My Home

Picture: Main city plaza of Piura. In the night, the plaza lights up and fills up with lively people. On the plaza there is a post office, ice cream parlor, colonial hotel, and a cathedral.

Piura City, ¨The City of Eternal Heat¨, not a good motto to attract tourisim unless your sick of the winter. I like Piura because we don´t have many tourists come through and I still remain the center of attention unlike other cities where you might feel like ¨another tourist¨ while trying to fit in and feel part of a community. Piura is a city of about 350,000 people though it feels like a small town. I´ve never experienced living in a medium size city where just about everyone knows who everyone else is. This phenomenon is especially true among the middle and upper class families. One thing that really annoys me is the amount of gossip that occurs here. Sometimes I have people tell me up to 10 times a day that they saw me at a restaurant or I did this or I did that. It´s annoying to me because the things are so ordinary and uninteresting yet people find a way to make it their highlight of the day. Yes its very hard to be anonymous in city, especially if you look like a ¨gringo¨. As much as it annoys me, I do find some pleasure feeling like what I do is seen and people are watching my every move. Like I said in one of my past blogs, I really feel like a semi-famous movie star. I really have no problem getting people to listen to me, I usually get better treatment at restuarants or bars, and people always love to learn about where I come from. The children, especially love to ask me all kinds of questions. Like what is the United States like? I try to make U.S. sound like it is not that special so they don´t feel like there is nicer places than where they live. These kids live in the most impoverished communities in the outskirts of town. Places that resemble camping grounds than neighborhoods. I try to tell people that the US has poverty like Peru and that there are people that go to bed hungery and without homes or family. Though I know the problem is nothing compared to Peru. When I think of the States I usually think how lucky we are and how good we really do have it. But one thing I have learned working in poverty is that most of the people I know that have little are very happy and have pride. They may be a little more ignorant about certain things but they are happy and want the best for their kids. On the contrary, I know a lot of people in the US and in Peru that have many possesions but somehow are miserable. There definately is some kind of cosmic relationship between wanting more and being happy with what you have. One interesting thing I have noticed about Piura is there is a huge division between the rich and poor. It is almost like the Indian social cast system. The rich bar up their houses with iron and steel and have little communication with their neighbors. There is no such thing as neigborhood parties or BBQs. The poor are unfortunately often labeled as beggars or thieves while the rich are known as the elitists around the town. It is true that in Peru there is little racism but a tremendous amount of discrimination and elitism. The rich control most of buisnesses and government entities. Even when a ¨native looking poor Peruvian¨ works his or her way up to the social ladder they are often not respected by the wealthy affluent community. One example is Alexander Toledo, Peru´s first ¨indigenous¨ President who just finished his term last month, was very unpopular among the wealthy. Well, see how our new president Alan Garcia does as he will start his new term this July after more than a decade absence since his presidency in Peru in the 80s. I hope I remember to write more about Peru´s politics in the future. It is incredibly interesting and crazy. Anything can happen in Peru!