La Hora Latina, (Living on Latin Time)

"Punctuality Drive to Combat Tardiness."

"Peruvians, Set Your Watches"

(Click the first link above to read a Reuters article about a government program to combat tardiness, and the second link to listen to an NPR segment about the same program)


The NPR Program on this explained that it is normal for Peruvians to be an hour late for business meetings. It also said that it was common for the previous president of Peru to be two hours late for meetings. At the start of this campaign, there were bells and sirens and even a cannon that sounded at Noon. This was the signal to everyone to synchronize their watches and start a new era of punctuality and order and efficiency.

Right...

Here's a quote from the president of Peru:

"We must stop this horrible, pitiful, disastrous custom of failing to be punctual," he intoned in a speech, inveighing against the $5 billion in annual economic damage caused, he said, by being late."~Peruvian President,Alan Garcia,Reuters Article

The NPR reporter explained that most Peruvians ignored the whole thing and life went on with life as usual. A government program is rarely able to make any real changes to entrenched cultural norms. I guess if they started handing out tickets to late people and taxing them for lateness, they might cause some changes, but I'm sure voting out politicians who make dumb laws would be the most substantial change.

The Latino world has always seen time differently than European and Asian cultures. It's obvious that Peru has a larger problem with time than most Latino countries. In fact, the reporter explained that when Peruvians plan to meet someone, and actually want them to be on time, they ask that they arrive on "English Time".

The most common word for "now" in Spanish is "ahora". One of the literal translations of this word is "this same hour". Certainly, there are ways in Spanish you can say this "this very moment",("este mismo momento" is one), but anyone who has been in Spanish speaking countries would agree that time seems to slow down to a certain extent.

When I was in Costa Rica, I was always showing up for everything way too early. If I was 5 minutes early for school, sometimes I would have wait for someone to open the building. Church generally started about twenty minutes late. I finally embraced what expats in Costa Rica call "Tico Time". For once, my life was unhurried, and even if I was a little late, I knew no one would be offended. There was a new social contract I had never known before. You would let me be a little late, and I would not care if I had to wait for you. For a gringo, it felt like I was getting away with something. There was time to smell the roses, time to gossip and drink another cup of coffee. Time stretched out unhurriedly before me, unrolling and stretching out like the endless blue water on the black beach of Playa Samara. It felt good...

I know this isn't just limited to Costa Rica and Peru. Mexico has long has a reputation of being a country famous for "mañana", meaning whenever you ask when something will be done, they off-handedly say "mañana", which means "tomorrow" as an exact translation, but really means "whenever" (cuandoquiera). The times I have been to Mexico, I haven't seen this as bad as uptight gringos describe it, but I have experienced that same time warp I felt in Costa Rica where everything slows way down.

I do remember rolling up to the border one day during the World Cup. Everything ground to a screeching halt as we waited in lines at windows and could hear "Goooaaallll!!!" coming from crackling portable TVs behind the frosted glass windows at the customs offices. We sat around on benches in the stifling afternoon sun, lingered in queues, and fed pesos to the pop machines for Coca Light and Fontana Naranja refrescos, but eventually paid for our permits, got our visas and climbed back into the delicious air conditioning of our Ford Econoline vans.

My own opinion about the Latino concept of time is somewhere between cynicism and romance. I know the attitude about time comes from both good and bad sources. The fatalistic attitude that comes from the conquest of the New World by Spain, continued on through the oppression of the rich and powerful over the desperately poor. The names changed, even the faces of oppressors and crooked politicians looked less and less European, and more and more indigenous. Sometimes things go slow because no one believes they will get better, or sees no reason to pursue efficiency when it only seems to benefit those with more money.

The romantic side of Latin time is this: removing the oppression of time leads to a slower, friendlier world. Over and over, I remember back to my teacher in Costa Rica telling me that people are more important than goals. Time spent building relationships, lingering over another cafecito, another dance, another song with friends, just one more taco, just a little more time with those you love...

I don't care if the sense of Latino time is from an ancient sense of passive-aggressive fatalism, or the prioritizing of people before soulless efficiency. I have lived a long time in the fast-paced gringo world and I find myself wanting a slower world. I know the old saying "be careful what you wish for" is true, but I just wish we could have the relaxed pace of Latino America combine with some of the efficiency of Gringolandia.

It may take longer to get things done, but we could spend that time getting to know each other instead of enjoying a solitary,modern life where you never have to wait more than five minutes for a cup of coffee...

Juanito.