September 19, 2007
From SATA-Peru-2007
Today, we had Spanish class as usual and then Ethnohistory class afterwards. After an exceptional lunch of pesto pasta, a good number of us decided that today was the day we would visit "El Molino" or the "black market" of Cusco.
We hailed a cab outside of our hostel, which turned out to be a station wagon, allowing us to pack in an extra person in the trunk...haha only in peru. We needed only say the word "Molino" and the driver gave a knowing nod and we took off, peruvian taxi style. Normal and sane road rules do not seem to apply here and drivers take great care of their brakes by using their horn in lieu whenever possible...which is most of the time. We arrived at the market after about a four minute ride that cost less than an American dollar. Can't beat that.
Stepping out of the cab, we proceed to gaze upon the unassuming entrance to a vast and wonderful land of abyssmally-priced (in a good way) merch. Police guard every entrance and exit of the quasi-open-air market, adding to the shady atmosphere of the place. It's like an enormous garage sale where almost anything you can think of is for sale. Clothes, shoes, cd's, movies, "i-pods", tv's, digital cameras, stereos, food, other electronics, watches, sunglasses, sports jerseys, bicycles, and a plethora of other random goodies are all available seven days a week for hecklable prices.
There were literally hundreds of mini-shops in this place and one could easily spend a full day checking out everything there. Some of us picked up Wrangler jackets for $15, others, Ray Bans for $15, still others, movies for $1, and someone was even able to buy a 1995 Honda Accord for 50 dollars! Just kidding. But I wouldn't be surprised if someone did.
After a couple hours, we had our fill of cheap material goodness for one day, and we decided that we would walk back to the hostel instead of taking a cab. It's quite a bit different walking through the non-tourist areas of Cusco and it was a good walk. The Molino turned out to be a hit and hopefully we'll be making another trip back soon. We found out later that there is even a second Molino right next door to the one we had gone to that we had not checked out. Guess we have to go back :).
As if that wasn't enough adventure for one day, most of us went to play soccer at 10 o'clock that night with some employees at our hostel that are some pretty cool dudes. We took a taxi to the place and had to face another group of kids in a dance-off to see who would get the field. Of course we won. Okay, so all we did was call in a reservation for the field, there was no dance-off, but if there was, we definitely would have won. The "field" was concrete and was lit up nicely. It was a little cold and the oxygen a little scarce up here in the mounts, but the game was plenty fun. It was great exercise and also a great opportunity to hang out with everyone on the trip just having a good time.
I am beginning to see that the experiences I have outside of class are the ones that are the most special and most enriching for me. I mean, learning in classrooms is beneficial, but I think that learning out in the world is just as, if not more informational and enriching. This is just an impression that I've felt so far on this trip. In the US, we spend all our time studying other parts of the world in classes, without being able to actually experience what we're studying first-hand, but this SATA program has allowed us to actually live what we're reading about and I feel that every hour I'm spending learning first-hand out in the world is worth many hours in a classroom. Found a few good quotes that I think illustrate what I'm trying to say:
Albert Einstein: The only source of knowledge is experience.
Immanuel Kant: Experience without theory is blind, but theory without experience is mere intellectual play.
Hermann Hesse: I have known it for a long time, but I have only just experienced it. Now I know it not only with my intellect, but with my eyes, with my heart, with my stomach.
I'm extremely thankful to have the opportunity to be here and am looking forward to all of the other amazing experiences still to come on this trip...Lake Titicaca on Monday!
