Hot shot top knot

Okey, I just had my last meeting in Lima (I hope!). The meeting was held on the rooftop of a 10 stories high building on one of Limas most contaminated streets. Eventhough it was a saturday morning the traffic was unbearable, and the heat too. And it would have been unbearable even if I wasn´t hungover and had slept 2 1/2 hours. But somehow I managed to appear proper (thank god for buisinessuits) amongst all the politicians and reporters. I was even able to make some reasonable statements in the media. I´m gonna have to watch the news tonight, but I don´t think they´ll show me and my red eyes (thank god for sunglasses). Lovely decadense!!!!

I only have one photo from the political event witch I will publish soon enough. Regretfully I have no photos of me and my collegue grinding on the dancefloor from the night before.

So now an update. Many of you don´t have a clue of what it is that I´m actually doing here. Well, let´s start with the basics. I have a bachelors in statistics and an (unfinished) masters in human geography. My specialties are environmental health and politics from an epidemiological, demographical and geographic perspective. Does it make sense? Or does it just sound dry and geeky? Well, if it does you´ve probably understood it correctly. But I enjoy my job. The project I´m working on in Peru is to measure the health effects of air pollution. The conditions are very special here, partly because of the high levels of contamination but also because one of our studies is done in an andian city 3.800 meters above the sea level. My job has been to learn about the possiblities of obtaining healthdata and to teach (in spanish!!!) how to measure the health effects with these data. And yes, I DO actually enjoy my job. After this mornings lobbying I´m more or less finished for now and can take a couple of weeks vacation (going to Machu Pichu and Nasca).

In May-June I´m going to Chile to do a completely different study. There I will study political activity amongst youths these past 50 years. There´s a theory that when a country experiences an excess of young adults they also tend to have a higher level of political activity. This is explained by life cycle related behaviour. (blah, the guy beside me is farting!) But in most Latin American countries this trend is not so evident wich can be accounted to other factors, and in Chile Pinnochet was reining during most of the youth-bulge years and his dictatorship... well, you get the point. But there are as mentioned earlier some financing problems. Three days before my flight they informed me that I have to take a two day course before they can hand me over the $$$. Now, I know I was crushed about it but I just haven´t had time to fix it yet so... the story is to be continued!

Summer = Sweden = Weddings (he he, none of which are mine). And this fall I have plans on working in Nicaragua and Costa Rica with similar questions as here in Peru. But there is also a question of financing. So the story contines.

WAKE UP!

Ok, lets get to the juicy details. I´ve decided not to become a Latin American drugtraffiker (although I bought Miya a pair of earings with glassed in cocaleaves - they´re really nice. This is true! But I don´t know if they will cause problems in customs). My columbian boys are out of town and I don´t think I´ll wait for them. While they´re gone their Peruvian not-so-stable-or-reliable friend is trying to conquier me and he´s telling a whole bunch of stories back and forth which cause some tension. So I leave this behind. Basically I miss my friends and family at home, and the short and shallow substitutional relations here will have to do for now.

But some relations are quite interesting, may I add!? There is a lot of talk about politics now as the presidential elections will take place in less than two weeks. Basically there are two runner-uppers (from 24 candidates). The one is a right-wing woman with an exceptional rhetorical ability. She tries to be... with the people (folklig) but the people know better and most of my collegues who live in nice neighborhoods in big houses and drive nice cars will vote for her. Because her politics will be fruitful for them. The other runner upper is a left-wing militar with no previous political experience (apart from being chum with the Venezuelian president). He´s not very media active and he doesn´t drive any major propaganda on the streets. But the poor majority are hoping for him although they fear that it will be another Toledo-routine (the now governing president who was born poor, used this to win the ellections and once he got in power used the taxpayers money to cover up various family-miss-affairs).

And me, I try do understand the vast differences in classes but it becomes more and more evident that I can live in a cockroachhotel all I want, but I´m still a part of the second faze of collonianism. That´s why I am able to run around to fancy dinners and change hotels whenever I get fed up with the water running properly. I realize if I ever meet a lover here he would have to be from a fairly high socioeconomic class because the poor get a glazed look in their eyes when I say: of course we´ll take a cab (which can cost 1-3$ to cross town - keep in mind that crossing a town of 8.000.000 inhabitants can take a while). One guy had saved for over a week to invite me for an ice cream at the mall. ( Mall = developent, access, dreams, consumption ). And even most of the fairly well off are hoping for a visum. This inequality bothers me in ways I never thought it would and in ways that I´m ashamed of.

On this note I will go to bed and sleep some hours before going to a folcloric dance-performance at some fancy restaurant tonight with some collegues.