An American in Lima

At last count (mid August), 514 Peruvians had died of pneumonia brought on by extreme cold this year, most of them children under five. Most reasonable people would call that an emergency.
Not Peru’s Red Cross, however. 
In a bulletin issued August 4, 2009, the Peruvian Red Cross (PRC) issued a general statement about the cold deaths in Puno, [...]

[Read more →]

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.

[Read more →]

A girl in Pucarumi carries her little sister on her back. At least six children under age 5 in her valley have died from extreme cold since March, my trekking guide tells me. (Sept. 2008 photo by Barbara Drake)

Spoke to Alberto last night, our guide at Qoyllur Rit’i and around the Mount Ausangate area.
He told El [...]

[Read more →]

Actress and humanitarian Susan Sarandon hugs a llama pal for Heifer International (Can anyone resist a marketing campaign that features these photogenic Andean camelids?)

This is a charity project I like.
Actress Susan Sarandon is promoting an organization that battles world hunger by donating dairy cows and other farm animals to subsistence farmers. It’s a simple idea and one that really can [...]

[Read more →]

Every celeb these days wants to walk the Inca catwalk….
Yesterday, Spanish- and English-language media outlets gushed over the announcement that a high-profile photo shoot is scheduled to take place November 4 at Machu Picchu.
A dozen Maxim bikini models will parade around the former Inca citadel in high heels and thongs. Leading the stampede may be Paris [...]

[Read more →]