The cocina, which seemed to be the center of family life, was in a separate building. It was here that we met the teen son and soccer fiend, Alejandro, and young daughter Estella, who at the age of only 8, seemed as proficient in the kitchen as her mother. Euframia, aged 43, also has two grown sons who live in Juliaca, one of whom is married and with children, making Euframia a grandmother at aged 43. These sons were soon to return for Christmas, which is one of the few days of the year when a non-vegetarian meal is served—pavo (turkey).
Bilingual tourists will no doubt have more in-depth discussions, but it’s noteworthy that you could arrive with zero Spanish skills and still get by. (E.G. This writer had gone to language school in Cuernavaca for only five days, some decades ago. A few palabras would bubble up from the memory banks, and the international language of point would fill in.)
That said, we were able to communicate enough to learn that by happenstance we had landed in the mayor’s home, he later showing us a leather stick of sorts that indicated he was the law. His duties take him to the mainland and meetings in Puno from time to time. The teen son and soccer enthusiast was clearly understanding all English, but feigned not to, as we discussed the recent qualification of the Peru team for the World Cup competition.
With our few shared words, we were astounded to learn that our 43 year-old mother had recently traveled to Copacabana, a city on the Bolivian part of Lake Titicaca, for free cataract surgery. This provided an opportunity to find out what they did as tourists when in a new place—mainly touring cathedrals. They also explained that Ivo Morales, President of Bolivia, has extended this free medical care to fellow Andean people in Peru. Later, researching on the Internet, it seems that this eye medical clinic is actually a project sponsored by the Cuban government, which helps make sense of it all.
