Living in Peru long-term
Every year 100,000s of tourists travel through Peru by plane, bus and train, take many photos and then, after of couple of week’s holiday, head home full of impressions and experiences. The pros and cons of their journey could include Machu Picchu, the beautiful Andean scenery or the altitude sickness that threw their itinery for a day or two. But any holiday or study trip is over far too quickly, the memories fade and when you visit any country as a tourist, you rarely get to know the country at any greater depth.
But what about the Europeans who have been living and working in Peru for a couple of years? Surely their impressions and experiences have gravitas. Surely in the course of five or ten years they must have glimpsed something of what happens behind the scenes! What do they love living in the land of the Incas? And what are their chronic vexations?
Without a doubt the weather in the mountains is a positive. The sun shines every day even in the rainy season, the Peruvian cuisine is tasty and varied and the topography of the landscape never ceases to impress. The climate in conversations is much warmer than what you find back in Western Europe. In Germany society expects that “everything is forbidden which is not permitted”, while in Peru the opposite is the case: “everything is permitted which is not forbidden.” Thus a breath of freedom fills Peruvian corridors.
And yet South America in general and Peru in particular is fully aware of its downsides. Words count for almost nothing: much is promised in long speeches, but hardly anything is kept.
Fraud, whether in small or large matters, is so prevalent that one simply does not know what to say. Laws are made, but are rarely implemented correctly. When driving on or walking around the streets you often ask yourself, does the Highway Code apply? More often than not the bigger lorry or bus has (or takes!) right of way irrespective of traffic lights or road signs. Few people even understand the concept of the public good. Every few minutes you see rubbish being thrown through the windows of buses.
Despite the above we Europeans or US-Americans have no reason to look down on South Americans. (S)He who returns to Germany after a long stint in Peru, immediately feels the coldness of German society; this statement does not apply to the weather. Cultures can and must learn from each other. /KDJ
