Transitions Part 3

Arriving in Peru
After all of the trials and tribulations we experienced in August, September was a welcome change and started out very smoothly. Jeff, Emma and Hannah were reunited with Aileen at the Houston airport and happy to be together again after more than three weeks apart. The flight from Houston to Lima was long but uneventful and we landed on-time at around 11pm. Aileen was able to sweet-talk the immigration official into giving us a 6 month visa (90 days in the norm) which will make things so much easier for us! Our mountain of luggage arrived in-tact and we cleared customs without incident. We were even more relieved that the taxi driver sent by our hotel was standing where he was supposed to be amidst all the chaos of the Lima airport. He whisked us away and by midnight we were at the Hotel Aleman in the same room we had stayed at during our vacation four months ago.  Our room had two bedrooms which gave us all some much needed privacy as well as lots of space to organize our 8 pieces of hastily packed luggage. We spent the next day doing just that and had everything re-packed and ready for our flight to Arequipa. Since Aileen packed up in NJ and Jeff in CA we brought some extra stuff which we left at the hotel, lightening our load and making a hotel staff person very happy. We returned to the Lima airport that afternoon and before we knew it, we were back at Nelson and Theresa’s house in Arequipa.  We did a homestay with this family back in May and they welcomed us like we were long-lost relatives. 

We spent our first weekend in Peru walking around Arequipa, which is even more beautiful than we remembered.  Arequipa is in the Andean high desert and sits in the shadow of three snow-capped mountains which are each very pretty, especially at sunset. The weather is picture perfect -- sunny and dry like the high desert in California. However, at 7,800 feet, Arequipa is much higher than any city in California.  Arequipa is a colonial city with many of the older buildings constructed from a white volcanic rock called sillar and some streets still paved with cobblestones.  One interesting thing we noticed was some very well developed urban agriculture on a scale not usually seen in the USA.   We also saw cafes and restaurants everywhere and like San Francisco, bad food is not tolerated in Arequipa so each eatery looked better than the last. As we wandered around the city we stumbled onto a street filled with music shops and studios which thrilled Emma who wants to continue with guitar lessons and Hannah who wants to study violin. Each alley off the music street was lined with old buildings that each had pots filled with flowers which really appealed to Aileen. While the ladies enjoyed the city Jeff kept staring at the 18k+ peaks trying to decide which one to climb first. During our explorations we also made the acquaintance of some Arequipeños.  People here speak a beautiful, sing-song Spanish that is easier to understand than the staccato Spanish spoken in Lima or the mumbled slang of Managua. Arequipeños are very proud of their city which some refer to as the “Republic of Arequipa.”

On Monday September 4th we started looking for an apartment, a school for the kids and an internet café where Jeff can work on his consulting contracts.  We were pleasantly surprised by the many options available on all fronts and a bit overwhelmed by all the choices.  However, after just a few nervous days it seemed clear that everything was going to work out just fine.  We were able to relax some and enjoyed being around our homestay family.  Nelson and Theresa were wonderful hosts and their children and grandchildren were also very welcoming.  It was crowded and chaotic at their home but also lively and warm.  There were nine of us sharing a flat with one bathroom and to make things more exciting, their daughter lives upstairs with her four children so it was more like thirteen people sharing a small space.  Theresa, or Mama Techi as she is called, cooks 3 meals a day for at least a dozen people and somehow produces excellent food in a kitchen that is smaller than our bathroom in the USA.  They really made us feel like part of the family and had a hard time accepting payment from us when it was time to leave.

Getting Settled
After less than two weeks in Arequipa we signed a lease on an apartment. Our new home is in a historic section of the city in a district called Yanahuara.  Our neighborhood is full of colonial buildings and old, narrow streets. However, our apartment is practically brand new and fully furnished -- equipped with more stuff than we have in the USA.  It is a 3br/2.5 bath affair in a small building with a total of five apartments. We are on the second of 4 floors but have our own outdoor space on the roof with great views.   We moved in on September 15 and the place already feels like home.  Here is some information on our neighborhood http://www.muniyanahuara.gob.pe/ and photos of our apartment.

Finding the right school was a bit more challenging.  Most folks in Peru who have any resources at all do not use the public school system.  We also opted for the private school route as Emma and Hannah did not get much of a formal education in Nicaragua and have some catching up to do. We visited quite a few schools and had a pretty interesting time of it.  Just like in the USA, there are multiple levels of private schools and the “elite” schools are impossible to get into mid-year but were not really our style anyway. 

There are an abundance of excellent Catholic schools in Peru but they did not really welcome non-Catholics.  Some were very open about this fact and others beat around the (burning) bush.  We were invited to apply to a very good Catholic school and had to buy new clothing for the testing/interview process.  We also had to buy special folders for our application and all the related paperwork. When we showed up all scrubbed and ready to go, the admissions director gave us a long speech about how this might not be the right school for us for religious and other reasons.  Half way through her monologue, Jeff diplomatically asked for refund of our application fee and we left.  Ironically, this school told us they would never deny a child education due to their religion which was clearly not true.  We honestly had no hard feelings but it would have been nice if they called us before we got all gussied up to meet with the Madre Directora.

Fortunately Arequipa has “secular” schools of many different shapes and sizes.  We put secular in quotes because they all have some form of religious education which makes sense given the country is 95% Catholic.  We were accepted to some smaller, solid schools but it was hard to get into the larger schools we were most interested in without a contact. Fortunately, Nelson and Theresa’s daughter Erika is a teacher at a very good (but not elitist) secular school called Colegio Juan de La Cruz Calienes (named for a 19th century bishop).  Through her connections (and our girls’ exemplary performance in the testing process) we got accept and chose to enroll. 

Calienes goes from pre-school thru high school and has about 800 students.  It is 15 minutes from our house by taxi and we will work out transportation via mini-bus with the school once the girls get settled in.  The teachers provided us a very detailed list including things like toilet paper, soap, and binders we had to contribute to the school.  We had to spend two entire days getting all of the uniforms, books, supplies and other materials we were required to purchase and another day getting it all organized. After much preparation we were finally ready for the girls to start school on Monday September 19.  Mom and Dad were very nervous the first day and the children were a bit apprehensive too.  Calienes is a far cry from the friendly little school in rural Nicaragua and we expected some tears after the first day.  However, the girls came home very happy – never ceasing to amaze their parents. They really enjoyed their first day and were excited about all of the different classes they will be attending, including all of the basics along with religion, English, music, art and PE.  They also have electives during the last period:  Emma chose volleyball, chorus and cooking and Hannah signed up for chorus, cooking and sports. Here is some information about the school: http://www.colegiocalienes.edu.pe and a few photos:

Some First Impressions
It is impossible to avoid comparing life in Peru to our most recent experiences.  Things in Arequipa are very different from life in San Ramon, Nicaragua.  Arequipa is a city of nearly 1 million people (versus about 3,000 in San Ramon) and the poverty rate in Peru is less than 50% (versus over 80% in Nicaragua).  Living in a large and relatively affluent city means that we have access to some of the creature comforts and entertainment options available in the USA.  On the other hand, Peruvian culture is not as influenced by the USA compared to what we saw in Nicaragua.  Years of US military occupation and the close proximity to Miami mean that Nicaragua was permeated by American culture.  This is not the case in Peru where architecture, clothing, design-sense, food, politics, music and interpersonal relationships seem very different from what we are accustomed to.  On first impression it seems this year will bring us the benefits of living in a very different culture without some of the physical hardships we experienced in Nicaragua. 

We do not want to give the impression that we stumbled upon some sort of ex-pat nirvana.  It is not as if America hasn’t reached out and touched Peru; for example, the other day I heard the Ramones being played in the mall while looking at a poster for a Pearl Jam concert posted next to a McDonalds.  Despite having malls, Peru lacks some of the efficiency we Americans are so fond of.  For example, phones, texting and email is not the preferred way of doing business so you need to show up if you actually want to get stuff done -- this can be a serious hassle at times.  Also, some of the infrastructure (roads and phone service) are even less developed than we found in Nicaragua.  Simple things like crossing the street and getting a telephone are crazy complicated for some reason.  You’d figure a country savvy enough to play the Ramones in a mall would have discovered traffic lights and crosswalks.

Despite these minor and silly inconveniences we are all very happy with our decision to move here.  We love Arequipa and are excited about all it has to offer.  We have an extra room with a sofa bed if you care to join us!