The next day, March 8th, we went back to Pichanaki (in the bus…again…) stopping on out way to look at some local crafts like the indigenous hats, cloth, etc… of the Ashanika (sp?) people. When we reached Pichanaki, Jesse, Melissa, Julia and I were chosen as Jorge Secada’s students with the best control of Spanish to accompany him to Channel 5, the local TV station’s headquarters to be interviewed live on camera! Seems way more impressive than it was, but it was still cool. First there was an artist talking about his paintings and then the host interviewed Professor Secada for most of the time. They panned the camera over us a few times and we introduced ourselves one time, talked about what we were studying once and finally we commented on our first impressions of Peru as American students. Jesse decided to do shout outs to the rest of the UVA in Peru crew in case they were watching.
After that we settled into the hotel and had a lunch of pollo a la brasa, which is extremely popular all over Peru including Lima. It is just a quarter roasted chicken served with a side salad and a mountain of fries. After that we headed out to visit a farm in the middle of the jungle. However, since it was located on an island we had to go to the river and get a ride across. If I said we went by boat, that would be a lie. More accurate is that we crossed the furious river current on a bunch of boats somehow lashed together holding up a large platform of wood on which we and an entire tractor sat. After river crossing of dubious safety, we all sat on the flat wooded bed of the tractor and bumped around for the hourish long ride through the jungle to the farm. I swiped at green oranges dangling close to the road as we passed through long rows of orange orchard. When we reached the farm, fresh orange juice was waiting for us and we walked around the fields and learned about the crops the farmer grew there – bananas, oranges, maracuya (which is actually passionfruit, not so mysterious Peruvian fruit as we thought), papaya, and some trees for wood. Jesse and I rode on the horse, whose name was Chulo.
I smelled pretty bad at this point thanks to the horse, and we were all buggy and sweaty so some of us decided to go for a swim in the little river running by the farmer’s house. Even Professor Secada jumped in to enjoy the refreshing water. Afterward we listened to an anti-alcoholism talk for an hour an a half because the farmer was a recovering alcoholic. By the time we got back on the tractor the sun was setting over the fields and jungle. It was all very peaceful but we arrived back at the river crossing when it was pitch dark.
After a dinner of very small sandwiches (Peruvian style) some of us ventured out to explore the scene at night. First we went to a “video pub” where they played a strange mix of cumbia, latin music, and obscure old school American music accompanied by videos shown on one small TV in the center of the room. Some of the videos, however, were not original but were cut from American music videos such as Eminem and Black Eyed Peas and didn’t match the song at all. We all found it really funny. Then we went to the discoteca around 11:45, which is really early to go out. Things don’t usually get started in Peru until after midnight and it’s not usual to stay out until 5 or 6 in the morning. There was a lot of people (apparently it’s the only discoteca in town) and flashing lights and mist and even bubbles. Everyone dancing seemed very subdued compared to us Americans dancing with our hands in the hair and moving around a lot. Also, as a funny coincidence, the waitress I had talked to from the restaurant we had eaten at before in Pichanaki was there dancing with friends and she greeted me warmly so we danced together a little and I tried to copy what she did. Her and her partner looked absolutely fabulous together dancing salsa. Even though we left early because we had to get up early the next morning, overall it was a really fun night of dancing.
