The bus station in Piura that takes me from Piura to Pambarumbe is called Terminal Castilla and I think needs its own TV show. It’s already has a character line up starting with: The Morropon Guy, Gelatina/Pan Lady, The Blind Guy, Music/Movie Man, The Bus Drivers, The Ticket Vendors, The Passengers , The Moto/Taxi Drivers, The Food Venders and The Random Item Vendors. I will now take time to explain a little bit about each.
The Morropon Guy is a man who is there every day and he is doing his best to sell you a ticket to the city of Morropon. All he says all day long as fast as he can is, “Morropon, Morropon, Morropon, Morropon!” His voice has this ring about it that makes it stand out more than anyone else’s voice. There are days I would give anything to just punch him. He is bald and wears raggedy clothes and just wonders around screaming Morropon 4 times in a row before he starts all over again.
The Gelatina/Pan Lady is a woman who comes on your bus before you leave or just wonders around the station in general selling gelatina (jello) and pan (bread). All she says while wondering is, “Gelatina…Pan…Gelatina…Pan,” in a voice that makes it sound like she is on the brink of death. When she comes by your seat she gives you a death stare with the gelatina and pan in your face just makes you feel weird. You don’t make eye contact with this lady. She always has her gray hair pulled back in a pony tail that goes all the way down to her butt. She wears a skirt to her knees with some beat up old blue flats and usually some type of button up top. She is what you would call “gordita.”
The Blind Guy is well, obviously blind…or he claims to be. He comes on your bus before you leave and starts to give the same speech about how he is blind and likes to help poor children. Depending on which bus he is on, he inserts the name and then says thanks. After that he walks around shoving his hand in your face asking for money. He always seems to skip the seats that don’t have people in them. Weird. He wears jeans with a blue and gray poncho and has a brown wooden cane. Every now and then he has a baseball hat on and his eyes do look a little funny.
The Music/Movie Man sells movies and music all over that little place. He always tells you these artists that usually you have never heard of. The movies and music come in little plastic sleeves and the more expensive ones come with what I call, “Google Images.” I will explain more about that later. This guy isn’t pushy, but he is always there with his box of entertainment.
The Bus Drivers, Ticket Vendors, Passengers, Moto/Taxi Drivers, Food and Random Item Vendors are always there daily and can always throw in some humor when needed.
At Terminal Castilla you can buy almost anything. The items seem to be things that most likely fell off of a moving truck and were scooped up in the nick of time to be sold. You can always find someone with sun glasses, belts, watches that don’t work, locks, flashlights, wallets (maybe recently stolen?) and other goodies. Anytime you bus stops along your route you can be prepared for others to come rushing on the bus usually with bread, drinks (that have pull tabs already open…sketchy) and fruits (usually mangos).
Now I said I would take some time to talk about, “Google images.” Many places, usually restaurants, want to make their menus or signs look extra fancy. They know that they can achieve this by adding some pictures. I will use a restaurant as an example. Normally when you go to a restaurant and point at the picture to tell the waiter that that is what you want. They say ok and write it down. If you do that in Peru, you are most likely going to be told that they don’t have it. Therefore, I believe they just “Google imaged” a picture of some random food and stuck er’ right on the menu to add some sparkle. This happens all the time and now I just know to pick a name on the menu and hope it’s there.
Anyway. I took another trip to Piura on January 2 with Brittany and Jillian met us there. We stayed only one night, but I was able to get a lot done. I went to the supermarket and bought a bunch of food to bring back so I can cook some goodies for my friends and family. I also figured out how to get to this city outside of Piura that has an artisans market. I took a collectivo which is like a cab, but it doesn’t leave until all the seats are full and everyone goes to the same place and of course I made friends with the people next to me. I have learned that my good ole’ southern hospitality seems to really win Peruvians over. I usually make friends everywhere I go and I love it!
At the market I wondered around and bought some goodies for me and for my family as well. It was fun just being able to wonder around and see all the pretty things. If you don’t know, an artisans market is a market that sells things that are all handmade and decorated. They have tons of touristy things as well as things for your house. One thing I bought for my house is a bright green and yellow hammock. They’re a little expensive (around $30 American dollars), but it’s so necessary for reading. I mean I can’t just sit in a chair when I can have a hammock on my balcony. Sheesh.
On the way back to Pambarumbe the bus blew a tire on the road so we were slightly delayed, but nonetheless it was fixed somehow and we didn’t have problems with it after that. One of my host sisters from Lima and my host brother went back to Lima the day after I got back. It was sad to see them leave, but they have facebook so I can keep in touch.
One day I went to Jesus’ house and she taught me how to make tortillas. It’s not so hard and I am pumped to try to make them on my own. Another day I left at the crack of dawn to head to Santiago and helped Brittany cook some pancakes and teach a class in English. It was about an hour walk, but it was beautiful. The class was tons of fun too. There were around 25 kids and we played games that taught them colors and numbers. They picked up on it pretty quick too! Most of the kids were well behaved. I don’t think they liked the hot chocolate and pancakes we made them, but I thought it was delicious. Haha. On another note, Brittany’s cat had kittens…and they all died.
We left for Piura on Friday afternoon because this was the weekend for a regional meeting. I had some laundry to finish and pictures to print, but other than no plans but the meeting.
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