Introduction
Having just passed the 100 days mark of my student exchange program in Peru, I figured to blog about some interesting differences between Peru and Singapore. For this post, I will be focusing more of day-to-day living instead of travel stuff. Additionally, I will keep the content down-to-earth and simple instead of veering into deep societal stuff that would make for a heavier read. With that being said, here are 5 interesting things I have found about living in Peru, from a Singaporean’s perspective.
Disclaimer: None of the things i mention here are necessarily positive or negative, rather they are just really different from what you probably find in Singapore.
1. Supermarkets
For staters, I find it pretty cool that supermarkets here have 3 types of lines. Normal, Rapid & Priority. As you probably can guess from these names, normal is the typical queue, rapid is for customers with about 8 items or less, while priority queue allows people with needs to skip ahead of anyone else in the queue. Obviously, no system is perfect, and people with 1 or 2 items still join the normal queue as they observe it to be shorter than the length of the rapid queue, but its a good attempt nonetheless.
Freshly cooked food and dining space in supermarkets are in demand here. This typically includes roasted chicken, french fries, salads, rice and fresh bread/pastries. Since in store dining (in supermarkets) does not exist back home, this section of the supermarket always catches my eye.
In terms of service speed, it is definitely a step slower. But then again, supermarkets in oriental Asian countries are renown for their quickness and efficiency. Just be patient and enjoy people watching.
2. Buses
Public buses were perhaps the most confounding learning point I had when I first got to Peru. Basically, you do not need to wait at bus stops to catch a bus, instead you can flag it down along the road which it is traveling (typically at traffic lights). Additionally, the bus stops do not display what buses stop there, what other bus stops the buses will pass or the routes of the buses. The route is displayed on the body of the bus, informing you of the parts of the city which it will pass through. So if you are catching a bus for the first time, be prepared for some bewilderment as to which bus to take and when to get off.
Speaking of getting off, just like boarding, you can do so anytime along the route. When you first get on, you will purchase a ticket from a bus conductor, who charges a fixed price based on the part of town you are traveling to, thereafter you just tell him whenever you want to get off. When in the bus, expect plenty of ‘life’, as various street paddlers board the bus to sell you items, ask for donations or even busk their talents (COOL!).
I think that while there is less organization and thus confusion in this aspect than in Singapore, it is this same flexibility that allows for increased convenience since you can board and alight at any road that is on the bus’s route.
It should be noted that the public buses I mentioned here are different from the shared vans/buses that are also available.
3. Parks
Long story short, there are many parks, filled with nice landscape designs and plenty of family & friends. Every weekend, jogging along the coast of Lima brought me through a sequence of parks and the beach coast. Due to the low amount of rainfall and cool temperatures, parks are really popular out here for a range of activities. This ranges from family picnics, to individuals reading books, from skating to soccer. Additionally, recreational joggers pack the lanes on weekends, with cool sea breeze and calming scenery providing welcoming incentives.
4. House Parties
So if you are not from Singapore, I will quickly set the stage for this topic. In Singapore, if you make noise past 10pm, chances are someone is going to call security (for private areas) or the cops (for public areas). Next thing you know, they will be hauling your drunk ass out of the house, throwing your behind away.
In contrast, based on personal experiences here, house parties can go all night long, with thumbing music and plenty of booze. I once asked if they ever informed their neighbors beforehand of their parties, and they gave me a puzzled look. If I had to guess, in contrast to Singapore, I would say that everyone here is way more chill and are not overly concerned with having everything go their way?
5. Traffic
This point caught me badly off-guard during my first day in Lima. At pedestrian crossings, pedestrians do not have the right of way. Instead, cars will largely (of course there are exceptions) expect you to give way. This applies to crossings without traffic lights, and cars turning at junctions with traffic lights. Often at junctions with lights, I was given 50 seconds to cross, but was only able to do so at the last 10 seconds as I had to wait for the cars to go pass first. Needless to say, this is a direct contrast with Singapore, where pedestrians usually have the right of way.
Traffic in Lima…is notorious, constant jams and honking. At peak hour, a common sight is that of a complete jam at cross junctions. Basically, cars will fill up the junction and not take note of the change in signal color. Hence, when it comes to the turn of the other road’s cars to cross the junction, they are completely walled off.
Nonetheless, Peruvians are certainly resourceful and entrepreneurial, capitalizing on this small window of opportunity. At certain junctions, there is no shortage of people selling drinks, food, commodities and even distributing newspapers to cars stuck waiting for the green light. Impressive.
Extra - Safety
I decided to talk a little on safety as plenty of people have asked me about it with regards to traveling to Peru & South America. Thus far, I have been fortunate enough not to encounter any incidents other than food poisoning. Also, none of my exchange friends have encountered any major safety issues. However, in past semesters, I have heard of students having their valuables snatched on the streets, or others who encountered armed robbery (not in Peru).
Just like any other continent, Latin America’s countries have varying levels of safety. The only country which I would suggest totally avoiding at the moment is Venezuela due to their drastic political situation. Generally, Argentina and Chile are known to be the safest. But, just being vigilant and not putting yourself into areas of risk should be sufficient elsewhere. Also, countries like Colombia and Bolivia seem to get an unfair reputation, and have definitely improved their safety in recent years.
Conclusion
Naturally no place is perfect, if you want the good, you got to accept the not-so-good that comes with it. Where there is disorganization there is flexibility; in a laid back relationship focused society, there would naturally be relatively less task-based efficiency. Regardless, I have truly enjoyed my time here in Lima thus far and am delighted to have lived in a society that is fairly different from that of Singapore.