5 Quirky Traditions To Watch Out For On Your Peru Vacation
Random. Surprising. Frustrating. Strange.
If you've ever taken a Peru Vacation, one or all of these words will float into your mind sooner or later. If you were expecting to encounter life in the same form as back home, you'll be in for a shock. Why is Peru so different?
It could be thousands of years of civilizations steam-rollering over each other, each leaving their own mark on the population and its behaviors. Peru today is an anthropological melting pot with modern and colonial Spanish influence in towns and cities while in the countryside Inca and pre-Inca cultures dominate day-to-day life.
As a result of this cultural mega-mix you'll bear witness to some quirky, and often disturbing, practices on a Peru vacation. Here are 5 common ones to watch out for.
1. Two Bulls, a ladder and a cross on the roof
Something that is very common in the highlands is the placing of two ceramic bulls on the roof of the house. The roofs of traditional houses are covered with red clay tiles and as you wander the streets of cities like Cusco, Pisaq and Ollantaytambo look up and you will see many pairs of bulls sitting side by side.
The most traditional bulls come from Pukara on the altiplano between Cusco and Puno and two bulls side by side (male and female) are said to signify various things; they keep the house safe with a blessing to the "Apus" (the Inca mountain gods) and ensure wealth, health and unity of the occupants. The bulls may be combined with a ladder and a cross allowing an easy passage to heaven when the time comes. This is a curious mixture of Inca and Catholic symbology, but one that is typical of many things Peruvian.
2. Red plastic bags on sticks
As you drive through the Sacred Valley of the Incas near Cusco you will see lots of red plastic bags on the end a very long bamboo sticks projecting from houses. These are signs! They say, "We sell Chicha," a maize or corn based alcoholic drink which is very (and in some cases, a little too) popular in the countryside.
On Sundays you will not only see the red signs but the effects on the people drinking Chicha as they stagger around small towns and villages mumbling and being overly friendly or abusive to tourists depending on what sort of week they have had.
It is said that, as yeast is expensive, people spit into the brew to make it ferment. To add to the fun, it is said that in some parts of Peru and Bolivia a severed dead baby