Los Varones

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Being of fair complexion I am easily pegged as a foreigner (and after opening my mouth I have no chance of blending in). There is a certain class of people here (neither gender is exempt) that see foreigners as free meals for a week. Most of the time I feel like I wore my money shirt and diamond tiara with a tattoo of a dollar sign on my forehead. This combination has lead to some interesting encounters.

Encounter 1: My first time volunteering at the orphanage I hailed a taxi to take me home. The driver was young and started nonchalantly asking questions like where are you from (a very common question), nice day? etc. Somehow this migrated to the fact that he could speak some Quecha (a common language here) and proceeded to share with me the translation of mi corazon (my heart) and te quiero (i like/love you) in the language. Does that work often? Luckily it was a short ride but he persisted in giving me his cell phone number 'just in case I needed a safe ride'. Thanks....the creepy interest is a sure sign I WON¨T be calling.

Encounter 2: In preparation for a day long hike to a cluster of ruins Justine (Montrealer in the same house as me) and I went to the grocery store as usual. While wandering betwix´d the aisles a young member of security stopped and asked if there was anything he could help me find. The answer was no so I told him as much but he continued questioning and following until I admitted I needed food for a hike. He had just showed me to the tuna (which I did buy, so thank you Percy) when Justine arrived. Within minutes we had an invitation to his home for wine the next night after our hike which Justine accidently accepted (the whole not speaking Spanish fluently thing) and which we promptly needed an excuse to reject. The grocery store is now a stressful place, we never know when we´ll bump into securo-creep and need another excuse not to marry him and bring him to Canada.

Encounter 3: The most original and definitely a first for me was my personal stalker. Saturday I decided to use my Tourist Ticket (the only entrance to many sites in the area and conveniently expires 10 days after purchase) to visit some local museums. On museum two (Santa Catalina, a convent and 18th century art exhibition) I took my time examining each painting. By the second of many rooms I noticed a young chico constantly just a few feet behind me, but assumed it was either someone hoping to be my guide for a few soles or security making sure I didn´t touch the precious art (I was the only one in the room at the time) I ignored him. But he followed, the next room, into the next, not really looking at the art. Still I didn´t really care until the security guards began asking me if I knew him, which after some confusion and me insisting that I didn´t need a guide and had no money, I informed them that I did not. After that they watched me as I toured the museum and called the police to escort the dude out of the museum and questioned him a bit. Very dramatic day.

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