An American in Lima

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 [...]

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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 [...]

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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 [...]

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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 [...]

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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 [...]

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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, [...]

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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 [...]

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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 [...]

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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 [...]

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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 [...]

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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 [...]

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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 [...]

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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 [...]

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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 [...]

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