Trying to Travel Safe

In the last month there have been two rapes on the road into my town from the city. This is alarming for obvious reasons and because everyone knows who the rapists are and they are not in jail. In Peru the perpetrator cannot be held "without evidence" and it always takes longer to get physical evidence of a rape than it takes to charge the accused, so they walk around among us theoretically awaiting trial. Also, in order to get evidence that you have been raped in Peru you have to go to a particular clinic where a doctor examines you and fills out the right forms saying that you were raped. As I'm sure you can imagine, lots of women do not put themselves though this or cannot make it to the right clinic because it can be a challenge traveling to the city and then their rapists go free. In these two cases, the rapists are mototaxi drivers who work in between Rinconada, my town and La Union, the nearest market town that you have to pass though to get to the big city of Piura. These are guys who are from small towns in the area who everyone knows and who drive everyone's mothers, wives, daughters, and friends home at night so everyone is scared.

I do travel in the evenings between Piura and Rinconada, and many women from Rinconada do the same to get to and from work or university. I get home as late as 9 or 10 PM sometimes. I was talking to a friend who is a mototaxi driver and says that I should try to get back by 7 or 8 at the latest and that I should only ride with drivers who I know well. This makes good sense, but complicates getting home quite a bit as there are many, many drivers and everyone knows everyone else, but to be honest I'm still trying to remember names and who is related to whom. He and others also suggest that I travel with someone else but, this is hard too. Fortunately, my dear friend who just made it back to Peru from medical treatment in the US brought back pepper spray and gave me one. It seems smart to have even if rather alarming all the same.

In Peace Corps Training the cheeses down in Lima were against any kind of self-defense training and said that Peace Corps Washington holds the same position. Their argument was that they are afraid that we would get in to more danger by fighting back or being excessively aggressive after a training... so misguided at best. Anyway, I will be traveling earlier and probably spending more nights in Piura City so that when I have to do something in the evening I don’t have to travel back in the dark while I thank my lucky stars for the amazing self-defense and anti-violence training that I had in Brooklyn at The Center for Anti-Violence Education.