Posted on Sunday, June 9, 2013
As we are getting ready to leave
Lima and move on to Cusco, I am analyzing observations I have made here in Lima
that I have not seen elsewhere. I have
traveled to many U.S. cities, but there are certain observations in Lima that I
have not experienced in any city in the United States. The first example that comes to mind is the
abundance of law enforcement here in Lima.
I was surprised to see so many police officers on the streets and
surrounding downtown. From my own
personal perspective this makes me question the safety of the city. I asked one of the guides we were with about
the amount of police everywhere and they told me that it was mostly for show to
make people feel safe. However, I found
it did the opposite for me. The presence
of the police made me think that the city was so unsafe they needed officers on
every street. This thought then led me
back to acknowledging my ethnocentrism and realizing this interpretation came
from my own experience and culture.
Another aspect I found intriguing was the presence of graffiti on almost every building I saw. In the United States graffiti is illegal and is very much frowned upon. It was a surprise for me to see how much graffiti was all over the city. From my own perspective this was unacceptable and indicated an area of crime and poverty. Unfortunately I did not think to ask about this phenomenon, but it would have been very interesting to hear an answer. I am trying to see this from a different perspective and am questioning my assumption that graffiti is “wrong”. In reality my ethnocentrism is limiting my view of it and it is likely that I am completely wrong about how graffiti is perceived here. However, I still think it is interesting to note.
An additional observation in Lima was the amount of street vending present in the city. To me this seems like a very unreliable source of income and I would not want to choose it as a job. However, it seems to be fairly common here and I am not sure of the reason why. I have considered that it is in fact a reliable income here because the city is so busy with so many people. On the other hand, poverty is common, so do people really spend money at street vendors? I wish I was able to see the situation from the locals perspective better, so that I could understand the how and why. However, even though I do not always know the answers to my questions and observations I feel as if I am still getting a lot out of this experience. I am learning to think twice about things and really try to come up with alternative reasons other than my initial assumptions. The downside to this is that I often leave the topic more confused than when I started it. I wish I had all the answers.
Another aspect I found intriguing was the presence of graffiti on almost every building I saw. In the United States graffiti is illegal and is very much frowned upon. It was a surprise for me to see how much graffiti was all over the city. From my own perspective this was unacceptable and indicated an area of crime and poverty. Unfortunately I did not think to ask about this phenomenon, but it would have been very interesting to hear an answer. I am trying to see this from a different perspective and am questioning my assumption that graffiti is “wrong”. In reality my ethnocentrism is limiting my view of it and it is likely that I am completely wrong about how graffiti is perceived here. However, I still think it is interesting to note.
An additional observation in Lima was the amount of street vending present in the city. To me this seems like a very unreliable source of income and I would not want to choose it as a job. However, it seems to be fairly common here and I am not sure of the reason why. I have considered that it is in fact a reliable income here because the city is so busy with so many people. On the other hand, poverty is common, so do people really spend money at street vendors? I wish I was able to see the situation from the locals perspective better, so that I could understand the how and why. However, even though I do not always know the answers to my questions and observations I feel as if I am still getting a lot out of this experience. I am learning to think twice about things and really try to come up with alternative reasons other than my initial assumptions. The downside to this is that I often leave the topic more confused than when I started it. I wish I had all the answers.
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| Example of Graffiti |
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| Law Enforcement downtown. |
Discussion