After an especially long day of walking and exploring the quirky and diverse upper west side/morningside heights neighborhoods Manhattan I slumped down on on the subway for the ride home. I dutifully opened my book and pretended to ignore the pushy people always selling or passing out misc stuff. The next thing I knew I was back in Peru. An incredible charango (flute) and guitar melody filled the car and when I peered around the aisle I saw a man playing who was the second closest match to how I picture an Inka King. After a beautiful song he made a brief announcement about cd's and then departed the train. My friend Kya will remember that I spent the last three days we were in Cuzco searching for some legit Andean music and now here was my chance to buy it in NYC!! I quickly followed him off the train and without hesitating began speaking in Spanish. It was awesome! My Spanish has suffered from major neglect the past six weeks, but I managed to survive as we talked about his music, his life in Peru and being a Cuzqueno in the US. I also told him about my incredible adventures in Peru and the "muy dura" trek I completed with Kya. It was awesome! I bought a cd and he invited me to visit his family and listen to more traditional music when I return to Peru. I could not believe it had been so long since I had a conversation in Spanish. Then, just as quickly as we met, we parted ways, and I went back to being just another person in the subway...then I smiled, knowing that wasn't quite true.
For anyone interested in his music, check out youtube.com/kallpainca
p.s. Mom--I was totally safe on the very public train platform the whole time :)
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