First Impersions of Peru
Posted on Friday, June 7, 2013
This experience has been genuinely eye-opening so far. From the moment we arrived we were instantly immersed in the culture. From the language barrier immediately noticed in the customs line to the heavy density of traffic congestion when going to the hotel, I felt quite a bit overwhelmed with the differences in a matter of minutes. However, once we all got settled in and the excitement quitted down it gave me an opportunity to reflect and regain the acceptance of being in another country and to reopen my mind to the experience.
On the first day we took a tour of the downtown city area. There was a clearly distinct economical division between the different parts of the city which can be seen in the construction and maintenance of the buildings along with the commercial surroundings (the market vs. shops in Miraflores, graffiti walls in downtown coupled with a line of continuous street vendors). Not only was the socioeconomic diversity evident but to my surprise the cultural diversity was too. We had talked about the mixing of ethnicities in the online lecture course back in May and being in downtown finally introduced a visual connection to this information. Physical appearances differed so much from what I had expected. It was helpful that we arrived during an ongoing large religious festival, Corpus Christi, which called for a huge public gathering in the Plaza. The sheer volume of people reassured me of the huge Catholic influence in Peru. It was essentially a sea of purple.
Another striking difference was the lack of most types of regulations, whether it is with building codes, traffic guidelines, or a lack of what in the US would be FDA regulations. It was astonishing to see the market where all types of fruits and commercial good were sold just steps from meat and fish that have been set out all day in normal climatic temperature. Animals were displayed in a fashion that I myself had never experienced before, split down the middle with organs still attached. It was a new experience and very interesting to see where locals would go to obtain a lot of the product they consume. On the other end of the spectrum is Miraflores, where we travel next. The atmosphere was very similar to a Village Point, but of Lima, with upper class shops and dinning surrounded by structurally taller and sounder buildings. It was breathtakingly beautiful.
On day two, we started out the morning at UARM where we were introduced to Father Dejo joined by Father Klaiber who later gave an interesting speech regarding the formation of the Jesuit community in Peru. This was followed by Dr. Kolok’s presentation of stream order and an overview of distinct ecological cycles. I thought the two opposing lecture contents gave a good balance to the historical and biological views of Peru. As Dr. Kolok also pointed out while in one of the museums we visited during the first day, is that historical references can yield highly insightful information into the biology of the land. This was in regards to a large map of the city from many years ago that highlighted the Rimac and really blended the importance of both lectures given that day.
I feel I am truly absorbing a lot of really interesting information here and it has only been a few days. This experience is forcing me out of my comfort zone and causing me to reevaluate my thoughts on the culture, which I find to be nothing short of fascinating.
Discussion