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Peru Olympian Sixto Barrera Honored by United Nations
Sixto Barrera carries Peru’s flag during Opening Ceremonies, Beijing Summer Olympic Games, August 2008 Peruvian wrestler Sixto Barrera, who represented his country in the Beijing Summer Olympic Games of 2008, was honored on August 26 by the United Nations, reports RPP Noticias. The wrestler was decorated by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) for setting an inspirational example for young people. “I am very grateful for the people who supported me and made possible my participation in the 2008 Beijing Olympics,” said Barrera after receiving the distinction by the representative of UNESCO in Peru, Katherine Muller. Peru’s “first guitarist,” Oscar Aviles (now 83 years old) The athlete also was congratulated by the renowned Peruvian Criolla musician…
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Conversations in the Gym
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Moby Dick, Herman Melville & “Strange, Sad” Lima
“…like a Lima tower, cutting my boat in two” Rereading yesterday’s post on writers and Lima’s weather, I became curious about Herman Melville’s riff on Lima as “the strangest, saddest city thou can’st see.” When did Melville visit Lima? What prompted him to go into spasms of melancholy? A quick Google search revealed that the quote doesn’t belong to Melville, per se, but rather to Ishmael, the narrator of Moby Dick. The novel revolves around an embittered seaman, Captain Ahab, who is consumed with hunting down and killing the white albino whale who caused him to lose his leg. In Chapter 42, “The Whiteness of the Whale,” Ishamel begins: What the white whale was…
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Desperately Seeking Sunlight
Valley of Santa Eulalia, Peru, which has sun, big rocks and amazing avocado ice cream There is no sun in Lima during the South American winter. No shifting light. No shadows. No way to tell 8 a.m. from 5 p.m. Just a flat grey sky that stays put, like lint in the dryer basket. I wrote about this yesterday in “Panzo de Burro” and now I’m at it again. This week I’m writing about the weather in Lima because it defines the city. And like many elemental things, it goes unnoticed but influences nearly everything. The sunless Lima winter is strange, bordering on freakish. Surviving a Lima winter is like living on another…
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Deadly Negligence: Peru’s Red Cross & Cold Deaths in Andes
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“Panza de Burro”: The Donkey-grey Sky of Lima
The sun disappears almost completely. The sky is the same dead grey color, from 8 in the morning to 6 at night. A strange weather condition called garua invades the city. Garua is a damp, cold mist that hangs in the air like a cobweb and turns the sidewalks into slippery deathtraps. It never truly rains, however, so the dirt and soot don't wash away. Buildings, plants, cars, street signs – everything is covered in layers of dust (polvo) made moist by the garua. Humidity levels climb during winter, intensifying the cold. As the months wear on, the chilly humidity creeps into the marrow of your bones, until you feel…
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Deadly Negligence: Peru’s Red Cross & Cold Deaths in Andes
