Challenges of Living in Peru

Hello again readers of my blog.  Once again, it’s hard to believe that another month is coming to a close.  My work and other activities have continued keeping me very busy throughout the week.  Recently, I started leading a discussion group for students who are studying English at the school.  That is a lot of fun, but also difficult at times to try and explain why we say things the way we do in English.

Seeing as how I am living in a country other than my own, there are certainly some challenges that go along with this experience of living in Peru.  I want to share a few of those so you can get a better idea of what life is like for me.

• Spanish:  That’s a pretty obvious one, isn’t it?  I think I am doing much better with Spanish during this trip to Peru compared to my trip last year.  The biggest thing that has helped me is just having confidence in my abilities and trying to do the best I can when communicating.  There are always times when I don’t completely understand what another person is saying or when I don’t know how to say something in Spanish.  People usually appreciate that I am making the effort to try and speak with them, so I usually don’t have too much trouble.  Although, at times it is very frustrating not being able to express myself like I would be able to in English.
• Water:  This one might surprise you if you’ve never traveled outside the U.S. before.  Here in Callao where I am living, there is no hot water that comes from a tap.  This is generally the case throughout the entire country, unless you have a gas water heater.  So, this means that every day I get to take cold showers!  Another interesting point related to water is that all tap water is shut off at 10 PM every night until the following morning.  Meaning, that if I try to turn on the faucet at 10:01 PM, nothing comes out.  The local government does this to try and conserve water because Peruvians in the past were known for severely wasting water.
• Noise:  Maybe it’s just me, but it always seems like my surroundings are very loud.  Here’s a few of the noises that I typically hear on a daily basis: children yelling and playing in the street, radios playing music, cars honking their horns, street vendors advertising their products by talking over loudspeakers, the song “My Heart Will Go On” (the theme song from Titanic).  A quick explanation about that last one:  there is a street vending company that sells ice cream here that rides through the city on bicycles and plays “My Heart Will Go On” on a loudspeaker so that you know they are approaching where you are…it drives me nuts!!!  Why, of all songs, the theme song from Titanic?

Hopefully you have a better understanding of some of the quirks and challenges of living in Peru.  There are, of course, many others, but those are some of the most prominent ones.  Enjoy the final days of February!