The Feel of Peru

This is a bit overdue because of traveling and then not having much time once I arrived in Europe to follow up, but the Feel of South Africa postings got more hits than most and I thought a similar post from Peru was in order.

This is my last posting about Peru as the rest will focus on my time in Europe. Things of note from living in Peru for five weeks;

Smell of shit and people peeing in the street – This is not one of the more pleasant aspects of Peru but one that seems to be very present, at least in Cusco and the towns of the Sacred Valley. The sewer systems here are not up to western standards and as such, it is not uncommon to smell shit. It is not overpowering and you do get used to it after a while, but it is often there unless you are in a very touristy area. In these areas, like the old part of Cusco, the authorities must make sure that your noses are not offended. Tourism is a major part of the economy here, after all, so I guess it does not pay to make them think the place is dirty. Peruvians have to deal with it but they seem to not really give it a second thought.

For example, another reason I suspect it smells is people relieve themselves in the street. That is not to say that this is happening all the time everywhere, in truth I only saw it three times during my stay. But when I did see it, they were in the middle of the street in full view of everybody. I did a double take the first time I saw an old lady squatting down, relieving herself in Urubamba one evening. At first I thought she was hurt until I caught the whiff and saw the stream from under her.

Belch of exhaust from trucks and other vehicles – This is another unpleasant aspect of Peru, let’s just say that there is no word in Spanish for emissions control. The cars, in particular the older ones and the trucks, belch out dark clouds of exhaust all over the place and you can sometimes taste it in the air. Getting stuck behind an old truck on the roads when going uphill takes about 1 month off your life so now I figure I will die about a year earlier now.

Smell of herbs – Perhaps this is to help overpower the smell of the first two paragraphs, but I suspect it is just the way it is here with all the open air markets. But the smell of herbs and grasses are often present, especially if you are around the markets. But sometimes they are growing along the road or in somebody’s courtyard too.

Inca Cola and Cusquena Dark Beer – This is how a lot of Peruvians like to drink. In general they have a sweet tooth here and like to add sugar to just about everything and I guess beer is no exception. The mix is up to personal preference but it can be as little as a 20% Inca Cola – 80% beer to 50/50%. I’ve tried it several times as when in Rome, but my preference is to drink beer or drink cola but not both at the same time.

 

Drinking customs in Peru – They say Salud here and they don’t clink glasses. I get the impression they don’t like to do that very much. They also have a habit of pouring a little beer on the ground for “Mother Earth”. They do this inside or outside so sometimes they pour it on the floor. They also drink out of little glasses, they would be juice glasses in the U.S. and at least at my family, when they drank wine it was out of shot glasses.

Explosion of fireworks – They are ever present and sometimes at odd hours, like early in the morning.

People will walk right into you – I have heard this is true in Asia too, but people don’t seem to have a problem walking right into you and it can be a bit unnerving at first. Walking down a crowded street you can spend a lot of energy stepping aside and trying not to bump into somebody until you get annoyed by it and decide you will just make them move. My tactic was if somebody was walking side by side or taking up a lot of room, I would simply stop in front of them off to my side and wait for them to go around me. I suppose in some ways it was somewhat of a fuck you.

The old people – They are quiet and often have a vacant stare about them. That is not to imply that they are high, although I guess that could be a possibility, but it is more like they are just patiently waiting for something. Often they don’t talk but just look ahead, and when they do speak it is often only a few words. Norma’s mother was visiting a few times and whenever I sat at the table with her this is how it was. She would nibble on something and look ahead, occasionally saying a few words to Norma.

On the street it was much the same, the old people would be sitting there quietly staring off. They often are also dressed in traditional Peruvian clothing, wide brim sombreros and very colorful wool ponchos that have a hole in the middle and they would wear over their clothing like a “Snuggie” on TV.

The souvenir hawkers – They are everywhere in Cusco and try to get you to buy all sorts of things, Paintings for 1 Sol, winter hats with llama designs and puffy balls on them, wool gloves, petting a baby lamb, and so on. In the Plaza de Armas in Cusco they are everywhere but once you say no thankyou they do leave you alone.

The markets – This is the way of life in Peru, you don’t really go to the grocery store to buy things, you go to an open air market. In Lima I’m sure this is different and they do have smaller grocery stores in Cusco, but in the Sacred Valley you buy your meet from one vendor, bread from another, vegetables from another, and so on. There are little stores where you can buy canned goods or Inca Cola and beer, but the staples tend to come from the open air markets.

 

They are something to walk through as the food is everywhere. The germ-a-phoebes in the U.S. would not be able to handle it as everything is out in the open and nothing is kept cold. Meet for example just sits out for hours, flies and all. I think they might be healthier with some more refrigeration, but at the same time I have come to think that we in the western world have also gone way off in the opposite direction and could use a chill pill. I know people who toss out meat if it has been out of the refrigerator for an hour, in Peru it is never in the refrigerator.

 

The “colectivo” buses – Colectivo means collective and these small busses are the typical way to get around in Peru, they have them in South Africa too, and is not like anything in the U.S. In fact I would guess they would be very illegal and out of code for the U.S. The ones I took were often newer and more professional buses but there are old rattle traps that I think are less official too. I took one locally one night to get home, it had no seats but wood benches screwed to the floor (most of them were), a busted window and the sliding door did not really work right and would slide open on occasion while moving.

They do drive like maniacs, however, and it is often best not to pay too much attention to what is going on. It is quite common for all drivers in Peru to pass vehicles on blind corners or blind hills and in my time I did see several accidents but none too serious. One of my busses almost got into a head on collision, however, one day going down into Cusco when they got fed up and decided to pass a gas tanker in front of us on a blind corner and a car popped out in the opposite direction. Somebody in the back gave an audible gasp, which in Peru means it was pretty dam close.

They are quite reasonable to take and the 70 kilometer trip to go from Cusco to Urubamba was typically 6 Soles, or around $1.25. But they would also pack you in and every seat would be full. Typically there would be around 10 to 14 seats on a colectivo bus and you would be right against your neighbor who sometimes did not smell so nice or would be eating something that really stank. But for the most part they are just a part of traveling in Peru and frankly a pretty good solution for them.

The westerners – They are all over and stick out. Peru is some ways is not really that far out of a place to go now as tourism is a big part of their economy. It is to the point of being annoying in some places with all the tourist trap things going on. So it is very common to see westerners on the street in Cusco, Machupicchu, Ollantaytambo, and some of the other tourist places. The old town district of Cusco totally caters to them and there is even an Irish Bar.

Urubamba was different as it is not really a tourist town. You do see westerners on the street but they typically are other volunteers living in the area or ex-pats. There was one crass woman from the U.S. whom I guess was in her mid 60’s and has been living overseas since 2008 and in Peru for the past few years. She would often be in the same café I hung out in and often was very loud and cussing about one thing or another. There was also the guy who told me he was a Vietnam veteran the night of General Ollanta’s anniversary parade. He was dressed in all white linen and totally pissed (drunk). Nice guy but he had diarrhea of the mouth with me once he realized I was an American too. He had been living in the area for about 10 years.

People are small – I tower over Peruvians at 5’10” and this is another way to pick out the westerners. I would guess the average Peruvian is 5’6” and anybody my height or taller you could spot walking a block away.

The food – I have heard that Peruvian food is supposed to be very good but I did was rather bland if you ask me. Perhaps it is because I was living with a family and not eating out all that often but as I mentioned before, they have a sweet tooth in Peru and seem to add sugar to all sorts of stuff and spice to none of it.

Mind you, this is in no way criticizing the cooking at my host family, it was good and plentiful. Chicago is also a great city to eat in too but if you were living with me you would not experience it either. So this is not a criticism of the family I was living with. But we had boiled or French fried potatoes every day, sometimes twice in a day, and was very done with them by the time I left Peru. Rice is also another big staple but surprisingly spices don’t seem to get used much. One night I made my mom’s spaghetti sauce and gave it a little kick with spices and a few shots of Tabasco sauce and they really liked it.

They also eat with their hands a lot, which those who know my eating habits know I have a really hard time doing. I hate having food on my hands, don’t know why but it can border on obsessive. Often meat was on the bone and in big chunks and the only way to eat it was with your hands.

So in general I found Peruvian food rather bland and nothing all that exciting. I did have ceviche the last day in Peru and that was quite spicy and I liked that. Really good considering it is raw fish which I don’t eat.

The Plazas – The plazas are somewhat like the living rooms of Peruvian towns and a place where people go to hang out, socialize and occasionally take a nap. Every town has a Plaza de Armas in the center and often other plazas by other names. Cusco had tons of them and even Urubamba I knew of two other plazas in addition to the Plaza de Armas.

The plazas are essentially parks where you can relax, take a nap, talk with family and friends, buy something to eat, and so on.