This weekend I was lucky enough to be granted a whopping 16 ½ hour bus ride, each way, for a chance to take a glance at Arequipa, Peru. But it was really Sophie who hit the jackpot as she had the privilege of sitting next to me during the entire expedition! She was even more excited when each of us was confined to four inches of wiggle room if the person in front of us had his/her seat reclined, which turned out to be approximately 94% of the time. But to be fair, it was hard for me to argue as I was skillfully bringing home the gold for the USA in a game of Bingo, earning me a free ticket back to Lima. In fact, [Continue reading...]

“Julio, can you show me where the music shops are?”
“Oh there’s a strip of about 20 in a row right in downtown Lima.”
It was all over from there. With some child-like begging and a few temper tantrums, my plan succeeded as we headed to music central. I don’t know why that is considered immature because it is clearly a flawless technique. With a bounce in my step, I was able to regress to childhood and become a kid in a candy store again, except much less mature this time. At my first outing (obviously there were more than one – I was an experienced colic baby), I picked up a couple inexpensive instruments to hold me over, such as those zampoñas and a pair of maracas to [Continue reading...]

Flooded with graffiti-like artwork, the small music venue “La Casa de Auxilio”, or the House of Help, was the location for our Friday night entertainment this past weekend.

The Zampoña — I had never even heard of the instrument before Peru, so if you are like I was and hadn’t heard the beautiful sound of a zampoña before, you are in for a treat.  In addition to the guitar and charango (a guitar-like instrument), the zampoña is a marked instrument of Peru and the Andes region.  It dates back to at least the Incas and possibly even further.  The only examples I can think of that anyone might know is that reoccurring flute-like melody in the beginning of the Lion King’s “I Just Can’t Wait To Be King” or in the interlude of “The Circle of Life”.  Yeah, that’s right – I listen to the Lion King soundtrack.  Actually, it was mostly arranged by Elton John and musically [Continue reading...]

Huari, Peru – Virgin of the Rosary Festival.
It starts with a party. Family, friends, gringos (well that’s not entirely true, we only saw two more gringos in the entire town), but anyone who can get there shows up. Food vendors line the streets with grills and sell a variety of products including anticuchos (the heart of a cow, on a stick), potatoes, chicken, hamburgers, and hot dogs, as well as your traditional carnival food – cotton candy, snacks, etc. Marching bands fill the streets (way earlier than any of us could fathom), and last through the night. Different bands play on different stages riling people up for the main event: the fireworks show. They build these 40-foot tall bamboo structures loaded with explosives (two for the first night, three for [Continue reading...]