Peruvian Humor

My new host family finds me hilarious. I’m quite used to having Peruvians laugh at me, but for once it’s not because I am making a mockery of their language ie instead of saying what I shame! I say what a penis! Highly amusing mistake, I know. But these errors had the locals saying ’what is this gringo doing here?’ and unfortunately at times, had me thinking the same thing.
But now with my new found comic audience, I am celebrating my master over the Spanish language (in the simplest way possible). I will give you a few examples now of my new found comic genius.

My host mom is very concerned as to whether or not I will like the food she has prepared. Despite my constant reassurance that not only is she a great cook, but that I am not a picky eater and very easy to please, she asks me after every meal if it pleased me. Yesterday she asked me if I liked the meal she had prepared. I told her it was terrible and I didn’t like any of it. The whole family saw that my plate was licked clean of even a grain of rice, and exploded with laughter. Have you ever heard anything so funny in all your life? The gringo said she didn’t like the food, but clearly she did because she ate everything!

Another side splitting example of my new knack for whit was when I came home from the beach today. I have been trying to soak up every last bit of sun before Lima reverts back to desolate months of endless gray. My host mom commented on how tan I looked. I agreed that I am quite tan for my naturally pasty self. But I told her to wait until July, where I will be white like a ghost. My host brothers started a minute strait of knee slapping, belly jiggling laughter, stopping only to breathlessly repeat the punch line “blanca como una fantasma!” I had no idea nursery rhyme metaphors translated into standup comedy.

I think I am just now understanding the full magnitude for Peru’s meek sense of humor. I don’t think I have ever laughed more in my life than I did my 3 months of training. I do remember feeling my first month at site that I missed laughing (and basically any sense of relaxed happiness) terribly. But I never made the simple jump to conclusion that, from my cultural perspective, Peruvians aren’t as funny as Americans. One thing us white people from the north agree is on, is that Latinos in general, don’t do sarcasm. And since Americans are arguably some of the most sarcastic people on the planet, there have been many a story-worthy misunderstanding between PCV’s and Peruvian associates.

And since these silly miscommunications are the anecdotes that make my blog worth reading and my Peace Corps service worth serving, I continue to roll with the punches. I may not understand why my family thinks the things I say are so funny (maybe they just think I have a silly accent) but I’m sure happy they get a kick out of me. That means that they like when I’m around. And feeling like I am wanted in the house is worth every embarrassing language slip up I have ever had.