Pop culture and Peru

Have you ever wondered what an intellectual does to prepare for living 6 months in South America??? She turns to Youtube.

If you share my obsession with llamas. Here is the video for you... I have to confess that I have both seen a llama and eaten (part of) a llama.

Then, we have one of my favorite movies of all time the Walt Disney Studio's "The Emperor's New Groove," which you can watch because it is supposedly based on Incan culture, has the word Cuzco in it, celebrates llamas and alpacas, and in which a pinata makes a cameo appearance (which is a Mexican tradition, not Peruvian). As Izma would say, "My voice... Is that MY voice???? Oh well."

And then, we turn to Dreamworks motion picture "The Road to El Dorado, " which somehow manages to be slightly more culturally correct than the Emperor's New Groove because it combines Incan and Mayan culture, and depicts the invading Spanish as gold hungry war mongers. The Spaniards WERE obsessed with finding the lost city of the Incas because they believed that the Incas had been hiding all of their gold deep in the heart of the jungle. But, I'm not vouching for the rest of this film's cultural accuracy.

Still want to be a part of my trip to Peru? I promise that I really am "studying" Spanish and I do sometimes "read" books about Peru and watch real "factual" things (like documentaries). It's just that this is much more fun.

Cheerily yours!
Amanda

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