BUGZ & Stories

Remember when I told you all about the various ways we have to clean our vegetables if we want to eat them? Did I also tell you that Peru banned GMOs ten years ago because they are very protective of their naturally grown produce, especially their corn? How about how South American countries have some of the loosest regulations on pesticide use in the world, and might actually be continuing to use DDT under the radar?

Well, when that’s all said and done, we still got a worm in our bell pepper.

I’m not sure if that’s good or bad. I mean, bugs are mostly good in lettuce and spinach and stuff, because it shows that the produce ain’t got no DDT. However, this bell pepper did not have a single hole or blemish on the outside. It was perfect. The inside was filled with black things, which I think were rotten seeds (or worm eggs) and a worm. I’m not even sure if the worm was dead or alive because I couldn’t manage to investigate it through my shock and disgust. I just can’t fathom how the worm got in there. Anyway, I know this is probably sacrilege, but I threw the whole thing out. Worms are something I just don’t mess with…even though they’re harmless when cooked. At least bell peppers here are only 30-40 cents each here!

In other news, I have a few interesting stories to share. You might remember that last Thursday a pigeon was trapped in our bathroom for around 30 minutes, just doing what pigeons do, flapping around, getting feathers everywhere, and leaving goopy grossness for us to clean up. Thank you, rat of the sky. Finally, Zac and I called in reinforcement from downstairs. Another tenant had to grab the thing with his bare hands and put him on the terrace, then scare him enough to fly away. Bizarre. (Also, we saw a nanny help her 2-year-old pee on the wall next to a busy intersection. We saw that in Asia a lot, but that’s the first time here.)

Well, that was last week. This Tuesday we had another interesting situation:

Plumber comes to fix the water, knocks entire window out of its frame. It crashes to the alley, 4 floors below, alerting the attention of all nearby pedestrians and construction workers. Oops. Nobody does anything about it. We’re told the water will be shut off in 15 minutes, so use the bathroom now. People start using the bathroom. 2 minutes later, manager sprints into the apartment, “NEVERMIND, they already cut the pipe, you can’t use the water.” (Imagine Zac, toothpastey mouth agape, wtf?) We begin complaining about how we gotta get notice when this is going to happen when BANG BANG BANG-BANG-BANG!(*&$*()#$*. Woman goes batshiz crazy on our apartment door, shouting in Spanish for 20 minutes about our apartment, about water leaking into her bathroom because of us, about how it’s “not a hostel” but it’s treated like one. She broke our security gate with her loco-fest. Luckily, Zac Heisey and Eric Walgenbachwere able to escape to Spanish class without being punched. Good morning, Peru!

Well, how fun! This place is really testing our patience and acceptance of the unknown. It kind of makes me miss Asia. Although, it’s not Lima’s fault that our landlord is awful!