I'm not late, I'm on Peruvian Time.

Some of our good family friends from Maine, the Tinkles, were late for everything. It was such a common event that we gave their time of arrival a specific name: "Tinkle Time." They would come late to dinners, to meetings, and even to events at their own house.

I thought I was done with Tinkle Time once we moved to Minnesota, but instead I have found that here in Perú, time is a even more of a suggestion than for the Tinkles. Professors begin class 15 minutes after the scheduled time. Even better, the professors don't even enter the room until 10 minutes after class began. Students are free to enter the classroom until 20 or even 30 minutes after class began.

I had a fieldwork trip for my ecotourism course for which our professor made a point to remind us to be punctual. A few seconds, the professor clarified that "punctual" meant at the latest 15 minutes late. On the day of the field trip, the professor didn't even show up until 10 minutes after the designated time.

The sense of time here is just a microcosm of the attitude that pervades Peruvian life. Things are more relaxed - you are hard pressed to find people walking quickly down the streets, even in the business district of San Isidro. Although Lima is 8 million people, approximately the size of New York City, people don't rush to appointments or plan activities back-to-back. Students pass hours just sitting with friends on campus. Businesspeople walk slowly down the street to meetings. The only place you really feel the sense of rush is driving - with the insane level of traffic on the streets, drivers are impatient to go.

This slow sense of time also creeps into a larger attitude about life. I don't think I've lived in Perú long enough to categorize that attitude of Peruvians, but I can tell you what I have noticed about the USA. The American viewpoint stresses achievement, doing, accomplishing. You should be involved in activities and pushing ahead in your work. We value the sense of satisfaction when you accomplish something, when you finish, or when you meet a goal. At Madison, I myself take courses, work one or two jobs, belong to multiple organizations, and live an active social life. I feel much more accomplished, comfortable and satisfied when I have things to do, places to go, and people to see.

The relaxed pace of life in Lima has been a great learning experience for me - how do you slow down your life, and when you do, what are the things that you really value? In the United States, I work to have everything that I want - relationships, studies, involvement in the community, satisfaction and accomplishment, art. In Lima, with the slower life pace, I have to choose which of these I really want. Rather than cramming everything that I want into a day, I am forced to elect which values I want to focus on most.

Living in Perú has made me realize that I don't like the Peruvian concept of time very much. I crave the sense of purpose and accomplishment that I had in the States. I like to do and go. I enjoy the sense of being busy. But living here has been a great experiment for me in the art of slowing down. I've even started to pick up the sense of time here in Perú. Here it is, 2:01 on a Monday afternoon, and I've got a 2:00 course. But it's ok. I'm not late, I'm on Peruvian Time.