After the third installment of this series, a friend wrote to me, suggesting I was hallucinating about my experiences. He claimed that I never left San Diego at all. Rather, I had a psychotic break before even getting on the plane. My friend posited that I was quivering under the table at a bar at the Lindbergh Field (San Diego Airport) food court. writing of confused, imaginary travels through an unknown land. I was a stranger in a strange land writing about my total confusion in dealing with the external. I hoped that writing the story would dissolve away my fears and that I could deal with my overwhelming experience. The plan did not work because I never stopped staring around me muttering, “Where Am I?’ And I am still left with the haunting question: Was I really in a new country? Or, was I under a table projecting disassociated scenes of my re-worked real, experiences from my shattered consciousness? It’s a fair question. No matter what the answer if my befuddlement produced a decent short story. In that case, all my “What the fire truck?” moments; and all the pounding thrombosis (blood clot) inducing headaches was worth it.
¿Donde Estoy? or Where am I?
ENGLISH VERSION:
I finally left Peru, crying all the way. I was forced to leave a place I loved. I arrived at my new hotel late at night; on a rainy, windy, winter evening. I opened the hotel room door and flopped onto the bed.
Early the next morning, the sun crowbarred my eyes open and I bolted upright. I quickly emerged to full consciousness like Jiffypop on a hot stove. My cranial tissue reanimated itself. I waiting for the complimentary kettle to boil. After splashing some coffee on my face; I combed some of my few remaining hairs on my chrome dome. I kitted up in my Peruvian finest. — cocoa-brown, fuzzy sweater with llamas stampeding across my chest; matching gloves but someone had stolen the fingertips; and a “I Love Cusco” elf hat with ear muffs. I left my room and walked to the empty hotel lobby. I stopped at the huge glass doors framed in gold. Somebody invisible stepped forward to push; or maybe the doors opened wide randomly. A cold squall blew in from the raw outdoors. I waited for the exhale and braced. Like a sleeping shrimp; I got taken away by the current. I tumbled outdoors.
My cerebral fog was still thick and had combined with a cranial eclipse — a most unfortunate brain-weather conflux. I knew I was not in Peru, but that is all I knew. I looked around and said out loud: “Where the hell am I?”
More later.
VERSIÓN EN ESPAÑOL :
Finalmente, salí Perú y fui llorando toda la ruta. Fui triste para tener que salí un lugar que me amé. Llegué a mi hotel tarde en una noche lloviendo y con el viento soplado. Abrí el puerto a mi habitación y me desplomé en mi cama.
Tarde la próxima mañana, el sol apalancó mis ojos abiertos y yo estaba atornillado arriba en un instante. Mi consciencia surgió rápida y había llenado como un santiamén (Jiffypop*) en una estufa caliente. Mi tissue de cerebro reactivado y esperé por la cafetera complementas terminar. Después, me salpique café en mi cara; me cepille unos de mis pelos callejeros en mi cumbre de estaño. Vestí en mi ropa peruano el mejor — un suéter (o champa en Lima) café y velloso, con los llamas corriendo través mi pecho; guantes lo mismo pero alguien robó los fines de dedos; y un chullo por un duende de Papá Noel que tiene letras que dice “me encanta Cusco”. Caminé hacia el hotel lobby vacío y me paré cerca las puertas vidriadas largas que está enmarcado en oro. Alguien invisible movió hacia las puertas para empujar; o quizás abrieron la puertas por las mismas. Un viento frío, un pampero, sopló de afuera salvaje. Esperé para exhalar y abrazarlo (braced). Como los camarones durmiendo, cuando se los llevan la corriente. Tropecé afuera.
Mi niebla cerebral todavía era gruesa y se había combinado con un eclipse craneal — una sinergia muy desafortunada. Sabía que no estaba en Perú, pero eso es todo lo que sabía. Miré a mi alrededor y dije en voz alta: “¿Dónde diablos estoy?”
Más tarde.
*Por si acaso — Jiffypop (palomitas mágica)
o mi favorito:
http://gph.is/29fzSxS (expandir vídeo a pantalla completa antes de jugar)