This is not a conclusion about Peru

I never got around to writing about my final weeks in Peru, but that by no means indicates that I have stopped reflecting on my experience. My entire stay in Peru was too much to process in a couple of blog posts, including the final weeks I spent exploring the country. I've been hesitant to write any concluding posts about Peru not just because I've been busy, but because I still don't know what to say. There are particular images that stick out to me when I think of my last days travelling in Peru and catching up with friends in Lima- seeing the Iberica chocolate workers on strike in the Plaza de Armas of Arequipa, going trekking in the vast Colca Canyon and discussing the issues surrounding tourism with our tour guide, visiting the wild and mysterious selva and seeing all sorts of whimsical animals, going on an extremely sketchy but immensely fun mountain biking adventure in the Sacred Valley in Cuzco (and meeting some fascinating people along the way), and my last jam sesh with Melissa Sue and company on the malécon. Yet there are equally influential, albeit less "exotic," snapshots and fleeting emotions that still stick with me as well- like the smile of a child riding on his mother's back in her colorful manta, the feeling of being the last person to barely squeeze onto a crowded combi, or the curiosity and guilt I felt when we rolled through poor rural towns on a tour bus. It is difficult to distill these experiences into a couple of typed words.

During my final days, it was an interesting change in perspective to transition from a student (and temporary resident) in Lima to a tourist visiting the other parts of Peru. In some ways, the sierra and selva represent a more authentic and traditional version of Peru than the urbanized, globalized metropolis of Lima; albeit, as a tourist, I had a less "real"experience in those cities. While I cannot claim to "know" (or conocer) Lima in a truly wholesome sense, I still feel more familiarity with it than the other parts of Peru. And to some of the people I met in Lima, the culture of Lima is just as authentic and close to their hearts as the culture their parents or grandparents left behind decades ago when they migrated to Lima. There are so many issues and themes that captured my curiosity during my semester in Peru, but I think it is this clash, fusion, or co-existing relationship between tradition and modernity struck me the most.

That said, I've been spending the past few weeks doing background research to apply for a undergraduate research grant to return to Peru this summer to investigate some of these issues surrounding culture and authenticity (which also happens to be the name of a book I'm reading on the subject). It is too much to simply make so many friends, to fall in love with the sights, sounds, and tastes of a place, and see the issues my friends are dealing with every day and then to abandon the country until I can afford to go on vacation there. Peru is still in my mind- so much, that it sometimes feels like I never really left. I have to go back. There is so much to learn.