Re-Visiting Peru, Now Married To A Peruvian
Friday, 16th January 2009
Cactus Language Advisor Alex Wolfson tells us how Peru has changed since he lived, worked, and fell in love there...
It’s been three and a half years since I was last in Peru and that was for a pretty special event – my engagement party at the Callao Navy Club - so both my wife and I knew that after spending those years in Essex, Bath, Brighton and Hove, returning to Lima might be a bit of a culture shock for both of us – even though she is Peruvian herself! The first thing that I recognized was the unique humid smell that is most pungent in Callao where the airport is located. I often wish that there were a way of taking a smell photo, as I find that scents bring me back to a place much more than pictures. Lima’s smell is a kind of mixture of dampness, salt, fresh fish and exhaust. It doesn’t sound too rosy I know, but it brings back happy memories for me of my time there during which I taught English to Peru’s bourgeoisie, slept on animal skins in the Andes, fell in love and learnt to speak Spanish.
At Cactus I use Spanish in my job every day but, as most of my conversations are with people from Spain, Chile and Argentina, one thing you immediately notice is how easy it is to understand Peruvians. The language is spoken clearly and not long after my arrival I was reminded of how lucky I was to have learnt Spanish there as the pronunciation is so easy to understand.
Peruvians abroad always talk a lot about how much they miss the food and after you’ve lived and worked there you do start to take the great variety of delicious dishes available on every street corner for granted. However, it’s not long before I’m falling in love with Peruvian cuisine all over again! We have ceviche (fish “cooked” in lemon juice with corn, chillis, sweet potato and lettuce), parihuela (a soup/stew containing fish and ever type of shellfish you can imagine including a whole crab with tomatoes and spices), seco de cabrito (a goat based dish which can be served with any kind of vegetables), aji de gallina (hen cooked with a spicy chilli sauce served with potatos) and cuy picante (Guinea pig marinated in a spicy sauce and then cooked in the oven). All this can washed down with a cold Cusqueña beer or, if you don’t fancy anything alcoholic, chicha morada (a corn based soft drink). None of this is new to me but I am always amazed by how easily and cheaply you can eat well in Peru. It’s not just because the dishes are good but also that nearly everyone knows how to cook. Ready made food is relatively expensive so most people cook at home.
As I wander round Lima it’s very obvious that it has changed a lot since I lived there. The new mayor has done a good job of making formerly dangerous parts of the centre much safer, built many foot bridges over main roads, set rules in place over where buses can and can’t stop and created and developed green spaces in the city. All this has made Lima a lot less chaotic than it was. However, this is still a massive, overpopulated Latin American capital city and the constant klaxons, lack of traffic discipline, street vendors on every corner, and frantic movement is still very much in evidence. This is still a crazy place!
I am reminded of all aspects of Lima, good and bad. Here people have time to stop and talk to you – market traders, community watchmen, shopkeepers and police are all interested in where I’m from, what I’m doing in Peru, how I met my wife and how long I’m staying. I love the fact that people are genuinely pleased I’ve taken time to visit their country of which they are very proud. And as I travel through the city I am reminded of how, the historic centre and Barranco apart, Lima is not a city which is pleasing to the eye. People are used to dropping litter on every street and buildings are made to be functional rather than beautiful. I think the last point makes a particular impression as I’ve lived in Bath and Brighton, two of England’s most beautiful cities. Houses in Lima are built by the families that live there so they are built primarily to house the family and put a roof over their heads. They are generally unfinished as families leave space to expand the house upwards as the family grows. When I visit families who have lived in the same place for a long time I find myself in large houses divided into apartments shared out amongst grandparents, aunts, uncles, sons and cousins.
As well as getting to speak Spanish to native speakers who I don’t find at all difficult to understand (unlike when I recently visited Andalucia) I also manage to hit the beach in Mancora (close to the border with Ecuador) and get in some surf practice! I have learnt to surf with Cactus in France and Costa Rica so this is a great chance for me to get a bit of warm water practice in. I manage two days of surf. The first is too windy and blown out. It’s hard to catch any waves and the point break is way too crowded. The next surfing day is perfect. I go early in the morning and am in the water with just 3 or 4 other guys. I catch every wave that comes, and in lulls in the swell I just sit on my board and watch the pelicans flying overhead and the fish swimming around my legs in the clear water. Peru is rightly better known for its spectacular archeological sites set amongst the majestic Andes, but it’s worth remembering that it does have some really beautiful beaches in the north of the country and offers uncrowded breaks all along the coast for surfers.
The main problem with my trip to Peru is that it’s too short! At only two weeks there really isn’t much of a chance to travel around once I’ve caught up with friends and family, been out in Lima (great place for a night out and getting better every year), been surfing and had my fill of great food. There is really only time for me to get several bottles of Pisco (Peru’s national drink – a strong grape-based liquor used to make Pisco Sour) and go and see the language schools we offer there in the city’s commercial district, Miraflores. Both offer great Spanish programs in nice colonial-era buildings with small class sizes, enthusiastic teachers and fun activity programs. The students are planning a long weekend circuit to see the famous Nazca lines, the Islas Ballestas (poor man’s Galapagos) and the oasis and giant sand dunes at Huacachina, near Ica.
The students speak with great enthusiasm about how much their Spanish had progressed, echo my thoughts on how easy it is to learn Spanish in Peru, and clearly love the people. One guy introduces me to his lovely girlfriend who has come to pick him up. I decide not to mention that when I spent a long time in Peru I also had a girlfriend, to whom I am now married. A group of Americans tell me they are headed out in the evening to Tequila Rocks, a Miraflores disco and I feel a pang of envy and nostalgia for their ongoing discovery of this wonderful country.
Posted by Sarah Gooding under Anecdotes, Success Stories,
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