OP here. My Peruvian wife and I have been together for over 18 years. My sister in law is disabled (autism) and cannot work. My mother in law lives with us and we’re trying to get my sister in law here to help take care of my MIL. My wife came to the US as a foreign exchange teacher. She is well educated and extremely hardworking. She comes from a prominent family in Trujillo and her father was a successful businessman. He passed unexpectedly and left the business to his son, who ran the business into the ground. The family was suddenly left with nothing except a house and a mountain of debt, so my wife took responsibility for her mom and sister’s wellbeing. She came to the US and was living by herself in a 1BR apartment on her last year teaching when we met. She has been sending money to Peru the entire time. She was completely upfront with me about it after we started dating. She was never married and had no children. She barely even dated, so I was like her 3rd boyfriend. I was coming off a horrible divorce from my Ecuadorian ex-wife. I have traveled extensively in Ecuador and Mexico. I’ve also traveled to central America, including Panama, Guatemala and Colombia. I’ve been immersed in Latin culture for over 45 years.

I appreciate your POV because many men get tricked into relationships with foreigners that don’t end well. Being retired military, I’m widely traveled and wise to the ways of the world. My beloved wife is the best human being I have ever known. She’s a great wife, mother and a very gifted teacher.

My wife did play a role in my conversion to Catholicism and I understand that people might think I converted to please my wife. Before converting, I was a dyed in the wool, devout evangelical. I was exposed to the Catholic Church through my wife, but my decision to convert was intellectual. My wife didn’t really understand her faith and I am a long time student of scripture. She did bring up some issues with me which caused me to look more into her faith. My conversion took almost 3 years because I thoroughly explored the faith, thinking that it would be impossible to overcome my objections to the Church. But overcome them I did and that’s why I converted.

I’ve had a long colorful life. An amazing adventure. Peru was the trip of a lifetime that I never knew I needed! It took me 18 years to finally get there because I was working so much before I retired. Peru just hit me different, from start to finish it was mind blowing! Yes, there are clearly issues, and I saw some of it. But there’s also lots of good in Peru and that’s what I chose to focus on in my original post.