Comments on: Maids Still Banned from Swimming at Beaches? Sadly, Yes [Featured]

By: Comunista 34

Comunista 34 — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 23:03:07 +0000

Racista de mierda, fascista, nazi.

By: Christian M

Christian M — Tue, 11 May 2010 17:49:02 +0000

I don’t agree with Erica AT ALL. He comments are based purely of segregation contingent on a racial demographic. I think she is carrying some type of hate towards people from her own country and should really not be stereotyping because this is how it all starts…..what’s next? Glad you are not running for office Erica, you would definitely not get my vote for being a radical idealist! :O)

By: emperatriz

emperatriz — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 23:59:38 +0000

I agree with Erica!!

By: Julioc

Julioc — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 21:47:22 +0000

Look what happen to Ancon and Pucusana when we let dirty people on the beach. We need these laws and rules or we will have no beach left.

By: Carlos

Carlos — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 21:22:43 +0000

There are people that do take advantage of the situation and truly discriminate on the basis of race, others have genuine reasons like sanitation, that is a very real reason to a lot of us. I do not see why this point could be discriminative. I think this is a valid concern. On the other hand the ones that are found discriminating should be fine, like in the dancing places or schools.

By: Susan

Susan — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 20:23:28 +0000

I understand what Erica is saying, people have this idea that the the andean people are dirty and it is hard to not agree because I have seen it with my own eyes and it sad to say it but sometimes is true.

Barbara I am sorry but bad habits die hard girl, and even when they’ve come to Lima and their families teach them it takes a while before they get use to been clean, because like Erica said they have not been race in that way. Have any of you ever been in the highlands? they do not worry about these things of sanitation very much, a lot of people live in caves or huts in the middle of the dirt.

This one is not going away very soon because everyday in Peru we are going to have new andean people that comes to the capital and that needs to be taught the basics. Please It is the reality of the country. I like the idea Erica posses, why not implement a program ‘to help them and teach them these things if they do not know them already’ That would be a good way to get rid of this situation, people won’t have more excuses to allow them in the beach and the discrimination will stop.

By: Mark

Mark — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 19:28:24 +0000

Hello Erica,
I can see that it is hard for many people in this place to face the reality that we have been living in Peru. Yes, some people may be discriminative towards the workers in Peru but I can CLEARLY see Erica is not one of those people. All that Erica is doing is explaining how it got all started. No Jessica, there is not lumping of nothing but hopefully there a bunch of more people that thinks like Erica and that have a genuine reason to explain why this is happening and why it needs to stop. I have children and as a father I would not want them to get sick. I do not care who goes or uses the places I do as long as they are clean. We all fear for the health of our kids. So stop been such a hypocrites!

By: Daniel

Daniel — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 18:07:48 +0000

Erica debe ser la nieta de Hitler. Pobrecita. No queremos gente así en este país, en buena hora se largó y ojalá que nunca vuelva.

By: Jessica

Jessica — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 10:10:51 +0000

Erica,
While you may feel that you are not racist, your comments and the assumptions that they are based on are. Basically you are lumping together a group of people and saying that they all act the same way. While your observations may be contain some truth, it is wrong and ridiculous to impose laws on one class of people based on those kinds of arguments. Men in the South (US) used very similar arguments to segregate blacks. “They are unsanitary, though they are usually good cooks, porters, and maids. Negroes are dirty and live in dirty places. They have an odor…”

By: Erica

Erica — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 08:04:56 +0000

Pepelvivo insulting others on the web only personifies ‘your’ ignorance.

Maids and Nannies are positions that are fill by the Andean people. Andean people have a bad reputation of hygiene even when they have worked for you and lived in your household etc, they are just learning how to be clean, because it takes time. I know of the situation because my sweet Mom would tried to teach them constantly and still they would forget…. I would not give further detail.

I have great respect for the Andean people, they truly enrich our country preserving the beautiful traditions from any part of the country they could come. I also understand that it might seem discriminative not to let them use the beach but I know it is because of the problem they have with the lack of hygiene and they feel it is dangerous for everyone.

It would be real nice if Peru could help to educate everyone on this matter, that way this situation of the Maids not been allow in the beach can end.

Many Maids in Peru come to the capital with no knowledge at all of anything! And they have nobody to teach them, sometimes they only come with what they have on and a child that is it. My mother would help them to learn these things of hygiene but it took time sometimes years, it was almost like teaching a child, they would forget because they are not use to, they were not raised this way!

Everybody can stay and argue all they want, hopefully in a civilize manner but, the truth is that until everybody is inform of the situation and every single person that comes to the capital for these jobs is not provided with some form of educational material “every time they come” the bad reputation that the workers in these sector have will not cease and they will not be permitted in the beach.

Best Regards,
Erica

By: Barbara

Barbara — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 02:52:04 +0000

I know that women in the sierra hike up their polleras to urinate and defecate in the wild, but I have yet to see any woman do this in Lima since I began visiting Peru in 1995. People learn quickly when the migrate from the sierra to the city (including Cusco), and most maids in Lima have lived in Lima for a while and have their family members to guide them.

Thus I can’t buy this “all Andean women in Lima are uncivilized savages” argument. It is paranoid and irrational.

By: pepeelvivo

pepeelvivo — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 16:24:30 +0000

Erica. I calle-it plain absurd racist-paranoia and ignorance to try and validate discrimination with your colorful arguments.

Do Asia beach maids all wear “thick beautiful polleras”? NOT.

They wear nicely ironed-tidy maid uniforms. I doubt any of them would raise their skirts to pee-or-pooh in the already poluted beaches of Asia. By the way, is a well know fact that all of Lima’s crap washes-up along the shores of your beaches in the “sur” from Villa on…

My real question is, why would anyone in their right-mind hire a house maid they deem unsanitary to cook, clean and watch after their children?? Mucho Loco-Mal-de-la-Cabeza, no?

More so, did you know people still go to the bathroom after 5 pm, when it is allowed for maids to enter your “pristine” OCEAN? What is to say that maids “go” when you are not watching. Maybe they should pass a by-law in Asia that makes maids wear diapers, with a padlock only their bosses can open. Of course, after 5 p.m.

By: Barbara

Barbara — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 00:24:31 +0000

Is Erica saying that maids are not allowed to wear bathing suits and swim in the OCEAN at Asia beach because they are Andean and are therefore “dirty”? That they will contaminate the water and will transmit diseases to the nonAndean people swimming there?

I cannot tell from her post if she is responding to the discrimination at Asia beach or if she is defending general attitudes towards maids from the Andes.

By: Erica Bazalar-Oaks

Erica Bazalar-Oaks — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 18:05:45 +0000

It is not discrimination that goes on in Peru with the Maids. As a Peruvian woman that grew up in Peru I can tell you it is not that. The Lack of sanitary resources on the Andean People that comes to the capital is well known. People is afraid to contract illnesses, that is all. Although I must say I know of Maids been very clean, even cleaner than the ones that employed them, all of these mentioned is the reality of Peru in this area.

A considerable amount of people that comes from outside the capital and their only choice is to become Maids due to lack of education were “polleras”, these are thick skirts with beautiful colors with no undergarments, they just do it anywhere and continue their doings like nothing. Therefore they have a bad smell that is characteristic of lack of sanitation, and the bad reputation of carrying illnesses.

So you can see now that is not discrimination of skin color, it is just the lack of consideration to the Andean people in not teaching them these things to help them make their transition into the urban areas….I hope this helps.

By: Barbara

Barbara — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 14:27:37 +0000

Thanks for featuring my story on your site, Stuart. The issue received a lot of attention two years ago, but since then, nothing’s been done to address the discrimination that still persists.

Maybe the “Viejas de la Molina” comics could do a spoof on Asia!