Kidneys and Chinos

At least in the rural parts of coastal Peru, a day rarely passes without someone mentioning that they are suffering from kidney pain. When I first arrived I was perplexed by how many people were afflicted by this strange and ubiquitous “dolor de riñones.” I mean, kidney pain sounds like it should be taken pretty seriously. Eventually I figured out that most people here confuse back pain with kidney pain and any mention of kidney pain became a little less alarming. However, the other day I was especially amused when one woman, complaining of extreme shoulder pain, was immediately diagnosed by a fellow woman as suffering from a kidney ailment. She said, perfectly serious, “Oh, that’s gotta be your kidneys,” followed by a chorus of “Yep, definitely the kidneys,” from the other six women standing in the circle around her. Unanimously they agreed that she should go to the health post for a series of shots that would cure her kidney ailment. I wasn’t sure what I could say at the moment without butting directly in the head with the kidney myth, so I waited awhile until the woman was a bit separated from the group. I kind of sidled up to her furtively, fearful of being reproached by the rest of the women, and whispered, “It might not be your kidneys…it could be your muscle. I think you should try icing it.” Of course, she went to the health post.

The Beijing Olympics highlighted another custom—the practice of calling all slightly Asian looking people “Chino.” The country of origin really is of no importance. Even many Peruvians have the nickname. Thus, just imagine the opening ceremony. There were the Japanese Chinos, the Chinese Chinos, the Korean Chinos, etc. During one gymnastics event, the Peruvian announcer was highly perplexed by the presence of an Asian-American athlete. His commentary went something like this: “And now we have a Chino…wait, it appears that he’s not a Chino…he’s American…but still a Chino?!…Well, he likes Chinese food!”

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I bought an English shirt which looks roughly like this:

Ever mode honey girls
they’re been together
EVERY
UGIZ
EARTH

And Luck
GOOD


Seriously? Ugiz?!

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The neighbors named their new dog Gringa. Should I be offended? I mean, I’ve never really seen an ugly puppy but this one would be right up there with the best of them. I believe they got the idea from the many patches of white skin which have appeared through its brown fur due to excessive fleas.

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Municipality update: So I went there for the millionth time at least and was told, yet again, that the Presupuesto Participativo had been postponed. I'm still waiting to figure out if they are going to fund my improved cooking stove project. Then, while talking with the mayor about waste management, he suggested that we continue the subject over pizza...and then recommended a nice hotel...which we could stay in. How nice.