Peruvian odities

Over the last few days I have been keeping a list of random things about Peru that I have found odd and interesting. So I´m going to give you a little list and try to explain what I can:

80s Music - Oh my gosh, they love it. At both of my jobs we very often listen to 80s rock in the office. I´m not going to speak for too many of you, but I have always considered the 80s to be the middle school of 20th century. The music was awkward. You look back the hair styles all scream "What was I thinking?" But I have had multiple peruvians tell me that the 80s were the greatest decade of music. It is great because so many of these songs have humorous stories connected to them for me and my explaining of their significance to me to my coworkers probably makes them think I am even more crazy, but I really can´t help but smile every time that "Livin on a Prayer" "Lady in Red" come on. Also, everyone likes to sing along, even if they don´t know the words. A friend absolutely loves "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" and HE sings it at the top of his lungs every time it comes on. Same goes for singing on the bus, in the office, walking down the street. They aren´t on key, on rhythm, but they love the music.

Black clothing - I think this is true because black clothes and black hair go together really well. But I was in a meeting a couple weeks ago and was the only person not wearing black pants. It is a good look. Also the vest is pretty popular too. There must have been a "cold torso, hot arm" pandemic, but it is now solved.

Leather shoes - This is the older generation more than the younger. Everyone wears nice shoes. This is pretty standard for Latin America. I did buy some leather shoes so that I felt like i fit in just a bit more. I know tha ti am a foot taller than everyone else, am white, have blonde hair, and speak like a foreigner, but when I´ve got the shoes on, I feel like I fit in. I am yet to use one of the shoe shiners that are every where, but I kinda want to, just for the experience.

Converse All-Stars - If you aren´t wearing leather shoes or soccer shoes, you are wearing these. They´re huge, only in the younger generations though (30 or younger).

Wearing shoes in the house - Peruvians are never barefoot (unless they can´t afford shoes, different problem). In the mind of the Peruvian, if you go barefoot, you will get the "gripe" (getting a cold). When Susana (my host mom) came to pick up her stipend for October, Debbie asked her if everything was good with my situation. Susana got a serious face "there is one thing, he always runs around the house barefoot." As of yet, no gripe for me, but I do try to at least wear socks around the house more to not freak them out as much.

Warm drinks - please note that I say "warm." This means that all drinks are somewhere in the range of room temperature. If you go to the store/restaurant and order a coke or beer, you MUST remember to tell them "helado" (literally frozen or ice cream, but meaning cold). If not, your drink will come off the shelf and be brought to you. Again, because of the "gripe." If you drink cold beverages, you WILL get a cold. Conversely, if you get coffee or tea, it should come at a luke warm temperature. It will be warmer than a room temperature coke, but won´t be hot. A couple times, I took water straight from our water boiler and put it into my cup for tea and Susana started to warn me that I was going to burn myself). I did not burn myself, but everyone else waited for about 10 minutes before drinking their tea. Also, most people will eat their entire meal, and then drink their drink. They don´t mix apparently.

Buses - there are thousands. If I have to wait more than a minute for my bus, I´m annoyed because it is late. Mine cost either 50 centimos ($0.17) or 1 sol ($0.34) depending on which job I´m working at. I often can´t get a seat in the morning and therefore will stand the entire ride. Because of my height, my eyelevel is above the windows, so I have learned how to know when to get off just by looking at the curbs. Also, I can press my head against the roof for added support to keep myself from falling into the lady standing next to me with her head at chest level. Peruvians sleep all the time on the bus too. They have some uncanny internal bus clock that will always wake them up moments before their stop. I am proud to say that I did this exact thing the other day. I was taking a bus back from San Juan de Lurigancho (#9, I live in #21)and about halfway back on the hour long bus ride, I fell asleep. I woke up 30 minutes later, half a block from my stop. I´m quite proud of this. Also, the grocery store has a free bus that takes you to the store. It is kinda awesome. I wish safeway would do that at home.

You can´t buy beer in Perú unless you already have bottles - For those of you who do not already know, I am a fan of beer. I am not going to beat around this bush. It went so far as when I was in college, my friends and I made our own. This has not changed here. I do not drink too often, but do enjoy the occasional brew. The other day, Ginna was over to our side of town to pick up her monthly money for bus fares and such, so we decided to grab some beer. We went to the Metro, which is the grocery store in Pueblo Libre. We picked out what we wanted, went to the check out with our money in hand. When we got there, the lady told us we could not buy it because we did not have bottles to return. We were confused. In a state if not understanding, we left the beer at the counter and returned to the refrigerated section where we tried to make sense of the situation. We did not have bottles of empty beer because we have never had full bottles of beer. The exact statement was "we both have really expensive college degrees, we have to make sense of this somehow." After a little discussion, the decided route of action was to return to the check out counter and argue our case. I have to say that I am quite proud of the argument that I presented to the 4 members of the Metro staff and eventually the manager in order to be able to obtain beer, and believe my logical circle that I created to be some of my best spanish spoken in this country. Eventually we convinced them that we should be allowed to buy the beer, and now have bottles for future nights. Therefore, if you are in Perú and want beer, come talk to me, because you cannot purchase beer unless you have already had some. Catch-22s are real.

"Al Fondo Hay Sitio" - I have mentioned the popularity of this show in previous blog entries. It is huge. 3 of the 6 YAV families are addicted. More impressive is the popularity of the theme song. If I go a day without hearing it, it is an odd day. It is always on the radio in the bus. It has been played in live settings. One of the beer companies (that sponsors the show) has their own version of it that basically is about drinking until sunrise. (we decided that sunrise might be the only time one could actually enjoy drinking Bhrama because at that point, you probably don´t care about what you´re drinking) So, if you want to live a little peruvian, play this song every 2 hours for the next week, and you´ll get a little better handle on my life.

Greeting kiss - Many countries do this, Perú included. The tradition is one kiss, right cheek to right cheek. Girls kiss guys, guys kiss girls, girls kiss girls, guys do not kiss guys. The other day, I was at the grocery store with Ginna and ran into some friends (a girl and a guy). After talking for a while, we went our own way. As is the custom, we kissed to say good bye, I kissed the girl and then without thinking kissed the guy. I did not realize what I had done until I was a couple isles away. Ginna was looking at me really funny. Then it hit me. Holy cow, I just kissed a dude!!!! In my defence, since this custom is not customary to me yet, when I get in cheek kissing mood, I am in cheek kissing mood (Erika, please notice the word "cheek" in that sentence, just clarifying). Because it is all not customary, I just kept on doing it and moved on without thinking. The fine young strapping peruvian gentleman who I kissed, was a little surprised and (As I have since been informed) proceded to spend the rest of the evening laughing and repeating with great surprise and hilarity "¡¡¡Eso Tio me besó!!!" (Literally, "the uncle kissed me" but meaning more along the lines of "that dude kissed me"). I haven´t seen him since, but will fill you in on our next greeting.

These are just a few things that I have become accustomed to as of late. Just letting you all see a little of my life.

Photos:
1) Clown posing at CENCA event
2) Boy guards door at CENCA event
3) Girl Smiles at CENCA event
4) Graffiti in a building behind a CENCA event
5) Clowns perpare at CENCA event
(I have only had my camera for a few days and took 228 pictures at this event)