all in all, 2019 was really good—much, muuuuch better than 2018, that's for damn sure. i wrote an extensive summary of my decade over on medium, but i still had to look back on my favorite parts of the year...and come up with some to-dos for the coming one. cheers!
2020
1. get another tattoo
2. have a drink at the chateau marmont
3. renew my passport
4. attend a writing residency
5. host a dinner party
6. visit one new state (28 down, 22 to go)
7. get a photo taken with a celebrity
8. check out an open mic
9. pay for someone else's coffee
10. try axe throwing
11. meet an internet friend IRL
12. book my next international trip
13. spend a weekend in philadelphia
14. publish 10 7 humor pieces/articles/essays
15. take a candlelight yoga class
16. <strike>make pizza from scratch</strike>
17. buy myself flowers
18. crack the new yorker’s daily shouts
19. do a tarot/fortune telling card reading for someone (i just bought this dope "gypsy witch" deck from 1903 and learning it is FASCINATING/slightly terrifying)
20. find a used book with a message in it and buy it
2019
favorite books:
on writing by stephen king
comedy sex god by pete holmes
trick mirror by jia tolentino
favorite articles (interestingly and unintentionally, all by women):
djo - twenty twenty
catfish and the bottlemen - the balance
cherry glazerr - stuffed & ready
girlpool - what chaos is imaginary
oso oso - basking in the glow
the drew thomson foundation - the drew thomson foundation
starcrawler - devour you
harry styles - fine line concerts (favorites bolded):
cherry glazerr the cadillac three
girlpool
dandy warhols greta van fleet
rooney catfish and the bottlemen
jimmy eat world and third eye blind damone the struts
phantom planet
incubus
tegan and sara ben kweller
twin peaks hanson
favorite tv shows:
shrill russian doll stranger things modern love home for christmas favorite movies:
knives out booksmart little women five feet apart blinded by the light someone great
goals:
1. do 1 activity per week that allows me to meet new people: DONE
...because i obviously kept track. highlights included a '70s punk rock photography talk, "buy me boston" old advertising/music scene talk, board game speed dating (because half the guys didn't show up), a drag queen disco bash, the opening of time out market, and the grand opening party for the citizenm boston hotel. 2. take 2 classes: DONE
did an extremely unhelpful summer writing workshop and just finished a pottery class. not for me, but at least i tried!
3. bake 3 desserts (or breads, whatever): DONE
white chocolate lucky charms cookies, atlantic beach pie, and pear tart!
somehow, in seven years, this is the first totally instrumental song i've ever had on the list! kinda crazy. "fort greene park" came into my life at the 11th hour and i was absolutely captivated. in nearly six minutes, we've got math rock, we've got prog rock, we've got groovy riffs, we've got electronica, we've got melancholy moments, sinister moments, happy moments, and sonic combinations that make you want to run a marathon. and there's not a single lyric. what a time to be alive. 18. the drums - "626 bedford avenue"
that melody, tho. and the subtly hilarious lyrics: "i should have left when you laughed at my shoes," "take your head out of your ass/and take a good look at yourself," "you might be a psychopath/you might wanna check that." ha! 17. the drew thomson foundation - "a little more time"
i swear that everyone is sleeping on this man. i hadn't really been paying too much attention myself until he kept appearing on my discover weekly playlists and i thought "hey, i like this song!" "wait, i like this one too!" in fact, his entire self-titled debut album is excellent, but this one stood out in particular as *the* jam of all the jams. it's such an earworm. 16. washington social club - "first things first"
the fact that this absolutely perfect power-pop nugget has less than 1,000 plays on spotify is criminal, so i'm doing my very small part to change that. for context, i'll set the stage: it's july of 2004 and my friends and i are enjoying our final very carefree summer in new hampshire before we leave for college. we drive down to boston to see phantom planet at a tiny club called axis (RIP). the opener, a band we'd never heard of from d.c. called washington social club, take the stage. we were instantly and totally obsessed. the songs were insanely catchy, the lead singer was charismatic and weeeeird as hell, making dramatic orgasm faces and (i think) writhing on the stage at one point. we wandered over to the merch table after the show and each bought a copy of their album catching looks. it provided the perfect soundtrack to the rest of the summer, and we even trekked to see them at warped tour a month later.
i still listen to the album at least a few times every year, so i recently decided to see what they were up to. after a long hiatus, they're back with new music, and this is my favorite of the bunch. from marty's distinctively casual delivery in the verses to the wisdom-filled chorus ("we all should get a lot more fucked up/we all should be a lot less fucked up"), it's been in very heavy rotation for me the past few months.
15. lil nas x f/ billy ray cyrus - "old town road (remix)"
okay, so it's less of a favorite song and more of a favorite pop culture moment, but what's not to love? young rapper gets kicked off the country charts for not being country enough, washed-up country singer billy ray cyrus comes to the rescue to return the song to the charts, and all is right in the world again.
hating "old town road" is equivalent to hating dancing at weddings. both represent unfettered, goofy joy and everything good and pure in life, so if you dislike either, we have a fundamental difference in philosophy (and yours is wrong :)). i mean, the goddamn grinch could watch that viral video of the elementary school kids going HAM to this song and his heart would grow three sizes, am i right? 14. beabadoobee - "apple cider"
there's just so
much going on here that i love. the twinkly, jangly early '90s indie
vibe, the very juliana hatfield quality of bea's voice, the extremely
cute and earnest lyrics, and that playful little solo. it's totally the
sound of having a crush on someone. 13. the rocket summer - "morning light"
i've truly lost count of how many times i thought i'd ~outgrown~ the
rocket summer, and then came crawling back because of his uncanny knack
for wonderful melodies that make my brain tingle with happiness. dare i
say that this one even gets a little math-rocky in spots? bold, bryce. bold.
and that sassy ending, too. 12. billie eilish - "bad guy"
i'll admit that it
took me a little while to arrive at the billie eilish party, and many of
her songs still make me feel too old to be listening to them, if that
makes any sense. that being said, "bad guy" is so strange and compelling
that you can't help but be intrigued by it. the contrasts are
fascinating: in the video, she hands a guy her invisalign, then proceeds
to whisper about seducing your dad, then reminds us that she's 17 by
going "DUH," then goes back to whispering about wearing some dude's
cologne. it's a reeeal journey...and an excellent little pop song to boot. 11. column - "I"
the chill, hippie jam of my dreams. i was very grateful for column this year (the project of cadien from twin peaks and all the dudes from post animal) because i'm not into the new twin peaks album at aaaall. like, they sound like a band that smoked too much weed in the bad, steely dan way, and column sounds like a band that smoked too much weed in the good, brian jonestown massacre way. ya dig? 10. clairo - "bags"
i *almost* missed this one, which would have been totally tragic. it's the sonic equivalent of a moody tumblr post, and i mean that in the absolute best way. it's like, the song you turn on when you're on a long train ride and it's raining and you're like "i'm going to pretend i'm in the protagonist in a dramatic teen movie." just me? 9. muskets - "violent paradise"
when i wrote about this song earlier in the year, i said that it made me want to smoke it and play it loud and stage dive onto my bed and skateboard off my roof, and i still very much feel this way. one really nice night this summer, i had drinks on a patio with a friend, then got banana-cinnamon ice cream at christina's in cambridge and i took a super long walk from inman square to harvard square at sunset with this blasting through my headphones and it felt so right. 8. jonas brothers - "sucker"
i'm lukewarm on approximately 90% of jobros songs, but when i'm in, i'm aaaall in, baby. while "burning up" remains my fave, "sucker" is so undeniable. like, it's almost at "cake by the ocean" status in terms of the hook, which is no small feat. if your toe isn't tapping when it comes strutting in, you're probably dead. i also had the privilege of watching the reaction of all of the fabulous gay men at the provincetown tea dance this summer when it came on and it was absolutely JOYOUS. p.s. how adorable is it that they had their wives star in the video?! is it weird that i sort of want to be a jonas wife now? 7. beast coast - "left hand"
beast coast's sound completely embodies how walking through new york city feels to me (much like the lemonheads are the sound of walking through boston). it's gritty, cinematic, aggressive, and a little mischievous. which, y'know, makes sense, since it's a collab between a bunch of new york rap groups: my faves flatbush zombies, pro era, and the underachievers. their album escape from new york was definitely one of my favorites this year, but this track stood out. i mean, who else besides meech can utter the words
"i think LSD be my best friend/dick so big, use it as a kickstand"
completely unironically and sound badass as hell doing it? anyway, my favorite thing to do is pick whose verse is my favorite in each song since it changes with every one. here, i'm partial to CJ fly's at :47. "got the tech, i stay connected like it's best buy!"
6. cherry glazerr - "ohio"
now this is how you start an album. CG's
first single from stuffed and ready, "juicy socks," made my list last
year, but i was totally hooked within the first 10 seconds of this tune. it starts off tame enough—she's quietly humming the melody and you're like "oh, this is nice"—then those drums come in and kick you square in the face. then you're headbanging to the drums, and that massive, gnarly '90s riff drops and sets you completely on fire. ayyy! i always replay it before the song's over to hear that part again. 5. lizzo - "juice"
confession: i....don't like "truth hurts" at all and find it super grating, tbh. but i LOVE "juice" and i'm absolutely obsessed with lizzo's confidence, energy, and message! we all needed her bad bitch presence in our lives this year. 4. SWMRS - "trashbag baby"
garagey power-pop that just makes you wanna dance, man. SWMRS, a quartet of gen-z berkeley punks (two of whom are brothers, and one of whom is billie joe armstrong's son) topped my 2016 list with "figuring it out." that's still my favorite, but "trashbag baby" is a rifftastic bop that plays off of the becker brothers' unique voices. 3. the paranoyds - "girlfriend degree"
"girlfriend degree" really crept up on me this year. i loved it, but i didn't realize just how much i really loved it until i was putting together this list. i'm here for all of it: the kinks-esque melody, the spooky-sounding '60s horror movie synth, and the cheeky lyrics ("trust me, i know i'm happy/i'm not just a girl with low self-esteem").
this also has to be my favorite music video of the year (the dream with the ken doll had me roooolling!) and i've absolutely been trying to bite this style lately when it comes to my wardrobe. 2. christelle bofale - "origami dreams"
dreamy, dreamy, dreamy. i first heard this song in a semi-unlikely place: while waiting for pete holmes to take the stage at WBUR cityspace. shazam came to my rescue and i fell completely and deeply in love immediately. my song of the summer fo' sho. it's one of those tracks that make you feel nostalgic, contented, and sad all at once. 1. djo - "personal lies"
i typically start thinking about my favorite songs of the year toward the end of the summer, and i was getting a little nervous when september rolled around because i wasn't *quite* sold on anything as my #1 yet. that is, until i decided to check out twenty twenty, the album joe keery aka steve harrington from stranger things casually dropped under the pseudonym djo.
the first, ohhh, five times i listened to it, every song gave me chills and i kept actually mouthing/saying aloud "why is this so fucking good???!" it's the first album in such a long time—probably since kurt vile's wakin on a pretty daze in 2013—that i just wanted to LIVE in, y'know; grab a blanket and curl up and indulge in a jazz cigarette and drink some hot cocoa and browse etsy and stay for a few days.
the production is warm and lush, the instrumentation takes all these delightfully surprising turns, and the melodies are fun, psychedelic, and ever-so-slightly familiar without falling too far into trope territory (even if they did, i honestly wouldn't care in the slightest). long story short, i went from "yeah, ooookay, let's check out this album that steve from stranger things did" to "holy shit, this is my favorite album of 2019" in approximately 10 minutes.
while there are several standout tunes ("just along for the ride," "flash mountain," and "tentpole shangrila" are up there for me), this one just gets me going, man. i cue it up and the beatles-meets-tame impala vibe jumps out, my hair automatically extends to cher-in-the-'70s length, daisy dukes appear on my body as if by magic, and i'm roller skating under a blacklight. at 2:10, when i tell you i SCREAMED! joe keery might just be the first person whom i'd actually encourage to quit their day job because i need more of his music immediately.
in this short series, momofuku restaurant group founder david chang eats his way through a different city with a different celebrity palin each episode. he's no bourdain, to be sure, but i enjoyed his easy rapport with the likes of chrissy teigen and kate mckinnon. my favorite, however, was the first ep, in which he gets delightfully baked with seth rogen and they wander around vancouver. let it snow 3/10
i know this is a fairly controversial stance to take, but about 95% of the cheesy YA original movies on netflix are...just really not any good, folks. and yet, i continue to keep hope alive, watching and trying my best to get into them as each one comes out—because i do love a good cheesy YA movie! in let it snow, the cringe is almost unbearable. there are like three different plotlines to follow, all centering around a blizzard that hits a small town at christmas time. and one of them involves a pop star who gets stranded there, which was very unnecessary and dumb. like, joan cusack plays a bizarre character known only as "tin foil woman." sure, okay. whatever. it's bland, it's soulless, and i just really didn't get it at all. come to think of it, it's exactly how i feel about the 1975... echo in the canyon 8/10
really, really enjoyed this documentary about the laurel canyon/LA music scene in the '60s. jakob dylan (sidenote: when did he get SO ATTRACTIVE? i don't remember being so taken with him as a young'n) interviews a bunch of revered musicians, including tom petty, ringo starr, and stephen stills, about the creative and artistic energy of that time. there are a lot of behind the scenes stories that are super interesting, too. a must-watch, feel-good movie for music fans, IMO. tales of the city 7/10
blew through this miniseries last summer, which was based on the books by armistead maupin. set in san francisco, it features a lot of big names like ellen page, laura linney, and olympia dukakis as a bunch of intertwined friends, relatives, lovers, and neighbors dealing with lots of drama and mystery. it was admittedly a bit difficult to keep track of what was happening at points due to all of the characters, but overall, it was a nice lil' show.
20th century women 6/10
considering that this is an A24 indie movie set in 1979 and starring greta gerwig, i SHOULD have loved it more than i did. it was fine enough, but really dragged on at many points and could have been much shorter. there's a lot going on, including explorations of sexuality, feminism, and tense family dynamics, so the plot is pretty meandering. i loved the references to the punk music scene of the late '70s and there were some unexpected plot twists that were pretty intriguing. a slight bit sleepy for my taste, though.
holiday in the wild 3/10
i thought that maaaaybe, just maaaybe, since this was not a *cheesy YA* netflix original movie—and because it stars rob lowe and kristin davis—it might be good. it was not. the gist is that kristin davis' character goes on a honeymoon by herself to africa after her fiance breaks off their engagement, she meets rob lowe, they rescue an elephant(?) and the rest is basically just safari porn masquerading as a rom-com. i wasn't invested in the characters in the slightest, and "this isn't about us. this is about the elephants." is an actual line delivered straight-faced by rob lowe. oof.
have you ever heard a song from years ago that you somehow missed back then, and you feel extremely upset and cheated that you lived without it for so long? a perfect example is this track, which i heard for the first time a few weeks ago on (where else?) WMBR's breakfast of champions. the lyrics are cheeky, but also pretty real and kinda dark and it just hits the spot for me, pun totally intended.
2. this new show, modern love
it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that i've read at least 100 new york times "modern love" essays. mostly because i love the column, and the rest because i was doing research on the tone and themes in preparation write my own a few years ago. the result was "standing at shows with boys," which was kindly rejected by daniel jones, the editor who still reads every single submission. it ended up finding a home at the bigger picture and the response i received was wonderful though, so it's all good...and i'm getting the itch to try again!
anyway, i also religiously listen to the podcast, so i'm just a big fan all around. for some reason, i was a little wary about watching the show because i wasn't sure how these beautiful essays would translate. but two minutes into the first episode and i was absolutely hooked. i'm the type of person who, for better or worse, knows if i like something (or someone) immediately—clothes, dates, houses, music, movies, and TV shows—and between the filming style and script, this show makes me feel so warm and fuzzy and happy. i'm three episodes in and i never want it to end! i've also cried at all of 'em.
as the NYT themselves put it, "modern love, when it works, provides the kind of soothing comfort
supplied by an inviting armchair, a warm fire, or a mug of hot tea on a
chilly night. it’s the TV equivalent of a hand-knit cardigan or an instagrammable latte; a mood of transitory wistfulness appears to be the
goal, not some chest-thumping artistic statement about Life." my favorite type of art!
3. these combat boots i bought a couple weeks ago
i am not nor have i ever really been a shoe person. but, speaking of knowing immediately what i like, i literally fucking raaaaan at full speed to these across DSW upon spotting them and i've been wearing them pretty much every day since. i swear i've been waiting for them my entire life. 4. this insane house i walked by yesterday in portsmouth, NH that's for sale
i have absolutely no clue what's going on in here and i love it. only a cool $2.9 mil!
if you're a fan of reply all/this american life/mystery show-type podcasts, check this one out. half human interest, half mystery, host jonathan goldstein seeks to reconnect people with others from their past to find out what happened. my recent favorite was "becky and jo," about two sisters whose childhood babysitter suddenly disappeared one day and left them confused and worried.
i meant to write this post weeks ago when it was more relevant, but....life, man. last month, dave holmes wrote this interesting article about the period from 2003–2012 in music. more specifically, how the lack of streaming services like spotify and now-ancient technology of ipods have rendered so many of our favorite bands and songs from that time obsolete unless we happen to remember them.
fortunately, i'm like an elephant with this period of time in music and i will never forget any of my favorites. being able to listen to them again is another story, however. some of the original picks for this post (addison, yes dear, telecast, the sexy magazines) have nary a record of their mere existence, so i couldn't even feature them. i swear i didn't make them up! here are some of the best nearly-extinct remnants of the early aughts. may you find a new favorite song (because they still hold up), take a trip down memory lane, or both. the colour
the colour is always the first group i think of when i think of the sound that defined this era in music. strokes-y, moody, slightly britpoppy, mod, and danceable. i must have listened to their EP hundreds of times back in the day and rediscovering it every so often brings back such specific and fond memories. so glad that someone uploaded it to youtube, because it’s not on spotify. “out and about” was my go-to jam back then, but i’m finding that i appreciate “mirror ball” more now.
meneguar
i still have no clue how i ever even heard of this very short-lived brooklyn band, but it probably involved myspace stalking to some degree. their entire i wasborn at night EP is such a solid collection of melodic, raw, angular indie rock, with the above tune “house of cats” being my absolute favorite.
the redwalls
proving once and for all that if it’s a retro-sounding band that involves brothers, i’ll *most likely* be onboard, the redwalls were a beatles-esque quartet from chicago i was deeply into for like six months. i recently had the brilliant idea to check and see if pitchfork ever reviewed their album, and sure enough, they gave 'em a very specific 3.6 and called them "60s pop fetishists." still slinging the same exact jabs 14 years later, eh? expand your fuckin’ vocab, ya nerds! this is my favorite track, but the whole album is a fun, lighthearted listen.
living things
also brothers! why these guys never made it big is still kinda baffling to me, but i probably listen to both this song and their other very minor hit, “bom bom bom,” at least once a week. straight-up, bad-ass, strutting rock ’n roll.
thunderbirds are now!
high-strung, mid-2000s dance rock at its finest. they also had some great song titles, including “better safe than safari” and “enough about me, let’s talk about me.” this song is a freaked-out treasure!
robbers on high street
so, this was the band that sounded a lot a lot A LOT like spoon. but, instead of launching into another one of my rants where i wonder for the 100th time why people absolutely lose their shit over derivative bands, i’ll just say (one more time for the snobs in the back) that i doooo nooooot caaaaare! riddle me this: i like spoon. why on earth wouldn’t i like a band that has different songs that sound very similar to spoon’s?? refusing to like a band “on principle” or for “philosophical reasons” is truly the dumbest shit i’ve ever heard. i feel like i’m taking crazy pills. long story short: i kind of lost interest in them after the first album, but the first album is so good! i still listen to it regularly.
the fictions
omg, i miss the fictions so much and there is absolutely no trace of their songs on the internet aside from this one—at least i have a bunch of songs on my old laptop. sunny, LA indie pop with a cheeky sense of humor (they literally had an innuendo-filled song called “the handjive” which included the lyrics “can i get a handjiiiiive, can i get a handjiiive from you?” also, it was soooo weird—except not really because this is my life we’re talking about, after all—like 10 years ago i was watching sixteen candles and tweeted my favorite line from the movie, “sofa city, sweetheart.” and then a one-man band called sofa city sweetheart saw it and we became internet friends….and then i realized HE USED TO BE IN THE FICTIONS! the universe is absolutely wild, folks.
protokoll
boston’s own!! my memories are choppy because it’s been so long, but i remember that the lead singer worked at the emerson bookstore (where i went to school) and i was buying my books and freaking out because i was so into them at the time. and then i don’t really know how it transpired, but my friend and i hung out drinking warm beer with them in their van one night in front of bill’s bar, and one of the band members played this crazy song called “i do dream you” by an italian band, jennifer gentle, which i still love? it’s all a blur at this point, honestly. this song rules though.
sahara hotnights
is
there...is there a band that still makes music that sounds exactly like
sahara hotnights' 2004 album kiss & tell? because i've been looking
and i can't really find it. it's garage rocky, it's power poppy, it's
vaguely swedish...which makes sense because that's where these lovely
ladies are from.
the kinison
thiiiiis is how you do post-hardcore. the kinison always struck me as very dark, but something about them was so compelling to me after my friends and i happened upon them at warped tour in 2004. screaming is usually hit or miss for me, but it just really works for them, i think in part due to the catchy choruses.
the star spangles
best CD i ever bought at wal-mart. i remember thinking they were british because...don't they seem british? they're just new yorkers, though. i'm a sucker for anything reminiscent of '77 punk, and their debut album bazooka!!! is a hard-hitting, punchy collection of tunes that still hits that spot for me.
the mooney suzuki
so underrated and so much fun! i'd much rather a band be unapologetically silly, bombastic, and over the top like this than dreadfully boring and bland. taking yourself seriously is for squares and bumps on logs. plus, "turn me on and turn me up and turn me loose?!" pure poetry. I. AM. ALIVE. AND. AMPLIFIIIIED!
morningwood
and speaking of over the top...my first introduction to this band was at a free concert in 2006 at vassar college, when they inexplicably opened for talib kweli, and it still stands out as one of the most memorable live performances by a lead singer I've ever seen. vocalist chantel claret absolutely owned the stage, and at one point brought a random dude from the audience up and stripped him down to his skivvies for their song "take off your clothes." it was funny, it was kinda sexy, it was totally wacky, and i loved it. i feel like she also rode a toy pony at one point, maybe? good stuff. fun fact: she went on to play mickey's friend shaun on the netflix show love.
rock 'n' roll soldiers
if there's a better lyric than "we're the cold hand slidin' down your warm shirt," i don't want to hear it. okay, there are probably better lyrics, but that's a darn good one. i'm pretty sure that during the summer of 2005, i got into my car after every awful 5am-11am shift at dunkin' donuts and cranked this tune via mix CD for the 10-minute ride home. i was a motherfuckin' rock 'n' roll soldier ringing up crullers and coolattas, man!
so, peru was amazing and perspective-changing and beautiful and i had a wonderful time, but first things first: fuuuuck american airlines and fuuuuuck miami international airport for ruining the beginning of my trip! i think i cursed myself by mentioning to my seatmate on the way from boston to miami that i was two for two in terms of awful experiences at MIA.
long story short: i got to miami at 11am and my flight to lima was supposed to leave at 3:45pm. they boarded us on the plane, made us get off because the AC was broken, started boarding us again, stopped, then proceeded to delay the flight countless times for SEVEN HOURS with excuses ranging from "they're cooling down the plane" to "they're replacing the cockpit seat." at one point, this elderly dude sitting near me at the gate goes, "i'm an old man. i've seen a lot. i've never seen so many lies!" LOL.
during this time, i also spotted two other people from my tour group by their luggage tags, so we quickly bonded and commiserated together. we were told we were finally leaving at midnight and—i shit you not—at about 10:45, they go "folks, we have a brand new plane, we have a pilot, and we have flight attendants. we're just looking for a first officer. once we get an update on that, we'll let you know." at this point, we're all like....this is an absolute joke, right? we're being punk'd, right? RIGHT?! two minutes later: "ladies and gentlemen, this flight is canceled."
picture being at an airport gate for nearly eight hours with ~200 other people, delirious, upset, and tired, and finding out you're not getting to where you're trying to go anytime soon for no discernible reason at 11pm. people were legit SCREAMING—like, to the point where people were recording the pandemonium. it was truly hell. we all had to stay overnight in miami because AA couldn't rebook us on a flight until 5:30pm the. next. damn. day. at least they gave us a $12 "meal voucher" which covered half a stick of gum!
funny enough, i had written a blog post for my side travel content writing gig about the wynwood walls in miami just a few months ago and was like "huh, sounds like a cool place. maybe i'll make it there someday!" little did i know, that day was coming way sooner than i expected! it was a cute way to kill some time.
anyway, my flight to lima left on time that night, but that wasn't the end of it. because our group had already flown to cusco, the next destination, we slept for 3 hours and had to hop on another flight at 3:30am from lima to catch up with them. but we did it, dammit. and then the fun began!
cusco
we kicked things off with a sightseeing tour of the historic city sites:
the convent of santo domingo
sacsayhuaman (which, yes, is pronounced "sexy woman")
i didn't really have any major issues with the altitude, probably because i was paranoid and had been taking chlorophyll supplements twice a day beginning the previous week, but hoo boy. at 12,000+ feet, you climbed five stairs here and legit felt like you just ran a marathon.
we explored the city center a bit:
i also posed for the best picture i'll ever be part of in my life:
so i was cracking up at this today
because it is the PERFECT example of everything looking better on social
media. don't get me wrong, holding a baby alpaca is undoubtedly a
highlight of my life and this was an amazing moment, but here's what you
don't see:
-the fact that i could barely keep my eyes open because i was so sleep-deprived and delirious
-that
right after this, we went to lunch where i barely picked at my food because i had absolutely no appetite, went back to the hotel, slept for an hour,
threw up from probably a combo of the exhaustion/roasted
guinea pig i ate/shot of pisco my group convinced me to take at the chocolate museum, slept for another hour, and forced
myself to go to dinner with the group, where we watched some traditional folk dancing:
fortunately, after i got one decent night of sleep, i was good as new!
pisac market
i was a little obsessed with this small village with a ton of vendors selling handicrafts, clothing, and souvenirs. this
was what i pictured when i thought of peru—it was like stepping back in
time. and, considering that there was not a functioning ATM to be found
despite our best efforts, it actually WAS stepping back in time. i got a
little magnet and a journal and an alpaca shawl for my mom.
ollantaytambo
these ruins were incredible! it was a great place to visit the day before machu picchu because i was like "how can machu picchu be better than this?" i mean, it was, but this was still awesome in its own right.
then we hopped on the perurail train to aguas calientes, which was cute.
they gave us free coffee and a little brownie and the scenic views were
amazing.
aguas calientes and machu picchu
we stayed overnight in the town of aguas calientesaka "machu picchu town," which solely exists as the gateway to machu picchu for tourists. kind of wild. i was actually really charmed by its narrow cobblestone streets and massive market. our hotel was also super cool, nestled into the hillside, and had great food and a bar where we had drinks before catching the train to the sacred valley.
but first...machu picchu! pictures truly don't do it justice, and every level you ascend just gives you a breathtaking new perspective. y'all know i'm not a super-huge nature/outdoorsy person, but it was absolutely stunning and worthy of a bucket list item designation.
my tour group
sidenote: this was my second tour with go ahead (and third with EF), and i was once again so incredibly impressed with the experience from beginning to end. in the midst of the disastrous flight situation, they were on the phone with us constantly to figure out the best course of action so we could catch up with our tour as soon as possible, and kept us posted the entire time. and, of course, the group itself was great. it's always an interesting mix of personalities and you instantly bond over the fact that you're americans navigating a new culture together (and in this case, an extremely different one). highly recommended!
there were 24 of us but this was some of the group! my cousin and her friend came along, too.
sacred valley
our hotel in the sacred valley was this cool converted monastery, and i loved it even though my room was kinda dungeon-like:
since it was in the middle of nowhere, it was its own little village with a restaurant, coffee shop, pizza place, etc.
you know i'll try just about anything food-wise and i'm all about adventurous eating, but real talk: aside from the ceviche in lima, peruvian food was decidedly not my jam. i think it mostly had to do with the specific meals i had, but a lot of the staples in their cuisine are sweet potatoes (ick), squash (blech), and lots of straightforward meat-and-rice-and-vegetable type stuff. the first night we got here, i was so over it and was craving a cheesy, saucy pizza. my prayers were answered in the form of a pie with chorizo, pepperoni, onions, and olives. paired with a glass of white wine, i was such happy lil' american.
then, the next night, our entire group got dinner at the fancy restaurant and i ordered bolognese lasagna, which was probably the best meal i had the entire trip. i like peruvian italian food, i guess? i also sinned and ate a bite of alpaca steak just to try it. it was delicious but i just couldn't bring myself to eat one of those adorable little dudes!
the one thing i did love was the country's signature cocktail, the pisco sour. knocked a few of those tasty guys back GLADLY.
sorry, back to the actual sites: maras salt flats
salt for daaaays. it was cool.
moray
more inca brilliance:
chinchero
aside from machu picchu, visiting this village was probably my favorite part of the trip. we ate a really good lunch at this cute restaurant (i had chicken crepes and pork chops so again, not really super peruvian)...
and then headed to this weaving co-op. the women were so joyful, warm, and welcoming, smiling and dancing with us. they even gave us this delicious mint tea to sip as we watched their weaving and textile demonstration. the one that led it was hilarious! she held up a bone and asked us whether we thought it was a human or animal bone and goes "maybe my husband bone? maybe my mother-in-law bone?" bahahaha.
this adorable little girl started following me around with her basket of dolls and speaking to me in spanish and melted my heart! i somehow remembered the word for "dolls" (muñecas) and she was all "sÃ, sÃ!" and it was the cutest damn thing i've ever seen.
THEN WE FED LLAMAS AND ALPACAS.
lima
i couldn't leave peru without seeing at least *some* of lima, so i extended my trip by a day in order to explore. honestly, that was more than enough. the city was big, dirty, depressing, and uninspiring—and this was in miraflores, which is considered to be the bougie, hip district. :|
however, it was my mission to eat at maido, which is one of the 50 best restaurants in the world and the #1 sushi restaurant in the world. i got there before it opened, hoping to try my luck for a sushi counter seat because reservations for this place book up many months in advance.
i got there before it opened, and they ended up giving the one open seat to the man who walked in right before me, but i wasn't about to give up. they told me to come back in an hour, so i wandered around for a bit. it was during this time that i walked by a shop that was blaring "rude"
by MAGIC! aka the worst song i've ever heard in my entire life and i
actually burst out laughing, because i was like, "okay universe, i get
that you're trying to fuck up my vibe right now but YOU WILL NOT
SUCCEED." and it didn't! i came back and got a seat and had an amazingly delicious lunch and all was right in the world:
