Cultural chameleon (Singapore / Peru)

I was born a dark baby (not my four older siblings), and was often spoken to in Malay by Chinese bus conductors in Singapore. (In the 60s, fares were paid by the distance, so the conductor would ask me, “Berapa?”, which is “How much?” in Malay.)  

    My father's cousins (one girl, one boy) look Maori/Hawaiian.  She had brownish red hair.  In the 60s in Singapore, dyeing one’s hair reddish brown was not yet the fashion, so she'd dye it black so as not to stand out.  Her brother had the physique of a Maori/Hawaiian (tree trunk legs).  They both had a broad nasal bridge, thick and darker-colour lips, deeper-set eyelids — all the features of an Indigenous person like a Melanesian or Polynesian*.      I seem to be the only one in my generation to have inherited those features.  An old RI (Raffles Institution) schoolmate (1971-2) who now lives in Sydney used to tell me I looked like a Chicana (Mexican Indian).  In Peru, I'd get charged local prices without having to open my mouth — couldn't speak enough Spanish anyway….

    I was in a square in Cuzco one day on my second visit, chatting to a Dutch tourist when this local chap came and joined us.  Turned out he was touting for individual-guide business.  At one point, he turned round and addressed me in Spanish, asking me for more details about myself.  He thought I was like him, a local touting for individual-guide business as well!

    I'd teamed up with John, an American who was in Bolivia for some project and had gone over to Cuzco for the Machu Picchu trek.  He ran into a Peruvian woman who'd worked with him in SanFran some years back.  They chatted in English, swapping their latest news.  I stood to one side.  She then turned round and apologised to me in Spanish for leaving me out of the English conversation, thinking I was Peruvian!

    On my first visit to Peru, Nick (English, blond, blue-eyed, spoke fluent Spanish) and I were in a camping equipment shop in Cuzco, getting gear for the Machu Picchu hike.  Nick did all the talking, I stood to one side. A Swiss couple (who could speak fluent Spanish because they'd been travelling around S.America for quite a few months already) were in the shop at the same time, getting quoted for all the different items (tent, sleeping bag, cooking utensils, etc).  After that, as we were leaving, they caught up with us in the street and asked to see the list of prices we were quoted — consistently cheaper by 50 US cents for every item. They wondered why, when it was the same shop and they were there at the same time.  Then, all three of them turned round and looked at me, "It's YOU! You look local, so you got quoted local prices without even opening your mouth!”  No wonder John the American called me a cultural chameleon.

• Google:  Most Polynesian countries trace their linguistic and genetic roots back to ancient Taiwan and Southeast Asia, among others, while residents of Melanesia are largely descended from ancient indigenous populations in what is now Papua New Guinea.

(Singapore, 1960s; Peru, 1986, 1987)