Eye Contact

Eye Contact is such a seemingly simple concept. Well it used to seem that way in the United States. Here in Peru it has become far more complicated. When I was young and living in Cleveland I got used to making eye contact with most people and giving a pleasant smile, unless it was -10* and I wanted to run into the nearest building. When I went off to California for college I realized that eye contact with everyone and a nice smile was a distinctly Midwestern concept. Although it was strange to make eye contact with everyone I still found myself consistently doing it. Or at least looking around to see if there was someone I knew. The only time I actively didn’t make eye contact was when I was listening to music and was in my own music far far away from the real world. Once I came to Peru I realized just how complex the concept of eye contact could mean.

In America an innocent smile and some eye contact usually means “hello,” “nice to see you, “or some other form of casual greeting. Here in Peru on the other hand a girl making eye contact with a guy and giving an innocent saluting smile usually means “ I want to fuck you.” In the states it took slightly more work than an awkward half smile to convey that message.

This confusion over a simple glance saluting hello has caused many of the female Peace Corps females to adopt a habit of walking in the street with a “bitch face” to fend off suitors or so focused on where they are going that they loose sense of the actual faces around them. Don’t get me wrong in the states there was many a time I would be walking around completely unaware of my surroundings and people calling my name, but this was by accident never by design.

My lack of acknowledging my surrounding has cumulated to a ridiculous point. When I am walking around somewhere and getting harassed I purposefully don’t pay attention to the harassers or make any eye contact. Any form of communication will generally exacerbate the situation. In fact last weekend when I was in the capital city there was a group of fabulous men that worked outside of our hotel. They felt the compelling urge to aggressively catcall any time a girl walked by solita and generally make life quite uncomfortable. I got so used to ignoring the catcalls and not paying attention to any of my surroundings until I got into the hotel that when my friend threw a cracker at my head as a joke I didn’t even respond. I partially didn’t respond because I didn’t notice, partially because he was fake catcalling me in an effort to get me to notice he was throwing crackers at my head.

Luckily in my site I can get away with eye contact or an accidental smile without it meaning too much, although I do find that when I am talking to a man who is magically in love with me I have to look at the ground rather than his face. In fact, I have to actively pay attention to those around me when I am in site because heaven forbid I forget to say hello to someone. It can get aggressive having to say hello to everyone all the time. I have to admit shaking hands or a kiss on the cheek while trying to continue to go running is one of the more complicated experiences I have had greeting people.

I have this fear that when I return to the states my general confusion about the timing and action of eye contact will pose a minor problem. As in I will no longer be able to convey the correct moment with my eyes and on the streets everyone may think I want to kill them. When I was home for Christmas I found myself constantly misinterpreting eye contact, which created a communication uphill battle. But you never know maybe my complete inability to correctly interpret eye contact will somehow come in handy in the US, although I am not holding out much hope of that.