Changing gears

After the orchestra trip to Arequipa, it has been a whirlwind of a week, saying goodbyes, finishing projects, and preparing for the transcontinental journey that has officially begun (I´m approximately in mile 600 of 3,000). In Cusco, I had going-away parties with friends from the orchestra and with the guys from my band, and then random meals, cups of coffee and encounters with other friends. It was hard to leave Cusco, it´s always been hard for me to leave Cusco, but it will still be there when I return.

One exciting thing did happen before I left for Arequipa. I went to have a cup of coffee in my favorite cafe (in my opinion, it´s the best cup of coffee in all of South America, with little competition) and as usual, the cafe was full so I sat at a table with some random people. Soon I heard them talking about a friend of mine, Jimbo, and I butted into their conversation. As it turns out, they were trying to get ahold of him, but lost his phone number. I gave them his phone number and we continued to talk. As it turns out, I was sitting at the table of a Brazilian artist, Zenildo Barreto, who had an exposition in the street for the past month and was trying to put together the final details for the closing ceremony, which would also include the burning of a tree in the middle of the street. His work is in protest of the destruction of the Amazon and deforestation in general. They invited me to play a small concert in the closing ceremony, with one piece to be chosen to perform together with a Russian ballerina who is living in Cusco. It ended up being a great concert, I played the prelude from the Bach Suite No. 3, Piatti Caprice No. 9, several movements from the Muczinsky Gallery for Cello Solo and the third movement from the Cassado Suite for Solo Cello. It was great to play a concert in the middle of an important pedestrian street, amplified, and to see all the people who probably wouldn´t have gone to hear a classical recital, but stopped to hear me play.

From Cusco, I traveled to Lima, where I arrived in the middle of the 9th International Chamber Music Festival. I saw two great recitals with Peruvian and American musicians (Joshua Roman and Alexis Sykes) that were fabulous. Among the pieces I heard was the Shostakovich Cello Sonata, Dvorak Piano Quintet, Franck Violin Sonata and Puneña by Ginastera (for cello solo). I also met up with several friends from previous travels... Mauricio, a good friend that I met in Cusco in 2001, also a good friend of my dad´s, a Colombian friend Alexander who I met last year, and my friend Dante, who is an important percussionist in the Peruvian music scene, who I met in a festival in 2006. My friend Alexander brought a bunch of amber from Colombia, and I was able to get some really nice pieces from him that I will make into jewelry. A couple of the pieces have insects and one even has a cricket that looks like it is chasing a fly!

Yesterday afternoon I got on a bus for Pucallpa. The trip was insane. After the first 4 hours, the pavement ended and the condition of the dirt road was really bad. The bus driver did not let that slow him down and he drove like a maniac the whole way. It only took us 16 hours, when it should have taken 18, but I couldn´t sleep a bit because it felt like I was on a bad rollercoaster the whole time. Several times an hour, I flew out of my seat... and that was with my seat belt on!!! My poor cello was buckled up too, but the only way to buckly it up meant that it constantly collided into me! Just part of the adventure! Now I am in Pucallpa, Peru, a small town in the Amazon. Actually, I am staying in a smaller village that is next to Pucallpa and is called Laguna Yarinacocha, for the big lake that it is on. Life is a lot different here than the rest of Peru. Most of the houses are built of wood, as opposed to mud and stick or brick, and many of them are on stilts. The main form of transportation is moto-car, which is a tricycle-motorcyle taxi. This means things are pretty loud all the time, but I suppose it´s more efficient than cars. As usual I have taken my proactive approach to getting food poisoning, which means that I try everything weird and unusual right off the bat, that way if my stomach decides to hate something, it can get over it quickly. So far, I´ve tried a whole bunch of fruit juices, of which I have no idea what most of the fruits look like or even are called, but they are GOOD and I am THIRSTY! I also tried some ceviche made with a white fish from the lake, which I also can´t remember the name of. So far, so good with the stomach. Hopefully no problems develop!

That´s how things are in a nutshell. The day after tomorrow I will probably leave on a boat for Iquitos. First I must buy a hammock and some food and water provisions, as I have been warned that the food on the boat isn´t vegetarian friendly. But for the price, I can´t complain- four days on a boat, with 3 meals a day, only $25. It sure won´t be Princess Cruiseline though! Then I have to start thinking in Portuguese, as I will be entering Brazil in the next 10 days!