El Nacionalismo en el Perú

Durante mis estudios en los Estados Unidos, yo he sido dicho que el nacionalismo es un concepto bueno por el éxito de un país. En particular, en mi país el nacionalismo fue la fuerza que causó la revolución contra los británicos y a la larga condujo a la independencia de todos los estadounidenses. También, organizaciones internacionales como las Naciones Unidas están intentando apoyar la creación de un sentamiento de orgulloso en países pobres o inestables, porque hay la creencia que el nacionalismo sea una manera de unir la gente y entonces edificar un país más estable.

Por lo tanto, cuando descubrí que habríamos estudiando el concepto de nacionalismo en el Perú, creía que sería casi lo mismo que era en los Estados Unidos: cómo el Perú tiene una desventaja porque no hay mucho nacionalismo en el país. Nunca había pensado que era una posibilidad que el nacionalismo pudiera ser una fuente negativa por el desarrollo de un país sin mucha estabilidad, como Perú. Pero después de pensar sobre la idea, puedo ver cómo una fuerza como nacionalismo ha afectado negativamente países muy poderosos, como los Estados Unidos y Europa.

Perú es un país con mucha diversidad en su gente, porque hay una geografía muy variada y pues personas han sido forzados adaptar a sus medio ambientes de otras maneras. Esto conduce a un país relativamente pequeño pero con muchas costumbres, idiomas, y culturas en general. Estas diferencias han causado problemas en la historia del país, porque ningunas personas se comprenden. Por lo tanto, según la creencia que nacionalismo es una fuerza positiva por desarrollo, Perú sería un país perfecto por comprobar si tener nacionalismo ayudaría el estatus de una nación.

Pero esto no ha sido es el caso en el Perú en muchas situaciones. Por ejemplo, me parece que Perú es un país que se enorgullece de su comida; comida es una parte muy grande en la cultura peruana y es una cosa que “defina” el país—una cosa que contribuye a nacionalismo. Por eso, hay ciertas comidas y bebidas que son claramente “peruanas”, como ceviche y pisco. Pero para producir estas cosas, muchos peruanos están explotados por las empresas peruanas que las hacen. Por ejemplo, hay la fábrica en Ica que produce pisco, pero se contrata a muchas mujeres por poco dinero. También, mucha gente que vive en lugares donde se pueden crecer comidas “peruanas” es muy pobre y no está pagada mucho por sus productos, como los andinos que cultiva la papa.

Este orgullo con productos peruanos no es solamente sobre la comida. Por ejemplo, en la amazonia hay una empresa peruana muy grande se llama Pluspetrol que toma petróleo por el suelo y lo vende a grifos en el país. Por Pluspetrol, Perú no es dependiente de otros países por obtener petróleo para usar cosas como coches y aviones, y pues es posible argüir que la empresa ayude a los peruanos mientras creando un sentamiento de nacionalismo. Pero esta empresa también perjudica a las personas que viven en la selva cerca de la fábrica, porque hay contaminación en el Rio Corrientes que las tribus amazónicas, como los Achuar, usan para beber, cocinar, y bañarse. Pues, mientras Pluspetrol permite el crecimiento de nacionalismo peruano, se duele a unos peruanos para hacerlo.

Quizás la ironía más fuerte con el concepto de nacionalismo peruano se puede ser vista con el turismo. Perú intenta convencer a personas venir al país por destacando el pasado Inca; por ejemplo, en un video turístico, se llama a Perú como “La Tierra de los Inca.” Pero en realidad, muchos peruanos discriminan a los indígenas; su idioma (Quechua) es considerado ser más primitiva, por ejemplo, y limeños que eran de partes indígenas del país, como la selva o los andes, no les gusta decir otros de donde son. Por lo tanto, mientras el Perú promueve esta idea de un país nacionalista que abraza su pasado, en realidad es el nacionalismo que causa tensión con personas del pasado.

En general, creo que el concepto de nacionalismo, como todas otras cosas, es una idea que tiene ventajas y puntos negativos. Hasta en los Estados Unidos, un país que promueve muy fuerte el sentamiento de nacionalismo, era nacionalismo que condujo a la exterminación de los americanos nativos. Pues, creo que no hay una solución perfecta por eliminar inestabilidad, y es la responsabilidad del país y la gente a usar las herramientas que tienen para mejorar sus problemas.

El vídeo turístico está aquí:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEI9UW_zVU4

The Amazon!!!

Wow I feel like I haven't legitimately updated this thing in FOREVER. Which is of course because I haven't hahaha. Aaaanyway, I definitely thought it was worth dusting off the old girl to talk about one of the best trips I've been on since arriving in Peru: IQUITOS!!

For those of you know don't know (which is pretty much everyone NOT in Peru....), Iquitos is the capital of the department of Loreto, which is essentially the only department in Peru located in what is considered the "low Amazon." Unlike the high Amazon of places like Chachapoyas, where there are still mountains, the low Amazon is what most people think of when they picture the rainforest: endless forests, wide rivers, terrifying animals, millions of insects, and enough plant life to cure just about any disease known to man. Not to mention it is absolutely, breathtakingly, unbelievably gorgeous.

So, as for the city itself... Iquitos is legitimately a "lost city" in that it is completely cut off from the rest of the world when it comes to ground transportation. There are absolutely no roads that connect it to any way to other civilizations. In fact, the only way one can travel to Iquitos is by boat (in which case, the person must travel to a river-bordering town anyway), or fly into the airport, which is so small it can only accommodate four jets at any given time. This has had a drastic effect on the atmosphere of the city itself and the people who live there, known as Iquiteños . For one, because of the difficulty to get into the city, Iquitos was one of the only cities that was unaffected by the governmental terrorism of the 1990s; thus, Iquiteños have not lost their laid-back, open atmosphere that makes it such a fun place to be. Secondly, because of the difficulty to obtain supplies to improve the infrastructure of the city, a lot of Iquitos seems to be a little bit run down (with the exception of the colorful mansions on the malecón that were built during the rubber-boom era and then abandoned by their barons), and poverty is evident. Despite this, however, Iquitos feels far from an unsafe city; on the contrary, I felt much more comfortable there then I ever do in a city like Lima. There is something in the happy-go-lucky atmosphere of the people there that is contagious; I remarked the very first night I went out exploring that I feel like Captain Jack Sparrow could have lived there and felt perfectly at home. That's a good way to sum up my impression of Iquitos, really: a pirate city, full of laughter and color and goodwill, inhabited by people who are always up for a new adventure and might plunder a little if the opportunity arises--but never out of hard feelings. Very live-and-let-live.

Kara and I arrived in Iquitos Wednesday afternoon, after a early flight from Lima. We had made reservations to stay in a lodge from Friday to Saturday, and even though it technically wasn't necessary for them, our company was nice enough to pick us up from the airport, free of charge, and chofer us around until we found a hostel or hotel we liked. To be honest, I don't think either of us knew what to expect; what we DIDN'T expect was for it to be so damn hot in their COLD SEASON (we're talking at least 90-degree weather with 85% humidity everyday). When we stepped off the plane--quite literally, as there are no terminals in Iquitos--we were immediately blasted with a blastwave of heat, which was actually kind of a nice break from the mildly-chilly grayness that defines Lima in the spring. When we entered the airport we cracked up at this little Peruvian guy absolutely BUTCHERING my name trying to find me ("Maaaygan Skrobawt?"), and then entered an AIR-CONDITIONED CAR with some others on our flight to the company office. Now this is amazing for two reasons: 1) we have not had ANY type of climate control in any building or vehicle since we left the States, and 2) because of the absence of roads into Iquitos, imported cars are super-expensive, and thus 90% of all transportation in Iquitos is mototaxi--that is, motorcycles with the back ends customized to have a type of covered bench for passengers. They're actually pretty fun to ride in and absolutely hilarious to watch in the streets, since there are essentially no traffic laws in Peru and there are millions of these things in every size and color driving around in any which direction at all hours of the day. I felt like it was some type of weird, go-cart race that never ended.

Anyway, we decided to stay in this super-cheap hostel that we could never for the life of us remember the name of, right off of the Plaza de armas. Despite having no hot water or lighting in the bathroom (which was a lot of fun when you had to pee at night or during a rainstorm), it was otherwise pretty cool. The woman who owned it was super-nice and we were really close to everything, which was great when we slept in or wanted to grab something to eat in the torrential downpour, as we could just go next door.

The first night was "exploring time", so we spent the day walking aimlessly around the city, taking pictures and enjoying the sights, sounds, and smells that make Iquitos seem like it should be in the Caribbean. We saw all three rivers surrounding the city (Iquitos is located on a peninsula surrounded by the Nanay, the Itaya, and of course the Amazon), spotted the floating markets of Belen in the distance, and took photos of the many cool rubber-boom houses that bordered the city. And being two blondes in a cholo-populated world, we also got quiiite a lot of catcalls, but they were so much different from the ones in Lima in that they were definitely friendlier and more complementary, rather than just creepy. It was clear the residents were getting entertainment watching us two lumber about the city, especially at dinner, when we were bombarded by crickets while the local Peruvians had not a bug on them...

The next morning, we were signed up for a day tour with this American company that owned riverboats. Our tour guide was this absolutely adorable Peruvian named Richard, a kind, easy-going 25-year old who was keen to show off his English-skills the whole day. Together we walked through the floating markets of Belen--a place that puts even Polvos to shame with its diversity and amount of illegal goods being sold--found one of his friends to take us on a traditional canoe ride down the river (typical boats in the Amazon are thin wooden canoes with little motors on the back that have to be manually operated), had a great picnic lunch on the one of riverboats while bird-watching and dolphin-watching, and then headed to the famous Butterfly Farm just outside of Iquitos.

Now I don't know about Kara, but I was expecting this place to be like one of those butterfly-house places they have in the States: a giant greenhouse with butterflies flying all around. What I was NOT expecting was for it to be essentially a zoo for abandoned animals; Richard told us that although the place was originally founded to be a site for the repopulation of native butterflies, over the years it became a type of animal reserve where the government could drop off mistreated, wounded or abandoned animals. There were monkeys, snakes, birds, caymans, a jaguar, turtles, and even a manatee! The funniest by far, though, was this red-faced monkey who the owner lovingly named Fabion, who had a game of trying to open doors when the visitors were in the bathroom.... it was quite an experience trying to pee while seeing these little hands come under the door and then a red face staring at you from the gap with the floor hahahaha.

The next day, it was time for our actual jungle adventures to begin! Grudgingly, we met at the office early in the morning with our stuff packed to take the river boat to what would be our home in the jungle for the next two days. We were excited to be able to speak Spanish finally, until we found out that two of the people in our group, a couple from the Netherlands, could only speak English, and thus Josias, our guide, couldn't speak to us in Spanish. That was okay though, because he absolutely LOVED the fact that we spoke both English and Spanish and consulted us many times about how to say something in English in "la manera americana." It was hilarious when we tried to explain to him (in Spanish) that there is no real "American" accent because the country is just so big, and then tried to show him the difference between a Southern and a Western accent--which just ended up with me sounding like an absolute idiot and everyone cracking up when he tried to imitate it with his Amazonian accent hahahaha.

Anyway, the lodge itself was absolutely wonderful! It was so nice to have our own room for a change (we were living dorm-style in the hostel), and the mosquito-netting that surrounded our bungalow meant that it was impossible for bugs to get in. The lodge provided rubber boots for us, which were an absolute LIFESAVER considering the muddy trekking we did on almost an hourly basis... my converse and clothes would have been utterly unusable had it not been for them. That day, after we had lunch, our group (which we named the "Anacondas") went for a trek into the rainforest to look for squirrel monkeys and just take a tour of the general landscape and wildlife. Of course, with Josias' expert insight we found the squirrel monkeys playing in the treetops, in addition to learning about other things such as the million different plants that cured pretty much anything one could think of. I did two things I thought I'd never, EVER do in my lifetime--hold a centipede, which I thought I was terribly afraid of, and stick my hands into a termites nest and rub them all over my skin, which is apparently the local bug-repellent. Disgusting, but hey, I didn't get a bug bite that entire trip! Josias even let us try some random plants that were edible just lying around the forest, like a forest mushroom and lemongrass (the key ingredient, as it turns out, of Inca Cola!).

After that we went back onto the riverboat to go searching for some more Amazonian pink dolphins (we found a lot!) and then headed over to what was one of my favorite parts of the trip: the animal reserve. Unlike the Butterfly Farm, where a lot of the animals were caged because they needed rehabilitation, all of the animals at this place were completely wild and uncaged, the idea being that they could leave whenever they wanted. It was SO MUCH FUN playing with the monkeys and toucans, and if possible the Peruvians who lived there were just as playful as the animals! They even let us try some local spirits, called 7 root, which is apparently the "viagra of the Amazon" lmfao.

After we got back and had dinner, we hung out in hammocks for a while until it was time for our nighttime canoe ride. Behind the lodge there was a lake that is completely cut off from the river during the dry season (which it was), so everything is completely stillwater. Additionally, there were thousands of floating water lilies and lily pads with frogs. The only light was from the moon and the fireflies and it was probably the most romantic place I've ever been in my entire life.

After a GREAT night's sleep (considering the sounds of the rainforest all around me), and some bird-watching in the early morning, the Anacondas went for a hike through the jungle to the lands of the Yagua tribe, about a mile away from the lodge. To get there we had to pass through the fields of local farmers, and even though we were technically trespassing in their lands, in typical Amazonian grace they simply danced with us and then offered us some drink. We also saw the BIGGEST TREE I HAVE EVER SEEN; it looked like a slightly smaller version of the hometree from Avatar. Josias was super-excited because since the couple had decided to do a different expedition, he could now speak in Spanish the entire time--which was also great for the groups other two members, Peruvian women from Callao. Not that he didn't occasionally question us "peruanistas-americanas" (Peruvian-Americans) about certain English sayings on his endless quest to acquire an American accent hahaha.


The Yagua themselves were awesome, the chief of the tribe pointed at me and wanted me to be one of his wives!! They spoke some other language that only Josias understood, I think they were saying something pretty crude because Josias kept telling them to shut up in Spanish hahahaha. Anyway, we danced with them for a while, and actually shot a traditional blow-gun: of which I hit the head of the target (the bully-eye) 5 OUT OF 5 TIMES. Which is why they called me the "guerrera amazonica" for the rest of the trip hahahaha.


Unfortunately, after we got back, showered, and had lunch, it was time for us to come back to Iquitos. Luckily, the selva gave us a pretty goodbye with some incredible sights with a rainstorm on the horizon on the boat ride back. On our boat was an Australian couple who we eventually went out to dinner with later that night. They were going to be in Peru for a couple of weeks longer and wanted to know what we had learned about the country. It was really cool to be able to step back and fully explain our experience for the first time to someone who was completely disconnected from the whole thing. I think it definitely showed me how much I learned from being here; a lot of the time you get so busy caught up in your daily life here that you forget exactly where you are and how much you are actually absorbing. I know I didn't realize how much my Spanish had actually improved until I discovered I could spend all day with a guy like Josias and not only understand 90% of what he was saying, but actually joke and interact with everyone in the group in Spanish without having to think about every single word that came out of my mouth.

Unfortunately, Sunday came and it was eventually time to go home. I've said it once and I'll say it 1000 times: coming back to Lima after being in an amazing place like Iquitos is one of the most depressing things ever. BUT I'm definitely an optimist and I have to say, I'm so glad I sacrificed some time out of my school life to get out and see what else this unbelievable country has to offer!!