20-minute observations - #2

Welcome back to my 20-minute-observation/people-watching/journal-filling project...

Date: February 2 (Wow! How is it February already?!)
Location: an outside table at Starbucks

Now that was just fun. I went into the new Starbucks near our house -- that's right. There's now a Starbucks near our house. That makes three in the city now. There were zero when we visited Arequipa 3 years ago. In spite of the ridiculously overpriced drinks (even more exaggerated here that back home), they seem to be doing well. There are always people here when I pass by. My peppermint mocha cost S/. 11, which is about $4. Come to think of it, that happens to be the same amount of money I'm paid per hour for teaching English at my school. Hm. I guess I better really enjoy this mocha. Anyway, when I walked into Starbucks I recognized another customer who was just leaving. Her name is Pia, and she was at my house a couple weeks ago for cinnamon rolls -- the one truly American food I could come up with when my friend Alejandra asked me for some examples of traditional American dishes. Every time I suggested something, we then realized it wasn't truly, originally American. Tacos? Oops, no. Chili? Um... pretty sure that's Mexican. Pizza? Lasagn-- never mind. Evidently we're good at taking other country's dishes and Americanizing them. Finally I suggested cinnamon rolls and invited Alejandra (who brought Pia with her) over one Saturday morning to enjoy a taste of good ol' American decadence. So back to Starbucks. I greeted Pia and we chatted for a few minutes. Then when I ordered my overpriced mocha, the kid behind the counter recognized me from having proctored his English exam at a university last month. So we chatted for a few minutes. He told me the questions were difficult, and I wished I knew how to say "look, kid, I didn't write the test" in Spanish. Then I asked another employee if it'd be possible for them to grind coffee for me if it's not a Starbucks brand, and he said "for you, yes, if we're sneaky." So right now I'm feeling a little less like a freakishly tall, glaringly blonde, obviously foreign girl, and a little more -- just a little -- like a local. I know people! How fun. So now I'm sitting at an outside table -- something that's surprisingly rare in a city that gets approximately 363 days of sunshine per year. It's nice... except it happens to be on one of the busiest streets in the city with way too much traffic for the 2 "lanes," which might at any given time turn into 3 or 4 or 5 lanes. At this moment there are no fewer than 8 horns blasting. And a car alarm is wailing. And the street is crammed with vehicles that couldn't have passed an emissions test 15 years ago, let alone now. Not that they'd ever be required to pass an emissions test. It's still shocking to me (a sure sign that I'm not truly a local) how taxis and combis stop in the middle of the road to pick up, drop off, and negotiate prices with passengers. Even when there's a handy pull-off space alongside the road, they still stop in the middle of the street. Here in this spot it's easy to notice the extreme contrasts represented in this city. Inside Starbucks is a group of well-dressed businessmen sipping $5 drinks and organizing life on their iPads. Outside Starbucks are street sweepers (people, not trucks) and beggars. If I make $4 per hour as a teacher, the street sweepers probably make about 50 cents per hour. The beggars maybe a bit more... Just over my right shoulder is a little booth labeled LLAVES (keys). What a loud, dirty place to work all day long! And what I wouldn't have given to encounter this guy 8 months ago when I tried for weeks to find someone to make copies of our house keys. The man looks like he could use some business right about now. he's fiddling with a Rubix's cube. Also just behind me is a lady wearing a fluorescent yellow vest and a fanny pack. She's quiet at the moment, but often these people should "llamadas, llamadas, llamaaaadas!" to let people know they can pay to use their cell phones attached to their hip or stuffed into their fanny pack. I haven't figured this one out yet -- maybe it's just an alternative to a pay phone, or a way to save a few cents if you need to call someone who uses the rival cell phone company to yours. I'll ask someone later today about it.