"Your alms are of no use"

Peru, of course, is a third-world country, and it comes as no big surprise when you see some extreme poverty on the outskirts of large cities (as well as within, of course). My friend Martin who has volunteered for an organization that feeds homeless children in the wee morning hours told me of young boys sniffing glue, not to get high, but rather to get rid of the hunger pain, and of 8-year old girls prostituting themselves for 1 sol ($0.30). In Lima I myself have come across people sleeping naked on the highway median, blind, crippled and old people peppering the streets, asking passerby's for money; young children stepping on busses or into restaurants, singing to the passengers in hopes to receive a few centimos, and one or the other ex-drug addict asking for help now that he's sober.
I thought at first that I was targeted by them for being white, but from hanging out with locals, I learned that even for those struggling to keep their rented rooms, a few cents or even soles aren't too much to give to those who appear to need it more.
Now none of that seems too out of the ordinary. Seeing children begging for money, and young mothers with their infants spending the night on the street is upsetting and depressing, and I wish I could somehow take care of them all, but it exists in all large cities.
All along the highway that runs from the north end, to the south of the country, one is bombarded with politicians' slogans. The words "[politician x] for a united country" and "Brotherhood and equality" are painted on buildings, walls and even mountains and hills.
The only unity that can be found, however, is that of uniform separateness throughout the country and within the city.
Even my life here is divided into three equal parts: 1) living in Miraflores with other International students, 2) being on campus around the children of the most privileged and well-to-do families in the country, and 3), (my personal favorite) the part of my life that I spend with my local friends I met through CouchSurfing. These three parts ought to mix, but I feel strange about it and I am making it my personal goal to try to combine them somehow. At this point though, the three are absolutely isolated from each other.

Historically speaking, ever since Spain came and colonized this part of the world, Peru has been divided--be it into "Indians," Europeans, Mestizos (mixed) or Criollos (born in America to European parents); into people from the coast, desert, or forest; or into those 30% who can read, and the even smaller percentage who can afford a decent education versus the rest of the country.

Last night I went to a dance-theater-fusion performance put up by the Centro Britannico and my University. The show creatively and bitterly portrayed the problem with the pressure on women nowadays to fit a certain beauty type. While the message this spectacle sent was indeed a great one, I couldn't help but think of the hundres of young women I see every day on my way to school who have no choice in (and frankly probably don't care much about) what they look like and how they present themselves to the outside world. While they carry themselves with dignity still, it is naturally more important to survive and make it in this world than to worry about the latest fashion. There's no taking pills to lose weight when one struggles to keep oneself fed and healthy.
Of course it was quite startling to step onto my campus and to see students expressing their stylistic tastes in their outfits (a few are dressed in "goth" clothes, others clearly fall into the hippie/stoner category etc.) We are truly so privileged!

One naturally tries to find a relation between the obvious disconnect in the disparity between rich and poor, and the "united country" and "brotherly equality" that is being advertised by various politicians. While I have heard that current president Alan García Pérez has made some positive (yet minimal) social progress in his 25 (!!) years in office, he is like all politicians here extremely corrupt.
Examples of that can be seen all over the city with an unfinished building that had been promised to be the most state of the art edifice in the country before the money for its completion ran out because Garcia decided to take it for himself. Now about 15 hideous stories of raw materials are stacked up in the middle of Lince, creating not only an eyesore, but also the bitter reminder of the corrupt and dirty politics that rule this country. The same thing happened with the much needed tram that was proposed, planned and promised by García until money ran out again. Lima is still stuck with privately owned buses and combis (vans) as the only public transportation method.
Mayor of Lima, Óscar Luis Castañeda Lossi has promised to rebuild one of the largest roads in downtown Lima. It has been torn open and left a traffic disaster for the past year and half. From what I understood Lossi has cut some kind of deal with the construction agency in which both will award themselves with a good chunk of money that was intended for the construction budget. By stretching out the construction, less budget money, and more tax money is being used to fund this enormous infrastructural project. In the meantime, getting into the city and crossing the road is an adventure in and of itself.

Another huge part of the corruption phenomenon manifests itself in the government's efforts to hide all that of which Peru isn't exactly proud: poverty and all that comes with it (hunger, lack of work, education, and sanitation etc. ).
Walking through Miraflores, for example, one comes across distressing signs that read (in English!) "Your alms are of no use", specifically targeting tourists, advising them not to give money to beggars, especially children. While I understand the argument that giving money doesn't get them off the streets and leaves them even more undignified, I firmly believe that one sol is one less hungry night that child might be spending on the pavement. And while it sound like a conspiracy theory, I really think that these signs are there to prevent beggars to come into the ritzy streets of Miraflores in the first place, knowing that they won't get much.
The same happened in the center of town, which used to be the touristy area of Lima. Here homeless people were kicked out by state police to hide out under streets and out of the way of tourists, who might "get the wrong idea about this oh so beautiful country." While giving alms is certainly not the best thing for poor people, the government provides no funding for any kind of program that helps poor people and children getting off the street. The only organizations that exist for that cause are private non-profits and the church. To put up signs and kick out homeless people without providing any options for them to me is one of the most disgusting injustices put forth by this government. Especially while I study with students who take private limos to and from school and during lunch time. They have probably never set foot on a bus and are completely unaware of who lingers under the bridge, or has to spend another night outside next to the stray dogs.

Also, as you may have heard, during the global financial crisis, Peru was one of the only countries that actually profited while the rest of the world was struggling to keep out of the reds. With its enormous exporting capacities, Peru has slowly been climbing the economic ladder in recent years, yet all the people I've talked to here tell me that they have seen none of the progress. To the Wallstreet Journal and International eye, this country is progressing, but form the inside nothing has changed.



I found this picture at an exhibit of political cartoons. My friend Victor's cousin won an award as one of the leading cartoonists at this exhibit of a particular magazine. This image stuck in my memory merely for its simplicity. (Avanza = Move Forward, and the man in the Michael Jackson outfit doing the moonwalk is a caricature of President Pérez García). While it's poignantly bitter, I think it nicely wraps up my drawn-out "socialist" rant.

Musical encounter in el parque Kennedy

Upon feeling like a complete loser for not leaving my house, I went for a walk today, which ended in the Kennedy park. I saw a few people playing guitar and singing, so I sat down on the other side of the of the ovalo and enjoyed their rendition of "Hotel California" from afar. Needless to say, a gringa sitting sola in the park doesn't remain so for a long time: one of the dudes came over immediately, introduced himself, and played me a song that he wrote. He then proceeded to "improvise" a song containing my name, and telling me that he is going to record it and burn me a copy.
Soon thereafter I was surrounded by his fellow band mates and a drunken old couple that was singing, dancing, clapping and beatboxing jollily along with the songs they played. It was a grand old time.
Men here are extremely predictable and I'm starting to learn how to avoid getting them to "fall in love" with me. The trick lies in persistently giving the cold shoulder, and laughing at their corny attempts to make you feel smitten. With enough time they'll go away.
I also told them about Jack and how he has written hundreds of songs, which was a rather mean thing to say after guitarist man was trying to impress me with the fact that he's written four.
He's now trying to get a hold of a violin so I can play something for him that he can record. I highly doubt this will ever happen, but I'm not opposed to it. Mainly I'm very happy to have found them. Now I can go to the park every day and be entertained by them when I'm bored.

Arequipa and Lima update

I went on a brief sojourn to Arequipa, which lies approximately 15 hours south of Lima. I took a nightbus on Wednesday evening, arrived Thursday morning, and returned back to Lima Friday night, eventually arriving back here in the morning to move to my new apartment.Arequipa nestles between a few huge mountains like the Colca Canyon, and some volcanoes like Misti, Sabancaya, and Ubinas. Some people have problems with altitude sickness when they arrive, but luckily I didn't feel anything. The city is absolutely beautiful: much cleaner, safer, and more welcoming than Lima in many ways, this place prides itself on being nicer than most of the rest of the country. This feeling culminated a few years ago, when some really passionate "Arequipeños" decided they should cease from the nation and become its own state. Today you can even purchase an Arequipa passport as a souvenir. From what I hear, the whole town is very active when it comes to politics in general; thanks to a huge amount of the citizens going out into the streets to protest, Arequipa is one of the few places in Peru, where water and electricity have not been privatized. I stayed with a couchsurfing host outside of the city center, in a historical district that is riddled with small alleys and ancient cobble stone streets. There I tried the arequipan dish rocoto relleno, which is a very spicy type of pepper, that's been boiled and gutted to relieve some of the spice, and then stuffed with meat and cheese. I must say it was all right, but I prefer the food in Lima.

After lunch we went to the Mirador (overlook):

The arches made out of sillar (volcanic stone) nicely frame the view of the old city and the mountains behind it. You can see the snow-capped Misti volcano in the picture. Sillar is used for most of the buildings in Arequipa and its therefore nicknamed the White City. On the arches you can see declarations of love for the mountains that surround this place. Incas believed the mountains to be gods and thus made some sacrifices (see later picture).

The downtown area of Arequipa houses the plaza de armas (like every city) and a huge cathedral. It's bigger than the one in Lima, and its architecture--and that of the rest of the city for that matter--is influenced only by Spain. Most buildings in Lima, on the other hand have strong french, moroccan, and even, tudor period influences.

Random: In stead of having specific days for trash pick up, the trash truck just drives through the streets playing Beethoven's "Für Elise" to tell people to bring out their trash. It seems to work pretty well

Plaza de Armas:

Cathedral at night. I obviously didn't take that picture, but I swear it really looks like this!
Misti during the winter months. The city's climate right now is just pure heat. Usually it's sunny and dry and therefore much more bearable than Lima, which is just hot and humid, without any sun. Looking up to the mountains and seeing snow while I applied sun block in the heat was a bit surreal.
Arequipa is home to the Santa Catalina Cloister, which takes up several blocks and is almost its own city. You can go inside, walk around the humble streets, beautifully colored alleys and even get an idea of the everyday life of the nuns that live there. Several "cells" (tiny frugal apartments) are open for visitors.
Arequipa is also home to the famous ice mummies like Juanita. Over 500 years ago she was sacrificed to the mountain gods on top of Mt. Apato. She was between 12 and 14 years of age when the Inca priest killed her with a blow to the skull, and then left her body in a grave with various sacrificial artifacts. Because of the freezing temperatures atop the mountain, Juanita and other children mummies are extremely well preserved and are still being researched by international anthropological teams.

I'm back in Lima where I enjoy going to the Spanish Cultural Center and other places to see free exhibits and performances, while exploring new places with my favorite mode of transportation:

The combi/micro :)