Yesterday Peru elected a new president. You know those pictures of people after they voted in Iraq proudly showing their inked finger? Well its the same in Peru, only without as much of the pride. Rather, much like you find in the United States, everyone I talked to felt as though they were choosing between the better of two bad options. Voting in mandatory here and I met one person who told me she would rather pay the fine (I think she said it was 70 soles which is like 30ish USD) than vote. I met another person who "voted" but really just drew a dick and wrote "No Corruption" between the options instead of choosing one.
The actual day of the election was pretty calm. Because voting is mandatory a lot of stuff shut down, though the voting happened on a Sunday so a lot of stuff would´ve been shut down anyway. In the days leading up to the election there seemed to be a little more happening. First of all, the entire country was covered with propaganda for the two candidates. The favored method seemed to be painting their names and slogans and icons (Every candidate has a sign associated with them, for example Keiko´s was an orange K, Ollanta´s was a stylized red O, a party near Nazca uses a graphic of a bunch of grapes, that is next to their name on the ballot. This is what voters mark with an X to signify their chose. My guess is that its for the illiterate voters out there) in huge letters across buildings, walls, or any other flat surface that people would drive or walk by. For months there are going to be huge orange letters screaming "Keiko Presidente 2011" around the country (Keiko did not win). In the cities there were also banners and I did manage to see a few tv ads, though I haven´t watched all that much Peruvian TV. When I was in Cuzco I did manage to "participate" in a rally for Keiko (and by participate I mean I stumbled upon it and then stood in the crowd, sticking out like a sore gringo thumb). Even though I am clearly not Peruvian I was still handed election shwag, a pendant to wave in the air and a few bracelets that said "Yo Kiero un Peru para mi" (For you non Spanish speakers that translates to "I want a Peru for me" with the "Kiero" a play on the real word, quiero).
It was fascinating to watch the rally. Everyone seemed really worked up! There was more energy and fervor out of this, actually, relatively small crowd than you typically get at American political rallys (rallys during the 2008 election being the exception). The energy actually reminded me of the 2008 election. It sort of felt as though I was seeing democracy in action. I had an interesting conversation with a Peruvian man somewhere between the age of 40 and 60 (I seriously cannot judge peoples´ ages here. Its impossible). He told me why he was voting for Keiko, which basically can be boiled down to the following: the other candidate (Ollanta) was leftist and he thought that with a leftist president Peru would experience terrorism again (a huge problem for Peru in the 80s. Keiko´s father, a former president of Peru, is actually credited with ending a lot of this terrorism and getting Peru back on its feet), he didn´t believe in socialism (other candidate socialist), but mostly he thought that men were two prideful and egotistical and women work a lot harder than men so he was going to vote for the woman candidate. This was followed by a story about how the tale of Adam and Eve is really a story about how men are always trying to blame someone else. Not bad for a guy from a machismo culture! (We also talked about how many people wouldn´t vote for Keiko because her father was charged with corruption and human rights violations after his presidency and currently is in jail. Many people think she would´ve pardoned her father if elected). However, Ollanta won and that has some of the Peruvians that I know worried. He is closely allied to Hugo Chavez and is a military guy so some people are worried about authoritarianism and Peru´s government becoming anti-American, I´m sorry, anti-United States (If your answer to the question "Where are you from?" is "I´m American" many south Americans (especially Argentines and Brasilians) will respond "So am I." Not gonna lie, I find this annoying.)
Perhaps the most intriguing thing about the Peruvian election, no alcohol can be sold from Friday through midnight on Sunday. No drunk voting people!! Sunday night, after the election results had been announced, I traipsed through the city of Trujillo with some Peruvian friends seeking a place that would sell us alcohol before the legal midnight lifting of the ban (it wasn´t that hard to find somewhere). So, thats my election story, not super interesting. I tried to write a post about it before the election took place but the wifi on the bus I was on was being futzy. That´s right, wifi on a bus in Peru. And I got a really good hot meal and a blanket I wanted to steal (but mom and dad taught me well and I didn´t, or I forgot at 1am when I got off the bus) because of its cool gold embroidery. Greyhound are you listening to me? Peruvian buses are kicking your ass! Come on now! Oh, and I bought contacts today because it was cheaper and easier to have a quick eye checkup and buy contacts here than to do it in the USA.
I am now it the town of Chiclayo in Northern Peru. I´m going to explore some pre-Columbian ruins over the next few days before heading back south towards Lima. I have 9 days left in South America! Let the countdown begin!
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