The Hurdles of Civic Engagement
A towering wall stands before you. It appears impenetrable, and the only door through will not unlock. No this is not some overused metaphor for the challenges that accompany emmersion in a foreign country. This is literally the dilmemna my roommates and I faced after returning to our homestay on our first night in Urubamba, Peru.
After realizing the door was not going to unlock itself and deciding to avoid waking our Señora up at all costs (about 1.5 hours), the only logical option was obviously to scale the 12-foot wall, jump down the other side and hope to not land on any pregnant cuyes (guinea pigs raised as a food source in Peru).
To all of our amazement, the plan worked flawlessly. I jumped to the other side, spared the lives of over 15 cuyes and opened the door for my roommates. We were ecstatic, of course until we woke our Señora up trying to open the lock to the front door of the house.
Peruvian Lesson 1: Every Lock Has A Trick (or in this case, three)
The next morning, I sat down for my first breakfast with my homestay mother. Obviously very excited to have fresh faces in her house, my Señora happily presented me with eggs, bread, tea and a handful of reasons why jumping her wall is a bad idea.
Peruvian Lesson 2: Nothing Gets By a Peruvian Grandmother
Everything ended up working out fine. She showed me the tricks to opening both locks, and I have not had to jump the wall since.
Peruvian Lesson 3: Whether biological or homestay, I will never sneak anything by my mother.
Future Peruvian Lesson 4: The location of the apostrophe key on a Peruvian keyboard, so to avoid writing a 299-word blog without a single contraction.