earthquake in pisco peru
when i was 16, i visited peru with my friend jason, and one of the places we stayed was in a small fishing village called pisco. aside from being a stop on the way to nazca, it was basically a self sustained fishing/fish processing village. the smell on the way into town was something that took a long time to get used to (think anchovies in the sun).
we got there and immediately found an arcade to hang out in (there was one in the small town) and we played marvel vs. capcom. i remember this quite vividly. we made friends with two peruvian kids out age who invited us to a party that night. with jason's mother's blessing, we went to the party, which was held in an old stone barn. it was what i thought to be a sweet sixteen party, but i guess it was a "15 years" party which the latin americans have. we were handed a couple of bottles of cuzquena beer and we started having a good time. everyone stared at me, i guess because a blond haired white guy who was a foot taller than everyone in the room kinda stuck out.
i danced with a few of the girls who i found out spoke english. apparently they're all taught english in school. this was good since i didn't speak spanish. my friend started dancing with the girl whose party it was. jason is half peruvian and about 5'4" and the girl's boyfriend got somewhat pissed and he and his buddies came over and started giving jason a hard time. the kid grabbed jason, and was about to hit him when i walked up behind him and tapped him on the shoulder. he turned around was staring at my neck, then he looked up, and raised an eyebrow and took about 5 steps back. he said "no problemas, gringo. lo ciento." and his friends retreated back to a corner of the barn and we continued on dancing. it was a great night.
why do i narrate this story? well... about 70% of pisco was levelled by an earthquake yesterday and there are more than 500 people dead. normally when you see devastation on tv in a far off third world place you think "What a shame." and change the channel. but this time all i could think was, one of those dead people might be someone i met, played a video game with, or even danced with thousands of miles away. the people of pisco were so generous and
this world is small. very small. so join me in a moment of silence for my friends in pisco peru.
we got there and immediately found an arcade to hang out in (there was one in the small town) and we played marvel vs. capcom. i remember this quite vividly. we made friends with two peruvian kids out age who invited us to a party that night. with jason's mother's blessing, we went to the party, which was held in an old stone barn. it was what i thought to be a sweet sixteen party, but i guess it was a "15 years" party which the latin americans have. we were handed a couple of bottles of cuzquena beer and we started having a good time. everyone stared at me, i guess because a blond haired white guy who was a foot taller than everyone in the room kinda stuck out.
i danced with a few of the girls who i found out spoke english. apparently they're all taught english in school. this was good since i didn't speak spanish. my friend started dancing with the girl whose party it was. jason is half peruvian and about 5'4" and the girl's boyfriend got somewhat pissed and he and his buddies came over and started giving jason a hard time. the kid grabbed jason, and was about to hit him when i walked up behind him and tapped him on the shoulder. he turned around was staring at my neck, then he looked up, and raised an eyebrow and took about 5 steps back. he said "no problemas, gringo. lo ciento." and his friends retreated back to a corner of the barn and we continued on dancing. it was a great night.
why do i narrate this story? well... about 70% of pisco was levelled by an earthquake yesterday and there are more than 500 people dead. normally when you see devastation on tv in a far off third world place you think "What a shame." and change the channel. but this time all i could think was, one of those dead people might be someone i met, played a video game with, or even danced with thousands of miles away. the people of pisco were so generous and
this world is small. very small. so join me in a moment of silence for my friends in pisco peru.