china

The men in Lima like to call out "china" when I walk by as if they've never seen one and as if Perú didn't have the largest population of Chinese in Latin America. But, china could also mean "girl," equivalent to chica. I don't understand why the men do that here because I already know that I'm a girl. Then again, whenever I pass by a cat (or dog), I like to point and say "cat!" (or "dog!").