Nunca Se Sabe

The past year of my life has been full of surprises, big and small, amazing and awful. I guess you just never know where you’re going no matter how hard you try and make a plan, how long you prepare, you just never know. On sait jamais. Nunca se sabe.

I remember in Bamako, during evacuation, when I was sitting in the Peace Corps van waiting outside the doctor check-out place for some volunteers who needed a pick-up. I thought I’d already cleared my medical. I was just sitting there, squished into my bench seat, shoulder to shoulder in a row of six on a bench for four. My head was down…I was thinking about my future…thinking about what could have been…when all of a sudden a brown paper bag fell into my lap.

I looked up, no one knew anything, they had just passed back a brown paper bag with my name on it scribbled in magic marker. A gift from the doctor. Everyone watched as I opened it up. I pulled out a small box of pills with Arabic writing. No note. Nothing else.

“What does this mean?” I asked.

“Oh,” Dylan said. “I know what that means. You have Amoebas.”

It turned out I had Giardia, but that’s not really the point. The point is that a lot of things have been plopped in my lap this year, and I’m just rolling with it, whether its parasites, or invitations or evacuations, or new job offers. This weekend’s been no exception. Work offered me a job in Cusco. I’ll be there in a week, sooner probably if I hadn’t planned on visiting Ayacucho for Easter holiday.

Why shouldn’t I move to Cusco? No good reason. It wasn’t that hard putting my stuff back in my backpack. A few months here a few months there, that’s more my style anyway. And Cusco is beautiful. It’s a mountain city, like home, with rain and sun and hiking and biking. I can walk to work. I can walk to the central market. I can breathe clean air. So, I’m going.

But first, not Cusco…Ayacucho. It wasn’t that long ago in January when I said goodbye to my friends and new family there, to the little sparrows and the rubbley roads, the scary dogs and the juice ladies at the market. Tomorrow, I’m headed back to visit everyone and celebrate the Semana Santa (Easter) festivities which are supposed to be the biggest in Peru. It will be the beginning of a new adventure and soon I’ll be in Cusco, waiting to see what life plops in my lap next.

Next Monday, I’m back in Lima for about seven hours before I take my bus to Cusco, just enough time to swing by Barranco for one last beer on the beach.

Life in Lima

Things are beginning to settle down here in the City of Kings. This gigantic city that should overwhelm me is feeling poco a poco more manageable. Not only, can I now take a bus to work and to Barranco but I’m also starting to familiarize myself with El Centro which though I’ll probably never actually be able to visit without a map or asking directions, at least I’m getting an understanding of some of the main streets and bus routes. Parts of Lima feel as though I’m back in southern France or Spain, with beautiful crowded parks, street performers, chain food restaurants, coffee houses, and people watchers. Other times, on my way out to the hospital where I visit a little friend for example, the city looks like shanty’s built upon rubbley hillsides and the chain restaurants are swapped with roadside street food stands and Menu del Dia’s.

Many of the expats I meet here are beginning to create a certain stereotype for themselves. I’m starting to think that Lima is the place where weary travelers come to rest/settle/die. There are many interesting stories out there waiting to be discovered, in a conversation with an unknown foreigner at the bar. There doesn’t seem to be the same cohesiveness among expats as there was in Prague which initially led me to believe that there were fewer expats living here. More and more people, however keep popping out of the woodwork from within Limeñian culture and society.

Anyway, just as I’m getting comfortable in this dichotomous city, where despite hot showers, supermarkets and resident ears plugged with ipods that remind me of home, I’m still very prone to parasites, can buy antibiotics at the pharmacy without a prescription, can eat a full meal for a dollar and a half and stroll through a market stinking of rotting meat to buy sweaty pork. Just as I’m getting comfortable here, I may be leaving very soon. I’ll leave you in suspense.

In the meantime, I am definitely leaving very soon to visit Ayacucho for Semana Santa, the largest Semana Santa celebration in Peru. It will be refreshing to breathe some mountain air, visit the kiddies at the casa, and old friends. The festivities will likely be a bit loco. I promise to take lots of photos and try very hard not to have my camera stolen.

Happy Passover,
Cuidate!

It takes two to...samba?

Here's an article I wrote at work. It's called article marketing. It doesn't go on our website but other sites. Usually they're quite dull but I snuck this one out :)

Argentina Travel: Suggested Samba and Tango Vacation Itinerary

The expression “It takes two to tango” is an idiom meaning that the subject cannot be done without more than one person and is often used with a slightly negative or at least mischievous connotation, referring to infidelity or conspiracy. This phrase was originally coined in a song composed in 1952 by Al Hoffman and Dick Manning and since then it’s been used in political situations and in the media making its way into popular language. Some of the song lyrics are ‘You can sail in a ship by yourself, Take a nap or a nip by yourself. You can get into debt on your own. There are lots of things that you can do alone. (But it) Takes two to tango’ ...etc.

So we are confident about the number of people it takes to dance the tango, but how many people does it take to Samba? Referring to expert sources on the web, the answer is evidently two. So Samba is a two person dance as well as the Tango. If popular culture had been so inclined, the phrase could have been coined ‘It takes two to samba,’ though it lacks the same ring.

To learn more about the Samba and the Tango it is recommended that you visit Brazil and Argentina respectively. While the internet can be a great ‘How to’ resource, when it comes to dancing the Samba, you really need to do it for yourself, and what better place to do that Rio de Janeiro, the exciting and lively coastal city in Brazil. Rio claims to have a musical soul and with beautiful beaches bumping up against this vibrant city, the samba is a popular activity day and night, all through the year. Visit Rio during Carnival and you are likely to experience a lifetimes worth of Samba in one week.

The Tango, however can best be explored in Buenos Aires, the vibrant capital of Argentina and home to arguably the best Tango dancers in the world. Buenos Aires has been dancing the Tango for over a hundred years, carefully molding it into the professional and powerful dance it is today. They dance so much Tango they’ve even declared a national “Tango Day” on December 11 where the whole country takes a day to really consider the special meaning and cultural significance behind this dance.

These neighboring countries are separated by the Iguazu River and Iguazu Falls, the most amazing waterfall in the world that is actually a collection of 275 individual falls. The powerful water of the Iguazu River cascading over scaling cliffs and enormous boulders is an immense and spiritual experience. The falls can be visited from both Argentina and Brazil offering very different and equally awesome perspectives.

If you’re like me maybe you are wondering if Samba dancers ever dance the Tango or Tango dancers every dance the Samba. Iguazu Falls would be a good place to go to find out because of it’s location on the border. Rio de Janeiro may be the suggested location for dancing the Samba and Buenos Aires for dancing the Tango, but one can’t help but wonder what people dance at Iguazu Falls. Perhaps some sort of Samba-Tango fusion, likely called the Tangba. Why not a vacation to find out?

About The Author:

This guide to samba and the tango during Argentina vacations was written by a Argentina travel expert at Argentina For Less, specialists in high value, fully customizable tours and packages.