If you’ve ever moved to another country or spent an extended period of time in one, I’m sure you can relate, culture shock is real. Though fascinating, it can be difficult to maneuver when it just isn’t what you’re used to.
I find the more time I spend here, the more things I notice. So up first, let’s talk about surviving the culture shock that is…appointments in Perú.
One of the biggest culture shocks I’ve experienced since moving to Perú, and still experience monthly, is the issue of appointments and reservations. Making Appointments in Perú seems to be pretty much nonexistent. How do you survive this culture shock if you come from the land of “Everything must be booked in advance?”
You plan ahead. And that’s what I’m here for. Let me, help you.
Appointments For Big Occasions
This was mentioned a little in our post about 11 Things I Wish I Knew Before Getting Married In Perú, but making appointments for big events, like getting married, was probably one of my first experiences with this culture shock.
We had so much paperwork to get and fill out at numerous locations, some of which were government buildings, and there were no appointments for any of them. We just had to show up and wait in line.
On top of that, after we got through all of that paperwork, we did have to get an actual appointment to get married—which may seem controversial in this post, but that is the only actual appointment I have ever gotten in Perú.
Next, we went off to plan the fun stuff about getting married. Getting a dress, picking a photographer, choosing decorations. Fun!
Scheduling these vendors was impossible and nonexistent.
There was no “planning.” We had to just show up a day or two before the wedding and ask these vendors, the flowers, the cake, the photographer, etc., to show up tomorrow at blah, blah, blah time. I’m not even kidding.
We couldn’t plan it all weeks or months in advance. Stressing, to say the least. And I kind of feel like my Pinterest board never really fulfilled its potential.
I remember at the time, my fiance’s family was asking us months in advance when the wedding would be and we didn’t have a date yet because we were still working through paperwork and weren’t able to schedule anything. And then when we did schedule we had so little time that we had to rush to get things, but we couldn’t schedule 90% of it until two days before, even though we tried.
The dress and suit we were able to get in advance, but it wasn’t like we scheduled an appointment to try on things, we showed up to browse, kind of like walking around a mall, tried on a couple of dresses and ordered something for pickup in a few weeks.
We got my nails painted two nights before the wedding and asked if the lady could do hair and makeup for the morning of. “Sure,” she said. But she showed up 40 minutes late to our “appointment.”
Also yes, yes I was late for my own wedding.
Appointments just aren’t a thing in Perú.
Basically, everything I had ever learned about wedding tips for being less stressed and how to plan ahead…I had to throw them all to the wind and make it up as I went.
Best tips for dealing with no appointments for big events:
- Get somebody who knows what they’re doing and understands the culture. Then try to let go of control a little bit.
- E.g. After we spent time trying to figure out how to get a cake for our wedding, we couldn’t figure out how to make it work with our schedules. This is where my Tia (Aunt) stepped in and gifted us our wedding cake, and my Primo (cousin) gifted us our appetizers.
- My Suegra (Mother-in-law) showed up a week before the wedding and arranged food and gave me two options to pick for decorations for the ceremony. Did I plan everything just the way I wanted? No. But did it turn out amazing and I didn’t have to worry about it? Yes!
- Get things ahead of time that don’t need to be scheduled by someone or are dependent on people showing up to, or they have to go get.
- E.g. My wedding dress. It was custom-made and took about two to three weeks to make, but it was not dependent on me making an appointment or showing up the night before the wedding to schedule. We could have even gotten it before we began our paperwork if we wanted, or I could have brought it from the states. Either way, it’s something that I could knock out early, in one day, and not have to worry about the rest of the time. I only had to go pick it up, but that didn’t have to happen the night before the wedding.
Doctor’s Appointments And Medical Needs
Should you find you need medical assistance—the kind that requires an appointment before you attend, I’m certainly not talking about emergencies. Make sure you’re not in a rush and you are flexible.
My struggle with getting an appointment and trying to work a normal 9-5 job was so frustrating. We tried for months to get seen and were never successful. We were constantly going in circles.
We would try to go early before I started work or on my day off to find out if they were open, but you had to call ahead. However, nothing is listed online, so you have to go all the way down to the hospital or Doctor’s office to find a number to call and ask if they’ll take you that day or if you can get an… ahem… appointment.
They would tell us they would call later to tell us when our appointment is, sometime between now and five days from now. But they’ll never call. I should put an addendum there, that that was the response we got the one time they actually answered our call.
After never hearing back from them, we called on day five and they said that today-in three and a half hours-was our appointment.
Try springing that one on your boss.
Should you get an “appointment,” please note that set times are not exact times. There’s a lot of waiting involved, I mean, typical, but seriously, A LOT. And of course, you’re still expected to show up early.
At other Doctor’s offices we’ve found that as long as you have the whole day free to wait in line, you can just show up and wait to be seen on a first-come, first-served basis.
My husband told me recently that he had an appointment on Monday, but he didn’t sleep well, so he just “changed it” to Tuesday. It was perplexing to me that in a world without appointments he was the one person who could so easily change his appointment, which is where I learned that his “appointment” was the kind that translates to, “I was planning on going, but now I’m not.”
Best tips for dealing with no appointments at Doctor’s offices:
- If you work a 9-5 US job, go to the Doctor’s office on US holidays, or try on the weekends. Days that are celebrated by you and not the country you live in, typically mean things will still be open. Do be wary of random Peruvian holidays that pop up from time to time. Basically what I’m trying to say is, try to schedule your health problems around your four-day work weeks.
- If you find you have to spring a surprise appointment on your boss, lean into the culture shock. Really stress to your boss that appointments are hard here and you’ve been trying to get one for literally *insert number of months here*! It’s not your fault they called this morning and said the only availability in three years is smack dab in the middle of the workday.
Airline Reservations
I wrote this post while sitting in an airport while waiting for my flight from Huánuco to Lima (lots more on this in a future post), where I had to fight to be at the front of the line to check in to ensure I had a seat on the plane I booked a ticket for three months ago.
My experience with flying domestically is that again, the appointments/reservations thing doesn’t exist.
It’s nice and all that you have a ticket to the plane, but seating is first-come, first-served. So if they sold more tickets than there are seats on the plane (which is pretty typical) and you happen to be one of the last four to check in, there’s a good chance you’re not getting on that flight.
Your “reservation” that you paid for ensures only that you’re getting on a plane. Not necessarily the one you think you’re getting on.
We checked in at a normal, reasonable time to fly and were unable to board the plane when it came time to because it was already full.
Best tips for dealing with reservations:
- Get there early for domestic flights. Like really early. Security and check-in really don’t take that long, but waiting an extra six hours for the next flight to come around because you missed the first…well, it sucks. You should aim to be checked in before the last half of the plane is checked in, your seating arrangements are dependent on it. Also, you have no way of knowing when everyone else checked in…so, remember when I said to get there earlier than usual?
- Get someone to translate that page on your ticket receipt, or wherever it is that tells you what the airline owes you if you miss your flight. Usually, you get some kind of discount or points on your card or something. In our experience, we could have claimed a partial refund, and the airline fed us breakfast. Check it out in case you miss your flight!
Culture shock can…well, not really be avoided, but hopefully, these tips will help you ride out the waves of the culture shock that comes from trying to book appointments and reservations in Perú.
Good luck on your next Peruvian adventure! Should you need any reading to accompany you on your journeys, come check out this post about Pursuing Your Passions and Dreams and this post about 10 Peruvian Dishes You Definitely Need To Try!
Have you experienced any culture shock when visiting a foreign country? Let me know in the comments so we can swap stories!
