Survival mode

People here live on the defensive. You have to fight for your rights or you get walked on.  In the states, the customer is always right; you want internet? – we shall have you hooked up by the end of the week and is there any other way we can help you? Here, you are wrong. You want us to hook you up to internet? Well, do this and this first. We will not get around to it this week. Your expectations are unreasonable. You must pay us extra for this and this. About a year later, you get internet! Little things set people off. Why assume the best when you can assume the worst? Why think well of someone when you perceive a reason to doubt them? They are not out to get you in particular; the culture simply responds that way. It is expected. Peruvians expect themselves and others to be depraved. “Why did you trust him? Of course he will rip you off!” they might tell you. All we are thinking is, “Can I not give him the benefit of a doubt at least?” No. That’s too American. 

Why?        

                                                                                                                                          

Again, they live on the defensive.  Things do not come easily. Survival mode has become their natural habitat, whether necessary now or not. In the past, it has been necessary. One cannot live long here without seeing that many live in poverty or just out of its reach.  Those who do not are probably not even financially comfortable. Looking out for others, going out of your way for them, or giving something away is a luxury; they so long have not had the capacity or energy to do so that it is foreign to those who could.