An American in Lima

During my month-long hiatus from this blog, I got hooked on another form of social media: Twitter.
Unlike Facebook, which facilitates staying touch with family and friends, Twitter is a freeform broadcast to just about anyone on the planet. That might not sound like a medium that would interest a relatively private person (like me), but it turns out that Twitter [...]

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An alpaca lifts his head while grazing on ichu grass, near Mount Ausangate; photo c. Barbara Drake 2008

Anthropologist Inge Bolin comments on the deep bond between traditional people in the high Andes and their animals:
“People talk about their llamas and alpacas with great emotion. ‘They are our brothers and sisters,’ the people of Chillihuani often [...]

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photo by Barbara Drake

 Time for an Andean reality check. Too much Paris Hilton bikini nonsense.
I met this woman last month while trekking around Mount Ausangate, in southern Peru.
Her name is Vicentina Chuchicari Mamani, and like most people in the area, she spins her wool and makes her own clothes.
People have been crafting their textiles in this way [...]

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Cute llama pix are a needed tonic to the barrage of awfulness in today’s world.
A self-professed llama freak, from Eugene, Oregon, has asked for more camelids on this site.
Of course, I oblige.

Figure 1: Munching alpaca at Jose & Daniela’s wedding, photo c. Barbara Drake 2008

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In March, El Fotografo, El Hijo and I went to a wedding in Arequipa, an old colonial city in southern Peru. The wedding reception was held at a sort of an ecological/conservation site, which included a mini farm with typical Peruvian animals: llamas, alpacas, sheep and a lone vicuna. There were about 250 people at the [...]

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