Before I receive comments about the title of this blog, let me give you my definition of "Gringo Asnaso". In Peru the term "gringo" is used for any foreigner, regardless of the country of origin. It is NOT a derogatory term, but rather an identifier of a foreigner, nothing more. Asnaso is Quechua for "stinkey", therefor Gringo Asnaso can be roughly translated to "stinky gringo".
Now why would I name my site "stinky gringo"? Well because it also happens to be a weird term of endearment that my wife uses to engender my affections when she is being ironic.
So there you have it. Besides, I like the sound of it. Who knows, it may become a line for products for us here in Tarapoto Peru.
Friday, August 15, 2014
A Gingo in Peru
I am an American gringo living in the Peruvian Amazon. A few years ago I left a successful career in the States in order to strike out and try to exist in a foreign community outside of my homeland. My travels took me to South America, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, Egypt and many points in between only to find that my expectations of the world were woefully inadequate to explain the great disjointed conception of the world that we North Americans live with in the conventionally accepted norm of US life. The rest of the world so much bigger and far more complex than we have been led to believe.
One of the first indications that I had regarding this departure from what is considered accepted reality in the US was when I first declared my interest in living in Peru to my inner circle. At that time two unrelated friends who I thought were pretty worldly said to me on separate occasions "Peru? You're going to live in Peru? Why do you want to live in Africa?" For me, that said it all. When relatively well educated Americans could be so ignorant about such basic geography it indicated to me that something was terribly wrong.
As a result I was determined to get outside of the US bubble that I had been living in for so long and try to get some perspective as to how the world really worked. Mind you, this was no small task for me. I, like many Americans, had spent much of my life thinking how lucky I was to have grown up in the USA with all of the advantages of a modern western society at my disposal, and truthfully, I was! What I didn't fully recognize was how isolated I was from the rest of the world. The vast majority of people on the planet had no frame of reference for what I took for granted.
Potable water, sanitary waste management and a host of fundamental niceties like tile floors, hot water and a clean, fuctional bathroom were well beyond so many families in the "undeveloped" world.
So this is my chronicle of life outside of that US bubble norm. Peru is my current resting place, it may not be my last, but for me, Latin America is where I will stay. Life here is a mix of what we gringos would call a well developed society and a hugely impoverished one. I aim to tackle issues both practical and financial, basic and complex, in an effort to expose the realities of a foreigner's experience in the Peruvian Amazon while the world's economy disintegrates. I hope you find it interesting.
One of the first indications that I had regarding this departure from what is considered accepted reality in the US was when I first declared my interest in living in Peru to my inner circle. At that time two unrelated friends who I thought were pretty worldly said to me on separate occasions "Peru? You're going to live in Peru? Why do you want to live in Africa?" For me, that said it all. When relatively well educated Americans could be so ignorant about such basic geography it indicated to me that something was terribly wrong.
As a result I was determined to get outside of the US bubble that I had been living in for so long and try to get some perspective as to how the world really worked. Mind you, this was no small task for me. I, like many Americans, had spent much of my life thinking how lucky I was to have grown up in the USA with all of the advantages of a modern western society at my disposal, and truthfully, I was! What I didn't fully recognize was how isolated I was from the rest of the world. The vast majority of people on the planet had no frame of reference for what I took for granted.
Potable water, sanitary waste management and a host of fundamental niceties like tile floors, hot water and a clean, fuctional bathroom were well beyond so many families in the "undeveloped" world.
So this is my chronicle of life outside of that US bubble norm. Peru is my current resting place, it may not be my last, but for me, Latin America is where I will stay. Life here is a mix of what we gringos would call a well developed society and a hugely impoverished one. I aim to tackle issues both practical and financial, basic and complex, in an effort to expose the realities of a foreigner's experience in the Peruvian Amazon while the world's economy disintegrates. I hope you find it interesting.
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