One of the pieces I am doing for my senior show in September is about Peru. (By the way – Joanna, you can get accents by typing in ALT + 160 (á), 130 (é), 161 (í), 162 (ó), and 163 (ú). Anyone who writes a lot in Spanish – or French – knows those key commands by heart :-).) I was looking through our family photo albums to see if we have any pictures of Peru that I could use. Looking through them brought back so many memories… our houses, our friends, places we visited, my cat, and many other things… I didn’t find any one picture (several that I could use), but how does one capture all the memories of a lifetime in one piece (digital print)? How can I condense all the feelings I have about Peru and my memories there? Good, bad, neutral… there is so much. How can I convey the little things that I yearn so much for people to understand? Paul and Melissa know what I’m talking about… the bakeries and the bread. The sounds of the D’Nofrio ice cream man as he made his way up and down the streets tooting his unique horn (there is nothing I can compare it to). The ambulantes running to each car window as the traffic is stopped for a red light, showing off their wares or just begging. The food: ceviche, anticuchos (mmm!), cancha, chicha, pollo a la brasa, lomo saltado, arroz chaufa, aji, salsa huancaina, manjar blanco (to name a few). The noisy, dirty buses and the cries of street names, trying to get people to take the bus (Javier Prado! Avenida Brasil! Jockey Plaza! Ovalo Higuereta! Dos de Mayo!). The llamas and alpacas you’d see walking around with nativos dressed up in traditional garb.

I miss Peru.