What Happened to Labor Day?

Ok, I can't believe Labor Day just came and went. And, to be honest, if it weren't for Facebook I probably wouldn't have even known. I really feel like I live in a bubble down here -- nothing outside of my little Cusquenan world seems to exist these days. I use the Internet maybe 2-3 times a week, I don't have a TV and my Spanish isn't good enough yet to read the papers (but it's getting there). And because I'm so out of touch and oblivious, life is pretty damn good.

Last week, I spent a couple of days in Urubamba, one of the beautiful towns in the Sacred Valley. It was peaceful and calming until I fainted in the spa. Apparently, I was a little dehydrated and all of the heat got to me, so I passed out in front of the sauna and landed on the cold stone floor. I was traveling with a good friend, so I was well taken care of after the fall, but I had some serious back pain and it took a few weeks for it to GO AWAY. Pain sucks.


Our beautiful hotel in Urubamba

Fortunately for me I've connected with another therapist here and I love her work. She did a session on me to help with the pain (after the inflammation went down) and it was fabulous. I think we're going to set up a regular exchange to work out all of my junk (and hers, too).

We got back from Urubamba in time to attend Evelyn's fashion show at Loki, a local hotel. Evelyn owns Hilo, an amazing clothing store around the corner from my house. She makes all the clothes and I recently purchased a dress (and a beautiful yoga bag) from her. So, I put on some fish-net-type stockings, her new dress, a touch of lipstick and made my way to Loki with my housemates (who were in the show) to watch the craziness. The show was awesome and I ran into Sue and Barry, friends we met in Bolivia (I knew they were coming to Cusco but I hadn't received the email Sue had sent), so we spent the rest of the night together, hopping from Loki to the Piano Bar where Niki's band was playing (and we danced our well-dressed butts off) and ending the night at Bullfrogs, a mellow club near my house. I got to bed around 3am. Oy. Nights like that are awesome, but only possible for me once in a blue moon.



Me and our friends Sue and Barry (thanks, Sue -- I snagged your awesome pics from FB!)


Niki and the band (Alvaro on guitar, Fernando on bass, Michele on keyboard, Ronny on sax and Carlos (I think) on drums.

We spent Saturday with Sue and Barry, taking them to the Barrotio (I'm sure I've spelled this wrong), the uber-cheap, slightly dangerous, Saturday-only market about a 20-minute walk from our house. We found some bakeware for our new oven (yay! We have an oven!!) and a few other trinkets. You can pretty much find anything here -- new and used. If you lose your cellphone, this is the place to get a new one (it might even be the one you lost). I'm looking for some furniture for my room so I might return next week with a game plan and a little more cash.

After the craziness of the Barrotio, Jess and I took our Irish friends from Bolivia to Encuentros, a cute restaurant/performance space for lunch. Our friends, Lynae and Casey were the chefs there at the time and had revamped the entire menu to be vegetarian and raw-food friendly. They weren't working at the time, but they were there anyway with their new kittens, so we got in a little animal-lovin' time, too.

Jess with one of the kitties

That's all for now -- so much has happened since then that I'm actually going to have to sit down and remember what's been going on over the past few weeks and I promise to get it all out and posted over the next few days. Really. I mean it.