Chapter 14: The Go Bananas´ story (jan-mar 2013)

Hi there =)

After a god couple of months we are back on the Great Trip! We didn´t neglect it, but work at Go Bananas was quite intense, time and energy consuming. (For those who follow our story closely, you´ll say: “But you guys finished working a month ago!” Yes, indeed, but we also deserved that month of holidays after the rush of work ^^

So Go Bananas, what to say about it? Let me remind you: Go Bananas is a juice bar + 20 beds hostel in a courtyard mixed with local families, and Ayaymama, the reggae bar next door.

First as you saw previously, we got welcomed like kings: we came back from our little trip to Bolivia to discover a private room painted, with TV and coffee table and even some fresh flowers! A real cocoon to anticipate the pressure of work to come. (Unfortunately this comfort was half an illusion; how many times did we come back in the room to find a leaky roof and wet stuffs…).

Then we started working, first a week together with Conny and Chris, learning every secrets of the fully fresh and homemade specialties of Go Bananas: crepes, sandwiches, cream soups (Tom’s carrot and coriander soup was a total success, thanks Maggie^^), and above all, fresh juices – mango, papaya, piña, maracuyá, pepino…

The first day on our own was very exiting; the first week was quite focused on the job, time to adapt and get used to it. 2nd day we were robbed a girl´s last generation Galaxy mobile which was lying on the counter, in front of our eyes. The 3 guys were Peruvian, mafia-looking, dressed in suits… we could feel that something was wrong, but didn´t see anything happening. Robbing is an art here in South America. But in the end, no harm if you’re not materialist =)

The first 2 weeks were still quite busy: we managed to make some Money, organised some Spanish lessons as well as some Sunday night jam sessions (it was holidays for Argentineans’, so many jugglers and musicians made it quite easy!).

But then the rain season got worse, Argentineans holidays finished, and time in Cusco got a bit boring quite often… Luckily we were blessed by the presence of some regular clients visiting us every day: Richard, from Lima, our Spanish teacher; Colby, from Philadelphia, volunteering mornings in Cusco and spending entire afternoons with us (he even gratified us with his Colby´s Crazy Smoothie – Pepino, Piña y Platano (I think… at least at first, I now have the feeling it changed a lot through the month ^^). And for sure we were surrounded by an adorable family, Mari, Jacob, their son Marcelo, his cousin Mercedes, her dad lucho, Rosa, our lovely neibourgh who runs a restaurant, and many times brought us her delicious food at the bar...

About Food: my first creation was Maggie´s Magic Tea, made of cinnamon, ginger, lemon and honey. Delicious to wake you up gently.

We will also never insist enough on how crepes and fesh juices were welcomed in the mornings: Mango lassi, maracuyá smoothie… What else?

We learned how to cook Brazilian tequeños: piece of cheese rolled in a Huantan pasta (kind of fresh lasagna) and deep fried – usually eaten with guacamole and huancaína.

Huancaina: Peruvian specialty, sauce made of onion, aji (sweet yellow pepper) and bread crump – traditionally served with papas (potatoes), lettuce and black olives = papas ala huancaína!

Chicha morada: national non-alcoholic drink (the alcoholic version, chicha, also exist, don´t worry^^) made of purple corn commonly found in Cusco, marinated with the skin of a pineapple and other spices – usually served with meals.

 About music: As we said, we managed to organise some jam sessions, but when the season got low, it got difficult. We will never thank the Argentineans enough for the spontaneity in music; how many afternoon ended up musically brilliant!!

Ayaymama, the reggae bar next door, also offered many gigs to Tom… and he was almost never alone! Always a friend in the hostel to play with =) With Raphael, from Brazil, and local double of Bob Marley, Dante (he actually was in TV in that show for doubles of stars^^), they even started a band project!

Special days: St Valentine´s day was desert in spite of our special menu for the day, so we ended up eaten the food and taking the day off. At night Tom played for a charity for women in need in the Sacred Valley.

Pancake´s day: we simply cooked massive amount of pancakes and sold them in the street: “El dia del panqueques! 3 soles el panqueque! Chocolate o miel y limon! 3 soles el panqueque! Muy ricos!”. Sooo much fun!!

Carnival: we did not organize anything special… but the municipality did for us, trust me! It was a Sunday and Cusco was CRA-ZY!! Everyone was in the street, a huge parade on Plaza de Armas, and kids spraying anyone near with foam of all colors! Tom went to town that day and came back entirely soaked and half of the face blue! Even me, sitting at the doors of Go Bananas in a little street outside city centre got sprayed by each taxi passing! Again, much fun!

So well, the last 3 weeks of work, we were totally in our element, well adapted to the place, that we often turned into a nice chill out space at night. We often had well animated Saturday nights, and turned the place into a cinema for a Sunday afternoon movie…

Amongst other intense moments at Go Bananas was the birth of Mari and Jacob´s baby. You would have seen Jacob, totally in love with his son! So nice to see =)

I think we got the best visitors near the end: first José arrived, from Chile, with the bluest eyes anyone has ever met; he was shortly followed by Bazon, alias Felipe, from Germany. Both got along quite well and went for a motorbike tour to Machu Picchu… which made Tom and our dear Scottish friends Nico and Kieran, very jealous! So as soon as we finished work they did the same tour, joined by the French Isis and Jonathan from Israel. We were also blessed by the visit of our Columbian Christina, who started working for Jacob, the French Celine, that I met again 2 times in Bolivia, Calci, from Russia, who lives in the Sacred Valley, Makita y Aurora, our lovely Lima ladies, and many more!!!

Tom, me, Colby (back), Felipe, Christina & José, THE team!!

So when the guys left on bikes, on the first day holiday, it could have been boring, but no, trust me: I woke up around 12, welcomed by Julio who works at the reggae bar. He was still awake from the past night and offered me a big glass of whisky! Amongst other nice surprises for that first day off was a spontaneous psytrance party in Ayaymama! What else?

 Ok ok maggy hold on a minute.... let me write something.. thanks babe :)
 You covered pretty much everything in Cusco... Ayaymama parties.. oh yeh FRIED CHICKEN dinners, I cooked 3 guinea pigs using a lot of oil, an oven , traditional herb caled wakantay and  a knife (to slice open the stomach for stuffing and remove the penis..! Oh and how could I not mention Maggy,s valentines gift to me.. a rewritten version  of Clandestino by Manu Chao about working in a Juice bar! I hope she records it and puts it on here :P 

So Conny and Chris returned in amongst a flurry of fiestas and fun. For us, it sounded like "Wow! It feels like you left last week! When contrarily the first week was more "Man, it's like we've been working here all life!". And let me remind you, we were only mean to work a month, which turned into 2 in the end....

But such an intense period of time, including wet willys and kitchen towel fights, and of course, much music, brought also much tension and many disagreements. We felt like taking some time appart to refill in energy: Tom would leave to Lima to meet some friends, and I would go to Bolivia with Felipe, José, Nico and our newly arrived Paloma to a 5 days psytrance festival... YEPEE!!