Initial Culture Shocks, Part 2
I’m in full-blown honeymoon phase for my new life here. There are things I don’t like, but those are greatly outweighed by those I do. So I’ll start with what I don’t like and finish with what I do to leave you with the correct impression that I absolutely love my honeymoon phase. Jump to Things I Don’t Like, Things I Don’t Know if I Like, or Things I Like.
I don’t like the security precautions I have to take. I haven’t found a gym yet so I’ve been running and doing calisthenics. Sometimes I go to this small park called Parque La Selva Alegre about a half mile from my apartment. It has llamas. One day a coworker asked me what I did the previous night. I told him I went running around that park. He told me that’s dangerous and I could be robbed. My roommate confirmed this. Why did you let me go?, I asked him. He told me it wasn’t that late. That night, I decided to steer clear of La Selva Alegre and ran the streets, which is difficult because they’re crowded with pedestrians. I found a tiny park a half-mile from my apartment in a different direction. I ran around this park four or five times and returned home. My roommates asked me where I went, so I described the park and how to get there. “¿El Parque Mayta Capac!?” They told me that little park is much more dangerous than La Selva Alegre and I should only go there in the daylight.
Another security-issue concerns taxis. Every day, I dart around the city with friends in taxis. I learned on my third or fourth day that I shouldn’t hail a taxi if I’m by myself. When alone, I should call one of the established taxi companies to send a car. If I hail one, there’s a risk of robbery or assault. Obviously not all the drivers are bad, but there’s a risk. I learned this after a couple days of friends indiscriminately hailing cabs in the street. I find it annoying that I need one of these little Peruvian dudes to take care of me when it comes to taxis or I have to go out of my way to ensure my safety.
Another undesirable aspect is loosely related to gringo safety. I call it the “gringo tax.” Being a gringo, I could be ridiculously overcharged if I’m not prudent, especially in taxis. The taxis here don’t have meters. Instead, you hail the taxi and tell him where you are going. He quotes you a price and, if this is acceptable, you get in the car and go. If not, you negotiate a lower price to which the driver may or may not agree.
One day, three friends came to pick me up for lunch. Guillermo and Diego were visiting from Argentina and Michelle is Peruvian. They already had the taxi before getting me, so I didn’t hear the pre-sale negotiation. I didn’t even think about it at the time, but the guys and I were speaking English during the whole ride. Being from Argentina, the guys are technically not gringos but they are tourists and they are white. Michelle, the only Peruvian in the car, is about as white as Peruvians can be. And I’m obviously a white gringo. When we arrived at the restaurant, the driver charged us fifteen soles. Michelle tried to argue and asked why it should cost so much, but we paid. We paid the gringo tax. This was a long trip with three stops, but Beto told me that it shouldn’t have costed more than ten soles. To understand why there exists a gringo tax, you can just look at the conversion to US dollars. We are talking about a difference between $5.58 and $3.72.
Things I Don’t Know If I Like or Not
You see gringos every day in downtown Arequipa where the old Spanish architecture and tourist sites are. But I never see gringos in the rest of the city and residential areas. So every day I get stared at. I get stared at by all kinds – kids, teens, adults, elderly. Sometimes, young children will point at me and ask their mom something. The mom will look at me, smile, and I assume explain to the kid what I am.
This is something I’ll have to get used to. I’ve never been a minority, but I don’t think being any minority in America or Europe would feel like this. Maybe being black in Russia would be similar. Sometimes I like it – when attractive girls stare at me in the street or in bars.
One night, I was eating dinner in a cafeteria across the street from the university. There aren’t doors for this café, but two sides of the cafe are open air. A college-aged girl was walking with her friends past the cafe when she saw me. Before losing sight, she bent backwards at the waist while walking to be able to see me for an extra moment. I couldn’t make this stuff up! I like this kind of attention, but not always. For example, I don’t want it when I’m going to work every morning and walking past two dozen Peruvians waiting for the bus. Sometimes I just want to be anonymous.
Every day somebody makes a comment about my size. Every day. I like being big but, again, the attention I get here is a double-edged sword. Sometimes it’s embarrassing. Good attention: I’m eating lunch with my new friends and one of the more attractive girls says that I can eat so much because I’m big and strong. Bad attention: I am meeting a friend’s family and the aunt asks, in front of seven or eight people, “Why do you have such fat shoulders?” That was a literal translation: “hombros gordos“.
Arequipa’s climate is near perfect. I compare it to a mix between Los Angeles and Denver. Like LA, it never rains or snows and the urban landscape features low buildings crammed between mountains. It’s a little colder at night than LA. The size of the mountains and scenery is like Denver. The altitude of Arequipa is 7800 feet, 50% higher than Denver! The historic downtown area was built by the Spanish colonists out of sillar, a white volcanic rock which gives the city its nickname “La Ciudad Blanca” (The White City). Every corner of the city is absolutely beautiful.
I’ve been in love with the food since my first day. Every meal is oral orgasm for my taste buds. The food is natural and fresh. They don’t use insecticides, hormones, preservatives, or chemistry in general when it comes to food. It’s healthier and tasty! Lots of spicy dishes. My favorite plate so far, which I’ve had three times in less than two weeks, is ceviche.
Ceviche is a plate of raw fish (usually sea bass or sole) marinated in lemon or lime juice, sweet potatoes, corn, onion, aji, seaweed, and rocoto peppers. It’s sour and spicy, and sweet potatoes offset that perfectly. I’ve pledged to eat this Omega-3 plate of protein and fiber at least once a week. Most Peruvian dishes are delicious, healthy, and relatively natural. I’ve tried several fruits I’d never heard of including chirimoya, tuna, maracuya, tumbo, and maybe more. They don’t sell juice here like in the States. If you want juice, you cut up the fruit, throw it in the blender with sugar and water and make your own. I think I’ll slim out a little.
In the States, dinner is more important. In Latin America, lunch is a big deal. Most restaurants close for dinner. Lunch is a social event. I may have had lunch alone once since arriving. Every morning, people get on the phone and line up lunch plans together. It’s nice to eat with others. In America, most meals are eaten alone. Here, the proportion is inverted. Sometimes I get all Honeymoon-phase-giddy – like while eating a spicy plate of goodness with three or four new friends at an outdoor restaurant with a view of snow-capped mountains.
I prefer the Latin nightlife over the gringo variant. I love dancing here! Last night I danced so much my hip muscles and calves are sore! The only American dance floor that could compare is a wedding reception. Or when virtually having sex (grinding). On gringo dancefloors, you find three main archetypes: (1) groups of girls who only dance with each other, (2) sleazy chicks who try to get orgasms from grinding your leg, and (3) guys who stand around the dance floor watching. They only came out because it was Friday or Saturday night and they feel socially inferior if they don’t get drunk in a crowded bar (why do they bother?).
Down here, people go out to have fun! At one point last night I looked around the huge discoteca and realized that everybody was dancing and drinking and laughing and having fun. The entire place. I’ve seen this in Brazil as well as Peru: a group of eight or nine Latina girls – all gorgeous, dressed to kill and obviously best friends – standing in a circle, jumping and singing the song at the top of their lungs.
It’s like every girl in the place wants to dance with you and every guy in the place wants to watch and cheer you on. I ran into a girl I work with. I instantly made friends and did shots with all the guys in her crowd and danced with all the girls. And everybody has a blast!
I’m making friends fast. It seems like I’m exchanging emails or phone numbers with somebody every day. I’ve already had to tell people I can’t make some event because I’m busy. Moving to new cities in America is the opposite. Making new friends is hard. Not here. Everybody wants to be my friend.
It’s the cultura calida – warm culture. When you enter a room here, you shake every single guy’s hand and kiss every single girl’s cheek, regardless of age or whether you’ve met before. People like each other down here. It’s nice. I’m American but I feel like I never really fit in there. When I went to Brazil last year, I knew I was with my kind of people. I like to get excited and friendly with people. I absolutely feel this is superior to the ice-cold temperature of America.
Price Index (at exchange rate of S/. 2.69 / USD 1)
Taxi (anywhere in the city one way) S/. 2.50 – 5.00 $0.86 – 1.70
Combi (bus) S/. 0.70 $0.26
Lunch at a picanteria (a soup and a dish) S/. 5.00 $1.86
Lunch at a high-end restaurant with beer S/. 20.00 $7.43
Internet use at Internet café per minute S/. 0.50 $0.19
Liter of beer at Frog’s (live music venue) S/. 10.00 $3.72
Johnny Walker at Dady O’s (downtown club) S/. 2.00 $0.74
Liter of beer at Tradicion (traditional Latin music) S/. 5.00 $1.86
My rent per month including utilities S/. 215 $80
DVD (purchased not rented) S/. 3.00 $1.12
This is a Peruvian song I heard performed live at Tradición. It’s one of those songs that I had to find out who sings it and listen to it dozens of times online over the next couple days. La Curebritica by Grupo 5:
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