Latin America Picks Obama in a Landslide!

There is a lot of buzz here about the elections in the U.S. Almost every foreigner we've met and most Peruvians have asked who we voted for...and they are all, to a person, for Obama.

I asked my host family why and they said that he represents change. They are hoping he will restore diplomacy and avoid wars. The economic wellfare of the U.S. definitely affects the economic wellfare of the Peruvians.

In fact, their money (el nueva sol or soles) is directly tied to the dollar. At the ATM's here, you can choose to receive dollars or soles and most established places take dollars. The exceptions are street vendors and taxis.

We were watching CNN this morning before class and it showed that 29% of Latin America support Obama while only 9% support McCain. 34% are undecided and the rest don't care.

There's another reason they like Obama: he looks more like them. One of my teachers reminded me that most of the world is brown, not white. There is a racism that exists in Peru between the lighter skin people of pure Spanish origin and the mestizos (or mixed Spanish and Incan) and the pure Incas. The lighter your skin, the better off you are.

The same teacher asked me what Americans thought about Peruvians. "Well," I said, "We know about Machu Picchu and we know that Lima is the capital. Pretty much we think you're Mexicans who live in Peru." She had a good laugh at that and told a story how one of her students asked her why she couldn't find any tequila in Peru.