What’s life like in Peru? Frankly, it’s not that bad from where I’m sitting. Peru’s president made an announcement that he was going to lock down the entire country in twenty-four hours and commence a quarantine due to the coronavirus pandemic, and boy did he follow through. When he was met with resistance, he enacted martial law which put the government in control and created a curfew which is currently from 5am-6pm throughout the majority of Peru, with no one being allowed out on Sundays whatsoever. Thus far, the quarantine has gone from its initial two weeks to eight weeks with the only saving grace being the president stopped alternating days for when men and women can go out to buy essentials to only one family member per household instead.

At first, I’ll admit I was worried. I was used to a life abroad where you have to constantly watch your back and dealing with mafia and corrupt police was just a normal, everyday part of life. I thought it was going to end up with me bribing police, fighting off looters, and giving my dummy wallet to mafia proxies as I had done it all before and was ready to die for mine again.

Ironically, no one has looked for confrontation with me thus far. Why? Because I befriended the locals, regularly practiced my Spanish with them and their English with me, supported the small businesses, and took care of the strays just because. I am also big compared to Peruvians as I am 6’0 or 1.83 meters and 190lbs. or 86kg. This is deterrence defined as desperation is generally the cause of crime, but I make it harder for criminals to want to do wrong to me as a foreigner. From an outside perspective, I am seen as not only a foreigner who is kind to your people, your animals, and embraces your culture, but is also twice your size, covered in tattoos, and has defined cauliflower ears. Criminals always weigh if the juice is worth the squeeze and I made it so that my margins were worlds apart.

Overall, I spend my days learning Burmese and Spanish online due to the quarantine; have finished my M.Ed and am waiting for my degree conferral’s completion; and regularly workout in my apartment complex’s park or at home. What’s more, is I go to the local market, called Mercado de Wanchaq, regularly to try new local foods and drinks, practice my Spanish, and buy food to feed the stray dogs around Peru.

Financially, as well, I’m thriving. All of my reservations and purchases I made prior to the quarantine I was able to get a refund or travel voucher for, after outmaneuvering the companies who thought I didn’t understand legalities and finances, and I took all the free time I had to learn buying and selling stocks. I took some savings, my stimulus check, and my tax return and invested it through Robinhood and Fidelity. With all of my stocks combined, I have somewhere in the ballpark of 45k in current value and I honestly owe it to my parents and my work ethic, as they were the only ones who were there for me whenever I called and I’ve never been accurately known as a slacker. I have an infamously bad habit of looking for love in the wrong places but, at 28, I believe I am finally realizing my self-destructive habits and remedying them accordingly, with my high level of happiness and life success being reflective of this.