Cemeterio, Cusco.

1. Granola bars: they are not made of granola. They are made of quinoa and other grains that remind me of the millet I feed my birds at home. They have the texture of styrofoam but are cheap and comparatively healthy.

2. Markets: there are some traditional supermarket type establishments, but most Peruvians acquire their food from "mercados," or big flat, cemented areas covered by plastic roof sheeting. Under this sheeting are hundreds of individually run stalls. Some sell produce, some sell chocolate, some sell ponchos and hats and other articles of clothing. Some will whip up any kind of fresh juice, or jugo, you want in a blender (very tasty but not very sanitary...the vendors "wash" the glasses in a bucket of water with no soap and fruit debris...I realized this after drinking a jugo de mango and my shit hasn´t been solid in a week...sorry for the crudeness, Mom and Dad). My favorite, however, are the meat stalls...they smell delightful and you can buy any kind of raw meat you want. I´m talking massive piles of cow intestine, skin, and feet with hooves still attached. The most frightening thing for me, however, had to be the cow heads...the top portions and the skin were missing but, as Eliana informed me, you could buy the jaws with teeth still intact. What you do with this, I have no idea.

3. Toilet Paper: you don´t put it in the toilet. Apparently Peru has very fragile plumbing and putting toilet paper in the toilet itself causes all sorts of unsavory problems. Therefore, every toilet has a little plastic bin next to it in which the toilet paper should be deposited. I keep accidentally putting it in the actual toilet and then freaking out that I´m going to clog my host family´s toilet...that would be embarrassing. Also, many establishments such as restuarants are not equipped with toilet paper...you gotta bring your own. Also, most toilet paper is fragranced due to its being put in a bin instead of flushed away where it can´t offend anyone.

4. Dogs: there are dogs everywhere here perusing the streets. Some have homes and some don´t, but they all look about the same...dirty. I want to pet them but the thought of rabies and worms (Amy says most animals in third world countries have worms) deters me. Even the pets have diseases because most Peruvian pet owners can´t afford to take their animals to the vet or don´t prioritize veterinary care. I suppose if you live in a place where your people are starving and your buildings are falling down, pets come as less of a priority.

5. White girls: here, being a white girl gets you extra attention. Known as gringas, we have a reputation for being supposedly more exotic/sexually open than Peruvian women, who are supposed to be more Catholic and chaste. Therefore, in combination with the higher prominence of machismo in Peruvian culture, the men here believe that it is okay to honk their horns and make comments and/or kissy noises whenever a white woman passes them by. Amy and I have even been told "I love you!" by one especially sexually frustrated man. Amy doesn´t get as many comments because she has dark hair, so from behind she looks more Peruvian...I am considering dying my hair black.

6. Cemeteries: yes, for those who know of all my morbid fascinations, my practica teacher Eliana took me to a Peruvian cemetery!!! It was huge! There were mausoleums galore and even some crypts! What I found most interesting though was the way the majority of the dead are buried...actually, they´re not really buried at all. The cemeterio is actually one giant labyrinth of cement walls with hundreds of bodies encased within. The body is placed into a hole in the wall and the hole is sealed with more cement. This is the part I like though: the cement does not completely fill the hole, so outside of each grave is a little hole in the wall, the bottom of which serves as a ledge. On this ledge, the families place personal items of the deceased...photographs, small figurines, flowers, crucifixes. Some families go even further though...they´ll put in miniscule bottles of Coca Cola or cerveza (beer) or miniature models of food if the deceased was a special fan of such things. One women must have been a restaurant owner because her ledge was covered in dollhouse-sized kitchen furniture, including a table and chairs, an oven, and stacks of mini Coca Colas. Anyhoo, these ledges are then closed behind glass doors, kind of like the doors on fireplaces, and only the families have the keys. I like this personalized approach...it seems like a better way to remember the dead for who the person was.

7. Potatoes: they are in EVERYTHING, followed by rice. It´s tasty, but not exactly a low starch diet. Also, when you order french fries, many restaurants will bring you a little dishes of mustard, ketchup, and this delicious white substance that I decided was my favorite. After consuming a shit ton of it on my fries, I realized this tasty Peruvian delicacy was mayonaise.

8. Weather: the day is hot, but the nights and mornings are FREEZING. I wear my long underwear to school, take it off once my lessons are done for the hot walk home, eat lunch, go back into town, and by the time I´m ready to go home for dinner, they are on again. I never know what to wear. I brought too many pairs of shorts (by that, I mean I brought two).

9. Trash: it´s everywhere. The streets are dusty, and trash lives in this dust. Sometimes the trash is shoved into cracks in the walls. There is a huge pile of it at the bottom of my street that the dogs sniff through every day. Once again, I guess if your people are starving, trash disposal is not on the top of your priority list.

10. Tea: most people here drink coca tea, tea made from coca leaves, the same leaves from which cocaine is derived. The tea, however, is very...unconcentrated as far as cocaine goes. Most people here drink it to help relieve altitude sickness, which is common at 11,000 ft.

11. Streets: most are made of cobblestones, not asphalt. Also, many are very narrow with miniscule sidewalks, so walking down one with a car driving up two inches away from you can be slightly disconcerting.

12. Schools: all the kids here wear uniforms and ride the crazyass combis to school.

That´s about all I can think of for right now, but I´m sure there will be more. ¡Hasta luego!

written by  kfox on June 21, 2010 from Cusco, Peru
from the travel blog: Peru Adventure!
Send a Compliment

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This was great. I appreciate reading your stories. You have an excellent gift for making your reader relate to your experiences.

written by  Gary Regner on July 5, 2010

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Thank you Gary! That is a very nice thing to say. To hear it from a stranger who is not predisposed to be biased by being my friend is even nicer. Thanks for taking a minute to make me smile.

written by  kfox on July 7, 2010

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Dear Girl,
I was laughing like crazy when I read your commentaries about living in Peru!!!. I'm peruvian but I'm living in VA now (I married an american) for about 5 years. I've just want to tell you how much I enjoyed reading your blog and I think you are right about the heads of the cows in the markets ..hahaha...and the dogs :-).
Hope you continue writing because you have Talent and I hope you liked to live in my country !
Lily

written by  Lily Keats on April 2, 2013

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