The Avon Lady in Peru

Checkout my Kiva Blog post #4 here.

The Robbery

Ok, so I left off last at a big mall in Los Olivos (where no tourists go) with the young men practicing picking up the ladies.  I was getting a little tired of this and decided it was time to go.  I told Luis I wanted to grab a taxi, but he suggested that I take a combi (which would wind up being multiple combis).  I said I wanted to take a taxi.  So Luis went with me to get a taxi and I left.

Fast forward about 30 minutes- there is a ton of traffic trying to get me all the way back to Miraflores and the taxista tells me he is going to take a short cut.  Sounds reasonable.  Basically, the guy takes me to God forsaken nowhere (all the while I am asking where he is going and that I want him to go a different way).  I have a feeling he is going to stop somewhere with burning trashcans and dirt roads and tell me to give him all my money, and I am right.  I'm scared shitless, but I'm ready- as soon as he stops the car, gets out and opens the back door, I throw him my wallet and take off running.  I actually don't remember how I got to a street corner where there are a bunch of people, but I did.  I tell them I'd been robbed and don't know where I am.  I immediately call Luis, crying, as soon as I feel safe enough and tell him the story.  He asks to talk to a woman I am with to explain where I am.  Twenty minutes later (I'm waiting with the nice woman and her husband on a street corner), Luis arrives in a taxi to rescue me.  I am so relieved!  I get in the back of the cab with him and he holds me as I cry for a few minutes.  But then I'm okay.

This cab driver actually will take me to Miraflores.  As I calm down in the backseat, Luis continues to hold me, stroking my hair and telling me everything is ok, that he would not let anything happen to me.  At some point during the cab ride, I look at Luis, still in his arms, and he tells me he likes me.  I'm surprised, but not that surprised, and then he kisses me. 

Was that not a scene from a movie?

How to be a Player

The last 36 hours have been super bizarre.  It all started when my buddy Luis called me around noon on Saturday and invited me to a "workshop" he was helping to give at the university of engineering.  He said he thought I would think it was interesting.

So, I met up with Luis and his friend's brother Anthony (aged 15) downtown and we all took the bus to the university.  I knew Luis had been studying books about "How to Be a Pick-Up Artist" (PUA for those in the know, really) and I was pretty sure that was somehow related to the workshop.  Right I was!  Below is a poorly-lit pic of Luis speaking at the "Art of Seduction" workshop.

 I was at this thing for almost three hours and the "students" were all males in their early twenties.  The idea was to practice pick-up lines and body language so as to have more success in the discoteca, bar, supermarket- where ever.  And I helped in some of the presentations as the sample female- so funny. 

So, after this exciting workshop, Luis and some of the other leaders tooks the boys (and me) to a big mall in Los Olivos (near the airport) to practice their new-found skills.  Oh man.  These guys were going up to any female between the age of about 16 and 25 and trying to be smooth....I was giggling in the background.

Stay tuned for the next installment of this Saturday's events....coming soon.

A Delightful Photo

Here I am with the staff of the EDAPROSPO office in Huarochiri:

Notice that I am a bit more casual than the others in the office.  This was the day I actually got the most dressed up!  Other days it was just jeans with the hiking boots.  I am in the central office today and am looking a bit more put together.

Gift Baskets Galore

Below is a picture of a gift basket I helped to put together for clients at the Huarochiri office yesterday.  Not all clients get these special baskets- only borrowers who have taken out five or more loans.  This is more folks than you would think.  Women (who are more than 80% of the borrowers) will borrow a small amount of money every four months for years and years and years.  It's like a permanent loan.

There are basic essentials in the gift basket- like cooking oil and toilet paper (yes, it is TP and not paper towels) and also traditional Peruvian Christmas treats.  Most important among the Xmas treats is the panetón (in the blue packaging).  This Italian-like fruitcake baked good is all that Peruvians eat for dessert at Christmas. And, surprisingly, no one bakes their own panetón- you have to buy it at the store.  There are tons of brands of this stuff.  I have tried it and I was not a big fan.  I'm hoping that if I try it again dipped in hot chocolate (also included in the gift basket), I'll like it more.  A popular kind of Christmas party here is a called a Chocolatada in which you get hot chocolate and some panetón to go with it.  Not a bad idea for a party, but I'd switch out the panetón for some butter cookies.  

Chosica and beyond

Below is a picture of the central park here in Chosica.  It's kinda cute, kinda not.  Chosica is two hours outside of Lima and is a weekend getaway spot for limeños.  No other gringos sightings in the last two days.

Luis, my buddy from the Huaycan office, lives about 20 min down the road.  He and his two friends came to meet up with me Sunday afternoon.  We wandered around and had a couple beers.  Was pretty fun. 

Today and yesterday I've been in the Huarochiri office, which is actually very close to Chosica.  Huarochiri is another sort of "county" and extends for miles and miles- way up into the mountains.  I left the office a little after noon to visit some Kiva clients and follow up with them- and didn't get to the destination until almost 2!  I went with a handsome (but short) loan officer named Hernán, who was all but mute.  Most Peruvians (esp. loan officers) talk my ear off and have a zillion questions for me.  Not this guy- lots of silence on the bus.  Destination (forgot the name!) pictured below:

It was chilly and windy up there- felt like the Andes, even though I'm not sure it was.  Definitely had a rural feel to it.  The clients we visited all had dirt floors.  We finally had lunch at about 3:00 (good thing I had a pack of crackers in my backpack).  It was a huge half of a chicken cooked on an open fire in the central plaza with a couple pieces of potato.  I am so over eating the meats- especially the meat that is difficult to remove from the carcass.  I inevitably leave half the meat on the bones and then am chastised for wasting food (this time by the woman grilling).  I suggested she feed it to a nearby stray dog.  The vegetarian princess cannot help herself at times. :-)

Kiva Blog Post #3

It's about communal bank borrower groups.  Want to see it?  Click here.

Why not Huachipa?

The most action-packed of my job is visiting borrowers.  I hop-on the combi with a loan officer and follow him or her to a totally unknown location.  On Friday, I went to Huachipa- a little region in the eastern cone of Lima.  The loan officer, named Jonathan (not Juanito- there are a ton of anglicized names here), told me last minute that he had a Kiva borrower meeting and that I should come immediately to do a follow-up on that group.  I asked him if he was sure the group was receiving Kiva funding (about a third of the loans with this organization are financed thru Kiva) and he said he was sure.  So we were off.  (Main drag of Huachipa pictured below).

The majority of the ride there was on an unpaved road, and it was crazy bumpy.  About half-way there, a tall blonde-haired teenager got on the bus in a shirt and tie.  Who else could it be but an LDS missionary?  I talked to him in English and he told me about his time in Huachipa- a zone he affectionately called "Iraq" because of all the dust and the lack of plumbing.  Hmmm. 


We made it to the meeting just in time and I listened in and took pictures.  All in all it was pleasant and interesting, but it took a bunch of time- about three hours from the time I left the office till I returned.  I looked the group up in the Kiva database when I get back to the office (which I usually do before I meet with a group), and they weren't there.  Ugh- as I suspected when I checked the paper file- not Kiva funding!  Well, I visited Huachipa just for the hell of it.  Loan officer Jonathan gets points for being tall (he is about 6'2" and may be the tallest Peruvian I have met- he is Afro-Peruvian), but not for attention to detail. 

One more pic of Huachipa above- notice all of the unfinished houses.  This is really common in the outlying, impoverished area of Lima.   Hardly anyone lived here 15 years ago and the vast majority of residents have come from the "provincias," or more remote regions of Peru.  Folks live in the houses while they are being built, inhabiting the finished rooms only.  The building process can literally last a lifetime.

My friend Charlie

Some of you may remember my post about the black dress in Comas that the security guard thought made me look like "Barbie."  Well, today I got an exciting email from Charlie.  I gave him my email address so that he could send me pictures of the birthday party they had for a loan officer in the office on Tuesday.  The Comas office invited me to this party so that I could finally try the famous cuy (guinea pig), but I told them I could not miss a day at the Vitarte office.

In this exciting email, Charlie started off with "Hola, mi Barbie."  Things got worse from there as I looked at the attached photos.  I am nauseated right now staring at this, but you guys just have to experience this. 

Yes, that is the head of the skinned cuy.  He also sent an "after" version when it was fried.  Just for some perspective, below is a photo of Charlie and me, taken by a seven-year-old, which explains why it's so blurry.

Oh dear.  All I have to say.

Miraflores Movin'

I have moved apartments!  As much as I loved my roommates, I had to go to make room for the owner of the Jesus Maria apartment who is visiting for a month from Spain.  I moved today to the tourist-laden, upscale district of Miraflores.  Below is a pic I stole from the Internets:

I am about three blocks north of this shot- which is where "Parque Kennedy" begins.  I found this house thru the gringo South American Explorers' Club.  It's much more pleasant to walk around this area and there's more stuff to actually walk to- cafes, restaurants, shops, etc. 

Below is a list of the luxuries I now enjoy:
- Hot water that is always on
- Fast wireless in my room (had wireless at the last place, but it was SLOW)
- My own bathroom
- Little to no mold smell
- A gigantic room

This feels like princess heaven, I tell you.  My housemates and I make-up quite a motley crue.  The others include:

1)  Janeth: 21 year-old university student.  Peruvian, speaks pretty good English.  Her mama rents the house and works at the SA Explorers' Club a block away.
2)  Katherine: 23 year-old Fulbright teacher.  Didn't know they did Fulbrights for teaching, but apparently they do (she teaches English, but of course).  She is friends with my old roommate Kaylin, so I think the three of us will hang out.  Seems nice.
3)  Katherine's father:  65 year-old whose name I have already forgotten.  He's retired and staying here while he takes Spanish classes and hangs out with his beloved daughter.
4)  Vicente:  Twenty-something Chinese exchange student.  He's got the maid's room this time.  Seems to keep to himself.  His Spanish is way better than his English.  No idea what his actual Chinese name is.

And there you have it.  It is pretty nice not to attract so much attention in this area.  Tall gringas are a dime a dozen in these parts.

Hasta Luego, Comas

I expanded my activity arsenal to now include crayons and colored paper, and it was a big hit.  I didn't ration the paper and the three kids who were drawing used about 50 sheets!  I received many gift drawings with my name prominently written at the top (with no "h" of course)- it was fun.

Folks in Latin America all have four names - two first names, and their father's and mother's last names.   I started writing these kids' names in bubble letters (one at a time) and then they would color them in.  Good thing they have so many names- the fun lasted for over an hour.

Yesterday was my last day in Comas- I go to Vitarte (to the east) on Monday.  I like moving around because it keeps things new and exciting, but it also makes it more challenging to develop friendships with folks at the offices. 

One of the loan officers in Comas, named Elizabeth, really wanted to be my friend and invited me over to her house last night after work.  She wanted me to meet her kitten.  I took the bus with her to get to her neighborhood of Santa Anita, way to the east.  Her neighborhood was a lot rougher than I was expecting:  there was graffiti everywhere and groups of teenage guys hanging out on street corners.  Elizabeth lives with her mom and her sister (her father passed away about ten years ago).  Their place is tiny- maybe 800 square feet.  When I arrived, her mom was scrubbing laundry in a huge bucket in the middle of the kitchen!  Life is hard in Peru - the more I see of how folks get by in Lima, the more pessimistic I become.  Even if everyone in the household works full-time, it seems like the family still barely has enough to get by. 

Quick! Snap a Photo

I was out in the field today again in Carabayllo, north of Comas.  I've seen the homes perched on the hillside quite a few times now, but I keep being amazed at how bizarrely fascinating it all is.  The signs that read "Keiko" are for a presidential candidate named Keiko Fujimori.  If you know anything about Peru, you'll have heard of her papa, Alberto Fujimori, who is a former president of Peru currently in prison for corruption and human rights violations.  Why, then, would his daughter be running for president?  That is a really complicated issue, and mostly has to do with the widespread support A. Fujimori still has here.  Many folks credit him with rooting out terrorism and fixing the Peruvian economy.  Clearly he has his critics as well.

I was with my favorite loan officer, Ayme, when I took the shot above.  The client we were talking to obviously noticed that I took the picture, and insisted that we take a picture of her daughter with me.  She called the daughter outside and here you have it:

I will now email the photo to Ayme, who promised to print it out for the client.  Proof that a real, live gringa came to visit!  Thrilling, no?