The other day in a post about art about the Shining Path years, I included an unidentified photograph of a Peruvian retablo created by, it turns out, master artisan Nicario Jiménez Quispe.
Jiménez was born in Ayacucho, the historic center of indigenous struggle in Peru and the locus of Shining Path conflict, and now lives in the [...]
Entries from February 2009
Nightmares and Blighted Dreams in Little Boxes: Retablos of Nicario Jimenez Quispe
February 27th, 2009 · 9 Comments · Art, Film, Music & Dance, Money, Economics, Politics, Peru's Andes Mountains
Tags: Peruvian art·retablos·Shining Path
The Milk of Sorrow Joins Growing List of Works about Peru’s Shining Path Years
February 26th, 2009 · 11 Comments · Art, Film, Music & Dance
A scene from the Spanish-Peruvian movie “The Milk Of Sorrow” by director Claudia Llosa in this photo released by the Berlinale film festival. (Berlinale via Associated Press)
Congratulations to Peruvian-born director Claudia Llosa, whose drama The Milk of Sorrow (La Teta Asustada) captured the Golden Bear for best film at the Berlin film festival last week.
I [...]
Tags: film·Shining Path·women's rights
Encounters on the Miraflores Malecon
February 24th, 2009 · 11 Comments · Animals in Peru, Daily Life in Lima
Lola had an eventful morning. El Fotografo and I took her for a long stroll along the Malecón in Miraflores, overlooking the ocean, and in the course of one and a half hours she met:
her longlost mother
her longlost father
author Mario Vargas Llosa.
We had been walking for an hour when we ran into Pepa. The eerie thing about [...]
Tags: dogs in Peru·Lola·Mario Vargas Llosa
Vegan Antitaurino Activist, Plaza San Martin, Lima, Peru
February 23rd, 2009 · 19 Comments · Bullfighting
Animal-rights protestor Jessica Santilla, demonstration at Plaza San Martin, Lima, Peru, Nov. 2008 / photo c. Jorge Vera
El Fotografo and I met this protestor at an antitaurino (anti-bullfighting) rally held on the opening day of the Plaza de Acho bullfights, last November.
Jessica Santillan is 20 years old, a student and an ardent vegan. Unlike many of the antitaurinos [...]
Tags: antitaurinos·Plaza de Acho
Bicycle-powered Washing Machine Debuts at Lima Orphanage
February 22nd, 2009 · 4 Comments · Daily Life in Lima, Handmade Culture
MIT students and residents of Ventanilla, Peru work on the bicilavadora, a novel, inexpensive bike/washing machine. Photo / Gwyndaf Jones
Forward-thinking inventors at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have created a “green” washing machine that runs on pedal power, mountain-bike gears and no electricity, making it ideal for rural and impoverished communities.
Last month, MIT students took [...]
Tags: technology·Ventanilla
The Vizcacha: “Little-known Small Animal with a Promising Economic Future”
February 21st, 2009 · 5 Comments · Animals in Peru, Peru's Andes Mountains
photo © Joseph Tobias
Okay. I didn’t invent that headline. I swiped it from a book about small and miniature animals titled Microlivestock: Little-known Small Animals with Promising Economic Futures (1991), published by the U.S. Office of International Affairs and the National Research Council.
The mountain vizcacha, a furry rabbit-like rodent that lives in Peru, Bolivia, Chile and Argentina, [...]
Tags: Peru animals·puna·vizcacha
Like Your Ice Cream Spicy Hot? Peruvian Flavors Challenge Taste Buds
February 19th, 2009 · 1 Comment · Food & Dining
The odd blend of flavors exploded on my tongue: Sweet strawberry and hot jalapeno. Yikes!
Welcome to ice cream in the Land of the Inca, where jaded taste buds are courted by unusual and sometimes explosive flavor combinations.
The ice cream that sent me running for ice water a few days ago was a neon-orange product called Sin [...]
California to Die of Thirst Like Coastal Peru?
February 18th, 2009 · No Comments · Climate Change & Disappearing Glaciers, Looking Back at the United States, Peru's Andes Mountains
image courtesy L.A. Times blog
Word has been out for a while that dwindling meltwater from Peru’s tropical glaciers will lead to dire water shortages in 40 years unless radical measures are taken to find and conserve new sources. Most of the water used along Peru’s coastal region, including Lima, originates in the glaciers of the Andes, which are receding [...]
Tags: California·Climate Change & Disappearing Glaciers·glaciers
Still Time to Vote for Your 7 Favorite Peruvian Dishes
February 16th, 2009 · 4 Comments · Food & Dining
Picante de cuy, one of 100 dishes vying for the title of “Gastronomic Wonder of Peru”
The official website states that the first round of voting ended February 15, but evidently you can still cast your vote online for the Seven Gastronomical Wonders of Peru.
There are serious choices to be made among the 100 contenders.
This weekend I [...]
Tags:
Help Save Peru’s Yellow-Tailed Woolly Monkey from Extinction
February 15th, 2009 · 8 Comments · Animals in Peru, Peru's Andes Mountains
A baby monkey (related to the yellow-tailed) riding on his adopted father’s back in the tropical forests of northern Peru; monkey protection program run by IKAMA Peru (photo courtesy IKAMA Peru)
I could devote this entire blog to news about wildlife in Peru, where new species are discovered weekly and, conversely, where threats to native habitats have eradicated [...]
Tags: Animals in Peru·yellow-tailed woolly monkey
High-tech Super Tree Combats Air Pollution in Surquillo
February 14th, 2009 · 2 Comments · Climate Change & Disappearing Glaciers, Daily Life in Lima
The Urban Air Cleaner UAC-20, a.k.a. “Super Tree,” is busy sucking up fumes in lovely downtown Surquillo
What is it with Surquillo, lately?
The working-class Lima district is making headlines for advocating innovative, sometimes radical solutions to urban problems.
First Surquillo’s mayor Gustavo Sierra raised eyebrows around the world when he suggested that Peru solve its drug problem by legalizing illicit drugs and handling [...]
Tags: air pollution·Super Trees·Surquillo
Maids Still Banned from Swimming at Peru Beaches? Sadly, Yes
February 13th, 2009 · 15 Comments · Maids, Race Matters
Artist’s depiction of discriminatory laws at some Peruvian beaches that prohibit maids from swimming during daylight hours (until 7 p.m. at Asia beach)
It sounds like a scene straight out of the Jim Crow era in the American South, but it’s happening today in coastal Peru: discriminatory laws in some exclusive seaside resorts prohibit maids (nearly all of whom are poor Andean [...]
Pituco Summer
February 9th, 2009 · 24 Comments · Daily Life in Lima, Maids, Race Matters
Bring on the inflatable breasts! It’s summertime in Lima
It’s summer in Lima. It’s hot, there’s no air-conditioning, all the pitucos are at the beach, and the city street-sweepers are roasting in their masks and full-body jumpsuits.
I haven’t mentioned the pitucos before. I was going to get around to it.
The word roughly means “snob,” but [...]
Calientito! Peruvian Food Trend Heats Up in 2009
February 6th, 2009 · 12 Comments · Food & Dining
Innovative octopus causa from Andina Restaurant, in Portland, Oregon
Looks like Epicurious was spot on in predicting that Peruvian would become the hot food trend of 2009.
Bon Appétit magazine named Lima the Next Great Food City in its January ‘09 issue. Writer Daniel Duane hangs out with Gaston Acurio for a day, eating his way through some of [...]
Tags: Gaston Acurio·Peruvian food





