tisdag 28 oktober 2008

Arequipa!

This day has been an extraordinary day. I arrived to Arequipa on Sunday evening after having had an exciting journey on the bus from Cusco. We left Cusco around 7 o’clock in the morning and were supposed to be in Arequipa around 1600 in the afternoon but we never came here to Arequipa until 1930.

The farmers had blocked the roads in several small villages by putting big trees and stones from the hills. We had to negotiate with the farmers on several occasions to get the green light in order to clear up the roads and continue our travel. The farmers are showing their frustration and rage against the privatisation of water by the government which has not reacted to their protests in any positive manner. The farmers will be affected negatively as their access to the water will diminish and thereby their livelihood.

It was an interesting experience for me. I watched part of the movie “Malcolm X” on my laptop in one of the roadblocks where we had to stand still for more than an hour. I have seen this movie several times before and still think that it is one of the best movies that I ever seen. Give my respect to Denzel Washington and the MAN himself: - the honourable El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz ,alias,Mr.X!

When I eventually was in Arequipa, I just took a taxi to my host family where I was welcomed at the gate by a Dutch girl who has lived with this family for a while and left to Chile today. I like Arequipa so far. It is a beautiful city and is not crowded with tourists as Cusco is. It is clean, seems to be well-organised and much better-off than Cusco in many ways. Everyone is telling me though to watch out for the bad guys. I shall keep my vigilant eyes on duty as I usually do when I am in any big city. Only Lima is bigger than Arequipa.

I am gonna work as a voluntary “freelance journalist” in here for the coming four weeks. I was originally supposed to be working for the weekly newspaper “El Buho” but that plan has been changed as that paper has not got the need for my expertise as it is not running short of writers whose native is Spanish. They have not got that much interesting subjects that might be of interest for me either.

I might end up with the student TV which is sent through out this region on a daily basis. I was a guest at their studio tonight and was interviewed about my origin, journalism in Africa in general and in Eritrea in particular. The reasons for me being in here and many other questions. The radio did the same thing unexpectedly at around midday today when I was there just to check out things. My Spanish is not good enough as yet and had to have an English speaking translator with me. I was also interviewed by several English language university students in downtown about tourism and other staffs this morning.

What a day! Manic Monday!! It is amazing how fast things go sometimes!!!

torsdag 23 oktober 2008

From Waynapicchu to Machupicchu!

”Far away from Babylon….Closer to Mount Zion…. I wanna be with my lion…the conquering lion…the tribe of Judah….I am on my way to take the blackstarliner to take a rest from the West and ease the tension by crossing the ocean…” Sings Queen Omega.

That was the feeling that I had when I went to MachuPicchu this weekend. It was a marvellious scene but I should admit that it did not live up to my expections though. I like being paradoxal as a philosopher :-).

It is of course an architectural and historical Miracle. It is a phenomenal engineering work which still puzzles the whole world.

I enjoyed the view from Waynapicchu better but the number of tourists who had to get up at 05:00 in the morning to take the buses from ”Agua Calientes” to MachuPicchu was beyond my imagination.

Backpackers and lonelyplanet are some of the things that I have started to dislike these days. We were nine people with the minibus driver who headed for MachuPicchu.

The Peruvian driver Henry was an amazingly nice person, then there were three Colombian girls ,who are nurses by profession, made the trip enjoyble, a young couple from Belgium did also their best to make everybody feel comfortable.

The youngest passengers were two German girls who were other than friendly towards any of us. Age can be blamed for their behaviour but some descency is always welcomed when one is travelling with other homosapiens. These girls refused to share a room with me and I had to sleep with the Belgian couple who were very happy to have me in their room.

P.S. Just for your information: one of the German girls was black if race and colour matters.I am afraid that it does not in this case. Some of the Israeli ”hippie tourists” that I have seen in here have not impressed me either.

There are no so many black people here in Cusco and people are very curious about my appearance and origin. When I tell them that I am from Eritrea, it does not ring any bell in their ears but as soon as I say Africa..They react with wonder and surprise.

Chillicorncarne made my stomach turmoil yesterday but I am hopefully fit again. To see colourfully dressed ladies with their lama here in Cusco is still a mesmerizing view for me.....I like the well-organized chaos in Cusco. A beautiful child is sleeping on two chairs where I am sitting at the internet coffe in my neghibourhood right now .....the relatives come and look at him now and then.....Bless the child!!!

”Understanding white privilage”:Creating Pathways to Authentic Relationships Across Race by Frances E. Kendall is a must book for those of you who care about human relationships across physical and mental borders.

”Soy de Eritrea pero vivo en Suecia…cuando tenia 18 anos, me trasladé a suecia a causa de guerra entre Eritrea y Etiopia duradé 30 anos…”

are my popular phrases of this month of october.

I am looking forward to learning about journalism during my stay in Arequipa with the newspapper ”El Buho”for a month from this coming Sunday the 26th of october.

torsdag 16 oktober 2008

Inka is Mandinka - from Timbouktu to Cusco!

I am back in Cusco now. I just talked with my girlfriend Selamawit in Malmö via Internet skype for two hours and feel good about it. Taray was a nice experience. The people celebrated “Vergen Del Rosario” in that small village with a lot of music and dancing for four days and nights!

Their hospitality was amazing. I also visited the Inca ruins in Pisac and Ollantaytambo and met five Swedish students on my way to Taray. I have also been at the hot springs in Lares where there is a hot water bath from the mountains. We had a good bath there for roughly 15 Swedish crowns . There are many students from western Europe at my Spanish school specially from Holland and Switzerland.

There is an immense poverty in Peru. The life standard ,for most of Peruvians, is quite lower than I anticipated. The people are sick and tired of the government and had a one day strike against it lastweek. The government has resigned now and a new cabinet is being formed.

I like Peru so far and am gonna stay here in Cusco for another two weeks. Cusco used to be the capital city at the height of the Inca civilisation. There are a lot of buildings which are reminiscent of that great time here in Cusco. The Inka connection with the Mandinka can only be realized when you observe things that unite the two continents. Africa and Latin america have a lot in common. I am here to bridge the gap between the shared agonies,memories, history, culture and subjugation. We have to build new dams and work on our mutual causes. I hope to eventually launch a newspapper in this endeavour in the near future. It is gonna be called "Ras Humania" in english and "La Humanista" in Spanish. God willing!

On the 26 th of October, I shall be heading for Arequipa where I shall have my volunteer work at a newspaper called “El Buho”. It is gonna be an exciting adventure until the end of November.

I am planning to go to Bolivia, Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Venezuella,Cuba and Jamaica after Peru but I am open to other options as well depending on what happens on the road and my economy which is pretty stable right now despite the economic turmoil across the globe.

Life is one big road which has got to be conquered. I am hopefully going to the mysteriously disappeared town of Machu Pichu this weekend.

I am listening to Leo Sayer´s song …”I love you more than I can say” and watching a documentary about The Venezuelan Revolution “ No Volveran!”on my laptop at the same time. How about Otis Redding´s “A change is gonna come”………Ali Farka Toure´s “cousins” lying in my bed and dreaming about a better world in the pleasant evening of Cusco.

BARRACK OBAMA shall rule …

lördag 4 oktober 2008

Greetings from Peru!

I do not have to be philosophical and political all the time. I do not have to write long texts either. Take this as a diary book of my journey.I am in Cusco, Peru right now and trying to adjust my self to the situation in here. As this is my first week, I have felt the difference in being at a place of high altitude. I live with a Peruvian family who are very kind and understanding. My Spanish lessons are going well and I am travelling with the whole class to a place called Taray, close to Pisac, tomorrow sunday. We shall be staying there for week studying spanish in an environment which is surrounded by mountains and valleys. Taray is a small village just outside Cusco.