Lose-Lose Proposition

No member of my family could rightly be accused of being a neat-nick.  Each of us leaves an assortment of clothing, sporting equipment, toys, books and electronic equipment lying in situ every day.  I think this had everything to do with us not noticing the absence of a few small and expensive items over the last few weeks.

During a mad series of trips and visits, Krista flew to Lima for a conference and some interviews only to turn around 12 hours after her return for an arduous trek with brother Matt and daughter Isabel.  It wasn't until a week later that she noticed her digital recorder with hours of interviews still in it was missing.  We also appeared to be missing a USB camera card reader.  We assumed that the recorder had perhaps been lost in transit from Lima, but Krista then remembered having it in her hands in our house before leaving for the trek.  None of us wanted to suspect either of our house keepers or Flor, our 10 year old neighbor, but we realized it might be any of them.  Then I went to get an iPod to listen to while I jumped rope and I couldn't find it.  Then Isabel noticed her wallet had been emptied.  We were being picked clean.

It always feels like you've been punched in the stomach when a situation that seemed safe and secure takes a turn for the worse.  Being somewhere between pragmatic and meat-headed, I called both our empleadas and asked them point blank if they had taken anything from the house that wasn't theirs.  I also found Flor on the street and subjected her to the same line of questioning.  No shocker here, they each categorically denied any wrong doing.  I guess I would make a pretty pathetic detective.  There is a cultural acceptance of NOT accepting responsibility around here.  I am told that even if I were to find the stolen items in a person's room, they would continue to categorically deny that they had anything to do with it.  To make matters worse, we consider each of the suspects to be our friend and stood to undermine our relationships with all of them.

In a typically Peruvian turn of irony, we were called by Rosalia just 24 hours after accusing her of stealing our belongings to ask if we might become the Padrinos of her high school graduation.  Not knowing how to handle such conflicting circumstances I turned to our friend Jean Jacques for advice.  He advised that I not get confused and go to the graduation party and have a good time -- the two situations had nothing to do with each other.  So that evening we were treated to roast lamb and potatoes carried from Rosalia's home community, ParuParu, by her mom and dad.  Her mom, Catarina only speaks Quechua, so she sat quietly while we spoke with Alejandro, Rosalia's dad.  The food was simple but exceedingly fresh and delicious.  With full bellies we boarded a cab to the function hall.  The techno-cumbia music blared out of oversized speakers hung from the ceiling as we entered the room, and it never really stopped the entire time we were there.  You see, this graduation was much more "disco" than "pomp and circumstance."

The next day I went over to our friend Juan's house to give him a pair of bike shorts and pick up some gear that we had left with him.  His girlfriend is another one of the accused and we greeted each other stiffly.  As I was headed for the front door after the gear swap Juan asked where I was going -- it was lunch time.  I explained that I had already eaten and was going to head home.  "No you're not" he said, and I sat down for my second lunch of the day.  Both our empleadas complained about their inability to function under the extreme duress of being interrogated by us.  So for now anyway, we have kicked everybody out.   We have no help with the kids or the cooking, but on the bright side we haven't lost anymore stuff.

There is a stolen goods market called Baratillo every Saturday and I plan to go in search of the recorder in a few days.  I don't imagine digital recorders are big sellers, so I am hoping it still might be there when I arrive.  You never know what you are going to find in the Baratillo...

And in the mean time, we have lost our stuff, alienated our friends, and lost our help with the kids and cooking.  We certainly had a good run leading up to this unfortunate series of events.