A minor existential crisis south of the equator

Visiting a place where you lived, even for a short time, is an odd experience. It's been 21 years since I lived & worked in Puno, but I've found myself wanting to return to the way things were. Like having the same rhythm of each day. Teaching at the Language Center in the morning & evening, living in the house a few blocks from the main plaza of the city & stopping for a mid-morning empanada at the same bakery (which by the way is no longer there).

I've wanted to turn a corner & meet up with a former colleague, but I've discovered over the last couple of days that most have left Puno for other cities (as Puno was just step in their career). I did stop by the Language Center to see if anyone was still there from my days as a teacher. I asked about my former dept. head, Professor Moreno. One of the administrators at the Language Center, contacted Professor Moreno by phone. I had a chance to talk with him for a few minutes. As it turns out he now teaches in a university in a northern region of Peru.

I even returned to a familiar restaurant, Pizzeria del Buho. It has expanded & was no longer the shadowy little bohemian hangout that I remembered. However, the pizza was still awesome. Wood fired pizza in an adobe oven. I sat by myself (no pity needed) hoping that a familiar face would walk in, take a seat at my table & we'd start up a conversation like no time had passed.

It dawned on me today that I'd forgotten that over two decades have come & gone. I've been walking around the city assuming that I've not aged. That I'm still that idealistic, looking for the next adventure 24 year old. But when I was washing my hands this morning, I looked in the mirror & saw the wrinkles & the gray hair around my temples and thought "holy shit there's a 45 year old man staring back at me." What the hell has happened? When did this person get older?  Did I vanish or just morph into somewhat responsible adult who happens to have two teenage children, a mortgage & a job that I'm expected to return to in less than a week?

I guess South America is as good of a place to have a minor existential crisis as anywhere else. I quickly checked to see if I'd taken my thyroid medicine & my antidepressant. The good news is that I had (crisis averted), so at least I'm aging responsibly & I'll be moderately happy about getting older.

Although Puno has changed as I remembered it & most (if not all) of my friends have moved on, it's still a great little port city on the shore of Lake Titicaca. I'm grateful for the three months I lived & worked here 21 years ago and I'm really glad I've had an opportunity to visit & realize that getting older doesn't mean the end of new adventures.

For those of you still keeping up with this blog, I plan to write a post about my time on the island of Amantini, but it's getting late & I have an early morning as I prepare to leave Puno & head for Cusco. But, here's a picture of me on the peak of the island at an Inca sacred site.