Wet and dry ink

These little sections are an attempt to fill in spaces and create a larger picture of travel and of the places I am experiencing. They have no rhyme or reason other than I noticed  or thought of them...

The sounds of Sud America:

In South America everyone uses their car horn to communicate. Sometimes it's saying "Hey I see you" sometimes it's saying "Hey watch out" sometimes "Get the heck out of the way" it really depends, but you can count on hearing a horn at least every 30 second on a busy street.

Another fun sound is car alarms.  In many places people have car alarms and they are way too sensitive.  A dog sets off a car alarm. A person walking by sets off a car alarm. A truck sets off the car alarm. Loud music with bass from the local bar sets off a car alarm.  In Cuenca I would say I heard them once an hour... I don't know if it was the way the streets vibrated or what... But car alarms were part of life.

Roosters are real. And real loud.

Packs of dogs are another part of life. There are stray dogs everywhere. And especially at night they congregate and play/fight. This becomes a little scary because an aggressive pack of dogs chasing you around is definitely not fun.  These dogs bark. All night long. Expect it.

Announcements are often made by megaphone, sometimes attached to massive speakers.  It could be the guy selling fruit in the street - letting you know he has the best price for avocados, or tangerines. It could be the local political party telling you to vote for their candidate, it could be an evangelical trying to save your soul... But if you make it though the day without hearing the distorted, tinny or boom boxy voice of someone speaking passionately and absurdly fast- then you will wonder what you did wrong that day. 

People like to shoot off one firework at a time. Then repeat 5 minutes later.

For no reason many stores will play random extremely loud music that had nothing to do with what they sell. Sometimes they aim the speakers to the street as if announcing "Hey if you keep coming this direction you will have your ears blown out by the time you get to our doorway!"

Gringos and the gringo trail:

There is something called a gringo - he looks and acts almost exactly like me. 

He is often a source of entertainment for locals...  These are the thoughts I imagine people have:

"Hey let's stare at the gringo" 

"hey I want my picture taken with the gringo" 

"Let me say something extremely rude to the gringo because he doesn't understand our swearwords" 

"I bet I can get more money out of this gringo". 

"Oh shit a gringo... I wish I knew what the heck he wanted"

"Hey I wonder if I can marry my daughter to this gringo"

----- these come from my experiences mostly. I usually find peoples reactions to be super funny. Like when they want my picture - or when older women flirt with me... That's just cute.

Anyway... The gringo trail is the backpacker spots and the normal tourist sites... And when you are on it- you see gringos. And when you are not... You have to learn more Spanish. The last few days I have been sort of on and off the trail. Today I saw some white people because I took a tourist style day trip... But I am in Chachapoyas which is a little off the normal route. So it's mostly backpackers and tourists who aren't here to party. I am enjoying it a lot... But I also miss the comfort of easy conversations. 

Speaking of tourists... Many of the tourists are Peruvians! Which is so cool. The Peruvians are from other places (it's a massive country) so they've eaten the fruit but never seen the tree it grows on.  Or heard the story in grade school but are looking to confirm the visions of their imagination. They know the language but want to feel the flavor of words in a different dialect.  It's fun. It's also fun to have a guide who speaks both English and Spanish because I am beginning to understand their Spanish explanation and then they confirm it in English. Yea!

Lastly music in Peru is lovely.
Like pop music in the US they find a rhythm or a style that works and play it out till it is beyond dead.  This goes for both the traditional Andean folk music and the newer stuff.  I have heard so many songs that I thought I knew or recognized then realized were a completely different song.   Though they also do a lot of covers... It's nice to hear the same song with different vocalists. Anyway it makes you feel like you know they place because you've danced to that beat and rhythm before.