Cusco Underground
Mark Twain: ¨An adventure is something that while it´s happening, you wish it wasn´t¨.¨
My friend is having a classic Mark Twain adventure.
Yesterday evening, after a hard week of intensive Spanish courses and discotecking (we had to go - there was a fundraiser for the afterschool program for street kids at the discotec), a few of us were watching a movie in a bar - it´s nice, they have couches and pillows, and you order a drink and get to chill out and watch a movie on a big screen with Spanish subtitles - good practice. (The couches rock - I always miss having somehwere comfy to sit when I´m travelling... it seems you are always on benches, the ground or restaurant chairs, or at school...) And they seem to have all the most recent pirated flicks here...
Anyways, he left for a minute to run home and change his clothes. Outside they were having a humungous ´Jesus fiesta´ - people dancing and singing in the streets, etc. As he struggled his way through the crowd, his camera got nicked from his pocket. Ugh. . He had about 100 pics from his trip so far. :-( :-(
Anyways, once he realized it was missing, he did something I wouldn´t have thought of. He started chatting with the street kids, the postcard and shoeshine kids, and the touts who try to get you into their bar and restaurants. After the movie I joined him, and we spent much of the evening with our ear to the ground, our finger on the pulse of the underbelly of cusco... :-) :-) :-) talking with kids, finding out which kid probably stole it, where he hangs out, where they sell the stolen stuff, etc. With a bit of bribery they were running back and forth to the pool bar where these kids hang out, seeing if this certain kid had the camera, and negotiating, etc. They all know which pickpockets work which area and when, so they were able to narrow it down.
Through our new street connections :-) we have deals with kids to either buy the camera back, or at the very least to get the memory card.
Poor guy - I really hope it works out, though there are just soooo many ifs and buts... Even if the kids find the guy they think it is, and are able to swing a deal to get the card back, will it be the right camera, or will we get someone else´s pics? Anyways, he´s meeting with a kid at noon today, who´s going to work on it. We also have a guy who sells postcards and is a student to become a tourist guide working on it. The police is an option as well.
Almost all of the kids are awesome and good, not criminals, and they don´t like the pickpocket kids because they say it gives Peru a bad name (especially the one who hopes to be a guide). They´re good, these kids who are helping us out.
Anyways, that´s the word of the day. It´s quite an interesting way to get to know a tiny bit of the culture of the street kids, that´s for sure. We´re seeing an interesting bit of Cusco... And it´s such good Spanish practice.... I just hope it ends properly.
Cross your fingers.
My friend is having a classic Mark Twain adventure.
Yesterday evening, after a hard week of intensive Spanish courses and discotecking (we had to go - there was a fundraiser for the afterschool program for street kids at the discotec), a few of us were watching a movie in a bar - it´s nice, they have couches and pillows, and you order a drink and get to chill out and watch a movie on a big screen with Spanish subtitles - good practice. (The couches rock - I always miss having somehwere comfy to sit when I´m travelling... it seems you are always on benches, the ground or restaurant chairs, or at school...) And they seem to have all the most recent pirated flicks here...
Anyways, he left for a minute to run home and change his clothes. Outside they were having a humungous ´Jesus fiesta´ - people dancing and singing in the streets, etc. As he struggled his way through the crowd, his camera got nicked from his pocket. Ugh. . He had about 100 pics from his trip so far. :-( :-(
Anyways, once he realized it was missing, he did something I wouldn´t have thought of. He started chatting with the street kids, the postcard and shoeshine kids, and the touts who try to get you into their bar and restaurants. After the movie I joined him, and we spent much of the evening with our ear to the ground, our finger on the pulse of the underbelly of cusco... :-) :-) :-) talking with kids, finding out which kid probably stole it, where he hangs out, where they sell the stolen stuff, etc. With a bit of bribery they were running back and forth to the pool bar where these kids hang out, seeing if this certain kid had the camera, and negotiating, etc. They all know which pickpockets work which area and when, so they were able to narrow it down.
Through our new street connections :-) we have deals with kids to either buy the camera back, or at the very least to get the memory card.
Poor guy - I really hope it works out, though there are just soooo many ifs and buts... Even if the kids find the guy they think it is, and are able to swing a deal to get the card back, will it be the right camera, or will we get someone else´s pics? Anyways, he´s meeting with a kid at noon today, who´s going to work on it. We also have a guy who sells postcards and is a student to become a tourist guide working on it. The police is an option as well.
Almost all of the kids are awesome and good, not criminals, and they don´t like the pickpocket kids because they say it gives Peru a bad name (especially the one who hopes to be a guide). They´re good, these kids who are helping us out.
Anyways, that´s the word of the day. It´s quite an interesting way to get to know a tiny bit of the culture of the street kids, that´s for sure. We´re seeing an interesting bit of Cusco... And it´s such good Spanish practice.... I just hope it ends properly.
Cross your fingers.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home