Why do Peruvians have to be so small?

Just with ‘All those sodding dogs’ this entry briefly discusses another thing we commonly face in Peru: the size of its people. While this might sound a bit discriminative and snobbish from our side if you only read the title, there is a reason and a story behind this. Peruvians, especially those from the countryside, are incredibly kind and lovely people. Very helpful and chatty. But also rather small. I’m only 1,74 m but with that height I tower over most Peruvians. The benefits of having a privileged childhood with healthy food and enough food as well as a dose of good growth genes from my dad.

Not all Peruvians are privy to such diets or know about its benefits. Combined with the harsh conditions of living and working in the Andes and a genetic heritage of small people, they simply don’t grow that much (yet). As a result, they don’t really have the need for large European-sized doorframes either which brings us to the crux of this short post: the number of times we have hit our heads hard on staircases or doorframes during this trip because we either forgot to duck or didn’t duck enough is too much to count by now. One time I hit my head so painfully hard, that in my fury I ironically asked myself why oh why Peruvians had to be so small.