Like this:

Chiclayo is what I imagine Delhi, India to be like, minus the heat and curry. Back in Cusco my spanish teacher told me that Chiclayo was a small and calm city. In Lima, they told me it was big city. Lonely Planet told me it had experienced rapid growth in the past few years and was now a “bustling, economic center.” Needless to say, I didn´t have very many expectations besides the notion that it might actually be warm here given its proximity to the desert. Instead, it is 25 degrees with a cold wind, which makes pants and jackets necessary, but hosts a humidity that makes my hair frizz. The streets are absolutely jam packed with people, all of whom walk at completely different speeds and none of whom have realized that walking on the right side, just like driving on the right side, might make things move more smoothly. This city is nothing like anything else I have experienced in Peru and there have been several “you´re not in Kansas (or Guelph for that matter)” instances. Like yesterday when I went in search of the supermarket and found myself in the “pet/animal district” (everything here is broken into “districts”…. shoe district, hair district, pizza district…. obviously these people have great faith in the idea of a free market). At first I was drawn to the tiny puppies that lay in cages along the sidewalks. But then I saw them. An entire section of them. It was the “roosters in cages section.” They crowed (??) at me and I could have sworn my neighbour rooster from Cusco had followed me to Chiclayo!! I bolted the other way and was only too happy to find the comfort of a real westernized supermarket. I spent a good hour embracing packages of oreo cookies and other “food from home.” I happily left with a new kettle and some cups of soup, rekindling memories of Michelle and I shivering in our hostel in Cusco, eating soup and drinking tea in our failed attempts to stay warm.

Besides attempting to adjust to this city, I have been busy putting things together for my interviews which start today. Every day there is a new and unexpected person added to my list of people to interview, and every day I panic at the idea of putting together a set of questions in a day when my other interview guides took 8 months. This all goes to show how right my professors were when they repeatedly told me that “no matter how much you plan, things will always change in the field.”

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