Hello,
Training has passed by, quite fast. The
reason for this is having a busy and eventful schedule. It’s a
universal tangent.
I talked about on my last blog about the types of activities we have at the
training center in Chaclacayo.
Through time, I’ve observed my surroundings. I’ve analyzed and compared
lifestyles and traditions. We’ve had discussions on cultural differences, Peruvian
& American. My point of view is a bit different though, just like a few in
the group of 52. I’m a Mexican American, raised in Mexico with Mexican culture,
learning Spanish first.
With that said, Mexican lifestyle is still different from Peruvian. A lot of
differences that Americans see, are pretty explanatory for me, they are not
strange. For example, having dogs outside/in roof. People here don’t see them
as “man’s best friend.” Sure, anyone can learn that after a few days, but at
the first glance, yes, it is strange. Outside dogs are scared of strangers,
pretty much like a wild animal. And that is a very good thing for their
“survival” or human abuse.
Every place is unique; every place develops depending on many factors. Ok, this
is just general talk. Let me get into more of the specifics that don’t really
happen anywhere else:
Car taxi driving is crazy as a roller coaster adventure. To be a driver here
you must really have guts, you must really know the size of your car, and you
must really calculate future paths (I do that when biking J). I think it makes driving more exciting. As I observe a driver, it
is always a pretty lonely and tedious job. I put myself in their spot and only
have one thing in mind, this is just a job that will sustain my family, pays
well with no hard labor and no brain needed. Let me give you a scenario for
mental visualization: Driver takes you in his red light, you deal with lowering
the price so he doesn’t overcharge you, tell directions, takes off like an
ambulance, changes lanes without signal, drives in two lanes, is passing then
somebody cuts him really close, he shows no surprised expression, speeds up
again, traffic jam, tries to get into other lane, gets as close as 3 inches
from mirror touching the other vehicle, tries to get in again, the other car
moves ahead too, taxi moves fast and makes it over passing by inches away from
other…this goes on until out of the main city.
Now we have the great combi. This is pretty much a small bus that stops really
fast, and takes off really fast. They are great because of their speedy method.
But the driving style is the same as described on the taxi. Combis are cheaper,
like 20% of taxis sometimes.
We move to street/town structure. Because of the varied topography that Peru
has, the road structure can be really crazy. There is a lot of hills. Many
people just love having their houses on high places or nearby cliffs, crazy.
Usually the hills make a valley, this is where there will be the main highway.
Most used roads are paved.
Lets get into bathrooms now. Ever heard of latrines? Maybe? Right, they are a
kind of chocolate ice scream! Or not, I kid. They’re more of the chocolate,
that goes in the toilet. Yeah, sorry for that, but poopie talk for us
volunteers is pretty much normal now. Traveler’s diarrhea, happens often. Our
body is not used to the food, so it tries to spray out when ever you’re on an
important activity or meeting people. I havent had a shart or dirty pants yet,
but we shall see.
Back to latrines, they’re just bathrooms without toilets and piping.
Another thing related to the bathroom, when ever a guy wants to pee. He literally just pees, in a ´´hidden spot´´. I have two examples: One time i went to a concert, the peeing station for the guys was literally by the entrace, by the full bathroom, leterally making a big pond of pee. Yeah, lovely. The other one was in the middle of town, in the middle of the street, a guy talking on the phone just peeing. haha, eventually all of these things will be normal to me. Very normal to where it is not even worth talking about.
That is what I have now. My next post will be very visualistic with pictures of most of the events we did during training. AND also keep up with my videos. I got all the footage down, and some finalized. I just need some good internet to upload them.
Hasta luego amigos. Hope ´murica is treating yall great!
My blog and vlog post frequency will depend on the type of activities I make, my own observations of Peru and life, and when i have internet. :D
