Notes on Peruvian Culture
Peruvians like loud muzac. Everywhere we go, the background music is really loud. It started with LAN Peru, the national airline. Apparently, they think that foreign tourists also like this, since if we go to a restaurant and it is empty, within a few minutes of sitting down, the loud muzac will come on. Usually it’s local music, which is like Mexican music with more recorders and flutes in it, and some synthesizers, like 80s sounding. If it’s not Peruvian music, then it’s 80s American rock. Basically the same stuff you’d hear in a ski lodge, but more poppy, like George Michael. Anyway, I don’t get it.
Food: Empenadas seem to be really popular, and are good and in a lot of varieties. That’s the street food here, like Hot Dogs in the US. The national soft drink is Inca Kola. I noticed that all the Peruvians on the plane were drinking it, and now I see it everywhere, it’s definitely more popular than Coke. It’s yellow in color, I’d say almost exactly the color of urine. Needless to say, I was excited to try this stuff? What would urine-colored soda taste like? Turns out that it tastes like bubble gum. The most popular drink in Peru is bubble gum flavored yellow soda. It actually tastes pretty good though. Mary Ann tried some hot chocolate made from pure cacao (main ingredient in chocolate). Not so good. Gross in fact, but that was not because of the chocolate as much as the liquid it was mixed with. In general, the food leaves a lot to be desired. I’ve eaten several of my “emergency” power bars. The traditional holiday meal here (like turkey on Thanksgiving for us) is Guinea Pig. They kill them, boil them to strip the fur, then stuff them with mint and roast them on a skewer, and then you eat it with your hands. It’s actually pretty decent-tasting.
Choose your Guinea pig - sort of like the lobster tank at a seafood restaurant.
The dish, ready to eat!
We’ve stayed in 4 different hotels on this trip ranging from jungle cabin to “4 star” city hotels, and every one of them has had a rock hard bed. The weird thing is that despite being really hard, the beds are not uncomfortable. We asked one of our tour guides if all beds were like that, and they said no. I guess it’s just a hotel thing.
As with any trip which involves a lot of logistics, there have been a few times where things have become mini-crises. When this happens, the people are generally really helpful, but they also say “don’t worry” and then get on with things. We’re sitting there thinking “Hey man, we need to take action on this right now if it’s going to work out!” The thing we’ve come to realize is that what appears to be the people going to get on with their lives is not really what is going on – they walk casually away and then actually start trying to help you!
Almost every merchant requires nearly exact change. If something costs 3 soles and you only have a 20, it’s unlikely the merchant will have change available for you, so they’ll actually leave the store to go find change. There’s a constant mini-struggle to keep smaller coins and bills so that you can buy stuff. We haven’t figured this one out.
We’re staying in a “4 star” hotel in Cusco, which doesn’t have heat in the rooms, and the temp gets down into the 40s outside at night. There is a sign in the lobby indicating that checkout is at 9am! At least check-in is at 10am. I guess there are a lot of early morning flights into Cusco. Our flight landed at 7:05, so that makes sense.
Rules of the road: There are a few traffic lights, and those get obeyed, as there are tons of traffic cops around. Other than that, cars rule the road. If you’re a pedestrian, you’d better get out of the way, because the cars aren’t stopping. They will give you a small beep of the horn to let you know you’re about to be run over at least. The system seems to work well – even dogs have learned to get out of the way, which is pretty funny to see.
Catholicism, but without guilt! In 1532, the Spanish landed with a few hundred people and managed to wipe out all of the Incas and install Catholicism. Apparently, this is a different flavor of Catholicism though, since everyone seems to be guilt-free and happy. My favorite thing is that there’s a custom where you mount a small (6” tall?) cross on your roof, with two bull figurines on either side of the cross to ward off evil spirits. One of the evil spirits this stuff can ward off is your neighbors saying bad things about you or your house. We’ve even seen a few houses with beers next to the bulls. I guess they think God likes burgers and beers. Sweet.
The flag of the Cusco region has got 7 rainbow stripes and looks remarkably similar to the gay flag. That must have led to a few uncomfortable situations over the years.
Food: Empenadas seem to be really popular, and are good and in a lot of varieties. That’s the street food here, like Hot Dogs in the US. The national soft drink is Inca Kola. I noticed that all the Peruvians on the plane were drinking it, and now I see it everywhere, it’s definitely more popular than Coke. It’s yellow in color, I’d say almost exactly the color of urine. Needless to say, I was excited to try this stuff? What would urine-colored soda taste like? Turns out that it tastes like bubble gum. The most popular drink in Peru is bubble gum flavored yellow soda. It actually tastes pretty good though. Mary Ann tried some hot chocolate made from pure cacao (main ingredient in chocolate). Not so good. Gross in fact, but that was not because of the chocolate as much as the liquid it was mixed with. In general, the food leaves a lot to be desired. I’ve eaten several of my “emergency” power bars. The traditional holiday meal here (like turkey on Thanksgiving for us) is Guinea Pig. They kill them, boil them to strip the fur, then stuff them with mint and roast them on a skewer, and then you eat it with your hands. It’s actually pretty decent-tasting.
Choose your Guinea pig - sort of like the lobster tank at a seafood restaurant.
The dish, ready to eat!
We’ve stayed in 4 different hotels on this trip ranging from jungle cabin to “4 star” city hotels, and every one of them has had a rock hard bed. The weird thing is that despite being really hard, the beds are not uncomfortable. We asked one of our tour guides if all beds were like that, and they said no. I guess it’s just a hotel thing.
As with any trip which involves a lot of logistics, there have been a few times where things have become mini-crises. When this happens, the people are generally really helpful, but they also say “don’t worry” and then get on with things. We’re sitting there thinking “Hey man, we need to take action on this right now if it’s going to work out!” The thing we’ve come to realize is that what appears to be the people going to get on with their lives is not really what is going on – they walk casually away and then actually start trying to help you!
Almost every merchant requires nearly exact change. If something costs 3 soles and you only have a 20, it’s unlikely the merchant will have change available for you, so they’ll actually leave the store to go find change. There’s a constant mini-struggle to keep smaller coins and bills so that you can buy stuff. We haven’t figured this one out.
We’re staying in a “4 star” hotel in Cusco, which doesn’t have heat in the rooms, and the temp gets down into the 40s outside at night. There is a sign in the lobby indicating that checkout is at 9am! At least check-in is at 10am. I guess there are a lot of early morning flights into Cusco. Our flight landed at 7:05, so that makes sense.
Rules of the road: There are a few traffic lights, and those get obeyed, as there are tons of traffic cops around. Other than that, cars rule the road. If you’re a pedestrian, you’d better get out of the way, because the cars aren’t stopping. They will give you a small beep of the horn to let you know you’re about to be run over at least. The system seems to work well – even dogs have learned to get out of the way, which is pretty funny to see.
Catholicism, but without guilt! In 1532, the Spanish landed with a few hundred people and managed to wipe out all of the Incas and install Catholicism. Apparently, this is a different flavor of Catholicism though, since everyone seems to be guilt-free and happy. My favorite thing is that there’s a custom where you mount a small (6” tall?) cross on your roof, with two bull figurines on either side of the cross to ward off evil spirits. One of the evil spirits this stuff can ward off is your neighbors saying bad things about you or your house. We’ve even seen a few houses with beers next to the bulls. I guess they think God likes burgers and beers. Sweet.
The flag of the Cusco region has got 7 rainbow stripes and looks remarkably similar to the gay flag. That must have led to a few uncomfortable situations over the years.
posted by Chris at 6:48 PM
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