Not Just a Tourist

The best part about traveling to me, is getting outside the guide book and past the line of tourist attractions and seeing life through the lens of people who live in the place I’m visiting.  We’ve had a chance to do that a couple of weeks in Peru, while visiting a friend in Lima and waiting tables in Huanchaco.

Lima

Six years ago I was working as a lift operator at Keystone and my roommate in employee housing was from Peru.  Andres, and his Peruvian travel partner, Adrian, and I became friends over the winter.  So when Beth and I decided to travel to Peru I looked them up on facebook figuring we would see them briefly.  Instead Adrian and his family were incredible welcoming and hospitable, picking us from the airport, helping us find a hotel, and showing us the city.  Adrian’s parents even invited us along to visit their family’s house in Ancon near the beach.

Traveling with Elvis and Rosia (Adrian’s parents) was an adventure in itself since communication was a challenge, it was good to have to use Spanish.  Driving north out of Lima was the first time we saw the landscape surrounding the capital- all dirt, mountains of dirt.

Ancon harbor. Photo by Beth

We met Rosia’s sister’s family at a castle in Chancay.  Apparently the cement castle built on rocks overlooking the ocean is a popular attraction.  It was built “by a crazy lady with a lot of money.”  (I’m still unsure why it was built) The museum inside had artifacts and mummies from pre-Incan cultures.  After Chancay we went to Ancon and barbecued.  We practiced Spanish while our new friends practiced English.  After a few drinks we were given a lesson in Spanish slurs and slang.  A couple times Spanish-speaking spouses were accidentally speaking to each other in English before laughing at the mistake.  Needless to say there was plenty of misunderstanding, but it didn’t prevent us from sharing in a unique experience and connecting in a sub-surface level.

We are incredibly thankful for the Asencios’ kindness, they’ve really made our time in Peru practically making things easier and showing us more of Peru than we could see as tourists.  I look forward to returning the hospitality.

Huanchaco

Haunchaco is a small surf town near Trujillo.  We were wandering around town looking for a place to stay and saw a “Help Needed” sign outside of a restaurant/hostal so we stopped and inquired.  The owner told us their server was traveling for a while and they needed someone to wait tables in exchange for room and board.  I was all for it!  It’s a bit ironic that I found a work-trade in one of the cheapest places we’ve been but I was looking for the experience more than anything.

The first few days were slow and uneventful, then the weekend and the first days of Carnaval came.  The spaghetti and pizza restaurant doubles as a reggae jam bar, dreads were the majority.  It was like an open mic night with everyone playing backup for each other.  Only the crazy thing was, everyone was good- hip-hop, traditional music, blues, rag time, folk, american, peruvian- and there people were from all over the world playing.

While that was going on, I was running around trying to keep everyone’s order straight when I only understood half of it.  The language barrier was a convenient excuse to walk away from rude people and chalk it up to “no intiendo.”  I kept an informal survey on an informal scale of rudeness; three French were the worst, the English guy was ok, Spanish families sucked but Spanish backpackers weren’t bad, South Americans weren’t bad but they didn’t want anything, Peruvians were usually the nicest and tried to convince me beer was cheaper for locals (and it was most of the time), oh and the one American (a strange girl from Idaho) she was really nice so I took her home, and the American, me, definitely rude.  It was the best twelve bucks I’ve ever made, and I have a newfound appreciation for Peru’s waitstaff.  It was motivation to speak the language correctly to avoid being the rude extranjero.

I highly recommend Mamacocha if you visit Huanchaco, the food is okay, the rooms aren’t bad, and the atmosphere’s amazing.

Other places

We’ve spent some time in small communities that have given us a look a the real Peru.  It seems like the farther from Lima and the farther from cities, the harsher the reality.  We’ve been to a few markets where people practically beg to sell you their goods and in the end walk away with a couples soles (2.82 to one dollar).  Or beggars that actually convince that they’re really starving.  The little bit of Peru we’ve seen is a reminder of the economic disparity that exists everywhere.  Despite being one of the fastest growing economies in the world, the majority of Peru (like the world) lives in poverty (over 50% are poor and 20% extremely poor, according to worldbank.org).

Beth and I talk a lot about whether or not to give money, somehow it seems different than in the US because it’s a more competitive ecosystem and there isn’t enough to go around (or if there is it’s not happening).  We’ve also come across some really incredible organizations who are working to make a difference.  By giving to beggars are we really helping Peru?  I met a guy who I had a similar conversation with and he said that he and a co worker would put change in a jar every time they were asked for money then after a while take that change to an organization helping to alleviate poverty- maybe a food bank, or orphanage, whatever they chose.  He went on to talk about how giving a few cents may mean a lot to one person but it’s hurting the society by perpetuating begging.  When the donation that will go the farthest is one given to an organization on the ground that needs help.  I agree and we’ve since committed to keeping track when we want to give and putting the total toward something good.

Whether it’s the reality of people’s situation, the gracious welcoming of friends, or the overall friendliness of Peruvians, I am extremely thankful to see the nuances of this country firsthand.