Common rules of the road for Peru:

  • Don’t be surprised to find a chicken foot, claws and all, floating in your soup
  • Kissing cheeks is a common form of greeting, not romanticism.
  • It’s not unusual for a flat-out downpour to start with no rain clouds in sight
  • The term “gringo” (your new name) isn’t necessarily insulting. It is simply used to describe you generically, especially if you’re fair skinned.
  • Odd occurrences with toilets: the water swirls backwards
  • Most toilets don’t have seats, just bowls.
  • Get to know nationwide rule of thumb: TP doesn’t ever go in a toilet. For those who forget, it’s a sure-fire way to clog a sewer system.
  • Want to jump in the shower? There’s only one temperature: cold.
  • Roadways that don’t seem to have any order or traffic control and it’s not unlikely to find yourself face to face with a vehicle hurtling towards you, in YOUR lane. Extremely offensive driving is the rule.
  • An insanely cheap public transportation system, but be prepared to pack in taxis and buses like sardines unless you dish out the extra cash for private motokar transport.
  • Honking has many meanings-warning, greeting, anger-but no one pays it much mind. It is far too common. Drivers honk at dogs, potholes, pedestrians, and other vehicles with alarming frequency.
  • Vehicle inspection seems a thing of the imagination and most vehicles would never pass if it were instated.
  • Routine animal cruelty. Animals aren’t normally valued very highly.
  • Almost all dogs and even cats have mange.
  • Kids with big bellies aren’t overfed, they’re popping with big worms.
  • Vendors are certain you will buy something, and your “NO” most certainly means “I’d love to take a look.”
  • Sorting big crunchy bugs out of rice is a common occurrence, until you decide to just eat ’em.
  • Announcing you for special music in church without any pre-notice isn’t considered a problem.
  • You can bargain for just about everything.
  • Customer service is non-existent
  • Washing machines are portable, two-part, and have ten fingers. They are multifunctional and depending on quality, they determine how clean your clothes will turn out.
  • TP is personally supplied if you go to public places.
  • Hugging a two-year old with all her teeth rotted out isn’t just sad, it’s commonplace.
  • Electricity is a luxury. Apart from candles and headlamps, stars might be your only reliable light after sundown.
  • Men urinating on city walls and street corners is normal. Not quite so for women.
  • Everything is reusable. Your trash is someone else’s treasure.
  • Unheard of diseases like malaria and tuberculosis kill real people.
  • The diarrhea runs is literal, and at least a one-time experience every volunteer will have.
  • Animal entrails, pig heads, cow hooves, and gooey intestines are but a few of the delicacies found on bloody meat-tables in market. Active chopping and dismembering of carcasses goes on in the midst of it all.
  • Flat roofs with rebar jutting out into the sky makes it look like a building is unfinished. It’s just class.
  • Hospitals are all pay-before-you-receive systems. If you don’t have the cash, you don’t get the help.
  • You will forever be a target to the piranha crowd aka those who are looking for a likely victim to steal from.
  • The woman’s most common change purse is her bra.
  • Sitting through an entire church service when you understand three words will improve.
  • Learn basic rules: when it breaks, fix it (never pitch it). If you don’t have it, invent it.
  • Life isn’t fair: don’t get used to it. Do something about it.
  • When you are pushed to your limits, change your limits.