Graffiti

I just finished reading, ¨The Monkey´s Paw,¨ the memoirs of independent journalist, Robin Kirk, who lived in Perú in the 80´s and then again in the 90´s and was able to witness the rise, dominance and eventual fall of the Sendero Luminoso, the Peruvian communist terrorist group known as the Shining Path.

While I am not a big fan of Kirk´s writing (her passages come off as incongruent, bias and ignorant making her an unlikeable character in her own stories) I still managed to read the book in record time. I was enthralled by the stories of the Sendero Luminoso, whose name comes from a speech given in the 1920´s by the founder of the original Peruvian Communist Party, José Carlos Mariátegui. He said, ¨El Marxismo-Leninismo abrirá el sendero luminoso hacia la revolución.¨[Marxisom-Leninism will open the shining path to revolution]... and so the Shining Path adopted their name.

In the 1980´s, the Sendero Luminoso believed that the only way to change Perú was not through drawn out reform but immediate revolution. They needed to destroy everything to rebuild. Bombings, power outages and murders were the Sendero Luminoso´s way of evening out the playing board to create a country without stratification. Still, they ended up killing many of the poor (anyone who would not join their efforts) for whom they were supposedly fighting. The Sendero Luminoso eventually launched a civil war against Perú´s military and police forces and unthinkable atrocities - kidnappings, rape, murder, torture - became everyday happenings in Perú. In her book, Kirk describes scenes of headless corpses lying on the side of the road that, in my mind, conjure up images of Iraq ... whether the murders were committed by the terrorists or the government is anyone´s guess.

It wasn´t until 1992 when Perú´s then president, El Chinito Alberto Fujimori, granted the military nearly limitless power to arrest any suspected insurgents (on April 7, 2009 Fujimori was convicted of human right violations in relation to his fight against the Sendero Luminoso and was sentenced to 25 years in prison). In Peruvian terms, people were ¨disappeared.¨ With basically no rights, according to Kirk, suspected terrorists (guilty or otherwise) were picked up on the streets, thrown into the trunks of police cars, taken to remote destinations and murdered... sometimes with sticks of dynamite in their laps. Despite the morally wrong measures taken by the government, the plan worked. After nearly fifteen years, the Sendero Luminoso all but died out completely. Currently, those on both sides of the war have been granted amnesty. Perú wishes to wipe the slate clean and move forward.


A few weeks before I began reading ¨The Monkey´s Paw¨ new graffiti appeared on a wall that I pass everyday on my way to the city´s center:


From what I could make out the wall says, ¨Viva la lucha del pueblo...¨[Long live the struggle of the people...] There is also a bit at the end that I was stupidly trying to read as ¨a ma 20 nico.¨ The nature of the sentence and the fact that it was written in red made me wonder if it had any ties to Perú´s old terrorist group. Wanting to know what the end of the sentence meant I took the photo to my Spanish teacher, Carlos. Not showing him the rest of the sentence I asked him what ¨a ma 20 nico¨ meant. ¨Nothing,¨ was his response so I showed him the picture. ¨Ah,¨ he said, ¨Viva la lucha del pueblo amazonico.¨ Basically meaning, ¨Long live the struggle of the amazon people.¨ A statement that is in regards to current events and atrocities occurring in the north. I replied with an, ¨Oh... I was afraid that it might be in relation to....¨ at this I paused as my brain searched for the Spanish term for the Shining Path. Carlos finished my sentence with, ¨Terrorists?¨ ¨Exactly.¨ ¨Don´t worry,¨ Carlos said, ¨there are no terrorists here now.¨


It´s hard to believe how recently the Sendero Luminoso were prominent in Perú and I desperately want to ask people about their experiences. As I walk down the street and look at people I wonder what kind of atrocities they have seen, what they have experienced, and the fear that they must know. Knowing it´s a very controversial topic I haven´t asked Iris and Victor about it... although due to their background, moving from poverty to the elite, I can imagine that they could have easily been a target for both the terrorists and the government, not to mention that Iris was pregnant with both of her children during the terrorist´s fall. Due to my close relationship with Carlos and the fact that we were already talking in sorts about Perú´s history, I felt comfortable enough to ask him about his experiences and just hoped that he didn´t mind. He basically said it was a very scary time. He remembers bullets flying through Huancayo, hearing bombs explode and being without electricity. While he was just a child (he is now 32) when the civil war began, he was a teenager toward the end of the war. He mentioned that he and his family were nervous that he would be forced to join the army. He ended the conversation talking about the fall of the Sendero Luminoso, saying ¨We are all very sad about the innocent who were disappeared but at the same time we are happy that the terrorists are gone... It is a very difficult topic.¨ And so I left it at that, not wanting to dig in any deeper than what he felt comfortable with.


On my walk home that day after class I noticed that the graffiti I asked Carlos about was also written on another wall but this time more clearly:

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So after reading ¨The Monkey´s Paw,¨ and learning only a sliver more about Perú´s sad past, I´ve decided to move on to a more cheery book, ¨Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim¨ by David Sedaris. That is how my reading schedule works down here. I switch between informative books and fun, make me laugh out loud books. It seems as though I´m running out of the latter so if you have any recommendations, I would appreciate it... if you were to send me a used book I would be in love with you forever and ever. I promise. Other books associated with my life in Peru include:

Read Before I Got Here

¨Gringo¨ - Chesa Boudin - This book was recommended to me by a random person at the State Street Borders after he saw me walking around with a Perú travel book. I definitely recommend this book to anyone traveling to South America. Chesa Boudin writes about his many travels to various South American countries over a decade or so and his interactions in their political climates.

¨Banker to the Poor¨- Muhammad Yunnus

Read Here

¨Naked¨- David Sedaris - Any David Sedaris book is FABULOUS!

¨The Motorcycle Diaries¨- Ernesto ¨Che¨ Guevara - Classic

¨The History of Latin America¨- Marshall C. Eakin - This literally took me nearly two months to read.

¨The Monkey´s Paw¨- Robin Kirk

Still Have to Read

¨The End of Poverty¨- Jeffery Sachs - Sachs is villainized in ¨Gringo¨for his ideas for economic policy in South America so I´m curious to see who I agree with more, Boudin or Sachs.

¨Creating a World Without Poverty¨- Muhammad Yunus

¨Replicating Microfinance in the United States¨- Carr and Tong

¨Wild Swans¨- Jung Chang - I have owned this historical fiction book for nearly a year now. During that time it has been sitting on my nightstand (first in Chicago and now in Perú) and has contantly been bumped to the back on the ¨books to read¨line. I know it´s a classic but I just can´t seem to pick it up.

¨The Nasty Bits¨- Anthony Bourdain - This book is disappointingly more about the mysterious life of cooks and less about Anthony Bourdain´s travels but I definitely recommend it to anyone who has a dual interest in culinary and travel.

And to wrap up, I thought I´d show you a few more pictures of Huancayo graffiti, which is EVERYWHERE. While the majority of the graffiti is political (I´m constantly reading about Fujimori, current President García and even George Bush) I´ve decided to leave those pictures out and let you enjoy the more colorful works of art that can be found in my fine town.

Very typical. It reads, ¨Te Amo Carol. Eres el amor de mi vida.¨ [I love you Carol. You are the love of my life.] I think it might be mandatory to write the name of your love on a wall since at every turn you can find, ¨Te Amo _____¨


This wall is in the children´s playgound near my house and features words such as ¨Puto,¨ my favorate Spanish dirty word although this time it´s in the masculine form (even better!), and ¨Hip Hop.¨ You can pretty much go around Huancayo and play ¨Where´s Waldo¨ with the words ¨Hip Hop¨ because I promise you they´re incorporated into almost every graffiti design.


In white is a sheep (I think) with a halo (of course, why not) and below are the words ¨hip hop¨ and ¨rap.¨


I´m not exactly sure what this is but I love the colors blue and green. Notice the 3P written over the design? I have no clue what that means but it is everywhere.


I think I took this picture for the ¨SHSS¨ and squiddy spaceship looking thing at the bottom. Then later I saw the the angry man to the left and I have to say I enjoy him very much. Also note 3P is written by the spaceship squid.


More ¨3P¨ with the word ¨mixto¨ written next to it. The word ¨mixto¨ to me means the yummy chocolate and vanilla swirl soft serve ice cream you can buy on the streets. I´m not sure what it means here but believe me, if I were defacing property I would probably write about ice cream as well.


This piece of work is kinda awesome. I´m a big fan of the guy scratching. I also feel like this portion of the wall is kind of like the rosetta stone since it seems to be trying to decode what ¨3P¨ means.

Gotta love it when the artist incorporates english words like ¨forever¨ into their art.

Maybe a gang symbol? I have absolutely no clue but this can be found a lot of places... even on the side of my house. If anyone knows please fill me in.


I´d also like to believe that this is a gang symbol just because I don´t understand it and it turns up everywhere. I actually asked someone what this was. They said they weren´t sure. I presented my idea of it being a gang symbol and they agreed with me... but maybe just so that the crazy gringa would stop asking them questions.


I like this guy and his big white teeth... you really just don´t see enough teeth around here so I´m glad when someone draws them 1.) in full view and 2.) still fully entact in someone´s gums.


I think I took this picture for the various colors but it wasn´t until I got home and looked at my camera that I saw the guy painted in white and black to the right. I think his pants are riding a bit low and you can see his little bee-bun crack. Ah, it´s the surprises in life that make me happy...

... and the word ¨Borracha.¨ It means drunk and signifies, with it´s ¨a¨ ending, that it is referring to a woman. It is located between our front door and front gate. The first time I noticed it was the day after I went out with Faviola and her friends... hmmm, interesting. I swear I only had two drinks.... it´s definitely not worth calling me drunk over so I´m not sure what the deal is. Anyway, there´s a Borracha somewhere at Jirón Arequipa 1465 and I´m determined to find her.

This really is art. I love it... especially the little black bunny thing to the right. Anyway, the graffiti says, ¨Estamos en la Calle.¨ [We are in the Street.] What´s not to love about that!?! If I could, I would totally pick this up and take it home with me as a little souvenier. Do they sell smaller versions? Beautiful, beautiful Perú.