¨We know Carolyn!¨. I know. But I feel like I sometimes forget that fact now because I live in the bustling, work-o-holic city center of the country. I take a bus to work everyday, sit in a office, work with professionals, buy ¨normal¨ food, cook, live in an apartment in a nice area, go out on the weekends and generally live like I always imagined a 20-something young adult would live.
But then one of my bosses set up a meeting in one of the more impoverished regions of Lima. Even though it was with all professional, municipality workers and teachers, it was still a reminder that I am not living in a mini-America like I sometimes imagine I´m in.
Not Exactly Punctual
First, like most events in Perú, it started an hour late. Normally, that would not be that frustrating. But my boss and I had arrived 20 minutes early after a 2 hour voyage to get there. Plus, we would have to leave around 5:30 because the trip was another 2 hours back! So, around the time the meeting was set to start, we were some of the first to arrive. After going to meetings for the past several weeks that all started on time, I was beginning to forget about this late-coming habit. When it finally did start, all of the authority figures had to give long winded speeches about how important the event was. They said (in my humble opinion) absolutely nothing of substance, and it felt like authoritative rambling... much like I imagine a filibuster to be in the government!
After the ramblings known as ¨speeches¨, the presentations started. They were frustratingly off topic and didn´t touch on any of the goals they were trying to establish. They were followed by asking the professors to write ¨promises¨ to participate in the program in their schools. Since they had not really explained what it was they wanted them to participate IN exactly, the professors wrote things like ¨I promise that my school will help the cause (insert name of program here)¨.
While inwardly feeling extremely exacerbated, I also took in the comedy of the whole thing.
Where´s the Toilet Paper??
This meeting also took place in a public school in their auditorium. I went to use the bathrooms and I realized there was no toilet paper or toilet seat. This is TOTALLY NORMAL everywhere in Perú, but I had forgotten about this because in Lima, most of the professional institutions and work places you enter have well stocked bathrooms. It made me think about what we take for granted in the states.
Can you imagine making sure to roll up a wad of toilet paper and sticking it in your pocket every single day before school because you knew there is no toilet paper there? I cant. I still forget to practice this every time I leave my house like most of my Peruvian friends do.
If it´s cold, you will get sick.
(Image above says ¨Prepare yourself for the Cold! 1. Bundle up, 2. Protect yourself, 3. Get informed¨ from www.indeci.gob.pe)
This is no joke, its serious stuff. When a patient goes to a clinic with a cold, doctors will often/always recommend laying off the ice cream or iced drinks. Doctors! My co-workers commonly reject drinking ice cold water or soda in 100 degree weather because ¨me hace mal¨ or ¨it will make me sick¨. My closest friends have explained to me that if you sleep with one extremity out of the covers, it is very likely that the cold will ¨enter you¨ and that extremity will hurt the next day. Elderly men and women and women with small children often close car windows that have no AC in the scolding heat because the air blowing on them will supposedly make them sick.
For someone raised in the world of ¨prove it!¨ and scientific reasoning of EVERYTHING, these beliefs are often frustrating or sometimes downright angering. During our Peace Corps services in the field, we often have to accept and deal with these beliefs on a daily basis. I remember my host family not wanting us to eat avocado at night because it is a ¨cold food¨ and could make you sick, for example. Here in Lima, the creencias still hold strong, but they are less obvious and less people follow them strictly.
These days, I don´t mind the beliefs because no one dictates what I personally do. Ya, I will drink that cold water while I have a cold, why not?? But living in the educational and working capital of the country has meant that I have made some smart and interesting friends and acquaintances with whom I can now partake in lively debates about these themes. They always go in the same cycle.
Fact stated by friend: ¨When you sleep with a limb exposed, the cold will enter you and it will hurt¨
My debate: ¨How do you know?¨
Friends counter argument: ¨Because its true. One time it happened to me (or insert family member or distant cousin here)¨
Me insisting: ¨But what about all the times you sleep with your arm out and it doesn´t hurt?¨
Friends counter: ¨Oh well maybe it wasn´t that cold... etc, etc..¨
Me: ¨???????¨
(Photo credit from kaylinq.blogspot.com)
They are harmless and fun debates which almost always involve my Peruvian friend being 100% sure of their belief because it ¨happened¨ to a friend, family member, distant cousin, or themselves. I try to bring up the scientific theory and how they cant say that is the only possibly explanation for the hurting limb. Maybe they slept on it wrong or maybe they did something to it the day before, etc. But no, the conversation usually ends with us agreeing to disagree and them looking at me like I am even more alien then I already was to them.
Don´t get me wrong, I also am not the strongest believer that science knows all (sorry Greg!). I find it humbling to hear about beliefs and curing methods passed down from my friends grandparents about certain curing plants and tricks. I also admire the conviction I find amidst said debates. The absolute certainty that drinking cold water while eating will freeze the food in your stomach and give you indigestion (for example). For some debates, I have no real reason not to believe them, I just want to give them a run for their money, so to speak!
Final Anecdote-tita
A women I work with is a strong, independent, University Professor who works in her free time promoting environmental themes and tree planting in schools around Lima. The other day I saw newspaper stick out of the back of her shirt and I politely informed her of it because we were in a public place and I didn´t want her to feel embarrassed and ask me why I didn´t tell her. She laughingly pulled it out and told me that is an ¨old grandmothers trick.¨ She continued to explain;
¨You see, I was sitting under an air conditioning vent the other day while working. The cold air was blowing on me for hours and when I went home, my back was hurting. I put the newspaper in my shirt because it helps take the pain and the cold away.¨
Just a few fun reminders that I am a stranger and a visitor to this wonderful and endearing country. Like any foreigner to a distant land, as much as I want and try to fit into its mold, I will always be confused and flustered by some of the customs and beliefs. I think the trick is to find the humor, fun and acceptance in ways of living and thinking that are different from mine!
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