I’ve come to realize that I’ve yet to really talk about my host-family here in Ancash, yet a blog entry about them practically demands to be written. For one, they are an important part of my experience here in Peru; I interact with them on an almost daily basis. Moreover, their lives are very representative of the experience of Quechua-speaking Peruvian families in the sierra (mountains). By writing about them, I will be writing about the shared experience of the many Peruvians who are sustenance farmers, living almost entirely off of the products of their land.
In this blog, the sake of readability and convenience, I will refer to my host-family as my family, my host-father as my father, etc.
My family in Collón consists of my father, Fortunato; my mother, Eulalia; my brother, Ernesto; and my sister, Linsey. I also have another sister named Susy, but she is engaged and lives with her fiance in James’ site, Pashpa, about an hour away.
My Father
My father, Fortunato, is 48 years old and has lived in Collón all of his life. As far as I have seen in my nine months living here, he is a very good man. I say this not because he is hard-working, which he is, but because of the way he treats his family. The biggest example of this is the fact that he does not drink, which makes him an oddity in my site. He is not necessarily against drinking, he did drink in the past, but he sees drinking as an irresponsible use of money that should be spent taking care of his family. Furthermore, he recognizes the harm that can result from drunkenness, such as fighting (not just from the alcohol he says, but also the fights that ensue between husband and wife when money that should be for the family is spent on alcohol), and seeks to avoid it. Another very respectable fact about him is that he recognizes the value of my mother’s house-work, something seemingly simple but key; such recognition is not always found even in socially developed countries.
As a worker, my father is a jack of all trades. Like all the other families here, his primary concern is the charcra (loosely translated, the farm, but not quite so extensive in its meaning; more like plot of land with the connotation of a place where food is grown included into it). The people in Collón primarily eat food that they themselves grow, and so taking good care of his chacras is essential for the well-being of the family. On days when he is not working in the chacra, my father works in cutting timber. He owns a chainsaw (a nice one, worth $800, which he takes very good care of), and with this he is able to earn up to 100 soles in a day ($33), but such high-paying work is rare and he is more likely to earn between 30 and 50 soles. This type of work, of course, does not come every day but when it does he always takes the opportunity. In addition to helping others cut their trees, he also practices tree planting, exclusively eucalyptus, and when his trees mature he cuts and sells them as well. My father also is experienced in construction of adobe houses, he built the one in which I live, and so if construction work is available he will do this as well. Finally, as other odd jobs arrive, such as helping dig the sewage lines or harvesting crops in another town, he works these as well. He is also responsible, as a voting member of the community (the father of each family), for working in faenas, which are community work days, and he often helps relatives as well, when extra hands are needed.
Fortunato’s personality is perhaps best described as jovial and kind. By anybody’s standards, he is a talker, he loves talking to and joking with people. This has been a real blessing for me because I often find it hard to relate to the people here, and his curiosity and love of speaking has allowed me some insight into the local culture that I would not have otherwise had. He is also, as I mentioned before, a generally good person. He is constantly thinking of his family first, and treats his relatives and neighbors with respect, for this he is well-respected here.
My Mother
I know my mother, Eulalia, more through interaction and observation than through communication. This is because her Spanish is very poor and so it is more difficult to have long conversations with her. Furthermore, the women here seem to be more timid around me than the men do, and so our gender difference is also obstructive.
When I think about Eulalia and who she is, the first thought that comes to my mind is that she is a hard woman, tough as nails. She wakes up early every morning to cook breakfast, and then, after serving the entire family, she begins her daily work. This work can be a little variable but it often involves taking care of the family’s sheep (we had two bulls as well but we sold them). I haven’t participated in this activity yet, but from my observations, this means taking them to pastures where they are able to eat and drink, and making sure nothing bad happens to them. While doing this, she is also taking care of my little sister who doesn’t go to school yet because she is four years old. This work is very important for the family because our livestock is the family’s investment. In addition to the products they bring (my mother makes blankets out of the wool), the family is able to sell the animals if they need money and so if they are not well kept the investment is a poor one.
Before taking the animals out, my mother also does all the laundry that needs to be done, and tidies up the house. Then, after the animals have been out for several hours, she returns them and begins to prepare dinner, which we usually eat around six or seven. Her other responsibilities include helping out with the chacra and maintaining the small garden we have behind our house.
As I said before, my mother does not talk nearly as much as my father. For this, I cannot say as much about her personality or who she is. She was also born here in Collón, and so has also lived her her entire life. She is a hard woman, but she loves her family deeply and worries a lot when they are not around. She also has a good sense of humor, and often makes jokes, but I usually don’t get them because they are in Quechua. Also, the humor here is really dry and so sometimes when she makes a joke to me in Spanish I just don’t get it. For example, two nights ago, after talking about how we would be traveling in the morning, she told me we weren’t going to have breakfast before leaving. That seemed reasonable to me, if we were leaving early, but she was just messing with me. Whenever she does this she just laughs and says ‘Chiste Brian!’ which means ‘I’m just joking Brian!’. They make fun of me because I don’t get the jokes here. Finally, to finish speaking of my mother, she likes to dance at town parties and she enjoys watching Huayno videos after dinner, before bed.
Overall, I respect both of my host-parents. They both work very hard and respect each other, while taking good care of their children and maintaining a generally positive attitude about their lives. They certainly have worries, mostly about their children and what’s going to happen to them when they’re older, but they don’t show this often. They are also both very fatalistic, which I think is a natural posture to take considering that any small accident could take them from ‘just getting by’ to no longer being able to care for themselves. They are also both religious, Catholic, but in more of a superstitious way than a pious ritualistic way.
So, I’ve already written a lot. I’ll end this blog post and finish with the rest of my family next time.
Best,
Brian
BGP in Peru 