Elena Sanchez

elsanchez@cc.usu.edu
Pyramid Lake, Nevada
Senior in Antrhopology and Political Science at Utah State University

"I'm very glad I gave up one month to live in Peru. The syllabus may say that we're spending "X" amount of hours in class, but I feel class is 24/7. I'm learning with every step I make and everywhere I look."

The Bus Ride to Huanchaco, Peru

As an entire group we traveled from our nice hotel rooms at Hotel Melodia on a very uncomfortable short bus to the bus stop where we would take a charter bus from Lima, Peru to Huanchaco. I never thought that I would miss a nice comfortable bed once we stepped onto the charter bus. The seats that were reserved for our 14 people were on the top level of the charter bus. I felt as though these were the best seats. We were able to look down to the locals as we drove through sleepy little towns. The eight hour long bus ride wasn’t too bad. After all, I think I slept most of the way. The highlight of the bus ride was looking out the window and seeing the view of the ocean as well as the game of bingo. That little game tested my lack of knowledge of Spanish numbers.

The difference I saw from Lima to Huanchaco was quite interesting. From Lima, the amount of pollution and the vast amounts of people showed how “rich” most of the people would have to be in order to live in Lima. The way down to Huanchaco was along the way the people used the sides of the roads as dumpsites for trash. It seemed as though every time I looked out the window there was a trash site along with a mangy dog sniffing it in order to find something to eat. I didn’t know whether the people themselves dumped the trash there or if the people who were supposed to pick up the trash were slacking at their job. Whatever it is I don’t know if it could at all be fixed.

I couldn’t help but notice the billboards. Who couldn’t miss those? Especially since they were bam! right there on the side of the road. Most that I saw were those for the most “delicioso” drink I have ever tasted: Inca Kola! I have never tasted a drink that was so… different. I still can’t decided what that drink tasted like. Some said it tasted like bubble gum, and really no other kinds of opinions were mentioned. But I will say this though. One would either love it, or hate it. I happened to be one who loved it. I wonder where I could get some more of it?

Arrival to Huanchaco

The lights of Trujillo were seen from my window from quite a distance. I’m not a liberty to say how great of a distance since I’m not very good at saying such things and it was also dark. Perceptions could be different during the night times. One thing that I noticed was the lack of stray dogs on the streets of Trujillo compared to the country/ocean side drive we took for eight hours (!). To compare the two different groups of people I would have to say there isn’t much difference. Although there may be a difference with social classes, I wouldn’t be able to compare the two. But compared to us, looks are quite different. I don’t know whether we wore clothing that looked more expensive, but more or less there was a difference in the way we walked and most especially the way we talked. We Americans tend to walk very fast paced whether we are in a hurry or not. I bet I can smoke some people with the pace that I usually walked, and I’m as tall as everyone else in Trujillo or Huanchaco. Very funny, I think.

Huanchaco is very unique in it’s own sense of the word. It isn’t as busy as Trujillo is. Everyone knows everyone in Huanchaco. I don’t know the case in Trujillo since we all didn’t live there. To give an example, I think the people in Huanchaco knew which one of us in our group ended getting sick. I think it’s almost like being on the reservation. Everyone knows what everyone is doing, at least in the gossipy sense.

Huanchaco is in a state of…

In order for me to finish off that header, I must gather up the information that I have gathered from two major informants as well as what I have gotten from conversing with my fellow classmates.

The problem that I have come up with was that most of the people of Huanchaco are having a dilemma. A huge one at that. I believe that they lack some kind of identity. I think most argue that they don’t understand themselves as a whole. Take fishing for example. From my perspective there aren’t very many folks who know how to fish the traditional way, using the cabellito de totura. There are only a few who still fish this way. Most youngsters today have visions of learning English and then hopefully going to work on cruise ships, at least most of the guys do.

Here’s the problem I wish to address: there is more demand by the people on more tourism attractions rather than more cultural awareness places such as heritage centers.

I think the main reason why I chose this project was because I can relate to what is going on because of my background as well. Plus I think I had a good eye for seeing how the people would rather be more North American. I got the idea also from watching television. (I have to admit that gets the best of me). First of all, there was a great influence on people who have the television sets and can watch everything that’s of worldly value. Just looking around Huanchaco, mostly Trujillo, those who sell things would rather put up the Pepsi and Coke signs up than anything. I also have to say that I was kind of glad they had such things, only because I was getting a bit homesick. Also, the Gatorade helps a lot better with dehydration than that gross tasting dehydration fluid mixture.

There are those who would rather have the culture and ways of the world mixed into one. What better way to get yourself out into the world than the Internet? I see this as a good way of getting any information out there and also to get the outside world to come in. The target here would have to be getting the tourism up without losing oneself in the midst of outsiders coming to it.

Taller Suchyman…

Here’s where the people who are seen actually doing something come into my report. There is a group of people called Taller Suchyman who work with street children. Their main purpose is to teach these children that there is more to life than just stealing and begging to get by day to day. My informant, Zui Dethier, not Peruvian but originally from Belgium, was one of three people who put this group together helped with (as well as the overall opinion of the group) giving me a short explanation of what this group does as a whole and what they wish to accomplish within the near future. To make a long story short, they wish to teach these street children how to use their talents and also to teach them how to focus their feelings through music, art, and “circus”. Circus, meaning gymnastics and acrobatics. The main goal, or the main focus of the group is to also get enough funding through their perseverance and hard work to get a their own place for their work as well as to have a home for their street children and to also start a cultural center for everyone to recognize the need for cultural awareness.

One evening three of the group members performed in front of a bar called “La Trivo”, located in the Plaza De Armas in Huanchaco. The members were, Zui Dethier, Carlos Guerrero, and Nango… (I cannot remember what his last name is). But they performed music, fire breathing, and also “circus”. I didn’t get a chance to see it, but most of the group members did and they thought it was really interesting (especially since it was right outside our hostal).

The World vs. Lost Cultural Identity…

I asked Zui about what Taller Suchyman thinks, as well as she, the ideas of losing identity, the ideas of globalization and it’s affects on the children that she teaches. She explained that there are good and bad sides to it. When they go into Trujillo to teach the street children there, they have to use other people’s buildings and follow their rules. Sometimes they don’t agree, but they have to. Zui explains that:

Most organizations don’t really understand the children, some things they do are dangerous that they do with the children. For example, the organization where they are doing circus is an English person’s who is living now, one year ago in Peru, who loves, he loves internet, computation, all of computers, and he is teaching the street children how to use internet and all of that. And we think it’s a bit dangerous because these children don’t have any form of moral, values, life values and maybe they can use Internet by a bad way. But it’s a good idea in the beginning but it isn’t adapted to their situation. This English wants to teach that for, to give them a job, but it’s a bit dangerous. First he, we think he first would be, must teach a lot of things before he teach Internet, values, morals, life laws. It’s a world so, so, so different the world of these children. They think by another way, really. It isn’t beneficial to the more important things for the children it doesn’t adapt to their life. But there’s much work to do before.

One Man’s Eyes…

I once talked with a young man, 15 years old, named Marco, full name: Marco Huamanchumo Verna. I felt that I needed to talk with someone that was younger to get a feel of what was really seen through different eyes. From what I could understand he was about to graduate from educacion secundaria.

I asked him what he thought about he identity of Huanchaco. I also feel that this is relevant to my report because I believe it’s the youth that would soon be able to make changes the way that they see fit, to make changes for the better. He states:

Bueno yo creo que han hecho impacto grande. Por que es algo que viene de aduera, algo que no conocenos y es muy importante para culturizarnos y saber mas del exterior.Yo la describiera como una de las culturas mas importantes de mi pais por que es una cultura unica que no se ve en otro lugar. Yo creo que sera un cambio no muy fuerte porque Huanchaco es un lugar turistico y yo creo que debe quedarse asi como esta para que los turistas se interesen mas en Huanchaco.

Yeah sure, I may not be able to understand all of it but my point is that there is much need to have some cultural place to show people, tourists or locals, about the town of Huanchaco. A place to show the past to those who visit and want to learn about the place they’re staying at. The whole town of Huanchaco is a goldmine of history. People just don’t know it because it’s not in a museum or written on the internet.

So What is My Problem?

There are lots of ideas out there for fixing problems. Some have worked and some haven’t. But I can say that there are a lot of ways to integrate everyone’s ideas, but there are two sides to every story. I have heard that some people want to make Huanchaco more like the city of Trujillo. This would be accomplished by putting in banks and/or ATMs around town. Another opinion I’ve heard from others is that Huanchaco is more of the out of the way place to get to or a cheap night’s sleep. It’s sad, but true.

Most people that go to Huanchaco know that surfing there is fairly good. Naturally, it would appeal to the likings of surfers. One said, “Surfers would like to see more discotecas in Huanchaco.” And then there’s the flipside, there are those that believe surfers are just a nuisance and so are their discotecas and see them as trouble starters. I believe that a single discoteca wouldn’t really hurt Huanchaco. There seems to be enough demand for it since most of the youth have to travel to Trujillo to get one night of dancing. The travel expense could get costly, especially most of the young people that would go there have limited amounts of funds anyway.

Visualize…

I see Huanchaco needing a time to sit down and actually see what everyone sees in future of Huanchaco. They need to visualize that what they’re doing now inevitable affects what will happen later. Do they want to lose themselves in the globalization of the world? Do they want to see themselves as the landmark of cultural awareness and identity? Then and only then will they be able to get started on what they think Huanchaco is. Like in the United States, if groups lose what their main focus is, there is no way people would know what/who you are. Both Native American groups, South and North, are kindred. We both can understand what would happen if a culture is lost. We are nothing but words in a textbook.

There are organizations out there that would help out different groups such as Taller Suchyman. Many times groups want to help out more and more if there are children involved. Cultural awareness has been getting bigger and bigger amongst the world at large. So much is being lost because either old people are dying and none of the traditions are being passed on. There are other situations, such as in Huanchaco, where it’s better to learn English and get out of the country since there is much economic and government trouble.

I think Huanchaqueros would like to see who they truly are in the midst of the world. I think they need to have their voices out there so people would want to visit and help out Huanchaco’s economy and population just by visiting and taking a vacation. Who wouldn’t want to be near a beach anyway?