-school program at a facility that was located a few blocks from the city landfill, and the kids that lived in that poor neighborhood were provided English language lessons for free since all of us teachers were volunteers.  The classes were held at night after the regular school day, and guess what?  Those kids were the most motivated, well-behaved, students that I have ever had.  They were truly angels in contrast to the rich and snotty so-called angels that I have taught in private English language schools.

Well, I suppose that I will continue to teach English for pay for the foreseeable future, but I look forward to the next time I can teach English to an entire class that really wants to learn, to teach people who can use English to escape poverty and improve their standard of living.  And I expect that those people will be my greatest teachers.

My Birthday Buddy Rodrigo

Today I went to Characato with a fellow English teacher and one of my adult students.  Characato is a small village and farming community on the outskirts of Arequipa, and it took about 40 minutes to get there travelling by two separate “combis.”
 
Combis are the public transportation system here in Arequipa and in many other Spanish American cities, although these vehicles have different names in different places.  A combi can be any vehicle that ranges in size from a small van to a bus, but all of them have many seats intalled in them.  And although it seems that anyone with a vehicle with seats in it can call themselves a combi and start transporting people around the city, I am told that the system is somewhat regulated and that combis are assigned to various routes and even have schedules (although I find that a bit hard to believe).  Today when our combi arrived at the same location at the same time as another combi, there was a shouting match between the two drivers and between the two driver helpers.  Our combi was evidently the offending party, and so the other combi blocked for a few minutes our progress forward, and also created a traffic jam in the process which illicited lots of honking from the cars and other vehicles behind us.  Eventually, the other combi wedged its way into trafffic as the light turned red, and we were left behind to wait for the light to turn green again.
 
In any case, the combis all have their route name listed in the front windshield, and as the combi rolls into a stop zone the driver helper hangs out the side of the combi calling out their route name in order to attract as many passengers as possible.  You can also get a combi to stop for you virtually anywhere by sticking your arm straight out toward the street.  Most of the time when you get in a combi it is already packed with people like sardines in a can, so you have to stand up and grab a bar or a seat or another passenger or whatever you can find to grab, and then hold on for dear life.  Also, the drivers don´t look back to see if everyone is seated before darting forward, as I was reminded today while I was in the process of entering a seat to share with an elderly man … the combi darted forward before I was seated, and I landed in the lap of the elderly man.  When you exit the combi, or should I say squeeze out of the combi, you pay the combi driver helper 80 Peruvian centavos (which is about 25 U.S. cents).
 
Characato was literally a breath of fresh air.  After a month spent in a fairly busy part of town where there are dozens of black-smoke-belching combis, tour buses, cars, etc., passing by all day long, it was nice to get out of town for the day and smell cow and sheep manure instead.  (It seems odd to say that I welcomed the smell of shit).  Nonetheless, we walked along the country roads and enjoyed the beautiful views of farmland that reaches all the way to the mountains, and those same mountains provide the melting snow that waters the entire area through an irrigation system that was built thousands of years ago by early inhabitants.  All around us we could see tier upon tier upon tier of growing plots that cascade up the mountains.
  
When we got back to the town of Characato we had the good fortune of finding a food fair being held on the central plaza, and we shared 3 plates of local “typical” dishes such as stuffed spicy peppers, seasoned rice with duck, cheesy scalloped potatoes, yummy potato fritters made with spinach and onion, 3 glasses of red corn juice, and the pastry that Characato is famous for– buñuelo, a kind of donut with honey drizzled on top.
 
On the way back to Arequipa a woman got in our combi with her grandson in tow, and since there were no more available seats she sat down next to me on the center console of the combi.  We were indeed packed in that combi like sardines, and since me and grandma were practically sitting on each others laps, I just put my arm around the lady in order to better brace her and me from all the jostling in the combi as we sped down the bumpy roads while swaying from side to side as the combi turned and dipped and swerved and whatnot.  When the grandson saw me put my arm around his grandma, he piled into her lap right beside me and gave me a big smile.  I heard him say the word “English,” and so I asked him in English if he knew how to speak English.  Well, as it turns out this 9 year-old only knew only a few English words, so I started chatting with him in Spanish while asking him all the normal things — what´s your name?, how old are you?, etc., all while grandma sat beside me smiling broadly.  So then I asked my little buddy Rodrigo his birthday, and it was great fun to discover that we were both born on December 20.  Everyone around us was enjoying seeing us two chat and become fast friends, but soon it was time to get off the combi.  Grandma and Rodrigo got off at the same stop, but alas our next combi was different than the one they were waiting for, and as we drove off we could see Rodrigo waving vigorously at us from the curb, so we jumped out of our seats and waved back at him out the back window of our combi.  If I experienced nothing else interesting for the rest of my time here in Arequipa, that chance encounter with my Birthday Buddy Rodrigo already makes the whole trip worthwhile.  Here is a picture of me with Rodrigo and his grandma.