My co-worker, Walter, and I enjoy a large American burger and a Peruvian beer at an American style bar in Lima.
My friend Charlie bringing a delicious mocha at my favorite cafe.
Another favorite delicious drink of mine, the chocolate helado.Some quick reflections:
As my Spanish gets better and I get a little more courage to go out and about, I’m learning quite a bit about what the life of an average Peruvian is like. What I’ve learned has really opened my eyes to what it’s like to actually suffer and sacrifice.
My friend Charlie:
He’s 23 years old, has a high school education, knows some broken English, is engaged to a woman that is carrying his first child. Charlie wakes up every morning at 5 am, showers, presses his clothes, eats breakfast with his wife and then catches a series of 3 microbuses to work. His trip takes him about 90 minutes in the morning. He arrives at a small café where he’s worked for the last 3 months and prepares the kitchen and shop for the busiest time of the day: lunch.
Recently, Charlie got a promotion and is managing the wait staff: 1 or 2 people on a given day and now gets to wear a black tie which he’s really proud of and irons daily. At lunch, he usually will make special trips to deliver food for his loyal customers, runs around serving as many as 30 clients at once, and will provide back up support when the kitchen gets swamped. It’s a long day, and he’s usually closing up shop at 10pm, a 13 hour day, working 6 days a week, for a salary that was recently increased to about $300 per month.
On his days off, I thought he would be able to spend them with his pregnant fiancé, but in fact she has to work on those days. So the only time they actually get to see each other is between 11:30 pm and 1 am, and then when they wake up at 5 until he leaves at 8:30 am. It must be a tough life, but he didn’t tell me that. Instead, he works away, always wearing the biggest smile when I see him, “Ryan, my friend. Que tal?
This is a pretty story of the average Peruvian, it makes me sad, but then I realize that he is really happy. It’s almost the case of not knowing what else is out there. Many of the waiters and waitresses don’t know anything about the United States or Europe except for the occasional movie they watch, but I find that many of the movies and songs they like are not current pop culture, but rather, movies and music from 10+ years ago.
I’m sure I’ll have more on this as time goes on…
My friend Charlie:
He’s 23 years old, has a high school education, knows some broken English, is engaged to a woman that is carrying his first child. Charlie wakes up every morning at 5 am, showers, presses his clothes, eats breakfast with his wife and then catches a series of 3 microbuses to work. His trip takes him about 90 minutes in the morning. He arrives at a small café where he’s worked for the last 3 months and prepares the kitchen and shop for the busiest time of the day: lunch.
Recently, Charlie got a promotion and is managing the wait staff: 1 or 2 people on a given day and now gets to wear a black tie which he’s really proud of and irons daily. At lunch, he usually will make special trips to deliver food for his loyal customers, runs around serving as many as 30 clients at once, and will provide back up support when the kitchen gets swamped. It’s a long day, and he’s usually closing up shop at 10pm, a 13 hour day, working 6 days a week, for a salary that was recently increased to about $300 per month.
On his days off, I thought he would be able to spend them with his pregnant fiancé, but in fact she has to work on those days. So the only time they actually get to see each other is between 11:30 pm and 1 am, and then when they wake up at 5 until he leaves at 8:30 am. It must be a tough life, but he didn’t tell me that. Instead, he works away, always wearing the biggest smile when I see him, “Ryan, my friend. Que tal?
This is a pretty story of the average Peruvian, it makes me sad, but then I realize that he is really happy. It’s almost the case of not knowing what else is out there. Many of the waiters and waitresses don’t know anything about the United States or Europe except for the occasional movie they watch, but I find that many of the movies and songs they like are not current pop culture, but rather, movies and music from 10+ years ago.
I’m sure I’ll have more on this as time goes on…
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Ryan,
ReplyDeletesu amigo, Charlie tiene una esposa y novia! Hmmmm! best be checking your blog otra vez! I still love you!