Alcohol

Alcohol

All right I’ve got a problem, and I’ll be the first one to admit it. I live in a town where drinking alcohol multiple times a day is practically unavoidable. Welcome to Peru. Trust me, I wish it wasn’t this way but there’s really nothing I can do about it.

Just say no, right?? Not that easy. When Peruvians offer you something, whether it is food or alcohol the worst thing you could possibly do is say no. Even if you say it nicely with an honest explanation of why you can’t or don’t want to you will horribly offend them. People go so far as to bring plastic baggies with them to dinner invitations because it is impossible to put the quantity of food served in one meal into your body in one sitting. Even though you finish with your plate half full, the host will insist on serving you seconds and the best option you have is to stuff the baggie and promise to take it home to eat later. (Yeah right, like you are actually going to do that).

When it comes to alcohol it’s not that easy. What are you going to do? Bring a Nalgene bottle and fill it up with beer, promising to take it home and drink by yourself later? Hmmm, I don’t think that will fly.

The alcohol works here is like this…. Beer is sold in crates called “cajas”. It’s your average milk crate but full of twelve, 650ml bottles of beer. That’s about 22 ounces or almost 2 beers. Peruvians take advantage of all types of social situations to grab a caja and share it with a group. The caja comes with two small glasses. One for drinking, and one for the spit cup. The group naturally forms into a circle with the caja and spit cup in the center. It all starts when someone cracks open the first bottle, pours themselves a glass and says “Salud” to the next in line. They drink away and pass the bottle the next person. When the glass is empty they pour the remaining foam into the spit cup and then hand it onto the next person. You’re able to serve your self as much or a little as you would like. BUT, if you’re a female, a man pours the glass for you. You can try your best to say “poquito, no mas!” (little bit, no more) but a poquito might mean a splash to you and a half glass to him. No big deal, its just a half glass right? Wrong! The bottle gets passed until empty, that’s when you move onto the next and the next and the next. Just when you think its all over and you can finally go home, someone slips out to buy another and you start over with caja #2.

It’s not just beer either. Wine is always used to toast to special events or occasions like birthdays. Even if you are passing the bottle at a cumpleanos, you’ll stop for a minute while everyone gets a shot glass sized wine cup and you’ll all have to Salud! Then there’s the hard alcohol. Everyone in my town makes this hot drink called “Calientito” (little hot thing). It’s a mixture of tropical fruit juices, sugar and some kind of strong alcohol. Naturally, people drink calientito at night in the streets when it’s cold out. It’s hot and full of alcohol so of course it’s going to warm you up. Right?? Not so much…

Today is Tuesday, to let you really grasp what its like here (and by the way, my town isn’t even considered to have drinking problems like other places in Peru) I’ll tell you a little bit about my last 2.5 days.
Sunday 10:00 AM: Participate in a parade in the Plaza with my Mom, Dad, and other people that work for the municipality. After the parade and national anthem, they had a toast with wine in the municipality building.

Sunday 3:00 PM: While walking in the street with my mom and brother, we find my dad and grandpa sitting with the Director of the high school in his new locotorio (its like a store where you can use pay phones). The three of them are sitting there drinking beer. Of course we get pulled in and are told to “sientense! sientense!” (sitdown). Within minutes I have the bottle and am allowed to pour for myself. Yes!…. Poquito! Oh no, before I can hand it on, the school director is literally yelling at me telling me I didn’t drink enough during my turn and to refill the glass and to fill it full. This continued the whole time and tried to drink only when he wasn’t paying attention. Well, six of us, 12 bottles and 3 hours later, the drunk director finally lets us leave.

Sunday 9:00 PM: Went to Sunday mass with my mom. On the way out of church, there was a group of people handing out small cups of calientito to everyone. My mom insists we need one to warm up.

Monday 4:00 PM: I’m in a meeting with a bunch of engineers, and other various people that work in the community. We’re planning a huge Agricultural and Artisan fair that starts tomorrow. In the middle of discussing the final details, a half of a caja arrives. No turning this one down either.

Monday 10:30 PM: Birthday party for the director of the health center. There were about 15 of us and we arrived with 1 caja. But before the party even started there were 4. At 12:30 we stopped drinking and dancing to have a toast with wine. Afterwards, we finished off what was left in the wine bottles by passing it around in the same fashion as the beer. Finally at 3:45 AM the party slowly came to an end and I was allowed to go home.

Tuesday 10:00 AM: Time for another Parade! This time it is to celebrate the fair that is starting tomorrow. I’m exhausted and hungover to say the least. An extremely bright sun shines as we march through the streets with a banner and marching band. At one point we stop in front of house and literally, in less than 5.2 seconds, a lady was placing a caja at our feet. Shit. My head is pounding to the tune of awful Peruvian music when a full glass gets placed in my hand. Shit. A man named “Casanova” pulls me out into the street to dance. Shit. Fast forward to the end of the parade and I rush into a store to grab a Powerade. By the time I get back there’s another caja. Shit. I can’t take this anymore. I denied every attempted pour in front of me. They looked at me as if I was the strangest person in the world for not wanting to drink beer in the middle of the street at 11 am. I told them I just couldn’t drink anymore. But really the only way I got out of it was that I promised to drink during the inauguration of the fair tomorrow. I just looked at my program for the fair. The inauguration starts at 10:30 AM.