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Robbers Hold up NatGeo Team at Nasca Hotel (and the place where you don’t want to book a room is…
( Enigmatic geoglyphs in the Nasca desert draw tens of thousands of tourists to southern Peru each year; photo c. RPP)Great timing, criminals in southern Peru. First a Peruvian trucking company diverts 100 tons of UN rice for cold-spell victims to the black market in July. SUNAT seizes three truckloads (32 tons) of hijacked rice in Ica; the rest is still unaccounted for. The rice was intended for malnourished communities in the Puno area, where freezing temperatures have killed more than 433 people this winter. Now armed robbers broke into a Nasca hotel early Friday morning and assaulted members of a National Geographic team filming a documentary on the Nasca lines, making off…
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Government Extends State of Emergency in 21 Regions; More Children to Die from Cold in August
[Photo: These two kids live near Upis in southern Peru, where children are dying of extreme cold brought on by climate change. More deaths are predicted for August, typically the coldest month of the year in the high Andes. Photo c. Barbara Drake 2008]Peru is finally acknowledging that the humanitarian crisis caused by extreme cold in the Andes isn’t going away; the problem is getting worse. A state of emergency declared by the Peruvian government in July has been extended two additional months in 21 Andean regions, reported Isabel Guerra yesterday in Living in Peru: The Peruvian government extended today for another 60 days the state of emergency in 21 regions, due…
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Thanks for Shout Out, NatGeo
Got a minor thrill yesterday when I learned that An American in Lima is mentioned in the latest edition of National Geographic Traveler. Writing for the Sept. ’09 Lima destination guide (“48 Hours in Lima” by Nicholas Gill), Marisa Petrich observes that this blog “began as a way for author Barbara Drake to document her transition to a new culture, and now offers comments on local events, news, and culture. The site also includes links to local news, blogs, and videos in Spanish and English.” Yep, that’s what this old blog does. I’m glad that Petrich picked up on the fact that this is an opinion, not a travel, blog. As much…
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AlmaZen Organic Cafe Thrives in Lima
I haven’t seen much of my brother-in-law El Filósofo and his wife La Orgánica lately. That’s because they are busy until 1 in the morning every day with their new vegetarian restaurant AlmaZen, which opened two months ago in old Miraflores (see address below; update, as of 2020, the restaurant is closed). What makes AlmaZen different from nearly all vegetarian eateries in Lima is that its menu is organic. EF and LO buy their ingredients from small, certified organic farms throughout Peru, and that practice guides the entire philosophy of the restaurant. The menu reflects what’s fresh and being harvested now, so one week you might have stuffed squash as a side dish, the…
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Citizen Journalists Respond to Cold Deaths in Andes
These are the things I think of when I read the news reports on deaths in the highlands -- the humble, hard-working people who live at such a remove from the "civilized" world and who can be helped at not that much cost, if only there are willing souls to climb the mountain paths and meet them halfway.
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Of Poisoned Dogs, Pigeons and Fujimori
Many thanks to the concerned people who’ve sent their good wishes to our dog Lola, who was poisoned last week in Parque Leoncio Prado, in Miraflores. Lola recovered thanks to the efforts of her vet, whose office is just blocks away. Not every animal that is poisoned in Peru is fortunate to live close to a competent veterinarian. Many pets die of asphyxiation or shock (Lola was in shock when we took her in) before a remedy can be administered. Four of El Fotografo’s relatives have had dogs or cats die from poisoning or suspected poisoning over the last ten years, and in each case, the animal wasn’t found until too late. Hearing…