I’ve always been a pet lover. From my early days with Suki – a Siamese cat I only remember from photos; to my youth with Tina, a lovable Basset Hound whose death devastated me; to my early adult years with the Doberman gang; to my current middle age with a mismatched set of over-excited house dogs; I’ve never felt complete without a pet in my life.

There was a time when I lived in a tiny beach apartment, alone in Cape Canaveral. This place was maybe 300 square feet, but it did allow pets, so it was worth the whopping $250 I paid in rent. In this tiny place, I lived with Sierra the Doberman, Muzzy and Mouser the cats, and Rio, the parrot.  I remember how Muzzy – a HUGE orange tomcat – would lay out on the table and Rio would walk around and groom his fur.  I’m sure that living with them in that cramped apartment helped prepare me for living with my husband and his two sons in a 25 square meter home when I first moved to Lima!

Now we’re lucky enough to live in a much larger home, complete with a lovely and fairly spacious garden (by Lima standards, anyway). It’s the perfect place for the three dogs we have now – not to mention our sweet little bunny! I’d have a cat by now too, except that our house is on a busy road, and as open as our house is, I’m not sure it would be possible to keep the cat in; I just think it’s too dangerous a place for gatos.

Limeños are very fond of their dogs. In poorer districts, you will see a lot of dogs that stay out on the streets most of the time. While Lima has more than it’s fair share of strays, you’d be surprised at how many of those street dogs suddenly start sporting doggy sweaters when the weather turns chilly! Dogs that you may have thought were neighborhood strays are often owned and taken care of by at least one family. My father in law used to feed and care for a large pack of dogs at his home in Puente Piedra; when he passed away, we assumed we’d have to gather up the dogs and find a place for them all. Turns out – they all belonged to various neighbors, and Fausto just enjoyed spoiling them.

In wealthier districts, you’ll see a lot more pure bred dogs. Poodles and schnauzers seem to be the runaway favorite, but larger breeds like Labradors and golden retrievers are also popular. The Miraflores and San Isidro dogs get taken for daily walks – often by the maid or by a paid dog walker. You don’t see stray dogs on the streets in Miraflores or San Isidro – those things are very frowned upon here.

When I was a kid, we always washed our dogs out in the yard with the garden hose. Sometimes when it got cold, we’d wash then in the bathtub, using an old sauce pan to pour water over them.  Here in Lima, we send the dogs off to “PetHouse”, “PetLand” or “PetCenter” – combination veterinary and grooming salons. (Actually, we only use PetCenter now, because we like them and it’s close to the house) For about $10 each (a little more for the poodle grooming), they are picked up and delivered to our house; bathed, clipped and groomed. If they find anything out of the ordinary – my Sheltie has had some skin problems – they’ll even have the vet look at it at no charge and let me know if it needs treatment.

Buying pet supplies can be a lot more expensive than you would think; the pet stores have a really high markup. But like everything else in Lima, you can get much lower prices if you know where to shop. A dog bed that is priced around 120 soles in Lima is closer to 25 or 50 if you go to the area around Calle Capon, in the center of Lima near the city market. There are a row of stores, all selling pet supplies.  Little dog sweaters and jumpers can cost 20 or 30 soles or more in the pet stores; I’ve found them at the Surquillo market for only five.

Pet food is also cheaper when you buy it bulk at the markets – The Pedigree that we buy is usually about 2 soles/kilo less than the grocery store price.

If you love walking your dog, there are plenty of parks and safe sidewalks around that will allow you that pleasure. While the rules vary from district to district, you should be prepared to pick up and dispose of anything your dog leaves behind. In Miraflores, there are signs posted in many of the parks that tell how much the fine is if you’re caught not doing so. At least around here in our neighborhood, the rule is followed pretty strictly.

If you’re moving to Peru with a dog or a cat, you may want some information on what paperwork you need to do. There is some information over on Expat Peru – Bringing a Pet to Peru.

How important are your pets to you here? For expats, do you find that having a dog or cat here is any different from back home?

Photo credit: kconnors from morguefile.com

Ok folks –  as I promised with the last post, this post is going to be a rebuttal.

And that last post sure got a lot of talk! People definitely have their opinions. I’m just glad that no one got mad at me and told me to go home if I thought Peru was so bad – because I love Peru! It’s been my home for 8 years, which is actually longer than I’ve ever lived in any one spot before. We may have changed houses a couple times, but we’re still about 10 blocks from where we first started here. And we just signed the lease for another year- bless my landlady for not raising the rent.

Now, like I said with the last post – this is all just my own personal observations; your experience in Peru may be very different. And in many ways, I’m comparing Lima with Cape Canaveral, Florida – the town I come from – as much as it is Peru with the US. So here we go!

1. FOOD! Can any list of great things not include food? Ceviche makes it all worthwhile in my book. But the food that I really love the most isn’t the main dishes – it’s the street food. Maybe if I came from NYC or Chicago – other cities famous for street food – I’d feel differently. But I love stopping off for anticuchos or empanadas or pollo broaster (deep fryer chicken). It’s so so so good! One of our very favorites is a cart on Av. Domingo Orue that sells sandwiches – big giants sandwiches, about 6 or 7″ across and so tall you can barely fit them in your mouth – loaded with chicken or hamburger or chorizo and topped with a fried egg, bacon, shoe string potatoes, lettuce, tomato and all the creams!

2. Health Care – I was just talking to my friend Rachael about this over on Facebook. Her little daughter was sick with a fever; it took two days to be seen by a doctor, and even then she didn’t even get a doctor but a nurse practitioner. And this is with insurance. Here in Lima, you show up at the clinic and they usually see you within 30 minutes. A few years ago, one of the boys cracked his head open on the playground at school and needed stitches. It took us longer to drive to the clinic than it did for him to get taken care of. The whole thing – exam, stitches, antibiotics – was less than $25.  If I’d had to go to the ER back home with my previous insurance, I’d have had to pay my co-pay of $50 before they’d even look at him.

3. Transportation – This is another one that might be different if I came from a big city, but I love the transportation here. Taxis, buses, combis, micros, coasters… I don’t care that they’re run down and crowded. I love that I can get anywhere in the city I want to go for under a buck. And I just have to walk right out in front of my house to catch a bus.

4. Weather – I can deal with heat okay, but I really dislike cold weather. That’s why I love the mild weather here in Lima. I may complain about the clouds and humidity sometimes, but it’s worth it to know I’ll never, ever, ever have to deal with snow, ice or below freezing temperatures.

5. Prices – There’s been a lot of conversation about this over on the expatriate forums, lately – living in Peru isn’t as cheap as it used to be. And it’s true – when I first moved here, we lived for under $1000/month – now it takes us nearly $2000. Now part of that is we’re living larger than we used to – kids in a more expensive school, paying more rent. But part of it is also that there’s been a lot of inflation here. And with the falling dollar, my income doesn’t go as far as it used to.  BUT! I know there’s no way that I would be living in a house as nice as this one, with two kids in a private school on less than $2000/month if I were back in the US.

6. Open Windows  - ok, I know this goes against what I said on the other post about central air and heat; but I really do love having the windows and doors open all the time. At home, I was so nervous leaving windows open because even with our alarm system I worried that someone might come in through the screen. And forget about leaving the front door open. Here, I leave all the windows thrown wide open and the back door to the garden is open pretty much day and night all year.  I love the fresh air and the feeling of being practically outside in the garden as I sit here and work. Of course, a lot of this is possible because of…

7. Walls – I don’t care what anyone says – I love the walls around the homes here. I love the fence and gate across the front of our house; I love the giant wall that encloses the back yard, making it feel like a secret garden. I love the sense of security I have with the walls. When I lived in Florida and heard a noise in the house at night, my first thought was “Drug crazed murderer!” Now when I hear a noise at night, I just hope it’s not a dog or a kid throwing up.

8. Bodegas and Panaderias – From the day I moved here, this has been one of the best things about Lima for me. In most neighborhoods, there is a bodega and/or a panaderia on just about every block (bodegas are little stores, panaderias are bakeries). Even better is if you live next to a pasteleria – a cake bakery! That’s the only thing I don’t like about the home we live in now; the area is very residential, so there are no little bodegas as close as I’d like them. Most bodegas carry all the little necessities that you always run out of, some also carry a small selection of fruits, veggies or even fresh chicken. They can be a life saver when you forgot to get something for lunch. And of course, it’s wonderful to be able to pick up freshly baked bread every evening.

9. Markets – I’ve talked about the city markets before in great detail, so I won’t do it again here. But oh, how I love the markets! The prices are great, and you never know what you might come across that you didn’t even know you needed.

10. A More Laid Back Lifestyle – I always felt so stressed out in the US. Life was so hectic. I feel like my life is much more laid-back without as much emphasis on how much we can “get”. Peruvians tend to be less stressed out about life, and tend to have a better sense of humor about things.

I like that.

(If you missed it, check out Ways that the US is Better than Peru)

Anyone who reads my blog even occasionally will know how much I love Peru. I love the people, I love the weather (most of the time), I love the country.  There are times when we’re out in the car and I see something that will strike me in a certain way, and I have to turn to my husband and say “Man, I love this place.”

That said, there are some things that I find much better in the US.  And if we want to really get specific, some of these things are more a comparison of where I’m from in Florida (Cape Canaveral) compared to living in Lima.

And don’t worry – at a later date, I’ll be doing one on how Peru is better than the US!

1. People respect your personal space. I know I’ve talked about this more than once, but I’m kinda fond of having my personal space. I’ve gotten a lot more used to it now, but it still bugs me when people crowd me in a line (especially at the grocery store!), or stand right on top of you when there is plenty of space around.

2.  Food variety. Yes, I know that Peru has a billion and one different dishes – but sometimes it seems that 99% of them involve chicken, rice and potatoes.  With aji and onion. It’s true that I really do love Peruvian food, but  I long for variety – Chinese food (that doesn’t come with “More Peruvian Flavor!), Italian food that doesn’t have aji panca mixed in, Mexican food, good steak houses, a barbecue place… and just a million other things that I’d love to find in the grocery store. I will say that things are getting better – but there have been more than a few recent days where I went without eating lunch because I just couldn’t stomach another criollo plate.  (It would probably be different if I went back to cooking every day – I like my own cooking better than anyone else’s!)

3. Organized traffic. I don’t think I even need to explain that one – this video shows it better than I can tell you. I usually ride in the car with my eyes closed, holding on to the door handle tightly.

 

4. Clothes!  You can buy a lot of really inexpensive clothes here, but I swear you get what you pay for. No, it’s worse than that – as cheap as the clothes are, you STILL aren’t getting what you pay for.  Every pair of jeans I’ve bought for my kids has had the riveted button come off – and my kids are skinny!  All their tshirts seem to come apart at the seams after just a couple of washes. There’s not much variety, either – clothing styles come in waves, and all the stores will carry all the same things. And if you’re overweight like me? Fahgeddaboutit. There’s just not anything. I’d love to see a Lane Bryant open here!

5. Clean air and water. People can bitch about government regulations all they want – it’s easy when you’re breathing air that’s not heavy with soot and exhaust. Those of us living in a place where the few regulations in place aren’t being enforced are too busy coughing black crap out of our lungs to do much bitching. And it would be nice to have tap water that wasn’t contaminated with arsenic, if that’s not too much to ask.  Of course, at least I HAVE tap water – millions of Peruvians don’t even have that “luxury”.

6. Public restrooms. Ok, I’ve seen some gas station bathrooms that had me fearing for my health back in the US, I won’t deny it. But that is the norm in Peru, not the exception.  A decent public restroom is such a rarity here that people share their locations with each other! Ripley and Saga usually have very nice, clean bathrooms, as do any of the major grocery stores. But unless you’re in a very upscale restaurant, be prepared for no paper, wet floor, no soap, NO SEAT…. and probably no cleaning in  weeks, if ever.

7. Cheap Cell Phones and service. ‘Nuff said.

8. Decent Toilet Paper.  Toilet paper here doesn’t seem to biodegrade as well as paper at home. And it’s not as absorbant. And there never seems to be any in public restrooms.

9.  Central air and heat. I’m kind of torn on this one – while I love being able to have my house open all year because of the mild weather, I really dislike the humidity and dust. Being able to put on the A/C once in a while would do wonders. And when it’s 60F in the house and my hands feel like ice cubes, I’d love to have a little heat!

10. Clean beaches. Ok, this one is strictly a Lima/Cape Canaveral comparison – I lived a block from the ocean, with a beautiful sandy beach.  Here, the beach is rocky, small, dirty and smelly. It just makes me sad.

Bonus: Cool stuff to do with the kids. Ok, I know here I can go to the jungle or Machu Picchu with our kids, take them sandboarding at Huacachina or to Nazca to see the lines – but those aren’t really things you can get out and do a lot. At home, we had lots of amusement parks (I lived less than an hour from all the parks in Orlando), go cart rides, county fairs (and church fairs!), a nice beach as mentioned above – and there were all sorts of sports for kids, not just soccer; lots of extracurricular stuff in school…. it just seems like kids in the US always have something to keep them busy. My kids don’t have friends in the neighborhood – because there is no neighborhood school to unite them; there are not school districts. There are no clubs or extracurricular activities in school – no intramural sports either.  I want to get out and do something fun with my kid every week, but it always seems to go back to play soccer in the park, go to a movie or… yeah, that’s about it.

Where to  send their kids to school is a constant source of conversation for expatriates around the world, and here in Peru it’s no different. Because of the sheer volume of choices, it’s probably an even bigger topic here in Lima than elsewhere in the country.

The lowest rung on the ladder are the public schools. About three years ago, because of our financial situation, we sent the boys to public school. The school we put them in, Scipion Llona,  was supposed to be the “best state run school in Lima” and was one short bus ride from our home. After two years in the school, I can honestly say that if that’s the best the state schools can do, I feel sorry for the education of the children in Peru. Maybe there’s more we could have done to help our children in the school, but I doubt it. Talking to the teachers was like talking to a three year old that didn’t want to eat her veggies.  We had problems with the boys doing their homework so we tried to work out some sort of system with the teachers. The teachers would tell us “You need to put more pressure on them to do their homework at home”. We were already paying for a math tutor to help with that homework, and reviewed their assignments every day – the problem was with them not bringing assignments home. We ask the teachers to help us know what assignments the boys had – we wanted the boys to write down their homework in a notebook each day, and then the tutor would initial it. They refused to do it and kept going back to this being our responsibility to make sure they do the work they bring home. I’d love to make them do it - if I knew what it was!

My Recommendation: Avoid Peruvian public schools like the plague – they’re just as lethal to your children.

Next, are the lower tier private schools. Price isn’t always the deciding factor, but generally if a school costs under 300 soles a month, assume it’s a lower tier school Now, lower tier isn’t necessarily bad.  These schools focus on the same education syllabus as the state schools, so don’t expect anything in the way of international literature, government, history, etc. Expect your child to have the basics in communication, arithmetic, and Peruvian focused social studies. You may have classes in computer and English. They will have talleres – sort of like electives in American high school, except there is no choice in the subject – that focus on embroidery, perhaps cooking, and Peruvian folk song and dance.

My Recommendation: If the school is well run, and it’s the best you can afford, it’s a barely adequate education for today’s world. Our kids were in a lower tier school before I knew all this about schools, and they did well there, I just wish I’d known there were better choices. It was frustrating for me to see my kid spend a couple hours a week doing embroidery (what the hell???) when they could have been teaching geometry or world history.

Next are middle tier private schools. There are some excellent schools in this range, and I’m sure some real crappers, too. We used a list of schools from this site to find schools in our area and price range, then went to visit them all. Some were excellent, some were not.  Some schools, like Trilce, were very good but just not what we were looking for – I know my boys do much better in smaller classes sizes. Others were too religiously inclined, or more “trade school” oriented. We finally chose a school that actually wasn’t even on the list (and doesn’t have a website), Circulo de Ingenieria.  Affordably priced at S/330 month, approximately 15 students per class in the secondary grades, large with spacious classrooms, good teachers, and most importantly a college prep curriculum with classes in international literature and history and a heavy focus on maths and science.  While our older son Chino is having some trouble adjusting (he’s living with his mother again), the younger one, Chato is thrilled with the school. For the first time, he comes home every day excited about what he’s learned and talking about how “chevere” (cool) his teachers are.  He loves history and trigonometry – who ever thought that would be possible!

My Recommendation: If you can’t afford the price of the top tier schools, don’t feel bad! Unless it’s vital that your child go to an International school, there are plenty of schools where they can receive an excellent education for under $300/monthly. However, you will most likely be restricted to classes that are taught exclusively in Spanish.

Top tier schools can be extremely expensive. The best (well, most expensive) schools in Lima cost over $1000/monthly, with entrance fees of as much as $8500. The biggest perk for this kind of money is that there are a lot of “extras” included in the education; extracurricular activities such as sports, drama, music and more. Plus, they offer international bacchalaureate programs which make it easy for your child to transfer to a university in any other country. Many of the top IB schools in the country were founded by foreigners and as such have a strong foreign language focus, like English, German or French. Some teach classes in English, some don’t.

My Recommendation: If you can afford it, and assuming that your child will want to go to a top notch university in your home country, absolutely go for it.

After living in Peru for such a long time – April will make eight years for me – I’ve started to find myself more and more in a Peruvian mindset. There are lots of differences between the Peruvian and North American cultures and it seems like I’m slowing acclimating to the Peruvian culture.

So I figured I’d make a fun list of ways that expats in Peru know can know that they’re turning Peruvian. Of course, this is a list that may be more about living in Lima than in the rest of Peru, so if you gringos in the provinces want to throw in some comments about ways that you’ve adapted down in the comments, that’s cool too!

1)You complain about the cold when it’s under 70  degrees outside. When I first moved here, I thought people were crazy! It was barely under 70, and they were dressed fro an arctic expedition! People wear big down jackets, scarves and hats to go out in the winter, and it just seemed ridiculous. Until I’d lived here longer and suddenly realized how freaking cold it is! Part of it is the humidity, of course; it makes the mild cold seem bone-chilling.

2) You start showing up at least a half hour late for everything. I don’t like being late. And I’m not sure if I’ve adapted to the “Peruvian time” or if I’ve just given up on trying to get my husband anywhere on time.

3) You call everyone by endearing names. “Mamita” and “Cariño” are typical. The lady at the bodega says “Hola, mamita linda!” when I walk in – “Hello, pretty little mommy!” It sounds weird in English – both to say or to think that it would be acceptable, but in Spanish, it has a way of making everyone seem your friend.  What I don’t like is when people that you know are not your friends over use the terms to ingratiate themselves. There is a shade of hypocrisy to it sometimes.

4) You kiss everybody hello. Well, if you’re a woman you do. Men will with family and if not a kiss, do a formal handshake when greeting someone. There’s something so adorable seeing little boys meet on a playground and shake hands hello.

5) Speaking of the weather, we do! The weather is a constant source of conversation. Get in a taxi, and the driver will either comment on the heat or the cold. There is no in between!

6) You use the diminuitive for EVERYTHING! Peruvians love to make everything small and cute – it’s a way to “make life a little sweeter” says the Hubs. How do they do that? Well, in English we do it by calling a dog, a doggy; a horse, a horsie; a cat, a kitty.  In Spanish, they add -ito/-ita to the end of words. It words for people: I’m Kelita, Chato become Chatito.  I call the Hubs my “husbandcito”, he calls me his “wifecita” (there’s that Spanglish again!).  But it’s not just people – in a restaurant, I ask for an extra “platito” (the idea being it’s just a little tiny plate, I’m sure it would be no problem!) or maybe for directions to the “bañito” (the little bathroom – it just seems more polite). We drink a gaseosita, and eat cevichecito.

7) You argue the price on everything.  Whether you’re buying a kilo of fruit at the market or a pair jeans at Polvos Azules, you try to get that discount price: “Y por tu caserita?” (and for your favorite customer?) Y el mejor precio? (and the best price?)  You won’t step foot in a taxi without negotiating the best price you can and woe upon the bus conductor that tries to charge 50 cents too much!

You walk – A LOT.  Even with a car, you find that you often have to park a few blocks from where you want to go.  Take a bus, and the route may not go to your street. But most neighborhoods have bodegas and panaderias (bakeries) – and you’ll happily walk two or three blocks to get that fresh bread at 6pm!

9)You eat a lot of bread. I know I talk about how much rice Limeños eat, but they eat a lot of bread too. Our family can easily go through a bag of 15 pan frances (small French rolls).  The boys can put away four or five for breakfast. As mentioned above, most neighborhoods have a nearby bakery and it’s wonderful to be able to step in and get fresh bread all day long.

10) Your “Personal Space” has shrunk. Latin Americans in general have a smaller personal space than North American gringos. I’m talking about that invisible circle we all have, where once someone is inside we feel like they’re standing uncomfortably close. Before I came to Peru, mine was huge. I did not like people standing close to me. When I first got here, I would try to ride in combis without touching anyone – you can imagine what a lesson in futility that was! Now, I don’t care – I don’t even notice when the smelly guy next to me falls asleep on my shoulder!

How about you? Have there been ways that you’ve adapted to Peruvian life, or where you feel like you’re “Going Native”?

The last guest post from Rick on living in a bilingual household got a lot of comments, so I thought I’d continue on that track just a little bit. Actually, I’d been planning on writing about it for a while -especially on the topic of “Spanglish”.  It came to my mind when I was talking to my friend Samantha about it over on her blog What Little Things. Then there was a post about some embarrassing translation goofs on a post over at Expat Peru that reminded me about the subject.

See, in my house, we don’t really speak Spanish or English. My husband and I speak a weird sort of “Spanglish”.  It started when I was just learning Spanish. I would tend to use his accent, because it’s easier for him to understand, and I speak mostly Spanish unless I didn”t know the word, then I would throw in the English. Even when I spoke English to him, I would use a Spanish accent – and I think that’s part of what has helped my Spanish sound good.

After eight years in Peru, my Spanish is actually pretty good. I still don’t know all my verb conjugations, but I get a lot of compliments on my accent.

What’s funny to me is when I speak English now, I use Spanish phrasing. Because I’ve been living in a Spanish speaking world for so long now (next month will be eight years!), I have a tendancy to think in Spanish. That means that sometimes that when I’m speaking English, what comes out of my mouth is a poor translation from Spanish.

Like when I was commenting on Samantha’s blog, in English I would have normally said I was at the mall – but instead I called it the “commercial center”.  Not that big a deal, still obvious what I was talking about, but not really typical US English.

It reminds me of the movie “Casablanca”. There’s a scene where a German (or maybe Austrian?) couple are talking about their plans to go to the US, and how proud they are to be learning English so well so they’ll feel more at home in America.

And those are the kind of mistakes I make when I start speaking English – Instead of saying “I don’t know how to say this” or “I don’t know what that’s called”, I say “I don’t know how you call this.”

Visiting my sister, and I couldn’t hear the television well, so I said “Hey, can you up the volume?” instead of the usual “turn up the TV”.

I often confuse similar words -

• Puno (a city) with puño (a fist);  
• rama (a branch) with rana (a frog);
• digerir (digest) with dirigir (direct, like in directing traffic).

My husband has the same problem- I can’t tell you how many times he has asked me if we would be eating in the dining room or in the chicken for lunch! (chicken/kitchen)

But one of the funniest “lost in translation” moments was when my the Hubs and I were both still learning each other’s languages. I was trying to figure out how to say the “Average” of something… I didn’t know the word in Spanish, so I was explaining the definition of the word I needed, and he said “the promity?”  It sounded right, so I went with it. We went with it for a couple of years, actually, whenever we needed – the promity of people say this, what is the promity of Chato’s grades? (I actually thought it was promite, but pronounced it more like promity”. )

Then one day as I was speaking in all Spanish, I used promity – and he corrected me to “promedia”.

I said “….. What? What is promedia?”

He answered “That’s promity in Spanish.”

“Wait a minute,” I said, “I thought promity WAS Spanish!”

Turns out all along he had thought that promity was the English translation of the Spanish promedia, which actually translates to average! So for years we both had been using some made up word!

I’ve fortunately never used any mistaken words that got me into trouble or embarrassed me too much. How about you?

Hey! I’ve been terrible about posting lately! I miss you guys, but I’ve been SO busy with a heavy work load plus the kids out of school, I’ve barely  had time to think.  Hope you enjoy this funny guest post!

There are so many different amazing Peruvian Criollo
foods, it’s hard to pick a favorite.  I have an idea what the most searched for recipe is, but just for fun – I’d like to see what your opinions are – What is your favorite Peruvian Criollo dish?

Take Our Poll

My mom was here visiting a few weeks ago, and while she was here, we watched the movie “The Help”.  I thought it was a really good movie, if you can overlook the idea that “the help”  were portrayed as  not having the courage to help themselves without the help of the lovely white heroine.

But that’s not what struck me most.

What really occurred to me as I watched the movie was the similarities between America circa 1960 and today’s Lima, Peru.  (and I’m limiting this to Lima, because I don’t know what the situation is like in other cities, but I imagine anywhere people have money, it’s similar)

I’ll say it – I’ve got a maid. In fact, I’ve got two – Eliza and her mom, Maruja.  Eliza used to work full time for us, but now she’s in classes full time so had to cut back to one day a week.  One day wasn’t enough to keep up with what I can’t get to, so now Maruja comes on Wednesdays.

When they’re here, yes, they use our bathrooms; yes, they eat lunch with us. In fact, when they finish work they take a shower before heading home.  In my bathroom.

I don’t say this to make myself sound like some sort of saint, only to point out the difference between what is “typical” in Peru.

I had an English student a few years ago who chastised me for letting our first maid Ana eat at the table with my kids. His opinion was that by letting her be  ”familiar” with my family, she would get “uppity”.  These weren’t his exact words, of course, because he was speaking Spanish –  but it was very much the intended meaning.

Like in “The Help”, it’s not always usual for the maid to use the home-owner’s bathroom. Many larger houses in Lima have a “cuarto de servicio” – the servant’s room, which includes a small bathroom.  If you ask why the maid needs her own bathroom, you’ll be told that it’s more comfortable for the maid, that she wouldn’t like using the family’s bathroom.

But if you keep digging, you’ll hear other things. A lot of maids come to Lima from the provincias, and as I’ve been told “they’re dirty, they don’t know a lot about hygiene.”

Gee, sounds more and more like “The Help” all the time.

When wealthy families head to the beaches, they often take “the help” with them to help watch the children.  It used to be that maids and nannies would be required to stay in uniform while on the beach, but a recent law passed making that unlawful.  Of course, that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t still happen. They also aren’t allowed to swim in the water until the families get out for the day.  It would be “unseemly” for the help to be swimming and playing alongside the family – can’t have them sullying up our pristine waters.

These kinds of attitudes astound me.

It’s almost incredible to think that these attitudes were prevalent in the US in my lifetime.  When you remember things like separate water fountains, and “negro entrances” at the movie house, you think of it as something from the past. Then you move to Peru and you read about a man not being allowed entrance into the the cinema because of his “provincial” appearance.  (Never mind that he had already been inside with his “whiter” friends and had just stepped out to use the restroom…)

Things are improving, though. LIke I mentioned above, there’s a law now saying that people can’t force their maids and nannies to wear uniforms outside; of course, it’s still done, but at least the law is written. With time and with more people becoming sensitive to the issue, there will hopefully be more enforcement. Hopefully, younger generations that are more exposed to the world through social media can have more enlightened attitudes than their parents.

And the movie theater incident? They were reviled in the media and closed down for a week by the government, plus fined about $560. It might not seem like much, but it is a start.

Anyone raising kids in Peru knows that once school is out, it’s time for “talleres” or summer programs.

Taller literally translates to “workshop” and just like in English, it can refer to the place where you do some sort of work or to something like a learning workshop or lesson.

When the boys were smaller, we used to sign them up for swimming every year, and as they got older and both developed a love of drawing anime, they went to art workshops.

But now that they’re both in their teens – Chato will be 13 this year, close enough – all they’re interested in is football (or soccer, as we from the US call it).

Signing them up for a program is always a hassle – the Hubs never fails to wait until the last minute, and always wants to send them to the “best” academy. Some of these places cost in the 100s of soles per month, and are run by different football clubs. Then, of course by the time we find one that he thinks is good enough (and I think is affordable enough), we’re already late and catching up with Christmas bills.

There was another wrinkle this year – Chato failed one of his classes, so has to go to summer school three days a week. So, he decided he didn’t want to do any other talleres because he wouldn’t have any free time over the summer to just hang out with his friends. Bummer, because soccer workshop and guitar lessons were his Christmas presents!  Of course, it wasn’t long before he changed his mind and wanted to do it after all – but not before we’d already got Chino signed up for his.

Usually schools will have programs too for the summer – some popular summer workshops include folk dancing, robotics, computing, karate or cooking.  I suppose none are as popular as football for the boys though!

If you’re in Peru with kids, what summer programs do they look forward to?