Wow! If there´s one question I´ve heard over and over again lately, it´s been ¨Why Peru?¨ followed up immediately by ¨Whatever in the world are you going to be doing there for three months?¨
Well . . . I am in Peru because a dear friend asked me if I would house-sit for him. Also, I love this country . . . the mountains are amazing, the people are wonderful, the living is inexpensive and the food is fresh and local. Peru is also a great place for healing. There is something about the land that I connected with the last time I was here, so I figured why not come back?
Besides, I´m always happy to have an opportunity to brush up on my Spanish. I like to immerse myself in a place that´s completely foreign and different than what I´m accustomed to. Peru is a place where you get to live very close to the land, far away from the bagged, tagged and sanitized for your protection attitude of the US. Most of all, I´m here to live in a rural environment where I will be far, far away from the lure of finding parties and other social engagements. Because, I suppose I could say ´no´to going out all the time with the groups of friends I´ve made in every single city across the USA, but I never do.
So, I´m here to ostracize myself a bit and to write and to be far, far away from distractions.
Why Peru?
There’s now an additional reason – you can be drunk at work!
Check it out:
————————
“LIMA (Reuters) – Peru’s top court has ruled that workers cannot be fired for being drunk on the job, a decision that was criticized by the government on Wednesday for setting a dangerous precedent.
The Constitutional Tribunal ordered that Pablo Cayo be given his job back as a janitor for the municipality of Chorrillos, which fired him for being intoxicated at work.
The firing was excessive because even though Cayo was drunk, he did not offend or hurt anybody, Fernando Calle, one of the justices, said on Wednesday.
Calle said the court would not revise its decision, despite complaints from the government.
“It’s not a good idea to relax rules at workplaces,” said Labor Minister Jorge Villasante.
Celso Becerra, the administrative chief of Chorrillos, a suburb of Lima, denounced the ruling.
“We’ve fired four workers for showing up drunk, and two of them were drivers,” he said. “How can we allow a drunk to work who might run somebody over?”
(Reporting by Marco Aquino; Writing by Terry Wade; Editing by Dana Ford)”