me pican mis ojos! an anecdote

If anyone ever tells you that Peruvian chili peppers are like no other, believe them.

Kelli and I went to the market on New Year´s Eve morning with stir fry on our minds for lunch.  One of the last items on the list were peppers, so by the time we started looking for them we were a little tired and came upon a stand with ricotto peppers, the hotter variety, and asked if they had some that were less picante, or spicey.  They man pointed some out and we bought them.  We got back to the house in somewhat of a rush because our friend Giancarlo was going to be coming over to help us finish our muñeco, or doll, that we were going to burn that night to celebrate the coming of the new year, and we had to clean the house in the afternoon to get ready for the night as well.  So I frantically started cutting up the vegetables.  When I cut the peppers, I made a mental note to wash my hands before doing anything else.  I didn't notice any burning sensation in my hands or eyes so assumed they were probably good enough to cook and eat with the stir fry.  Just as I was finishing, I heard a knock at the door so I stopped to let him in to work on the doll.  I walked from the kitchen to the front door fixing my pony tail a bit, typical mindless rearrangements that I do a million times a day.  And then... for some unknown reason also felt the mindless urge to wipe my eyes, one hand on each eye, a really good wipe, no messing around.  Just as I opened the front door, it hit me, and I doubled over, squeezed my eyes shut and yelled out.... ahh, the pain!  Poor Giancarlo, so confused, helped me run, eyes closed, to the bathroom and started to help me throw water on my eyes, yelling instructions at me all the while.  ¨Don´t use your hands, Emilia, they pica!  Here, wash them with this bar of soap.  Nope, they still pica.  Keep washing them.¨  Then he filled a bucket with water and just had me stick my head in it, essentially.  Ah, relief.  And come out to breathe.  Still burn.  Resubmerge.  Here let me rub ice cubes on your eyes.  Ah, relief.  Dang that´s really cold.  Still burns.  Let me wash my face with soap.  No, your hands still burn.  Wait.  More ice.  More water.  Relief.  Ok, use a little soap.  And apparently Peruvian medicine says that oils in females´ hair relieves the pica, so we rubbed my hair over my eyes as well...  it was all very chaotic.  And very painful.  I was a little worried about damaging my eyesight.

Luckily the redness went down before the New Year´s Eve celebration.  Just one of many crazy things that happen here, to give you a little taste.

Next time you eat something and have the option to use hot sauce... do it.  And think of Peru.