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Maids Still Banned from Swimming at Peru Beaches? Sadly, Yes
Artist’s depiction of discriminatory laws at some Peruvian beaches that prohibit maids from swimming during daylight hours (until 7 p.m. at Asia beach) It sounds like a scene straight out of the Jim Crow era in the American South, but it’s happening today in coastal Peru: discriminatory laws in some exclusive seaside resorts prohibit maids (nearly all of whom are poor Andean and black women) from swimming on the beach during daylight hours. As Juan Arellano described in Global Voices Online in 2007, the beaches where this discrimination is practiced are located south of Lima, among them the fashionable resort town of Asia. Wealthy Limeños flock to beach houses in Asia during the brief summer months,…
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Pituco Summer
Bring on the inflatable breasts! It’s summertime in Lima It’s summer in Lima. It’s hot, there’s no air-conditioning, all the pitucos are at the beach, and the city street-sweepers are roasting in their masks and full-body jumpsuits. I haven’t mentioned the pitucos before. I was going to get around to it. The word roughly means “snob,” but that doesn’t begin to cover it. In Peru a pituco (or pituca, if female) usually refers to a white person with money (some or a lot) who flaunts his or her status. I don’t categorize all financially stable/rich Limenos as pitucos. My criteria are stricter: You have to be a conspicuous status-seeker,…
