I kid, I kid. It's gonna happen. I think. It's not that I'm a pessimist, it's just that once you've experienced the bureacracy that is setting up a business in Peru (and I imagine it's worse in the U.S. to some degree), you just can't count on it until it's done. It's truly an amazing process -- and I don't mean that in a good way. Lawyers who don't keep their appointment, notaries who lose paperwork, bank associates who don't give a shit and therefore make you come back three or four times with different information/money, etc. It's enough to make you give up. Fortunately, Humberto and his colleague Wauldir expect this and have had more patience than I could ever have for this process. So, they're handling that. Whew.
So, we're plugging along. The lights are all in and they look gorgeous. Our bar/kitchen is supposed to be ready this coming week (our carpenter confirmed this -- we shall see) and we found the exact chairs we want to have made -- just need to find someone to make them (and the tables, too). I've also completed the Website, and will send you all the link when I'm ready to annouce (probably in another week or so, but if you're absolutely desperate to see it, send me an email and I'll send you the link).
Some older shots of the "work in progress." We're a little further along now...
And I'm no longer working at the travel agency. It's a shame, really, because I was really liking the work and my co-workers. We went on a tour of the 4- and 5-star hotels of Cusco the other week, which was really cool. I ate breakfast at Hotel Monasterio, the most expensive property in the city and saw, from a distance, the royal suite where Richard Gere stayed with his family the other week. Beautiful hotel.
Some shots of Monasterio
And then I went to Machu Picchu with a group of them as well -- again to check out the high-end properties that we'd be sending our clients to (and that I'd be writing about). We took the "ejecutivo" train there and back (more comfortable than the Vistadome train but not as expensive as the Hiram Bingham train -- think $700 a pop for the latter) and stayed (and ate) at the Sumaq Hotel, a 4-star property right next to the roaring Urubamba river. It was a lot of fun and a great opportunity to get to know my co-workers a little better. I also got a massage out of it. Too bad it wasn't up to snuff -- especially for a 4-star hotel. I just don't get it. Why are there no good therapists here in Peru??
The problem (or as I see it), is that the "therapists" here receive very little training -- no more than 6 months -- and consider it nothing more than a job. They don't love what they do and in a profession such as massage therapy, the client can feel that. Or at least I can. Their work is routine. They don't take their time to "feel" the bodies they're working on -- they don't care. It's just a job. And that pains me. I would love to be proved wrong JUST ONCE here in Peru to restore a little faith in the therapists here...
A few pictures of the best hotel in MP, Machu Picchu Pueblo. We didn't get to see Sanctuary Lodge (owned by Orient Express, the same company that owns Monasterio) because they didn't have time for us, so I can't give you my take on it -- but I've heard it's just OK.
Unfortunately just a few days after returning from Machu Picchu my boss decided that my services were no longer needed -- after I spent the past 3 weeks rewriting her company's Website. She paid me for 4 weeks (something I'm still kind of confused about -- I mean, if you're gonna pay me for 4 weeks why not use me for 4 weeks? I still had more to write) and sent me on my way. I keep thinking I did something wrong, but all I did was what they asked of me (even though it seemed like the right hand never really knew what the left hand was doing over there -- but that's no different than most offices, eh?). Communication in just about everything you do here is mediocre at best, so I probably wasn't doing what they wanted me to do, yet no one told me otherwise and so I just kept writing and writing. Meh.
I'm gonna miss those fun travel perks though. And having a schedule. It was good for me to have someplace to be every day. Without it, I get caught up in one project (say, trying new recipes or running errands for the restaurant) and then my day is gone. It's definitely going to be a lot easier to have just two jobs (the restaurant and massages), so I shouldn't really complain.
And speaking of trying new recipes, I've been on a roll lately! We want to serve breakfast in the restaurant since we're already going to be there prepping for lunch and dinner, but we don't want to cook anything -- just coffee/tea, fruit salad/juices and baked goods. So I've been working on the baked items and have a couple of good recipes ready to go. The first is the house favorite (read: Humberto can't stop eating it) and it's a banana, chocolate, yogurt cake. It's delicious and we'll be serving it by the slice. I'm going to refrain from posting anymore recipes here because I'm going to have a blog for the restaurant, too -- so you'll have to go there to get them!
Banana Chocolate Yogurt Cake
The second is a chocolate avocado brownie. I have also make it more cake-like, too, for breakfast. You really can't taste the avocado, but it adds a denseness to the texture, which is really great. High-altitude baking is kicking my ass, but I'm figuring out ways to make it work.
More to come this week. I promise (but I live in Peru, so promises are, well, you know...)
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