{"id":577,"date":"2024-10-26T05:53:36","date_gmt":"2024-10-26T03:53:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.maurersinperu.com\/?p=577"},"modified":"2024-10-26T05:53:36","modified_gmt":"2024-10-26T03:53:36","slug":"our-everyday-life-in-peru","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.maurersinperu.com\/en\/2024\/10\/26\/unser-alltag-in-peru\/","title":{"rendered":"Our everyday life in Peru"},"content":{"rendered":"

We have been in Cusco, Peru, for over two months now. We have settled in well and we all feel very comfortable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We would like to take you with us into our everyday life and show you a little of what is different here than in Switzerland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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From Monday to Friday, the children go to kindergarten from 8.30 am to 1.15 pm. This can be reached on foot from our apartment in 10 minutes. They feel very comfortable there and understand more and more. They are slowly gaining the confidence to speak certain things in Spanish or sometimes sing a song.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are delighted that the children are coping so well with the new language and culture and are happy to be here.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Gabriel and I then walk 20 minutes to the language school, which is located in the historic center of Cusco. We have Spanish lessons from 09.10-12.50.<\/p>\n<\/div>

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After picking up the children from kindergarten, we have a small lunch at 13:45. It has to be quick because we're all hungry. We have bread or toast with avocado, tomatoes, ham or jam. After a break, we do our homework. The children have writing or arithmetic tasks. We learn vocabulary and work on the tasks at hand. Then there is some time to go shopping or play football or volleyball in the nearby park. We then cook for dinner as we have more time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every other week on Thursday afternoon we meet with our mentors from SIM, our missionary organization (Serving in Mission), who have been living in Peru for 15 years. We learn a lot about Peruvian culture and these meetings are always very valuable for us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Saturday mornings we do the housework and in the afternoon we go into town or go on an excursion in the surrounding area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Sunday mornings, we go to the service at the VIDA church. We feel very comfortable and welcome in this church. We have already been able to get to know a few people and the exchange in Spanish is getting better and better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Everyday life in Cusco versus Switzerland:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The water:<\/strong> In order to be able to drink the water from the tap, it must first be purified with a special filter. As some of you have noticed, water is scarce at the moment because it is the end of the dry season and for several weeks we only had water for 2-3 hours in the morning. The owner has repaired the pump that pumps the water from the cellar to the water tanks on the roof. The water now flows all day! That's a great feeling! But we also know that we are very privileged and that many Peruvians only have water for a short time each day. Many caf\u00e9s in the city have no water and the toilets are therefore closed.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The toilets:<\/strong> Toilet paper should not be thrown into the toilet as it can cause blockages and make it more difficult to treat the water. It takes some getting used to throwing used paper in the waste garbage can next to the toilet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The food:<\/strong> All fruit and vegetables must be disinfected before consumption. This means that everything must be soaked for approx. 10 minutes. Then everything is rinsed with drinking water or dried. Only then can it be prepared and eaten. Otherwise there is a risk of gastrointestinal problems caused by parasites or strong pesticides. So far, we have tolerated the food very well. We occasionally eat in restaurants or buy things from the street, such as popcorn, ice cream in plastic bags or churros (dough rolls deep-fried in oil). We enjoy the large selection of fresh fruit such as mangoes, pineapples, passion fruit, dragon fruit, strawberries, bananas and also vegetables such as avocado, tomatoes, sweet potatoes, courgettes, broccoli etc. The taste is much more intense than what we are used to in Switzerland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Cooking: <\/strong>We cook Swiss dishes at least once a week, such as \u201eH\u00f6rnli with minced meat and apple sauce\u201c or \u201e\u00c4lplermagronen\u201c (which the children love!). But we also often have rice, potatoes, chicken nuggets, lentils with quinoa and various vegetables and much more. However, cooking takes much longer at 3500 m above sea level, twice to three times as long. As we have a gas oven, dishes such as pizza or chips are not so easy to cook, so we eat them out. In addition, certain ingredients such as mozzarella, salami and cream are expensive, in some cases more expensive than in Switzerland. On the other hand, vegetables and meat are very cheap. For comparison: 500 g of minced beef (not from the market) costs 3.50.- sFr, 1 kg of tomatoes costs 1.- sFr. A jar of Nutella 350 g costs 6.- sFr.! Luckily we found an alternative that was less than half the price!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Means of transportation:<\/strong> Cabs are very cheap and almost always available, but the fare must always be negotiated before the journey begins. It can also happen that a cab driver drives off because he doesn't agree to the price. Bus travel is always exciting and thrilling as there is no timetable and we are always discovering new routes. As we live close to the center, we can do a lot of things on foot, which we really appreciate. The children are also used to walking for 15-20 minutes without complaining. However, you always have to be careful where you step - dog excrement, garbage, stones and holes in the road are all part of the game here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Fiestas <\/strong>are part of everyday life here, because there is almost no day when there is not a celebration somewhere. Either with fireworks (we hear\/see them every day), with parades on the street accompanied by loud music or sometimes with very unusual costumes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The weather:<\/strong> The sun shines almost every day, which we really enjoy! There are only two seasons here, the dry season, which is coming to an end, and the rainy season, which lasts from November to April. Temperatures are between 16 and 22 degrees during the day and between 2-6 degrees at night. July and August are the coldest months. As the houses are not insulated and the windows are only single-glazed and not sealed, it is usually colder inside than outside. At night, we need long-sleeved pijamas and bed bottles. We have a small electric heater that provides some warmth. We are at 3500 meters above sea level and the climate is very dry, which means that our hands, lips and nasal mucous membranes are always very dry. We use a lot of hand cream, body lotion and lip balm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Road traffic:<\/strong> There is always a lot going on on the roads and people are constantly honking their horns. Either because a cab driver wants to draw attention to himself, because someone doesn't want to give way, because someone is turning the corner and wants to warn a vehicle in the opposite lane or just because. Many vehicles also have alarms such as the police, ambulance and fire department. If the traffic light is green for pedestrians, this does not mean that they have right of way. Here, the strongest and largest vehicle, i.e. buses and trucks, have right of way, followed by pickups and so on. Pedestrians are at the very end. This means always keeping your ears and eyes open in traffic and running if necessary. This usually works well and the children know that when we shout \u00abnow\u00bb, they have to cross the road as quickly as possible. Even if the traffic lights are green for pedestrians, there is always a direction from which the vehicles have the green light and do not slow down for pedestrians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The dogs<\/strong> are part of life in Peru. There are dogs that live in the houses and those on the street. All of them have an owner, most of whom simply decide after a while to let the dogs live on the street. There they often sit in front of their owners' front doors, search the garbage for food scraps or defend their territory from other dogs. At night, such fights can become very loud. As pedestrians, they usually leave you alone. And if they don't, you pick up a stone and pretend to throw it at the animal. Then they let you pass. Motorcyclists and car drivers sometimes don't have it so easy. Some dogs run after them and try to bite their tires with loud barking. The reason for this is not clear. Perhaps these dogs have already been hit by such a vehicle and are trying to get revenge!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Now you have gained an insight into our everyday life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We look forward to hearing from you!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Muchos saludos!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Cristo Blanco over Cusco<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Seit \u00fcber zwei Monaten sind wir nun in Cusco, Peru. Wir haben uns gut eingelebt und wir f\u00fchlen uns alle sehr wohl. Gerne m\u00f6chten wir euch mitnehmen in unseren Alltag und ein bisschen aufzeigen, was hier anders ist als in der Schweiz. Von Montag bis Freitag gehen die Kinder jeweils von 08.30-13.15 Uhr in den […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":629,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"iawp_total_views":436,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-577","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-allgemein"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maurersinperu.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/577","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maurersinperu.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maurersinperu.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maurersinperu.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maurersinperu.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=577"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.maurersinperu.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/577\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":687,"href":"https:\/\/www.maurersinperu.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/577\/revisions\/687"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maurersinperu.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/629"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maurersinperu.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=577"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maurersinperu.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=577"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maurersinperu.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=577"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}