Getting Arrested

I started off the day with early morning classes. My teachers and I went to Qurikancha, the temple of the Sun God. It was a beautiful place, with some Incan architecture still intact. It was interesting to see how the Spanish took over the temple with religious (Catholic) art because Incan people could understand the visuals, even if they didn't understand the language. The religious art was also a point of confusion between me and Jenny, my teacher. Jenny was having an extremely difficult time understanding how I could not know the saints and stories of Christ that were pictured in the museum. She was very frustrated with me, and kept saying, "But is the same in America... You know, you know, read the English." She thought there was a language barrier when really it was something completely different. I kept trying to explain that I don't practice Catholicism (this is actually a subject we have discussed at least three times before), but she insisted than non-Catholics must also know these things, too. It was an interesting conversation to have in a place so charged with a history of religious evangelism.

After the museum, I met up with Carmelita to go to lunch at an Indian/Asian fusion place. Everything sounded so good that we ended up with a feast!

On the walk back from San Blas, some girl asked if I wanted to go to her massage place (this happens every time I walk through San Blas), but this time, I did! Luckily, I asked to see the place before committing. This was a smart choice because the massage place was a closet with two beds in the corner of a tourist store filled with alpaca chompas and cheap silver jewelry. I declined and instead headed to the spa Jessica recommended. That was a much better choice, and the massage was the best that I have had yet.

Before meeting up with everyone at salsa class, I grabbed a quick dinner at Toldos. The place was so packed that I was joined by a friendly Peruvian couple at my table! That's something I don't think would have happened in the US, but it's so nice to be able to create that sense of community here.

After salsa, we hung out at FairPlay, then headed to Mystika for Candice's birthday to meet up with some of the teachers. I really liked Mystika. It was a true Peruvian club - we were the only tourists there. We stayed for a few hours, then headed to McDonalds! I never go to McDonalds in the US, but here, they have real heinz ketchup, so it's a luxury! They also have all sorts of spicy Peruvian sauces. I much prefer the McDonalds here to the ones at home. After, I headed home, but everyone else headed to Temple for what turned out to be the craziest of nights. After Temple, at around 7 A.M., when Peruvians were heading to church, two of the guys who I volunteer with decided to swim in the fountain at the Plaza de Armas. They actually did more than swim - they tried to climb up to the top of the fountain to high five the Incan statue at the top. Very disrespectful. The police weren't happy, and arrested them on the spot. As far as we know, they are still in jail.