Luxuries

I’ve never quite experienced the exclusivity of my own culture until I got down here. I was surprised to find that when I tried to access Pandora.com way back in November I received this message: “We are deeply, deeply sorry to say that due to licensing constraints, we can no longer allow access to Pandora for listeners located outside of the U.S.” While I wallowed over not being able to use one of my favorite websites for year, I headed to abc.com, hoping to catch an episode of a guilty pleasure mind-relaxing TV show in English to make me feel better. And, sure enough, BAM! “You appear to be outside the United States or its territories. Due to international rights agreements, we only offer this video to viewers located within the United States and its territories.” Wow. Now I know what it’s like to be on the other side… and on the other side of something so trivial.

Certainly Peruvians lack many “luxuries” that we have in the US. The one that always moves me is how difficult it is to get a Visa – even to travel to a neighboring country. I’ve only met one Peruvian in 7 months of living here who’s ever been outside of Peru. Essentially, they don’t travel. More powerful is the fact that the majority never even get to go near Machu Picchu, because tourism has driven up the prices to the point that locals only dream of ever going. When I make remarks about having my host family visit me someday in Alaska, they laugh and always say, “Maybe in another life.” I’ve been planning weekend excursions every chance I get here – but most Trujillans rarely even travel as far as Chiclayo, a three hour journey. I pretty much always feel like a spoiled, wealthy American (though my bank account by US standards would beg to differ!)

I had an interesting conversation the other day with my host family about home appliances. I’m pretty sure they deemed me crazy right away, as during first month here they were quite startled by the nightly “alien ship landing” (me using my electric toothbrush!) This time I tried to explain dishwashers, something they still tease me about now whenever I do the dishes. We also talked about how most homes in the US have things like microwaves, washers and dryers…and tools of vanity like hair dryers/ straighteners, curling irons, etc. At the end of the conversation, my host sister looked at me incredulously and asked, “But… what do you DO?”

My only answer for her was, “Work.” How do you explain what life’s like on the other side of the pond without coming off as completely self-centered and spoiled rotten? How to explain things like routines of daily gym sessions, swimming 4 hours a day for a team, or how often I used to eat out? Drying my hair every day (well, in reality - every day that I showered. Hmm, more like every other…), using microwaves, toaster ovens, or (my personal favorite), the quesadilla maker? Moreover, how to explain the concept of a work-a-holic within the context of a completely different culture? I’m definitely not saying that Americans work harder – nor longer hours - by any means, but it’s clear that our culture is certainly more individualistic and outcome-based in many ways.

Unemployment is a big problem here, any most families are supported by a single-person income (if any). But in the clinic, when I ask my patients if they are working, virtually every person will answer yes – “Of course, I work in my home.” Peruvian women are incredibly hard-working and you’ll never hear them complain! Here, the average Peruvian woman surely works 80+ hour weeks… up before dawn to go to the market and prepare breakfast, then back to the market and spending all morning preparing lunch (the biggest meal of the day), then cleaning and hand-washing clothes in the afternoon before preparing dinner. Never mind raising the children and taking care of the elderly. (Which, by the way, is also a big deal here. The elderly are almost never sent to a nursing home – family members will drop everything to be their live-in caregivers.)

So, whether it be Pandora or ovens, dishwashers or Visas, (or in many cases – sinks, toilets, running water, electricity, etc.) our cultural “luxuries” are certainly very different. Though sometimes I really miss having a washing machine, I think that if anything a change in daily luxuries has (hopefully!) made me a bit more patient and tolerant – and one step closer to identifying with these strong, amazing hard-working Peruvians I admire so much!