Living like a fish in water

Like a goldfish brought home from a pet shop and placed in a bowl full of water, I know I’m in a different environment from that in which I grew.  Yet when asked to describe the new water, I can’t, and what I used to know seems a distant memory that often escapes me.  That being said, I have moments when I’m startled by my environment before being jolted back to reality.  

Living in the city of Chiclayo has been a challenge for me.  Sometimes I get sick of the constant buzz of traffic, horns honking, people asking for money, and the exaggerated formalities in the workplace, but often times I go about my days without taking much notice of those things.  They don’t irk me all the time.  And then there are the things that I love: the fresh produce in the markets, the dancing that accompanies every fiesta, and time spent with Igor and Iris.

In some instances I’m caught off guard, living in my own world, where my everyday life surprises me.  The other day, while Iris and I were in looking out the window at the Pan-American Highway, we saw quite a number of motorcycles go by, which really isn’t unusual, but having forgotten my surroundings, I asked myself if Sturgis or some other large motorcycle rally was going on.  At other times, I suddenly realize that someone in the street below my window is speaking Spanish, only to remember a moment later that everyone around me speaks Spanish all the time.  On other occasions, I’ve marveled at how black a baby’s hair is compared to Iris’s, just to remember that she’s part of that less than 1% here who doesn’t have black hair.  Probably the most unsettling of those moments is to wake up hearing some birds chirping thinking I’m at home on the farm, to looking around for a confused moment wondering where I am.  A peddler of olives, fish or tamales is sure to call me back to Chiclayo.

So you see, my life in Lambayeque is different from my life in Nebraska; at the same time it’s not so different.  I’m well adapted, so I can’t tell you exactly what it is that makes Chiclayo Chiclayo, but know that it is a place of chaos and extremes and contradictions; home nevertheless.