
Struggle
strug·gle -Verb
1. Make forceful or violent efforts to get free of restraint or constriction.
2. To be strenuously engaged with a problem, task, or undertaking:
It’s funny that the wisest words regarding the challenges of moving to Peru came from one of my most simple minded friends. “You didn’t think moving to a third-world country was going to be easy?” In that moment I read his words it snapped me out of my self-pity and I was able to pull myself up and press on for just one more day.
To say it has been a challenge could be a debatable understatement. We have been assaulted, robbed, had a large sum of money not refunded under falsified reasons, I was hired, then fired without reason a month later, found an new apartment then told we had to leave to make room for the owners brother in thirty days, the list is long and to be honest not that interesting. I’ve lost count of the times Claire and I have both yelled,” enough” and discussed the pull out options, but for some reason we are still here. We are still pressing onward.
The current challenge is for me to build a client base in a struggling world economy within a city that depends 96% of its revenue on tourism. It is fact that this is the slowest time of year for the masses of visiting adventure seekers as the rain pours down, the people become sparse and infrequent. You can see the desperation in everyone’s eyes as you walk through the crowds of locals. The shoe shine boy, the adventure tour salespeople , the countless trinket booths, all have the look of a starving tiger trying to find its next meal. The city is vibrating with desperation and I find myself right along with them.
Since Claire landed a job offer and a couple other interviews we decided to give modern world business marketing a shot for 2 months if she can keep us fed and sheltered. The opening I saw to break in and get those tourist dollars is born from the way Cusquenans do business as a whole; one deal at a time, looking straight down at the potential dollars in front of them. The other tattoo studios here mostly just have a Facebook page, little information, and in general don’t see it as important. I listened to my clients in the month I worked for a studio in Cusco and they all said the same thing: that there is little to no reliable, trustworthy information on where to get a tattoo and what they could find didn’t look appealing. They finally resorted to what the locals rely on, the people seeking them out on foot entering the shops allowing for the “big sell” to take place by the artists in the studio.
I knew this hole in the market existed from my own searches on Google and trying to find a decent shop to work at. It was like pulling teeth. What comes up is a shop or two websites that are still under construction, and probably always will be, a Facebook page or two and then multiple year-old forum inquiries of where to get a good tattoo in Cusco, on places like Trip Advisor and the Lonely Planet. Some from 2006! I held this ace up my sleeve as I could feel the tension between the owner and I growing and knew it wasn’t going to work out. He was not an artist, didn’t understand or appreciate good art and just wanted to own a shop for status amongst local thugs, to impress the ladies and get laid. The final showdown came from me doing art in an art studio. I’ll say that again. I was doing ART in an ART studio. I left a painting I was working on in the endless hours of dead time out to dry along with 2 brushes and a role of masking tape. Once I was forbidden to make art in an ART STUDIO, I knew it was coming to an end.
I now find myself with many hours to either go crazy or press forward. I began attacking the internet and forums trying to make information and photos available to a traveler searching on line as I know this is how modern business is conducted. It’s harder than it sounds. Getting my name and website to come up on Google search posed a far bigger challenge than I thought. Claire and I have had to take on line tutorials on SEO, (search engine optimization), as well as learn Google analytics and the services provided through Webmaster tools. By the way, this stuff is not my thing. In the immortal words of a dear friend and amazing artist, “I just want to make art man!” I now have, along with my personal Facebook account, a Facebook fan page, Tumblr blog, updated website, Pintrest page, and Flikr account, everything linked to each other and probably driving all my Facebook friends’ nuts with daily updates and announcements. Hate the game not the player guys! This is how you get on page one and once I get a traveler to click on me It’s a done deal considering the quality of tattooing and service that’s out here.
This has been my struggle, to make it out here and not go insane in the down time.
Struggle
strug•gle -Verb
1. Make forceful or violent efforts to get free of restraint or constriction.
2. To be strenuously engaged with a problem, task, or undertaking:
Today as I walked to the city market in the center of San Pedro I passed the usual suspects of Cusquenans trying to survive, when the word struggle came to me as a topic to write about. I first past the 6 year old boy ducking out of the rain under the overhang of a bank’s roof, fast asleep in front of his chewing gum selection, probably exhausted from being up till the clubs and bars closed the night before to make a sale or two to bring home to his family. Every penny counts and if you’re not in the position of potential income you’re taking up valuable resources to keep you healthy and warm. Children are no exception.
I next pass the severely mentally disabled blind man that along with his father have a loud speaker and boom box hooked up to motorcycle battery with a microphone and cord trailing to the young man’s face as he sings Peruvian classics through the blown out speaker. Both men hope for the same thing, a bit of compassion and kindness thrown into their hat as we all pass by, again just enough money to put some food on the table and possibly some wood on a fire.
Then I pass the cathedral where the elderly men and woman kneel and bob back and forth in prayer to a God that certainly either mustn’t be listening or can’t or won’t help them with their cups outstretched to us, the passerby’s.
As I walked home with my vegetables for tonight’s hot meal with Claire, I took a moment to think about the word struggle and how different it can be for different people. I was tempted to rebuke my own self concerns and needs in the face of others who’s struggle is to survive just one more day, but stopped myself with the understanding that we all have our own personal struggles, and we can all look down a few rungs on the ladder to somebody less fortunate and who would happily trade their struggle for ours. It’s not that any of us are better or worse, it’s that our struggles are different and although its best and responsible to at times appreciate our own struggle, it’s also quite human to become blinded by them. This in itself is its own struggle, remaining open to other peoples’ perspectives. In the end we have one thing inherently in common: The pursuit of happiness. And this pursuit comes in different ways and shapes, but the end desired result is the same. We want to be, and see others we love, HAPPY.
I miss you all so much.
Jeff