Why Peru makes no sense

The electricity just came back on in the Sacred Valley. It´s been out since we woke up this morning, which meant no internet, no electric showers, no lights. All of which is okay. In fact, we didn´t notice until after lunch today.

When we realized that there was no power, Kelsey asked why the electricity would be shut off. Jarrard and I just looked at her in a kind of disbelief. The question is, why does anything that happens here happen at all? Things making sense is more the exception to the rule in Peru.

The water in Jarrard´s house is frequently shut off in the mornings, meaning no showerfor Mr. Model of Cleanliness. No one seems to think to fill buckets at night to prepare for this daily occurrence which has no explanation.

On Tuesday the transportation workers in the area went on strike, or ¨parro,¨ protesting high gasoline prices. No one could leave town to go to work or school. One elementary school in town was closed for the day. Ours stayed open.

There are holidays and festivals and teacher´s professional days when school is closed. But there´s no central calendar. The only way to find out if there´s school is to show up and knock on the door.

The municipality of Ollantaytambo has decided to rip up the cobblestones of the main Plaza and replace them with new ones. They dug large holes in the center of town, and then carted in dirt for festivals and as needed.

 People eat quinoa and papaya juice. Enough said.

Jarrard´s family butchered a pig, or chancho, and it hung from the ceiling in their living room for a few days.  

So we´ve learned to be flexible and adapt to whatever Peru throws at us. Any time things get frustrating, I look up and see the Andes soaring up around town and the 500 year-old Inca ruins peering down at me. All of these oddities are what make Peru quirky and interesting, and Jarrard said the chancho produced some of the best pork he´s ever had. And we have a gas shower. Party!

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Singin´in the Shower

Today our host family changed our shower over from electric to gas and I´m not sure I can ever go back.

Today I took my first hot, strong shower in three weeks, and to say it was heavenly doesn´t even come close to accurately describing its magical properties.

In the interest of full disclosure, our electric shower was fine. In fact, it was considered very luxurious by Ollanta standards. The electrical breaker that turned on the water heater was very far away from the actual bathroom. We´re heard stories of people getting mild shocks from their electric showers, but we never experienced anything like this. The bathroom was clean and tiled, and felt downright American.

Electric showers are great for developing countries, where electricity is widely available and hot water heaters are not. But they have their flaws. For one, they have the potential to be very dangerous. If improperly installed, the proximity of the electric apparatus to the water can cause mild to severe shocks, and there have been U.S servicemen who have died in Iraq from faulty shower wiring. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/mar/27/military-deaths-electric-shocks

But even if your shower is properly installed, as ours was, there are still a lot of hurdles to jump on your way to an even lukewarm bathing experience. 

If anyone in the house is using an electrical appliance while you´re in the shower, good luck trying to get warm water. Ideally one would shower with the lights off at 5 a.m. when everyone is asleep, but it goes down to freezing at night and the benefits of a warmer shower don´t outweigh freezing to death. So we shower in the afternoon when the kitchen is experiencing a post-lunch lull, and hope for the best.

As electricity use in the house shifts, so does the temperature of your water. I swear the only thing worse than a cold shower is a fluctuatingly cold shower. The shower head heats the water as it passes through, meaning the hotter you want your water, the lower the water pressure you must settle for. It´s a balancing act, and a none-too-pleasant one.

Now, I like strong water pressure, and I like a really hot shower. I like it when the water scalds you and makes your fingers wrinkle. I like it when it hits your head with such force that your scalp hurts.

I experienced all of these things today in our magical new shower. I had forgotten what it was like to actually enjoy a bathing experience, rather than trying to spend as little time beneath a chilly trickle as possible. I felt supremely guilty thinking of a volunteer down the street who has only a cold water spigot as a shower. But not guilty enough to spend less than thirty minutes in the shower. And thinking of the best ways to gloat to everyone else about our decadent living.

Goodbye electric shower head. You will not be missed.

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