Circuito Mágico del Agua -- Ridiculous and Enjoyable Part 2

Here are more photos con "Great White" lazer projected awe!!!

Circuito Mágico del Agua -- Ridiculous and Enjoyable

Since Lima is located on a desert, the last thing that I would expect the government to support and fund would be a water park.  But yeah, 3 years ago, the alcalde (mayor) of Lima inaugarated a 15 million US dollar water park project, se llama Circuito Magico del Agua, in the middle of the city (i think technically it's on the border of los distritos de lima y jesus maria). Here are a few shots of the spot including lima's claim to fame, the tallest water fountain the world--fuente magica.  Plus a couple of shots of the coliseum where a few of the fountains are located.

This walled plantation style water park (more correctly fountain park) for a lot of reasons, doesn't make much sense.  Lima has major potable water access problems because once again, it's located in  desert, which makes the costs of the park including maintenance kind of increible.  Even though , the city charges a 4 soles entrance fee, they have only recouped less than 700,00 of that. But like so many prioritized events and structures that are funded and built by the government of any country, things like water parks are used as propoganda to say "we did something"...vote us into office again...and again...and again.   

With all of that said though, I can't go all Scrooge over that park since my ass was there.  And at the end of the day, this park is kind of awesome.  First of all, its just water fountains, which on one hand sounds stupid but they have so many different kind of water fountains with amazing shapes and what not, like a water fountain bridge that you can go under.  Chuya and I did several times.   It's called the fuente de las sorpresas.   It's below on the left and to your right is Chuya admiring the Fuente Cupula Visitable.

Also, there also fountains to just get wet in which is kind of a need during a Lima summer--below is Fuente Labarinto Del EsueNo.  Chuya brought her parasol to mark the sunny occasion.

 

The park is only open from 4 or 5 p.m. til 11 p.m., Wednesday through Sunday. I suggest going at 5 or 6 p.m. and then wait around because at 7, they put on this crazy light show in the fuente de la fantasia.  They project images of "peruvian culture" into the water.  Its kind of corny, simplistic, and once again the motivation is propoganda but it's also super cool to see anything projected into water.  It was sort of what i imagined the Great White show looking minus the fire.  To top it off in the background amazing elevator music celebrating the best of hits from the 90s and 80s plus of course the beatles have to be thrown in there some how. Here are a few some panoramic shots I took based on my interpretation of the "great white" lazer show. i wonder if the mayor beat his chest when he realized that he could easily take us in by building the tallest water fountain in the world.  It's the closest thing to a geyser I will get. 

Itching to DJ

What are you doing here?...  People ask me that all of the time in Peru...more than in Mexico City actually.  And I just want to say "i'm just eating, drinking juice, hanging out with the girl I'm in love with...just to put it simply "i'm chilin'".  But I don't say that because I'm not sure what it means to be 'out' here and my other answers either just arouse more questions that I don't care to answer.  Or people give me that look like "who the hell is she?".

Instead, I usually say that I'm here to practice my Spanish (true but not the whole truth and nothing but the truth..so help me...) but at the same time, why should I give a damn whether or not my answer sounds practical or privileged or justifiable. I'm here for so many reasons and sometimes I add on  reasons and other days I unload a few because they just don't apply anymore.

So today's reason that I am here is that I am going to make a mixtape with my amigo who also lives in Jesus Maria.

Part of traveling includes a musical journey and often times that musical journey happens on the modes of transportation that take you to point A to point B.  And this mixtape, hopefully will be an exploration of that...idea in progress....through our constant mode of transporte here, the combi.

Note:  The first pic above is the Mothershiester aka Slammer aka this blogger in one of her dj disguises!!!...thanks to THE CHILD for her awesome photo skills, Czarina Kim for wardrobe, and Jalane for lighting

¿mande?...

Today I start my private Spanish lessons.  Damn, I need them.  It's not like I can't speak Spanish or that I am at a total beginner level.  I just lack confidence and I second guess myself all of the time.  I just need to start most of my days out with someone correcting me that is not my friend or someone I'm getting to know.

In mexico city, I took a week and a half of Spanish classes at the Frida Spanish School. It kind of sucked.  Even though I found my professor amusing to say the least, for a week I was stuck in a group environment that did not match my level.  All the students were at various levels and we all wanted to learn different things. 

That's why I chose to peace out of taking classes with an institution (which are entirely too expensive if you want private lessons).   And instead wait for an opportunity to find a private instructor when I arrived in Lima.  I went online and found one person but despite negotiating down, I found someone else through my connections with Chuya.  We will see how it goes. 

Also, I'm taking dance classes en festejo with the same teacher I had in November when I took salsa classes with Czarina Kim. More on that later.

Note:  ¿mande?...If you go to Mexico, be prepared to say "¿mande?" if you can't hear what someone said or you don't understand what someone said. I like it better than "¿que?" o "¿como?"

What I did? What I didn't Do? --My Word Document for Distrito Federal Life Part I

I created a list of things I wanted to see and food I wanted to eat before I traveled to Mexico City.  I turned it into a word document to give to my friends that planned to visit.  It's a good idea i think for anyone who is stressed out by giving recommendations.  I spent alot of time scouring the internet for this stuff. 

And a lot of that time felt wasted because the internet is not a friendly place when your travel tastes don't match a lot of what is offered in the search engines. I am only going to post 3 or 4 items a day and also this list is not in any particular order:

1.  El Moro. I really like 24 hour food spots. Whether it's a Waffle House by the highway or The Diner in Adams Morgan, I like to know that if I'm hungry, bored, or on the run there will be some place for me to go and relax at whatever hour I choose.  And that's why I love El Moro, which is open 365 days a year, 24 hours a day. El Moro is a cafeteria that serves Spanish style churros--deep-fried, sugar-coated doughnuts-- and hot chocolate on the Eje Central Lázaro Cárdenas #42. I don't like hot chocolate unless it's super thick (spanish style) so I've ordered milkshakes instead.  The strawberry is pretty excellent! And for those who like old cafeteria style diners, El Moro is great to.  I think most of the waitstaff has worked there probably at least half of the age of the place.

Note: Take the green line to San Juan de Letran metro stop.

2.  Little Korea.  I'm definitely being generous by calling this area Little Korea but if you go to the gayborhood of Zona Rosa and ask where is la calle Florencia. Once you are on that street, you'll notice that there are at least a dozen korean joints either on Florencia or on some of the side streets intersecting with that street.  It's pricier in comparison to Menu options (the mexican restuarant meal(s) of the day usually between 1 and 5 p.m.) or street food.  But for one straight week, I think I ate soup at a korean restaurant every other day because I couldn't deal with traditional mexican food. And my body rejected most nutrients after the pulque disaster.

3.   Lucha Libre at Arena Mexico.  Wrestling and testosterone driven action movies starring white men (like chuck norris and steven segal) have been me and my father's only bonding points.  After reading my first Hernandez Brothers comics as a teen, I knew I loved Mexican style wrestling, Lucha Libre.  The masks, operatic drama, the absurdity, the circus quality to everything.  And I couldn't leave Mexico without seeing a lucha match.  Thanks to the motivation of Chuya we saw an awesome fight one thursday night in January. And it was only 30 pesos each for seats that were pretty good. I didn't take pictures unfortunately. 

Even though our tickets were really cheap...I think the range is from 70 to 300  pesos.  Also outside of the arena is tons of lucha merchandise that's nice to check out especially for those that love glitter.

Note: Arena Mexico is between Balderas and Cuauhtemoc metro stops on the pink line

To D.C. With Love: From one District to Another....

that was going to be my original title to this blog when I decided to move to Mexico City in the second leg of my "South of the Reimagined Border" tour.  It was such a natural decision to pick Mexico City as my temporary home after falling in love with D.C..

1.  They both started out as swamps/waterways. 

2.  They both have been known as murder capitals at some point in their history

3.  Both share similar structures of government, Mexico City (Distrito Federal) is also a federal district like Washington, DC.   Except unlike D.F., D.C. has no representation in Congress and laws that are passed by the city council must go through a federal government committee for final passage. 

Mas y Mas y Mas

Because of that structure its kind of a political miracle that the gays in D.C. celebrated this week the right to have our unions recognized as marriage if we want.  And it's a political miracle that D.F. celebrated the same victory this week in a country with a non-secular catholic stronghold. 

For folks who know me, my views on marriage are pretty caustic. I think the institution is kind of a joke because it falsely assumes that love is the primary motivation when in reality the history of marriage has everything to do with economics. It entitles people to certain rights that are denied to others who don't want to, or not ready to, or can't marry.  It denies other familial structural unions that are not seen as the husband/wife union norm. The whole thing kind of sucks to me.  And I hate how lesbian and gay organizations put so many resources into this fight when there are alot more other issues our community is facing that is killing us daily.

With all of that said, I'm happy that my d.c. and d.f. peeps have an option. I mean at the end of the day stuff like this helps people realize that we're not going through a phase. That we are the norm.  That they can't eradicate us from the face of the earth. 

But I hope these victories do not mean that gay people are marching towards the path of heteronormativity.  That this means we're going to form structures that are husband/husband...wife/wife....2 adultides with 2 1/2 childites.  When I started realizing i was a macha,   I fell in love with being 'the damn homo' because i saw that instead of crawling into holes,  us gays have created spaces to find each other outside of just being sexually compatible.  That family looks so different to a lot of us (including me) because we were kicked out of our traditional family structures.  And at the end of the day, we said fuck this.  We're just going to be fabulous.

El Galpon

 Close to the apartment I share with Chuya in Jesus Maria, there is a cool space in the neighborhood of Pueblo Libre.  El Galpon is kind of a vestibule for multi-media collaborative projects--expocisiones de arte y otras obras.  Usually there is a performance or exposition of some sort and afterward the night ends with a dance party.  On Friday, chuya, precolumbian, and I went to one of their events featuring 4 or 5 artists.  I couldn't really tell you what I saw and the meaning behind it but I will procure some pictures and post.  Also its pretty hipsterish--which is a loaded word, i know, but in this case, I have no judgments. I just want to go back to see how i feel about that.

They seem to host events every week so if you're in town it's worth checking out.

Hopefully, I can set up an interview with the founders of this space.

P.S. I've been spending a lot of listening time with this awesome podcast by my d.c. amigo, dj bottombracket bracket

Last of the Blacks Part I

i'll be leaving town for the next 2 days.  Going to Chincha located in the province of Ica. This weekend they are hosting their annual Festival Verano Negro.   According to many internet websites its the location of the last of the blacks of Peru.  The people are described as fun, entertaining, and flavorful.  Code language for Black/Minstrel.

But let's go back to last of the blacks...what does that mean? where did they go? and I thought I saw some here. More to come later!

My Return to Lima

By the time I ended up in Lima, Tuesday night, I was pretty glam busted.  For two days, I had traveled for over 30 hours (OMG).  Leaving the totally awesome True/False Film Festival that my dj crew, The DC Hot Commodities, djayed in Columbia, Missouri.  To jetting back to D.C. to finish packing my life into 3 months.  And then heading off to Dulles 6 hours after I land from our trip to Missouri so that I can start my tiring journey to Peru.  Luckily, my fear of flying was temporarily shut off by my need for sleep. So yeah most of my journey down south, I don't  remember because I was drooling away in seat 7a and 47b on TACA airlines. 

                                  

After traveling that much, it really means a lot to see someone familiar as soon as you go through customs or leave the baggage claim.  Everything seems so surreal like you're floating and your ability to make decisions, at least for me, is pretty much lost when i'm traveling more than 4 hours.  Also, when you step out of customs at the Jorge Chavez airport, you are greeted by a couple of hundred people waiting for someone they love or a tourist that they are assigned to pick up.  You feel like you're part of a touring rock band or you're walking the runway at some fashion week even if you see the disappointment from people that you're not who they are looking for or the instant change from excitement to the "I'm done with you. Move on so that I can see who I came for"!

Despite my mind entering death territory and the cries of  'morena' (WTF) from people who wanted my attentions, my energy level picked up with each step across the airport runway,  and I scanned the room for my lima crew. Not seeing them but also not totally having the mental faculties to see them.  I remember thinking..."i love banners. The hot commodities needs a banner. Like that banner I see over there with that person that looks a lot like me djaying at the place that looks a lot like the place we djayed at the True/False festival.."  And as if heaven opened up its arms to kiss me, i realize that chuya and precolumbian are there waiting for me with the banner of my dreams.  Impromptu, bright, and grounded in reality and excitement over Popsicles and music!!!