a day at the park

Why travel? I am traveling in search of new art experiences, something different than grad school. I want to reconnect with being present in a place that keeps changing. I amlooking for the art is being made around us as we travel. We left on sept 11th which got a laugh out of a lot of people. i like the idea of changing the context of that date. my friend gina got married on that day a few years ago. This sept 11th i left with the intention of travel and connection with people. 1story today´: The Park The ParkOn Saturday I met three groups of people in three very different places; the curiosity of children, the energy of teens, and the wisdom of age. Our last day in Barranco I decided I wanted to finish my painting of a church relic that lay next to the puente de los suspiros (bridge of sighs) I´d had a dream the night before that I was unprepared for an art show. this dream propelled me to paint and draw. Cam and I had been exploring Lima for awhile but we were a bit apprehensive about talking with strangers because of the amout of teens that we´d met trying to befriend us only later really wanting to sell us pot. Ive been doing on site painting for awhile in part because i like how painting in public somehow opens up a dialogue with people that does not occur ordinarily. it was a saturday in the park people were ambling around the sidewalks, the artesans had their jewelry laid out ,and i even saw alec, one of the pot kids, hiding out behind some bushes. I had been painting for awhile when a group of children ran up. They were fascinated by the painting and materials. I gave them a sort of mini lesson on the materials i had. One girl took a picture of my painting with her camera because she thought it was ¨so real¨. While they we were talking two teens walked up and sat down besides us. The children left with their family and we began to talk with the teens, they were either novios or cousins. The girl, Nuria, was an aspiring artists about to take her high school test for art school. She asked me alot of questions about myself and these questions led to an exchange about our experience in peru, descriptions of the US, and her advice on what else we should check out. they left after an hour. Not more than five minutes later an older man sat down next to us. To Aldo- everything was beautiful the church, the animals, the people. the way he said things made me think he was a philospher or poet. he revealed himself in bits and i was surprised to find out ,among all his optimism, he had just lost his job working security. he was afraid of how to find a job after 50. I didn´t feel worried for him though -the way he talked about books, movies, and art -i thought it would be impossible for him to not find something. An hour later I finished my painting and he walked us to the bathroom. When i came out of the bathroom he pointed to ¨the street he loved¨, were he lived, gave me a chocolate ring filled with carmel, a kiss on the cheek, and walked home. It´s easy to be optimistic and curious when you are young because the world is ahead of you, talking with Aldo was powerful for me because I could see he´d chosen not to let his fear of looking for a job on Sunday interrupt his appreciation of being in conversation with us that Saturday at the park.Sarahp.s. I am learning to use the south american keyboard with rubbed off keys pardon the errors.