An American in Lima

An ear of fresh Peruvian choclo

I’ve been doing a lot of thinking this week about obesity in the United States vs. weight and nutrition in Peru.  We’re currently exploring these topics in the conversation class I teach at UPC (see class blog, here), but really, they’ve been on my mind since I moved to Peru from Florida in July [...]

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“There is still time to avoid the worst impacts of climate change, if we act now and act internationally”
–Lord Stern

 
Spent a few hours this morning at a group meeting with Mr. Robin Gwynn, the U.K’s newly appointed special envoy on climate change for vulnerable countries. He came to Lima with spokesperson Kirsty Lewis of the Hadley Center [...]

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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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Some interesting recent posts by bloggers who write about Peru and Peruvians abroad. Hard times in the United States are devastating families there and ratcheting up anti-immigrant sentiment.
Rachel in Peru looks at the longstanding Peruvian legal tradition that permits renters to stay in a home or property for up to three years without paying rent before [...]

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The napkin is my witness: Notes from my Dec. 20 conversation about climate change with reporter Jim DeFede

Reporter Jim DeFede and I were office buddies at Miami New Times back in the mid-90s.  He sat in his tiny cubicle, digging up dirt on crooked politicians and fending off threats from the angry subjects of his [...]

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That, in short, is my message to the United States. I’m inspired to scream in my headline after watching Al Gore warn the U.S. Senate on Wednesday that the U.S. needs to join the rest of the world in signing a treaty to cut greenhouse emissions.
The planet will soon reach a “tipping point” of damage to the climate, Gore [...]

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Anderson Cooper wants to inform Americans about pollution at La Oroya, but viewers appear more interested in his hairstyle

I learn some surprising things managing this blog.
Like: Many people spend time online researching men’s haircuts. I think these people are mainly guys looking for a new look, although they could be search-engine-savvy hairstylists hoping to replicate certain cuts in their salon.
This blog strayed into [...]

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The slow-motion collapse of the U.S. economy is harming consumers and businesses across the country – well, almost every business that is.
One industry is enjoying big sales gains thanks to the stress experienced by ordinary working people. North American sales of “savory snacks” (potato chips, Cheetos, etc.) by Frito-Lay are up 9% for the third qurater, reports Potato [...]

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Here’s an offbeat story from today’s El Comercio that just begged to be translated into English for this blog:
“Peruvian Hairless Dog Offered to Obama’s Family”
A Peruvian Tenant in the White House?
EFE: An offer of a Peruvian hairless dog has been made to the family of Barack Obama, whose daughter Malia suffers from pet allergies. 
 
A hairless Peruvian [...]

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President-elect Barack Obama campaigned on a promise to grant amnesty to the 12 million undocumented aliens living in the United States. Now many wonder if he will live up to that promise.
A recent news item from the Andina news agency, summarized by Living in Peru staffers, reports:
Peruvians living in the United States hope that America’s next president [...]

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Crowds at LAX, photo by Philip

Figures from Peru’s National Statistics Institute (INEI) show that increasing numbers of former expatriate Peruvians are returning to live again in Peru.
The immigration numbers from August 2008 alone show a signficant rise in Peruvians choosing to repatriate. About 12.7% more Peruvians (180,000 people) left other countries to return to Peru in [...]

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By Barbara R. Drake
On Sunday I posted Part I of “Should Americans Consider Moving to Peru?” (click here for link).
I floated the idea, proposed to me by a Scandinavian expat who’s lived in the United States as well, that because Peru and the United States are so dissimilar, it’s difficult to evaluate which country’s lifestyle [...]

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Today my opinion piece “Escaping the U.S. Credit Nightmare” appears in the Sunday Miami Herald, Money section (10/12/08).
The teaser reads: “An American who now lives in Peru finds that she no longer must fend off unwanted offers for credit cards and loans,” which highlights one of the unanticipated benefits I gained from our move to [...]

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For the last 14 months in Peru, the value of the U.S. dollar has been tanking. That trend really hurts when you’re an expat, like me, who still keeps a bank account in the U.S.
When El Fotógrafo and I arrived in Lima in July 2007, the dollar was trading at 3.3 Peruvian soles. We didn’t [...]

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