Parting Thoughts

July 29, 2008 at 10:28 pm (1)

We’re in the final hours of our last day in Peru. Last night we said goodbye to the 24 students in our group. We heard this morning that 20 had arrived safely in Atlanta, most en route to Chicago and then Goshen (not to worry: two were taking a later flight, and two were heading to the jungle for a week).

It’s been a while since the last blog posting. That may reflect general blog fatigue, or maybe a sense that in closing down the program here, or better put, our place in that program, a part of me has also been closing down. We’re going to miss this country and our many Peruvian friends.

While we may look like gringo tourists in the eyes of Peruvians on the street, we certainly don’t feel that way. A major reason for that sense of belonging is the gift of hospitality shown to us by virtue of being SST leaders.

We have traveled from Piura in the far north to Chimbote in the south, and from our apartment a half mile from the Pacific to Andean cities like Caraz, Cusco, Huancayo, Huaraz and Mancos, and to high jungle cities like La Merced and Villa Rica. Everywhere we have gone we have been graciously welcomed into homes and introduced to communities.

I want to take a page out of journals that students have been keeping this year. Like them, I can think of things that I’ll miss and that I won’t miss, of unfinished projects, of what I’ll leave and what I’ll take back, of hopes for the future. Here is what comes to mind first as I sit down at the keyboard with two suitscases nearly packed and one carry-on waiting to be filled.

What I’ll Miss

  • Learning Spanish
  • Having a sit-down menú lunch
  • Running along the ocean
  • Reading El Comercio every morning
  • Buses that go everywhere for about 33 cents
  • Courtyards, patios and sidewalk cafes
  • Sing-song cries of the bus stewards
  • Temperatures in Lima that range from warm to cool
  • Fresh fruit from stands on the next corner, if not this one
  • Walking to markets
  • Ice-cream at Dove Vai (if I were a student I could get away with saying that mango and coconut rock).
  • Princesa bars (Hershey needs that blend of peanut butter and dark chocolate)
  • Dear friends, and so much more

What I Won’t Miss

  • Traffic on Larco Avenue outside our balcony
  • Cabbies who sneak up next to my ear and then honk
  • Smell of exhaust
  • Late-night bus rides over mountain passes

Favorite Restaurants

Tropicana, where there’s always a favorite typical dish, like lomo saltado (who knew that mixing french fries, rice, and beef or chicken could be so good), papa la huancaina (I’ve fallen in love with cold potatoes and a chili peppery sauce zing), aji de gallina (creamy spicy chicken over rice), causa (citrusy potatoes with tuna or chicken filling), papa rellena (potato stuffed with spiced meat, olives and other goodies).

Tambo El Enano, with more than 50 juice combinations (here I would recommend No. 63, a blend of strawberry, pear and mandarine), and turkey sandwiches and french fries. They let you customize your sandwich (maybe add tomatoes, onions, tiny french fry chips and mayo). They also ask what kind of dipping sauces you’d like with the fries. The aji chili pepper sauce is terrific for the fries. If I were starting a business, I would open an El Enano franchise in Goshen. By the way, El Enano means the dwarf, and Tambo means a resting place. Not sure why they call it that, but no matter – the place is addictive.

Blog Entry Left Unwritten

I told Kate and Emily that I was going to step foot inside a casino for the first time while here in Lima. These glittery dens of temptation are scattered across the city, and yet the papers never seem to write about them. What does it look like inside? Are the clients young, old, alone, in packs? How much money is taken in during an average night? Where does that money go? No one knows.

Moment of High Anxiety

Delivering a lecture from prepared notes, in Spanish, in front of a couple of hundred people and a dais of deans, at Federico Villarreal National University. That has now edged out my introductory lecture at Goshen College (on Marshall McLuhan) as the scariest public speaking experience of my life. Scariest solo? That would be singing “Dare to Be a Daniel” alone on stage during kindergarten graduation ceremonies in Harrisonburg, Virginia, in 1964.

Favorite Quote

I come back again and again to Gracias! A Latin American Journal, a series of reflections by the Dutch priest and spiritual writer Henri Nouwen. He lived for part of a year in Bolivia and Peru. He expressed so well my sense of feeling blessed and in the right place much of this year, despite being majorly handicapped in Spanish. He wrote:

“When we walk around in a strange milieu, speaking the language haltingly, and feeling out of control and like fools, we can come in touch with a part of ourselves that usually remains hidden behind the thick walls of our defenses. We can come to experience our basic vulnerability, our need for others, our deep-seated feelings of ignorance and inadequacy, and our fundamental dependency. Instead of running away from these scary feelings we live through them together and learn that our true value as human beings has its seat far beyond our competence and accomplishments. One of the most rewarding aspects of living in a strange land is the experience of being loved not for what we can do, but for who we are. “

Proposal for the Encore Years

Marc Freedman has written a book called “Encore: Finding Work that Matters in the Second Half of Life.” He describes what is being recogized as a new life stage: the 10 or 20 or more years after the end of one’s primary career and before bed rest. Baby Boomers increasingly want to make a contribution, given their economic resources and life skills and deep circle of social contacts.

If Goshen College developed an SST program for older adults, a program that would include language learning and field trips and lectures, and then service assignments in cities across the country, all the while living with host families, would people sign up? I’ll bet they would. And the benefits would extend from the campus in Goshen to places like Casa Hogar in Huaraz, an orphanage in the highlands where children are waiting to be held and have help with homework.

Just in Time for the SST Anniversary: A Scholarship

At the airport last night, one family surprised a student by driving 45 minutes to say goodbye at the last possible moment. As students were checking their bags, the father and I talked about our times together this year, which included a turkey dinner on Christmas Eve. He is a great fan of Goshen College and its program. He wondered about the prospect of sending his sons to study at Goshen. He is not alone. Other parents have inquired as well this year. I tell them that being conversational in English is essential. But beyond that, it’s expensive, even with scholarships and work study. It would be great to have a scholarship devoted to children of SST host familes who have opened their homes for, say, five or more semesters (and maybe there is one but I don’t know about it) .

Eso es todo.

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Night to Remember for Heads of State and Sleepy Heads

May 17, 2008 at 3:56 am (1)

It’s party time in Peru. The heads of state and important officials from Latin America, the Caribbean, and Europe are all here for several days of meetings. Tonight is said to be the social culmination of the summit, which during the day is devoted to heavy themes like poverty and global warming. Miraflores, where we live, has promised: “Esta noche no se duerme.” (You won’t sleep tonight).

We have a great vantage point from which to take in the party, since our apartment is right along Larco Avenue, the main street of Miraflores, just a block away from the municipal headquarters. Usually choked with traffic, Larco is a pedestrian walkway tonight, and a parade route. From our balcony we watched a long parade that included military bands, folk dancing, a huge potato float, two white stretch limos, and little dog trying to keep up with members of the Lima runners club.

The party, called “Noche en Blanco,” or Night in White, started at 8 o’clock tonight and the paper says it’ll go until 5 a.m. Apparently it’s a traditional all-nighter in cities like Rome and Paris and Madrid; here in Peru, this is a first. I’m a little worried about being able to sleep given what’s to come: a German electronic rock band and Peruvian experimental rock. Even now, at 10:30, we just had to close the door to the balcony to try to tamp down the sound of a brass band with many cymbols, a band that went north up Larco an hour ago and is now headed south.

The excuse for the party is the presence of the foreign dignitaries, but Limeños are packing the streets tonight. Most had off work yesterday and today, as the government called a special holiday.

Last night the ministers, congressional representatives and others went to the fountain park at Parque de la Reserva in Lima. It’s definitely on the short list of places to see while in the capital. One of the fountains there was recognized by the Guinness Book of Records as the highest in the world.

Over in Cusco, there’s another sign that Peru is emerging as an economic player on the world stage. Kentucky Fried Chicken and McDonald’s are going to open restaurants in the historic district, and Starbucks is said to be ready to rent a place that was once home to a traditional cafe, El Ayllu.

I’m reminded of the powerful protests we saw a few months ago in Cusco as people in the streets shouted and blocked roads, raging against foreign investors and the corruption of sacred historical sites. No doubt some people, even some Cuzquenos, will say that having a McDonald’s in town is a sign of Cusco’s maturity. But for many others it’s just another sign of global overpowering local, and of sandwiches that taste the same, whether they are served in Goshen or in Cusco.

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Catching a Few ‘Monster Swells’ on the Way to Machu Picchu

May 4, 2008 at 10:34 pm (Dateline: Lima)

Peru, which doesn’t often draw featured coverage in The New York Times, is front and center today, with a travel feature about surfing: “Riding the Waves of Peru,” ranked No. 7 on the most e-mailed list.

The author says that even though Peru has “monster swells on par with those that hit Hawaii’s lengendary northern shores,” Peru isn’t yet known among tourists “as a surfing destination,” “except perhaps by a small band of jet-setting surfers for whom no wave is beyond reach.” But Peruvians know what a treasure they have along the coast. The author describes surfing as having swept the nation “in a pop cultural frenzy.”

The article continues: “And now, as Peru rides a tourism wave propelled by a strong economy and favorable exchange rates for bargain-minded Americans, it is poised to become the new ‘it’ spot on the international surfing circuit. After all, Peru has 1,500 miles of rugged coastline dotted with countless breakers, from pristine beaches tucked around Lima to unexplored pockets up north where some waves are said to last more than a mile.”

While I haven’t been to Máncora, a beach resort up north that the author describes as a queen of the surfing circuit, I have seen a lot of the surfers and beaches in Lima. The commitment of the surfers is impressive; every morning in the beaches along the Miraflores district you can see dozens of surfers paddling out or riding in, and they are a mix of all ages and both sexes. I especially like to see that guys with grey hair (my daughters like to point out each of my incoming grey strands) are still putting on wet suits.

The temptation in travel articles is to add puffery — why would you write about a place if only to tell people that they shouldn’t visit? I think the writer in this case should have warned readers that the sun is about to disappear in Lima. After a glorious four months of sunshine in Lima, when every day was an invitation to swim or surf, winter is moving in and soon the sun will disappear — for about seven months. Some people may not mind surfing in the garúa, that grey mist that cloaks the city throughout the winter (which would be the summer vacation months for U.S. travelers), but it’s at least worth a traveler’s advisory. Of course, people can still travel along the coast north or south far enough to where the sun manages to break through.

If I were an editor for the travel section, I also would have taken out that reference to “pristine beaches tucked around Lima,” even though the author does later note that on some days you run across polluted breaks around the capital. The beaches are rocky and the water — well, I wouldn’t drink it. And lastly, I would have asked about that reference to “favorable exchange rates.” It’s true that many “budget-minded Americans” will find that the dollar goes further here than it does back in New York City, but it’s also true that the dollar doesn’t go as far here as it did a year ago (now we’re getting 2.8 soles per dollar, down from about 3.5 a year ago).

But nitpicking aside, Peru does have wonderful beaches (we had our last retreat at one, about an hour and a half south of Lima) and an article like this one can only add appeal to a country that is on a roll. Each year, the country moves further away from the dark times of the Shining Path, and the number of international visitors grows. In 2002, Peru had 997,628 visitors; in 2004, 1,276,639; in 2007, 1,812,000.

The Inca Trail, a several-day hike to Machu Picchu, is sold out for the 2008 summer season, with the next available openings in September; the government limits to 500 the number of hikers permitted on the trail each day.

And now Colca Canyon, which is twice as deep as the Grand Canyon, is listed among the top 10 in contest to select the New Seven Wonders of Nature (Machu Picchu, of course, is one of the Seven Modern Wonders of the World). Peru has five sites in the top 77: Colca Canyon (10), Lomas de Lachay National Park (16), Lake Titicaca (18), Machu Picchu Ecological Reserve (26) and Alpamayo Mountain Peak(76). Peru also has a claim on the fourth-place contender, the Amazon River.

After the voting ends on Dec. 31, a panel of experts will decide on a short list of 21 candidates. Voting will continue until 2010, when the winners will be announced. To vote, go to the Wonders of Nature site.

A contest like this may be gimmicky, but the implications for tourism, and tourism dollars, are pretty serious. Machu Picchu has become a must-see destination for some tourists in part because it is one of the Seven Modern Wonders.

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In Times Like These, I’m Happy to Let Someone Else Do the Driving

April 27, 2008 at 4:55 pm (1, Dateline: Lima)

Peru’s Ministry of Transportation informed drivers at the beginning of the week that a plan to replace license plates would begin in 90 days and would cost 120 soles, or nearly $45, per plate. The headline on Tuesday read: “Oldest Cars Will Renew their Plates First.”

But it would have been a big mistake to get on line early. Only four days later, on Saturday, the order of priority was reversed: “Change of Plates Will Start in 2009 and Begin With New Vehicles.” The cost per transaction changed as well, dropping to 70 soles.

What’s going on here? The agency apparently came under heavy criticism for appearing to make those who could least afford another bill — the drivers of older cars — pay first, and pay excessively. The revision may make drivers feel better about the bottom line, but it can’t do much for the credibility of the government officials who presumably spent months preparing to roll out an overhaul of licensing, in an effort to rid the country of fake plates, only to huddle on the sidelines and quickly call a new play.

On the same day that the revision was announced El Comercio ran a full-page article with an analysis by three psychoanalysts as to why Peruvians remain distrustful of the government amid upbeat economic indicators. For example, national production grew 12 percent in February; the economy expanded 9 percent in 2007, marking nine straight years of growth. But President Alan Garcia’s approval rating fell to 26 percent this month, the lowest level of his second term, with rising food prices seen as the main source of the public discontent.

One congressman, Johny Lescano, had strongly criticized the license plate plan, saying that the added expense came at a time when many Peruvians were already hard-pressed to pay for high food prices, and that the program was being established to benefit “political friends.”

The psychoanalysts, meanwhile, pointed to various factors, including: 1) a failure on the part of the government and businesses to communicate to the people just how good the economy is doing; 2) a difference between the macro picture (mango production nationally rose sharply this year) and the micro picture (someone who picks mangos on a small chacra may not be paid any more than a year ago and is paying twice as much for home cooking oil and rice); 3) a belief that corruption in government is rampant (in a separate article today, a series of photos showed a police officer capturing a suspected thief and then accepting 20 soles to let him go scot-free).

P.S. Thankfully, we don’t drive down here. Instead we can walk a block or two and find a bus that will take us to wherever we’re headed across the city, usually for no more than 1 sol. We’re really going to miss this public transportation option when we head back to Goshen and rev up the Honda Civic.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

If you’d like a read a story about a government whose conduct is truly frightening, take a look at “In Zimbabwe Jail: A Reporter’s Ordeal.” Barry Bearak, a foreign correspondent for The New York Times, was arrested on charges of “committing journalism.”

Here’s a glimpse of how the interrogation unfolded:

The crowded room was hot. Already, I felt jailed. I needed a breath of air, but when I moved toward the door, Detective Jasper Musademba, a well-built man in a jacket and tie, stopped me. He had been the most threatening of the police. “If you try to go outside…” he said sternly, stopping in midsentence. He made his hand into a gun and pulled the trigger.

“You’ll kill me?” I asked.

“Good,” he remarked wryly. “Then you’ve seen that movie.”

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You Say ‘Hello,’ and I Say ‘Hola’

April 24, 2008 at 9:46 pm (Dateline: Lima)

After more than half a year of living in Peru and wondering for just as long what it would be like to try to speak only in Spanish for an entire day, I finally found out.

I had thought of this as my own personal pursuit, but early on was reminded that other people who had no vote in the matter would be asked to go along with Spanish-only. As we were hurrying to pack lunches for school my daughters told me that this was a fine goal and that they would like to join me in this undertaking but that this particular day was not an especially good day for speaking only in Spanish and that they would like if I could wait for a better time, maybe in the next week. “No puedo,” I said.

After they left for school, I went out with Oswaldo, a Peruvian friend and one of our language profs, for a late breakfast at an outdoor cafe. Though he also speaks English, he was happy to keep the conversation in Spanish, all the way through a tamale (his) and a piece of lemon pie (mine). And Celia, the country coordinator of the SST program here, was ever so patient as we conducted business that day only in Spanish. People who listened in on our conversations might have thought that I was extremely thoughtful, prone to long pauses between sentences, and even words (Maybe . . . we . . . should . . . move . . . the . . . history . . . lecture . . . to . . . Monday . . . instead).

One of the more awkward moments of the day came when I visited our daughters’ school, the International Christian School of Lima, to return their report card folders. I arrived expecting to find the secretary who is bilingual, but she was not in the front office that day. Instead, the principal was minding the desk. As he approached, I remembered that he had told us during our first meeting earlier in the year that he had been so busy managing the affairs of the school that he had not learned much Spanish. Oh, no. “How are you?” he asked. “Muy bien,” I told him. I tried my best to explain to him — in Spanish — about the personal language contract in place for the day. “That’s just fine,” he said, not switching to Spanish but clearly understanding my predicament. So we talked about which of the papers I needed to sign and return, he in English, me in Spanish. I felt a little foolish but held fast to the pledge. As I was leaving, I saw the vice principal, and we exchanged greetings. “Hello.” “Hola. Que tal?”

Of the many elements that go into successfully learning a language, one that rises near the top is that elusive sense of confidence. When the waiter approaches, do you think you can find the right verb and manage the correct conjugation? Do you feel like a Spanish speaker when you are about to call a hostel to make a reservation? And this sense of being up to the challenge can rise and fall by the day, if not the hour.

Spanish texts, even the best of them, make the whole process sound too easy, at least in my experience. The authors of 501 Spanish Verbs, an excellent book to be sure, are overly hopeful: “You will master Spanish verb forms if you study this book for a few minutes every day.” And speaking of the indexes found in the book, they write, “If you refer to these back pages each time you look up verb tense forms for a particular verb, you will increase your knowledge of Spanish vocabulary and Spanish idioms by leaps and bounds.” That may be, but it’s one thing to know that haya hablado means “I may have spoken” and that hubiera hablado means “I might have spoken,” and another thing altogether to gracefully insert the correct phrase while you’re crossing the street with a friend.

Maybe the most beneficial part of the Spanish-only day was moving inside a zone where words were more within reach than usual. Even though my vocabulary and conjugational control hadn’t improved appreciably, I felt less tentative in conversations than I had only the day before. When a money transfer failed to go through, walking into the bank to make inquiries seemed a little less daunting.

I had a few slips during the day, but my closest colleagues (Karen, Kate and Emily) always reminded me when I started out a sentence in English. By evening, I was getting pretty tired. Karen said I kept falling back on the same phrases, like “Algo mas?” (Anything else?). She’d ask me a question, I’d answer with a yes or a no, and then “Algo mas?”

“Algo mas?” “Algo mas?” “Algo mas?” “No mas!”

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