Funeral of Enrique's Father

Yesterday I learned before going to Inppares that Enrique's father passed away, inevitable but sooner than we thought. I spent a few hours itching to go to Carabayllo (up to 90 minutes away from Inppares and a trip much safer in a group) to comfort Enrique and finally Juan Pedro was ready to go at 5:30pm. We first collected money from people in Inppares, went to Comas to order flowers, then ate food at his house while the floral arrangements were being made. I learned that their house only receives water from 5:30-8:30 in the morning, so they store it in bins and use buckets to flush their toilets. 

After eating an egg, coffee, and some bread, we picked up the flowers and headed in a car all the way to Carabayllo to the wake of Enrique's father. Everyone was stressed and sad, and we chatted for awhile in the driveway. There were lots of people crying and lots of relatives. I didn't get much time to talk to Enrique or his twin Manuel, but they introduced me to their family members and showed me the casket. I left wondering what the funeral would be like the next day.

Today I got up really early, got ready, and met Gisella and her husband and Aurora at the Papa John's so we could all go to the funeral together. We met up with Gian Franco and Victor, two other people from Inppares, on the Metropolitano and went to Carabayllo. Fortunately the atmosphere of the pre-funeral (it was at 5 and we arrived at 11am) was a lot lighter than the wake. Although the twins were very sad and had to greet a lot of devastated relatives, we took some time to joke together in the Inppares circle, ate lunch together, and laughed a lot. I was SO relieved to see Manuel and Enrique smiling and laughing, sometimes cracking up so much they had to bend over. Unfortunately this got cut off every time another sad relative walked in. Once Enrique greeted a crying aunt of his, then later realized she was his great-aunt. He said some of these relatives he had never met before. :) 

A huge crowd gathered and the relatives carried the casket several blocks down the street. This tradition seemed excruciatingly painful, emotionally, and it was difficult to watch. Enrique and Manuel carried the front and bent down three times in succession for some reason I'm not sure of, the carriers rotated in a circle, then everyone applauded. This happened several times. The crowd sang a sad hymn and flower petals and stems got tossed on the casket, sometimes hitting the carriers in the face. It must have been so heavy and difficult to carry. I took a silent, nonflash picture quickly to remember this emotional moment. 

They put the casket in a hearse and the dozens of guests filed into two full-size buses and a number of waiting taxis. The family had their own special van, covered in the flowers arrangements from the wake.  We drove all the way to Puente Piedra, ten or fifteen minutes, to a special cemetery in the style of US cemeteries. It was beautiful, peaceful, and clean.

During the ceremony, the preacher read a few Bible quotes and gave a short discourse about them, even though at least two of the Lino children are atheists (the rest of the extended family is surely Catholic). Sad music played. Each of the four children got up to say a few words, and so did one of his brothers. The daughter's speech made me cry big time, as she talked about what a great father and man her dad was. I only met him once, and he was very sick then, but I have heard a lot about him from Enrique and learned more today.

I liked that the twins went up together to give their speeches, each standing with one arm wrapped around his brother. Enrique's words were so inspiring. I can't recall all of them, but I loved most that he said, "Remember that every one of our tears now was a smile my father had in life. We have to move forward and remember him how he was, making jokes up until the very end." 

During the service, I looked over at Enrique to see him as forlorn as I had ever seen him, looking blank and helpless. As the casket was lowered into the grave, Enrique's mom and sister cried loudly and it was painfully sad. The men cried too, but more quietly. 

After the service, the guests formed a huge line to give their condolences to the family. This cultural protocol seemed unreasonably difficult for the family in my opinion, and I was displeased that I would have to add to their suffering if I wanted to say goodbye to my friends and give them a hug. I cried thinking about it, but eventually was forced to join the line or else leave without saying goodbye (no way). 

It was a challenging day. No matter what the cause or how expected a death might be, no one wants to see children without their father, parents without their son, and a wife without her beloved husband. I thought a lot about my family and what this day means for my life. Tomorrow I'll have the chance to comfort Enrique because he's coming to Inppares and I think we'll go see a movie. 

Rest in peace, Julio Lino Rivera. I only met you once but you were funny and kind and raised some awesome children. :)

Thursday: Leadership and Carabayllo with Enrique

Seems like my blog posts always start off with food, so here goes. On Thursday, I headed with Enrique to San Martin de Porres to watch him give his leadership presentation to a group of high school students. First we ate fried yucca and aji de gallina. It was AMAZING. Check out the crispy goldenness of this fried yucca. It's like French fries but thicker and different and better. It came with ocopa sauce.

The aji de gallina was kind of like non-spicy curry but better.

The group of students Enrique taught. They started off so nervous but he really taught them confidence and how to lead. I was impressed. :)

The students presenting their example of leadership.

Enrique did a lot of funny stuff to make them laugh and be less nervous, like posing for pictures I was taking.

The girls loved me and kept wanting to talk to me even though I barely did anything. They wanted my email address and my Facebook and photos with me. ;)

After the presentation, we all chatted and I decided I am definitely heading back to that school for one of the sex ed classes! The kids were so nice.

Enrique and I took a few buses to his house in Carabayllo, about two hours from Jesus Maria where I live. He let me sleep on his stomach during the long ride, haha.

Enrique's mom served us delicious mazamorra, which is like a cross between pudding, syrup, and jello, and has fruit inside!! Here's a picture of our tasty mazamorra. My hand is so white it cannot be seen. We had apples and a peach inside of our mazamorra.

Enrique told me about how his family used to live in just a tiny room all together, but his father built the beautiful house in which they currently live, with tile floors and everything. They used to be so poor, but now they all have computers and this is their flatscreen TV. Damn!

Unfortunately, his dad is very sick. I did get a chance to speak with him for just a few minutes, which was a good sign because often he can't speak.

Enrique accompanied me alllll the way back to Jesus Maria, in one combi, one epic fast bus, and one taxi. The epic, fast bus was the Metropolitano, a new system with dedicated lanes and subsequently no traffic that costs the same as the other buses! Only like 1 or 2 soles to take an hour-long trip in half the time. I said, "It's like Japan!" and Enrique was like, "Yep, like Japan." :)

Wednesday: Villa El Salvador Activism and Translatina

Today I went with Sally and her sister Milagros to an event with the Ministry of the Environment and the Red Interquorum because a famous actress from the US, Monique Coleman from High School Musical, was coming to visit and didn't speak Spanish. Although she had a translator, my friends Sally and Ivan told me my presence would be helpful. Here is the Ministry of the Environment, beautiful architecture!

Before we left, we made two posters with photos of activities the Red Interquorum had done. This is a youth organization that focuses on involving young people in volunteer work for the environment, sexual and reproductive rights, political activism, and anti-corruption work with the government. It's pretty awesome! (Besides what they have done, I read a statistic from Inppares recently that the vast majority of teen mothers had no involvement in afterschool programs or youth groups. So not only is the work of a youth group important, it gives teens something fun to do and a support system so they don't compromise their sexual health or seek support through sex.) 

Here are the posters in their finished form. We traveled all the way to Villa El Salvador, about an hour away in the outskirts of Lima. I had been there before, for the masculinity conference. It was way more difficult to travel this day because there was a strike by the bus drivers, so basically no buses were on the road and the taxis cost double the price. The roads were a lot quieter but way more expensive and inconvenient. I think the bus drivers got their point across.

Here we are with Monique Coleman. She seemed really happy to be there but also a little overwhelmed by all the people. I think she appreciated that I was from NC, because she's from South Carolina. I was really surprised to learn that she is 30 years old, she seems so young! I got a few chances to speak with her in English, and that was nice. I told her that 40% of Peru's population is youth, and a lot of them have not been taught the importance of political involvement nor activism, and therefore are not represented in political affairs. Also, the adults in charge don't pay them proper attention nor give them the representation they need.

Monique giving us a brief intro and speech about youth rights, teen pregnancy, and youth involvement. She was named Youth Ambassador by the United Nations, so she has been traveling the world for 6 months seeing firsthand what kinds of problems youth are facing. She said Bangladesh was the most striking, because there was no "upper half" to the poverty problem, the kids had no one to look up to nor opportunities to strive for. 

Then a group called Dance 4 Life taught Monique and everyone else a dance about preventing HIV/AIDS, in English. It was really neat!

At the end of the event, we presented Monique with some Peruvian gifts, two of which I helped pick out the previous day! I was kind of jealous, because her bag and chullo (earflap hat) were so awesome. :D I think I will buy one of those bags!

My amazing dinner for 5 soles! Avocado salad...

and lomito/adobo de pollo, I do not remember what its exact name was but it was incredible. YUM.

After I got back, really late, at Inppares I attended a showing of Translatina. This film consisted of interviews of trans women from Latin America, including many countries and many types of trans women (transvestites, transexuals, and transgender people in general). This community is probably the most discriminated against of any community I can think of, and they suffer from serious health problems as a result of the discrimination and marginalization. Unsafe sex change surgeries without proper medical attention, prostitution without condoms, beatings and violence, families disowning them and lovers hurting them, it was incredibly eye-opening and sad to watch this film. After the film, panel of a transwoman and a doctor discussed these issues further with us. I wish people could just let each other live their lives in peace, however they want to do that. If someone with a man's body wants to dress, act, or get surgery to be like a woman because that's how they are the most comfortable, why the hell do other people get up in their business?

Monday: Food and Chullos

So I've slacked big time on my blog posts, and I figure I might as well post a bunch of pictures of delicious food!

This is Leche de Tigre, aka Tiger's Milk, aka an orgasmically delicious type of ceviche with raw fish, acidic lime juices, and tons of onions. I put canchita in it, which is fried choclo corn that ends up tasting a lot like tasty, dry, salty popcorn but different. It added so much flavor to the juicy, tangy, amazing, oniony leche de tigre. It was the appetizer. 

This is Juan Pedro's soup. Yum.

My amazing shrimp omlet on top of a pile of rice. This was incredibly good, and I poured some of my leche de tigre juice on it. 

More food! This is Juan Pedro's fried bonito (fish) and his friend's tallerin saltado (tossed noodles) with fish.

Juan Pedro in particular has been teaching me bad words in Spanish to his great amusement, so I returned the favor... now everyone in the office is saying, "Shut the fuck up." Oh well...

After work, I accompanied Sally, Juan Pedro, and Milagros to a handicrafts store to buy gifts for the High School Musical actress who came to visit a youth conference on Wednesday. The girls bought me a chullo, the awesome ear-flappy hat of Peru!! I picked green and pick with big bobbles on the ends. JP said I look very gringa. 

Then I went home and ate myself some lomito ahumado with papitas al hilo, ensalada, un poquito de mayonesa y un monton de ketchup. I also ordered tuna juice, which is not actually from a fish, it is from a cactus fruit called a tuna! Tuna the fish in Spanish is "atun". 

Thursday: Inppares loves me and I love Inppares

I started off the morning in Inppares, sticking stickers to a set of pamphlets that had the wrong phone number printed on them. Juan Pedro called it "exploitation", but I like being useful in whatever way. :)

My friend, whose name I'll leave out for privacy, came in right before I started with a new set of stickers, and I immediately dropped it to go hug him. His father has brain tumors and it is a very painful situation for their family. Everyone who came by the Centro Juvenil spent at least ten minutes hugging him and letting him vent. He said he can't cry in front of his family. I was moved by his stories of his father when he was healthy, and I can't imagine having to watch someone die in pain. They are pretty sure that his father will not live much longer, and that is extremely sad. But I am more concerned about those who will be left living, because often people don't take care of themselves while they are busy taking care of someone else. So I made sure he ate lunch with us and we crammed 12 people into the tiny closet for eating. Many jokes were told and he seemed to have a great time for a little while. :) Inppares is a lot like a family, and we were all there for him today.

I went back down to keep doing stickers, but then I got called up by the boss of the boss of my boss, and she told me she had some translation work for me to do. :D I read through some legal-heavy documents about a proposal to receive up to 6 million euros from the Ministry of Foreign Relations of the Netherlands, and translated the basic ideas and requirements to the head boss. She was pleased with my work, and she hinted pretty strongly that she would like me to come back to Inppares after graduation to work here. I plan on accepting, I'm just not sure when. But they said that someone who can translate English and someone who enjoys sex education as much as I do definitely has a place here. :D

The boys at Inppares have been teaching me a ton of slang. Here's an example of a poster we saw at the MegaPlaza yesterday.

Sunday in Comas and Miraflores

On Sunday, Juan Pedro came to my house to pick me up and take me to visit his place in Comas! First we grabbed some snacks (cachanga, chocolate, fruit juice, and platanos) in Metro grocery store, then took the hour-long bus to Comas. The landscape changed a lot as we left the main part of Lima, into smaller houses, more trash along the roadsides, and a little more of a desert look.

First Juan Pedro showed me the Municipality building, where the local government manages the area of Comas. This pretty statue was outside the small building. It says, "Heroic Town of Comas." As we were standing there and Juan Pedro was telling me about what the municipality does and how this particular plaza used to be really ugly and dirty compared to its nicely manicured sidewalks, a drunk man came up and started trying to talk to me, asking me where I was from and telling me I was beautiful. I got pretty scared but Juan Pedro didn't seem too concerned, just kept saying, "Move along, yes, okay, on your way now," to the guy. Eventually he left, but I was hiding behind JP. :)

Right next to the municipality building was a busy marketplace, and we walked through it to see all the neat items for sale. The legal part of it was indoors, the unregistered part was filling up the streets and blocking most of the traffic except on foot or mototaxi.

Then we took a moto-taxi to the Civic Center of Comas, a building that was going to be the new municipality building but the new mayor disagreed with the plans and made it into a concert, art, theatre, and meeting place. It was really fancy for Comas!

The courtyard in front, where people can sit and watch plays or shows on the steps. Juan Pedro was once in a show here. He played Judas in Jesus Christ Superstar, I think he told me. :D

We bought some bite-sized sugarcane and he taught me how to chew it. It was really tasty!

At one of the bus stops, we saw young boys getting piercings on the street from unregistered  piercing and tattoo artists. It did not look sanitary at ALL. This one boy had a small metal rod jammed through his eyebrow, with blood coming out... I won't forget it! Juan Pedro asked the piercer if we could take a picture but he said no, probably for fear of getting punished for semi-illegal piercing on the street.

We took another mototaxi to Juan Pedro's house in the 5th district/etapa, the highest part of the hill. It was a different kind of beauty than what I'm used to considering "beautiful". But thousands of people live here, and this area has come so far from its origins of dilapidated houses and dangerous streets. This is the soccer field Juan Pedro played on as a child and adult. He has lived on this street his whole life, and his kindergarten, elementary school, middle school, and high school are all located in a few small buildings literally right across the street from his house. He said if he was ever poorly behaved in school, his teachers could just tell his mom right away, haha. But Juan Pedro was a tranquil child, he told me.

Look at this beautiful hill. Maybe by the end of this post, everyone can see what I mean by a different kind of beauty, because not once in Comas did I think it was ugly just because it was more poor than my district of Jesus Maria.

The tasty lunch his grandma made for us! Sheep meat, beans, and rice. We also ate an amazingly good but slimy fruit called a granadilla (and I made a mess of it, to my embarrassment), and drank manzanilla tea. This was the first time I had eaten beans in Peru, actually. When he saw we were eating beans, Juan Pedro made me feel embarrassed by making me tell his grandma the phrase he and Enrique taught me in Spanish: "A fart is the dead soul of a baby bean."

Juan Pedro's grandma and aunt. I think you can tell that his grandma liked me. :D

After lunch, Juan Pedro and I walked up to his neighborhood soccer court. He showed me the place where the neighborhood boys smoke marijuana next to a statue of a dove, and pointed out a tree that contains a medicine for relieving mosquito bites.

Juan Pedro with his hill. I think it's really cool that he has spent his entire life on one street, and also is so often in Jesus Maria at Inppares, an hour or more from his house. His family doesn't usually leave Comas except for specific events or to see the sights in other parts of Lima occasionally.

I have to admit that I didn't know someone who lives out in the hills could be as successful as Juan Pedro is, but I am really glad to get rid of some of my stereotypes. He is 22, in law school, and spends all of his free time either volunteering/working at Inppares or playing soccer. He's been at Inppares for more than a decade, only recently getting paid for what he does, and he really loves sex education. He has also been paid to play soccer because he's very good and it's his passion. He's really funny and works as a clown for special events, a vocation that is way more respected and admired in Peru than in the US. I would have thought someone like him would have moved out of Comas into more affluent parts of Lima, but he identifies with his neighborhood and likes living with his mom and grandma. His family also prefers staying in the same house and not living in a cramped apartment.

The cement stairs outside of Juan Pedro's house were incorrectly made and so were very steep! You can't see it in this picture but the steps on the upper part are only a few inches in width but a foot or more in height, so it is like rock climbing. :D

His house is two floors and only parts of the second floor have a roof. There was laundry hanging in the hallway without a roof and I was reminded of the Disney movie Aladdin, in a good way. The toilets in his house were flushed with a bucket of water, not with a handle.  He showed me his uncle's carpentry skills in the form of a beautiful bedframe made on request that was about to be sold. It seems like a really comfortable place to live, even though it's a different style than in the US or in the apartment where I'm staying.

We lamented the trash that people threw behind this building. :( There is a real lack of concern for trash in this area and Lima in general. As we were eating lunch, some old drunk guys threw a bunch of dead leaves into the road in front of Juan Pedro's house. His aunt asked the men to please move the leaves, but they didn't. Really sad.

Not far from here, we saw another drunk guy. He was dancing in the street, collecting rocks, and calling out to me to dance with him. Juan Pedro laughed and said this guy was no one to fear, drunk every day of the week at every hour. I took a short video that is pretty funny. He yelled, "Vamos, rubia!" to me. (Come on, blonde girl!) In that video, you can also see a dog who was eating soup out of a plastic bag in the road. Unfortunately, next to the dog were her very young puppies and one of them had a huge tumor, almost a quarter of the size of its body. :(

Juan Pedro took me to the cemetery of Comas, which was a lot more beautiful than I had imagined. I really like this style of burial. Juan Pedro instructed me that navigating through the cemetery involved climbing on top of the graves and not touching the dirt if possible. As you can see from the fog above the hills, Comas has more of a sierra climate, where it is very humid.

This fancy grave has an open area for people to pour libations to the dead.

The pathway leading into the cemetery. Juan Pedro thinks it's funny that there's a locked gate because there are no walls keeping anyone out of the cemetery. In fact, there are some graves right next to the soccer field bordering the graveyard.

After a short collective taxi ride to the main road, I took the bus by myself back to Inppares despite Juan Pedro worrying that I wouldn't know how or where to get off. I really enjoyed my visit to Comas, and I hope I get to go back.

At night, I went out with Andre Luis to Legendaris, a gay dance club in Miraflores. First we saw some people dancing capoeira in Kennedy Park. It was the first time I have seen anyone do that dance. Really awesome!

At the club, we had a really awesome time dancing. A lot of the music was American dance hits from Top 40, but also some great music in Spanish that I've come to love. A pretty girl made eye contact with me, came over and told me in broken, drunk English how beautiful I am, and then followed me into the bathroom to kiss me. She told me she wanted to buy me a drink and have a dance, but I lost track of her hanging out with Andre and the next time I saw her, she was on the stage dancing with a stripper and taking her shirt off. Oh, Peru.

There were a ton of muscled, oiled men dancing in tiny jock straps on large platforms throughout the club. At first I couldn't believe it, but they were wearing even less than a thong, definitely employees of the club. Drag queens in zebra costumes and sexy dresses were also up on the stage dancing. The lights in the club were even better than in Vale Todo, a great mix of lasers and strobe lights. The songs repeated more often than they should have, what with the variety of songs that exist in the world of dance music... There was a hilarious slideshow at one point about "types of gay friends" because this was the Day of the Friend in Peru. Then La Hora Loca was announced, and balloons and glitter and confetti rained down from the ceiling. Peruvians really know how to throw a party.

I bought myself a beer mixed with some types of juices and vodka, it was no better than decent but it was really cheap. :) Then a gay guy hanging out with us bought me a Fresa Colada, pretty tasty. I was only a tiny bit tipsy throughout the evening, but poor Andre got hammered and got lost at one point. I was desperately looking for him and had a PMS-induced cry when I couldn't find him after 10 minutes because I thought he got hate-crimed and someone might be driving away with him, getting farther every minute.... I was on the stage with a microphone in hand given to me by a concerned staff member, crying and ready to announce in Spanish that I needed everyone to help me look for my drunk friend when suddenly Andre called me and I found him outside on the street. In the taxi on the way to my place, I talked on the phone with his boyfriend, warning him that his lover was drunk as hell and might not find his way home easily. Andre was in the car, laughing and screaming I'M SO DRUNK CAROLINE OMG!! Poor guy had a wicked hangover the next day and had to leave work. His bf was pissed.

Saturday: Lima Gay Pride, Renzo's bday

On Saturday I woke up early for gay pride! I still had to get my giant banner printed, so I arrived at work early, helped sort out the disguises and costumes for the rest of the Inppares employees, and then headed out with Manuel (Enrique's twin) and a guy I don't know. We went to a small, indistinct store on a busy street that apparently Inppares had used for printing everything because they had examples of Inppares's previous buttons, posters, and banners hanging up. It took forever to print the posters and the woman designing them didn't seem to know how to use a computer. While they were printing, Manuel and I went to eat because I was starving.

Manuel showed me a nice, cheap restaurant. I ate papas a la huancaina for the first time, potatoes in a special egg sauce, and sadly I did not like it very much. :( Everyone here loves it, so they all suggested that it was prepared poorly. I will give it another try in a different restaurant later. I also ate fried chicken, which is not breaded here and is a lot better than American fried chicken.

This is the front of the parade line-up where we waited. From this huge bus, the female mayor of Lima cut the rainbow ribbon to start the parade. :D She gave a speech about how everyone should have the same rights and freedom from violence. Hell yeah.

They were a lot of pretty Peruvian drag queens at Pride, so I got my picture taken with several.

Some of the great posters on the floats. "I support a law for equality of lesbians, gays, trans people and bisexuals."

Amnesty International was there, with a  lot of non-Peruvians.

Their signs say "Demand dignity."

This organization is for parents of LGBTQ kids, and the sign says that they want their LGBTQ children to have the same rights as their straight children.

These drag queens were dressed like indigenous women. :D They danced around in the traditional Andean style with people playing traditional folk music.

Lots of drag pride. :D

I really loved this woman's hat! So Peruvian and so full of pride.

The Inppares team was dressed up like the Peruvian military and we had t-shirts that said, "Squadron Equally Different" in Spanish, with a rainbow flag and a Peruvian flag. I freakin love these tshirts (or polos, as they say in Peru) because not only is the design cool, but the fabric is insanely comfortable, made from Peruvian cotton.

Andre and me with his really gay flag. :) I wore a fish hat because it made me laugh so much. It's eating my head.

This bus is pretty funny. It says "Avenida Cabritud" which is basically "Faggotry Avenue." They also have Diversity Street and various other cute phrases.

Do you have any idea how cool it is to select (almost at random) a reproductive health clinic in Lima, Peru, read about them and see they do things you like, realize they are going to accept your internship request without many questions, and then arrive and find out they are doing exactly what you would do if you had a team of professionals, a ton of money, and lots of time? That's what this picture reminds me of. I love this place.

Throughout the march, I waved at everyone until my hand hurt. We only got two middle-fingers from hateful people, a few negative headshakes, tons of photos taken of us, and lots of people reading my sign. See the end for what it said and what it means. Lots of people waved at me and cheered, honking their horns, laughing because I had a fish on my head or because of all the men dressed as women. The thing was, there were a lot of different kinds of people in this march. For example, this picture has a family of young blonde kids. 

This animal rights group was cool: their sign says "Against all kinds of discrimination, racism= specism= sexism=homophobia".

After the march, there was a big concert with lots of drag queens and as-gay-as-possible presenters and songs. One of them was singing something like, "Why do you care what I do with my conchita (vagina)?" in a cutesy voice and everyone was laughing. Occasionally condoms and polos were tossed into the crowd.

While this was going on, I raced to a nearby street shop to buy some permanent markers for my project. We had neglected to get them before, but everything worked out all right (as a lot of things have tended to do here, interestingly enough). I shelled out a fair amount ( 15 soles, aka the same price I paid for a bus ticket to Ica, aka $4.50 or so) for 6 or 7 pretty markers in different colors, then ran back to the park where the marchers were collected, watching the concert and milling around admiring other people's signs and costumes.

I opened up the banner I had been carrying and started yelling to everyone to come express themselves against hate crimes, share their experiences with homophobia, and write what they wanted the government to do about hate crimes. Juan Pedro helped me holler. The sign says, "Queremos vivir en paz, ni un crimen de odio mas" which means "We want to live in peace, not even one more hate crime!" In Spanish, it rhymes. :D MY IDEA.

Lots of diverse people signed my banner!! 

The finished product. I was so proud, and still am. Click for the larger version. The next day at work, I typed up four pages of all the messages written on the banner. Some of them are very inspiring. About 20 people wrote "No a la homofobia!" and "Somos diversos!" But several wrote stories from their personal life, one wrote, "I could be your son, don't hate me." and still others wrote about how proud they were, how they love themselves, and how they will be free whether you like it or not. Peru is freakin awesome.

Me with two gay men dressed in outfits from Iquitos (the jungle in the north), and they said they were from Iquitos so I believe them.

And finally, me with some really fierce drag queens. Awesome! 

After that, I helped Victor take the banners and disguises and supplies back to Inppares and trudged home, exhausted but so happy. How many people get to say that their job includes marching in a gay pride in a homophobic country? 

I shouldn't say that Peru is necessarily homophobic, because they didn't choose to be that way. It was just the default brought by Catholicism, and I could see it in hundreds of Peruvians' eyes as we marched by: they are very curious to know more about gay people and why they are so stigmatized. That gave me so much hope. All they need is more information and some more exposure to the idea that gay people aren't out to get them, aren't sick in the head, and are generally just regular people who love regular people. And sometimes they like glitter and glowsticks. I believe Peru will be decently free of homophobic violence in the foreseeable future.

After pride, I went out with Renzo to get his haircut because it was his birthday, and then we ate some cheap food.

I ordered fried chicken again, and got a tasty veggie appetizer.

Happy birthday! He then had a party that was really noisy until 4am and his friends used up my toilet paper but whatevz. Gotta live sometime. :)

Amiguitos en el acensor.