One thing I can´t really get used to here is the total lack of newspapers and my diminished connection to ¨the outside world.¨ At home I read at least two print newspapers a day, plus a variety of online publications, and the occasional radio or tvbroadcast. I feel like I´m constantly in a race to keep up with everything that´s going on in the world.
Here, it´s a different story. There are no print newspapers where we are, and even in Cusco, one of the largest cities in Peru, the main newspaper rivals my hometown Bethesda Gazette for hard-hitting news coverage. I picked up a copy when we were there last weekend and the front page story was about senior citizens taking classes at the University. Not exactly Pulitzer worthy.
Supposedly only Lima has a decent newspaper, and transportation costs are too high to ship them to other cities in Peru. So most Peruvians get their news from the radio. I´ve tried to listen to it myself, but it often covers futbol games, plays popular love songs, and shouts in rapid Spanish that I can´t understand. It´s rough.
Television is another way people get access to the news, but it´s only mildly more informative. It´s usually tuned to the soap opera channel, and Kelsey and I have gotten very attached to ¨Vecinos,¨ or Neighbors, the popular telenovela here. We can´t always understand much of it, but you really don´t need the dialogue to follow along. The basic plot is that all the woman wear little clothing and have torrid affairs with doctors, policemen, doormen, other women´s husbands, or pretty much any man they can find. They then get caught in the throes of romance by someone else, and drama ensues. It´s extremely entertaining, and our family follows it religiously.
As for the news broadcasts, they´re pretty limited to local news. We haven´t heard much about the struggle in the Amazon between the government and the indigenous peoples, and I´ve had to check out the New York Times online to learn more. I did watch Peruvian televisioncoverage of Michael Jackson´s death, which was pretty interesting. They kept showing clips of the Thriller music video and yammering about ¨el rey de pop,¨ or king of pop.
No mention of the child molestation stuff. I don´t think Peruvians are very open talking about that kind of thing. Some Peruvian pop singer just died and it turns out she was a lesbian, and people here are very shocked by this. Interesting.
Online newspapers are great, but with internet a dollar an hour and high-speed a rarity, it´s hard being connected. So as much as my Spanish has improved from ¨Vecinos,¨ I´m excited to head back to American newspapers and more reliable news coverage.