The Random Gringo

Believe it or not, it's actually pretty hard for Peace Corps volunteers to meet other gringos in their host country. Most tourists are just passing through, anxious to meet new people from a different place. Why would they waste their short days of vacation on meeting people they could meet back home? Really, it makes sense, even though it makes homesick volunteers a little disappointed.

Every once in a while, though, you come across something completely unexpected. Take for example, a sleeping gringo in your local neighborhood plaza?

Toa was napping under a tree when I walked past the park with a nurse from the health post.
"Is that a gringo?" I asked her.

"He looks like it," she said back. "Let's go ask."

"NO... NO ... Mery, stop..."

"Oye, señor," she called over. "Are you Peruvian?"

It turns out, no, he wasn't Peruvian — though he was flattered she might have thought so. He was a Canadian biologist on his way to the National Park 35 km away. He wanted to go bird watching, and his ride was an hour late.

"Hora Peruana," he shrugged. And we kept talking — both relieved to be speaking English.

After another hour, though, he realized his ride might not be just late. When he called, he was proved right and told the driver had changed his mind. He'd have to find his own way up the mountain.

I brought him back to my house, where my host mom immediately fell in love with him. Where was he from? What was he doing? How long was he staying? And — more importantly — would he like another banana?

The search for another ride turned out to be futile. And even if it had been successful, it started to rain. As hardly anyone likes to ride motorcycles or hike mountains in the rain, he decided to go the next day.

Toa ended up staying for most of the afternoon, charming my family with stories of his work in the rainforest and outlining the many reasons why the US is inferior to Canada (namely, we kill all their grizzly bears, steal their wolves and try to run the world).

Side note: He also talked me out of getting a parrot. The ways that the animals are captured from the wild is inhumane and destructive, and I don't want to feed the supply-demand. I won't even get into how they capture baby monkeys for pets (spoiler alert: they kill the momma monkey!).

At one point, however, he recounted a rather blush-inducing tale of — after 4 months girl-less in the jungle — dancing the meringue with a very beautiful lady and then being left standing in the middle of the dance floor ... um ... "pitching a tent" for the whole world to see.

Yep, he said that. To my Catholic. Peruvian. Middle-Aged. Parents. — He even demonstrated with his pointer finger.

And it totally worked. They were so enamored, in fact, that they refused to stop talking about him for days.

I have to admit, it was really nice to have another gringo around. Although I get to see my Peace Corps friends fairly frequently, it's a nice to bring in guest star for a day to shake things up.

Of course, every body in the town now thinks that he was my gringo boyfriend coming to visit ... But that's a battle for another day.