Apparently Monday (March 8th) was International Women’s Day. Up until this point I had been completely unaware that this international holiday existed. Yrma invited us to join her and the women’s coop that she runs on a trip to the zoo. The zoo was free today in celebration of our half of the human race. Thanks, women!

As we stood in line to enter the zoo, a security guard crossed the giant entry courtyard and approached the women around Serena, Eleanor, and me. Surely they can’t be with you, right? No, no, these girls are, in fact, with us, they assured him. It may have been the first time that my glowing white skin posed as a threat to security.

The zoo turned out to be quite nice. Aside from a few shockingly tiny cages that contained active animals such as monkeys or generously-sized animals such as lions and tigers, the zoo was something that Peruvians could boast about. It was neatly divided by the three main landscapes found in Peru: the jungle, the highlands, and the coast. And then of course there was the “International Animals” section, where all the must-haves could be found: zebras, giraffes, lions, tigers, monkeys, bears, etc.

The gardens were especially beautiful. Everything was lush and green and tropical-feeling. I was excited to see the highly-praised botanic garden and was slightly–ok, maybe more than slightly–disappointed to find the gardens filled with a variety of pine trees. Really? Pine trees? I hadn’t ever thought about the fact that I haven’t seen any pine trees since leaving home in January, but I suppose they are a novelty here. Crazy.

At one point as we were walking from one exhibit to the next, I heard someone yell loudly, “Mira!” (“Look!”) It’s a command, so I obeyed. I looked up to see who shouted it, so that I could follow his point, but when I looked up I saw a guy gaping at me.

This wasn’t a flattering gape. This was an, “Oh my gosh, look! A white person!” gape. I stared back in disbelief. I had been expecting to see someone pointing at a super-duper-cool or crazy-ugly animal, but instead I saw someone looking at me as if I were a super-duper-cool or crazy-ugly animal.

If this guy had been four years old, fine. I understand. But he was closer to 20 than to 10. I can’t be the first he’s ever seen. For the rest of the day I sympathized with the animals as everyone gawked at them. Sometimes you just don’t want to be an attraction.