Progreso para todos – I’m part of it today!

Posted on August 28, 2014 by wwelvaert under Life in Peru

If you know me, I can be a bit direct. I’m not proud of this but if you catch me at the wrong time you may get the non-sugercoated version of what’s on my mind. So it was the other night when I was taking the garbage out and a group of neighbors stopped me with “Sir we need to talk to you”. The “president” of our neighborhood was with them and I had just fussed at her a couple of days before because she lets her pitbull run loose, which is not OK. However turns out this wasn’t a dog issue.

The “president” of the neighborhood said they were making a list of the days where each neighbor would be supplying water and electricity to the construction crew of the “region” Cusco who are refurbishing parking areas and sidewalks in our neighborhood. The crews have been working for about a year, typical inefficient and slow Peruvian public works. I had mostly ignored the ongoing work because trying to improve anything would literally be like fighting city hall.

My not-sugercoated answer to the group of neighbors was something about the taxes I pay in this country and that if they wanted me to do the project they’d better pay me and get out of the way because I sure as cielos wasn’t going to support the cl********k that was the project in front of my house. Then the most startling thing happened: the neighbors explained to me that this is what they had agreed on with the leadership of the “region” Cusco, that if we wanted our 40-year old falling apart sidewalks to be fixed, that the people in the neighborhood would supply water and electricity to the workers. It had to be done like that because there are no other options, they said.

I always thought the utter incompetence of the Peruvian public works was “just the way it is” but it startled me to find out that educated people actually make high level decisions to make it be that way. It’s not the result of a bunch of guys being sent to a job without instructions or plans, it’s the result of a bunch of guys being sent to do a job with specific instructions how to screw it up. Educated, career bureaucrats who couldn’t milk a cow if you gave them a bucket, deciding how to do things they have no clue about whatsoever.

By that time I’d mellowed out a bit and I told the neighbors I really don’t care about the water or electricity that the workers may need, just knock my door and you can have anything you need. What startled me was the utter incompetence. Our sidewalks and parking lots need to be refurbished but the relevance of that project pales in comparison to what Peru really needs, there are people here who don’t have basic services. Forget about schools, health care in rural areas, traffic safety, etc. Those very necessary projects will never happen unless there is a wholesale change in how public works are accomplished.

Some neighbors argued this was the right way to do things. How else could the workers do their job, without electricity or water? That is the type of thing that bugs me about Peru. I don’t know if it is the long working hours for the middle class or the silly emphasis on education but there are many people who are quite clueless about life in general making decisions about things they are entirely not qualified for. My neighbors were amazed when I explained to them the correct way to do the project would have been to get in touch with the utility companies and set up temporary connections for water, power, 220V, 480V, whatever the needs of the project are. Give the workers real tools (they are doing this with hammers, chisels and 1 electric jackhammer), machinery, training, safety gear, etc.

Today the workers are back at it, they’ve duck-taped a water hose to a faucet in the back of our house (there aren’t any in the front patio) and “routed” their water hose through our living room out to the parking lot. I’m not kidding: there is a water hose duct-taped to a faucet as I’m writing this. And the project is managed/implemented by “region” Cusco, not even our local municipality or city of Cusco. These are supposed to be the “big guys”.

Rant over. Sorry for the venting.

Parking lot work in front of our house

Water hose to the works in front of the house

Merry Christmas

Posted on December 24, 2013 by wwelvaert under Business & Economy

Brianna: “I want Santa Claus to bring me everything I like (in the commercials) on Disney Junior.”
Me: “Isn’t that a lot?”
Brianna: “Santa Claus can borrow my suitcase if he needs one, so he can bring everything I like from the North Pole.”

Vivasa!

A Merry Christmas to all, from cold and rainy Cusco.

THE THING

Posted on October 18, 2013 by wwelvaert under Life in Peru

6:00am

Papi Papi.

ZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Papi! Wake up. We have THE THING at 9:30!!!!

Erggh? The thing?

No, not that thing. THE THING!!!

Now I’m half awake and it dawns on me. THE THING is today at 9:30!!! But wait a minute, I try to explain to mamacita linda that it takes 10 minutes to get ready for the thing and another 15 minutes to actually get over there, so I don’t see the big deal with sleeping in another half hour.

But papi, it’s THE THING! We’ve got to be sure we’re ready!

“The thing” was our interview with the director of the new school where we are planning to send Brianna next year. Getting your child into a good school in Peru is a big deal, it’s hard to convey just how serious parents stress out over getting accepted into a good school. We had our interview with the director this past Wednesday and next Monday we find out if our goose was accepted. Before the interview we also had our psychological evaluation on Tuesday.

Both parents and the child. Think about that for a second. A 4-year old must pass a psychological test to get into pre-school. And then me. I quit a job at a Fortune 500 company to go live on top of a mountain in Peru but some girl with a degree in psychology thinks she can figure me out in a 23-question multiple-guess test and a drawing of a person in the rain? I smiled and went through the motions but the Peruvian faith in these psychological personality tests is just mind boggling to me.

I don’t stress out over getting accepted to a school but most of the other parents do. The psychological test was administered to a group of parents and kids, in the group was one of our friends. Like many parents, our friends were applying to various schools, hoping that their kid would get into first grade at this or that good school. While we were waiting to take the exam, Patricia asked her friend “How did the other interviews go at your-first-choice-school and your-second-choice-school?”

Our friend went SSSSSSSSSSSSSH!!!! “Don’t say that so loud in here!!!”

I laughed out loud and said “I’m telling the director this is our first and only choice but you people are just hedging your bets!!”

Our friend nervously giggled back and responded “I’m telling him at least we actually live in Larapa” (the name of the neighborhood where the school is – we live a bit on the other side of town).

All through the group of waiting parents, parents who overheard us horsing around nervously looked up, in their minds undoubtedly going over the perceived weaknesses in their own case for enrolling their child.

Is my child smart enough?
Will my baby do good on her entrance exam? Will she remember how to spell her daddy’s name?
Is my child cute enough?
Do I make enough money?
Are we Catholic enough?
Will they find out about my brother who drinks too much?
Did I buy a nice enough gift for the administrator?

The director at this school didn’t go anywhere near questions of this nature and insisted the school doesn’t discriminate against anyone. I talked to him about their other schools in both the ritzy part of Lima and another in a poor area of Lima, and I believe they are sincere in that respect or otherwise I wouldn’t send my goose to this school. But I know in other private schools these kinds of questions were/are routinely asked.

Silly me, I thought every child should have the right to a good education.

Getting into a good school is a big deal here in Peru because the public schools are said to be very bad. Class sizes in the public schools are at least 50 kids to a class. Even some of the private schools have large class sizes. The private schools can be expensive and typically fill up fast, there is only a short timeframe during the year where they accept applications. Most of the private schools are Catholic schools. In days past some Catholic schools wouldn’t accept children of single mothers or parents who were not married by the Catholic church but now I believe most accept anyone as long as the person respects the school’s religious vocation.

We’ll find out on Monday but I have faith. Wish us luck!

Did you know I was a magician?

Día de todos los Santos Vivos

Posted on November 2, 2011 by wwelvaert under History and culture, Life in Peru

Yesterday, Nov 1, was “Día de todos los Santos Vivos” here in Cuzco, the celebration of the Catholic holiday All Saints Day. Since the time of the Spanish conquistadores, much of the traditional Andean culture in Peru has been absorbed or continued in some form in the Catholic religion and Catholic holidays, therefor the celebration of “Día de todos los Santos Vivos” in Cuzco is a blend of Andean and Catholic traditions.

From gosouthamerica.com:

The Andean emphasis is agricultural, since November 1 is in spring south of the Equator. It is the time of returning rains and the reflowering of the earth. The souls of the dead also return to reaffirm life. During this time, the doors are opened to guests, who enter with clean hands and share in the traditional dishes, particularly the favorites of the deceased. Tables are bedecked with bread figurines called t’antawawas, sugarcane, chicha, candies and decorated pastries. At the cemeteries, the souls are greeted with more food, music, and prayers. Rather than a sad occasion, the Día de Todos Santos is a joyous event.

And how better to celebrate such a joyous event than with food! Here in Cuzco the traditional meal on “Día de todos los Santos Vivos” consists of lechon (suckling pig) and tamales.

Buying lechon on Día de todos los Santos Vivos in Cuzco

Here in Cuzco, Oct 30 to Nov 1 was also the festival of the bread, or T’anta Raymi. Sweet bread figurines, known as pan wawas (from the Quechua word wawa which means baby) are sold everywhere during these days. At the plaza Tupac Amaru close by our house we saw this gigantic pan wawa and I believe there was an even larger pan wawa set to be displayed in the center of the city.

A giant pan wawa on display at the plaza Tupac Amaru in Cuzco, Peru

There was a sort of baptising celebration for the pan wawa which again seems like a blend of Catholic and Andean traditions. We didn’t stay for the baptising of the pan wawa, we wanted to go back to the house and devour our yummie lechon 😉

CUSCO, LOS DE ARRIBA Y LOS DE ABAJO

Posted on May 15, 2011 by wwelvaert under Life in Peru

A loyal reader asked me to comment on the following video. From Melissa Peschiera at the Peruvian TV program “REPORTE SEMANAL”: CUSCO, LOS DE ARRIBA Y LOS DE ABAJO (“The haves and have nots of Cusco”):

It’s not a bad report, although it’s sensationalized as anything TV usually is. The report only takes 2 snapshots and leaves out the middle class, which is thriving in the city of Cuzco. Life in our middle-class neighborhood is nothing like either the partying tourists or rural poverty that is shown in the video.

As for the rural poverty, the longer I’m in Peru the more reluctant I’ve become to suggest that more money and material possessions equals a better way of life. Having said that, it is hard to comprehend how the South of Peru (especially the regions of Cuzco and Puno) can be so poor and with such bad infrastructure when so much tourist revenue is generated there. That has to be a failure of local authorities.

Much is said in the report about the popularity of Ollanta Humala in the South of Peru. On the surface it may seem that the rural poor support Ollanta Humala because they believe he offers them a way out of poverty. I’m not convinced of that. I think it has more to do with being able to associate with your leaders. The way of life of the market-oriented, neo-liberal ruling class in Lima during the last 10 years or so is completely foreign to the way of life of the rural poor as well as urban poor, and this in my opinion is the reason why the Peru presidential runoff is between Keiko Fujimori and Ollanta Humala, the 2 candidates who represent the greatest perceived change.

What do you think?

Cortesia

Posted on March 2, 2011 by wwelvaert under Life in Peru

Not many popular artists come to perform in Cusco. A lot of well known acts come to Lima, but rarely to Cusco. This past week was an exception: the popular Venezuelan duo “Chino y Nacho” came to Peru. You may never have heard of “Chino y Nacho” up North, but they have a number of hits and are very popular here in South America. Here they are performing one of their recent hits, “Mi Niña Bonita”:

(sorry, I noticed after I posted this that their videos are only on youtube directly)

I had to leave town for a work trip just a few days before “Chino y Nacho” came to Cusco but I decided to buy 2 tickets anyway, so Patricia could go with her sister or a friend.

My cousin Monica:

One thing I should mention is that it is still common to have large families in Peru and a generation or two ago, large families were the norm in Peru. Patricia has a big family on both her mother and father’s side. Like in most families, we’re closer to some family members than others. Likewise, it’s not unusual here in Peru to be close to someone who’s technically a distant relative.

Monica is one of Patricia’s cousins, 17 or 18 years old I think. We’d probably refer to Monica as “distant family”, I’m not sure if Patricia had even met her up to a few years ago. We’re not close but I occasionally run into Monica in town and we were always very friendly and cordial.

A few days before the concert I decided to stop by “Mega”, the big store near our house, and buy 2 tickets to “Chino y Nacho”. As I was walking up to “Mega”, I spotted Monica out in front of the store. She was dressed very nice to attract attention and had a stash of “Chino y Nacho” flyers in her hand. With her was a boy selling tickets. Nothing unusual, you often see young women dressed nice or flashy to attract attention and sell or promote something in front of a store. We talked for a while and I bought my 2 tickets to “Chino y Nacho” from my cousin Monica and her friend.

Normally I would never buy something like that in the street in Peru. There’s a huge “informal economy” in Peru, street vendors sell anything from ice cream and candy to books, arts, crafts, pirated DVDs, you name it. Something like tickets I would normally never buy in the street, because there’s a lot of fake or pirated stuff out there. I even asked Monica, “These aren’t “bamba”, are they?” (bamba=fake). But I bought her tickets anyway, you know, she’s my cousin…

I gave the tickets to Patricia and instead of being happy she was mad at first, because she didn’t want to go to the show without me 😦

Then I left for my trip to Lima and the US and all was well. However, a day before the concert Patricia called all excited and asked how much I paid for the tickets. I told her the story, all proud and happy that I had bought the tickets from her cousin who had sold me two S/.65 tickets for S/.60 a piece.

“Noooooooooooo!!!”

“You paid S/.60 for free tickets!!!!”

As usual, Patricia was right: the tickets say cortesia (courtesy) right on them. There’s no price printed on them. They are free tickets. I should have known…

Turns out Monica was working as event staff at the concert and somehow “obtained” a stash of free tickets, which she subsequently sold to unsuspecting fools like me. Probably most people were smarter than me (not difficult to do), noticed that they were free tickets and “bought” them at a significant discount. It wouldn’t be unusual for someone to get a few free tickets and sell them at half the value of a paid entrance, but S/.60 for S/.65 tickets??? To your own cousin!!!!

Oh well, live and learn. There is so much “bamba”, pirated or otherwise useless stuff in the “informal economy” in Peru. Never buy tickets in the street in Peru, not even from your own cousin 😉

Merry Christmas

Posted on December 24, 2010 by wwelvaert under History and culture, Life in Peru

Merry Christmas to all!

We have our Paneton and hot cocoa ready, and surprisingly our Christmas tree has actually managed to stay upright until now… with our wild little baby goose I had given it about 60/40 odds of being knocked over before today, but I’m glad to be wrong on that prediction.

We will spend Christmas Eve together with family in the Peruvian tradition. We’ll stay up through the night, exchange gifts and eat dinner at midnight.

We decided to skip the nativity scene in our home this year, because said little baby goose doesn’t yet know the difference between toys and nativity scene, so it would just end up strewn all over the floor with the rest of our worldly belongings 😦

I’ll leave you with a picture of the typical Andean Baby Jesus figure, which shows the strong influence of the native Quechua culture on the Christian religion. Just beautiful.

Typical Andean baby Jesus figure

Merry Christmas!

Alcohol in Cusco

Posted on December 23, 2010 by wwelvaert under Life in Peru

I saw a funny drunk the other day. I don’t know what it is about Cusco, or the highlands of Peru in general, but it seems like heavy drinking is more common here than in the coastal parts of Peru or elsewhere. That’s just casual observation, no proven statistics or anything of that nature.

I don’t know what the reason might be, it could be because life here in the high Andes really is tough due to the climate, geography and high elevation, I really don’t know.

Like most people we enjoy drinking socially at times, but unfortunately we also know a few people who are habitual drunks and have let their alcoholism really affect their lives in a bad way. I’m hoping most of the time when I see someone stumbling around drunk out of their mind that it’s not a habitual thing.

At any rate, back to my funny story. Now this is one of these stories that really can’t be told…

You had to be there:

The other day I was getting my hair cut at a local barber. My “casero” (ie. regular or regular customer) works out of his house on Av. Cultura, a busy main street in residential Cusco, not the tourist areas downtown. While I’m waiting to get my hair cut, many people walk in and out of his shop, schoolkids come in to buy candy, etc. Some friends or family walk into his shop, say hello and then go to the back of the house.

Just as it was my turn to get my hair cut, a guy drunk out of his mind came stumbling into the barber shop and mumbled something to my “casero”. My “casero” replied something I couldn’t understand, I think they were speaking Quechua, but it was obvious my barber knew this person. The drunk was a guy maybe in his fifties, well dressed in a suit and shirt but with a scraggly unkept beard.

The drunk disappeared in the back of the house for a few minutes and then returned. He sat down next to a couple of other customers who were waiting in line. A minute or two later, the drunk got up and started talking to the other customers. He was speaking Spanish at that time, but I couldn’t understand a word he said because his speech was so slurred. I think he was pointing out something in the tabloids that are laying around the shop for waiting customers.

Next thing you know, for no obvious reason, this drunk guy puts his hands on the couch (where customers were waiting), feet on the floor and starts doing push-ups. Not just one or two, but maybe 10 or 15. A 50-some year old guy in a suit, drunk as a sailor, doing push-ups in the middle of a barber shop, you just had to be there.

My “casero” and everyone else in the shop just sort of chuckled, and after a little while the drunk said something else to each of the people in the shop, I didn’t understand anything except that he said “50 cents” several times. Then he walked out into the street and disappeared, as quickly as he had shown up he was gone again.

* * *

This crazy scene reminded me of another event, different but similar in its stupidity.

A while back when I was teaching an early class at ICPNA I would get up at 6:00 and walk the dogs before heading into work. These 2 mutts:

Roxi and Manchita, with our baby Brianna

Our dog Manchita

One morning just after 6:00 I was walking the dogs in the park by our house, and another stumbling drunk shows up. He’s holding a plastic cup in one hand and a bottle of beer in the other. He’s happy as can be and when he sees us, he decides to walk towards us and starts offering me and the dogs some of his “cerveza”.

“Hey, let’s have a drink, let’s all be friends.” – Seriously.

Now it must be said that our dogs are really quite protective. I don’t let anyone other than myself walk both of them at the same time. They’re not aggressive or bad dogs, but they are protective and don’t like being approached by strangers, especially men. I don’t know what it is because we found both as strays, perhaps they were abused or something, but both dogs do not like men they don’t know. The Jack Russell looking one is the oldest and most dominant, and the fat pitbull-looking one has never had an original thought in her life, she just barks and growls when her “big sister” barks and growls.

So this happy drunk came stumbling towards us offering the dogs a drink of cheap beer (I think it was Brahma or something) and the dogs start going nuts, barking and pulling on their leashes. I’m pulling the dogs out of the way as quickly as I can, but this drunk keeps coming at us:

“Hey, let’s all be friends.”

I’m not making this up. By now the pitbull is raising her hair and pulling her lips and the idiot drunk still wants to make friends. I luckily was able to pull the dogs away and make my way out of the park quicker than the drunk could follow us. I don’t think the guy remembers any of this, he was so happy drunk out of his mind, but he’s very lucky he didn’t try the same thing with some 7-year old kid walking his dogs.

Peruvian beers

Enjoy the holidays! Drink responsibly 😉

Cusco’s barbed wire obsession

Posted on September 17, 2010 by wwelvaert under Life in Peru

I thought barbed wire was for prisons and farms, but here in Cusco people have different ideas. Barbed wire is everywhere. Take a look…

I could take a hundred pictures like this within 2 blocks of our apartment. We live in the heart of the city, yet you see barbed wire everywhere, wrapped around fences, flower beds, gardens, etc.

At first I thought all the barbed wire in the city was a by-product of the huge migrations to the cities in Peru since the 1960s, with people bringing a lifestyle from the country to the city, but you frankly don’t see much barbed wire in the countryside in Peru. Most of the animals are herded and the lands are treated somewhat as community property.

So what gives, why is there so much useless barbed wire everywhere? I say “useless” because every last piece of barbed wire you see in the city is jerry-rigged in the poorest possible fashion, and none of it would even appear to keep any person or animal in or out.

Was there a big recall on Chinese barbed wire that someone down here got a good deal on? Or is it simply the middle-class in the cities paranoia about crime?

There’s definitely a fair amount of petty crime in the cities, but this barbed wire won’t stop any of that. If the powers-that-be were really interested in fighting petty crime, they could simply shut down the black markets where all the stolen goods are sold, like “Paraiso” and “Baratillo” in the Santiago district of Cusco.

At the end of the day, the barbed wire doesn’t stand out too badly because most of it is wrapped around regular hedges and fences where you won’t notice unless you’re looking, but when you have a baby who’s just starting to walk and grab everything, it’s certainly a nuisance. In fact, one time when we were at an elementary school in a small town, a young girl of about 9 or 10 who was playing a blindfold game ran into a barbed wire fence. That’s right, a barbed-wire fence, around a flowerbed, in a school !!!

I still have a 10″ scar on my left leg from running into a barbed wire in my hometown when I was about 8 or 10, so dumbassery certainly isn’t limited to Cusco, but I found the only piece of barbed wire in my town and ran into it… over here, it’s everywhere.

My first dog bite in Peru

Posted on July 9, 2010 by wwelvaert under Life in Peru

Seems like most people I know here in Peru have gotten bit by a dog at least once, and now I’ve joined those ranks myself 😦

Here in Cusco, like in much of Latin America, many dogs roam freely in city streets and parks. Many are strays and others are simply allowed to run free by their owners. People who walk their dog on a leash are an exception here in Cusco. Most of the stray dogs are actually quite nice, but unfortunately some are skittish or defensive because people often throw rocks at them and kids play rough with them, pull their tails and things of that nature.

I usually do good with dogs, I say hello to them, play nice, all that good stuff. Occasionally if a loose dog growls or barks at me, I stare it down or just stay out of the way. Rabies is still big here in Peru, so you really don’t want to get into a fight with a dog you don’t know.

A while ago a new dog moved into the neighborhood, and we pass by his house between our home and that of my suegra. Seems like the dog had already barked and nipped at other people, but I just kept going by his house since he never paid attention to me. However, a few days ago I walked by and the darn mutt came flying out of his little yard, ran up behind me barking and fussing at me. Typically I would have yelled at him but for some reason I didn’t feel like making a scene and just kept walking. The dog stopped for a second, and then ran up and nipped my calf. Ouch. At that point I did yell at him and his owner, who happened to be in the yard, threw water at the darn dog – like that’s gonna help.

When I got to my suegra’s house and told them the story my wife and her mom immediately ran down to the house to complain to the owner. I kind of felt like a dumbass having 2 women defend my honor, so to speak, but I guess since dog bites are so common here they are much better prepared to go and complain about the whole ordeal.

Long story short, the owner was quite apologetic about it and a day or so later he put up a better fence to keep the dog inside his yard.

Woof.

We have 2 strong and protective mutts as well, but they don’t run loose.

Baby with dogs