Al’s Peru Weekly Blog Questions

Week 2:

• Describe Peruvian hospitality. Are people friendly and inviting, cold and standoff-ish, or somewhere in between? We have noticed that people in the Northern mountain cities are a little less friendly. This is in comparison to the extremely laid back and mellow culture of the beach town, Huanchaco, where we have been living.

• Have you experienced Peruvian public transportation? What is this like? See our earlier blog for the taxi ride of a lifetime. We have also been using the public bus system. There are two different kinds of public buses, the big buses that seat 20 to 30 people and small vans that have been converted into bus like vehicles. The small vans will get you there twice as fast as the big bus but are extremely crowded. Overall we have been trying to use the busses because they only cost $0.50 as opposed to the $5 cab ride.

• Has the Spanish/ English language barrier been an issue so far? If so, how? How have you overcome this barrier? We have not had any major issues with the language barrier and have been picking it up very quickly. We can order from restaurants, give directions to the cab drivers, haggle prices (we do this frequently), and simple conversations. We have had the most difficulty dealing with the young children at SKIP. Disciplining kindergarten age children does not work if they do not understand the language.

• What aspects of American culture were you most surprised to find in Peru? (music, food, fashion, etc.) Pizza, 80’s pop music (in English), giant mall’s(we have only seen one so far), and all billboard advertisements are blond hair and fair skinned people.

• How can we be praying for you? Pray that we stay safe on our long distance bus rides and continue to have good health.