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Cootie-free APEC Eating Zones in Lima
The final week of the APEC summit begins next Monday, and that means thousands of hungry delegates and heads of state will be seeking good places to eat in Lima. Peru’s capital city may be home to the best cusine in South America, but not all its restaurants are up to par. In fact, some eateries violate sanitation codes and use contaminated tap water (with e coli) to wash their produce. (Visitors cannot drink the tap water in Lima because it contains foul bacteria and heavy metals; many locals have adjusted to it, however.) To prevent epic outbreaks of diarrhea among delegates, APEC and Peru’s Ministry of Health have instituted…
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Peru’s Female Weightlifters Suffer Anemia, Says Cristina Cornejo
Don’t tell this woman you just cut her team’s food allowance by 80 percent! My favorite Peruvian weightlifter – the mighty, mighty Cristina Cornejo — returned to Peru after participating in the Beijing Summer Olympics, with hopes of helping her fellow (sister?) weightlifters achieve new heights. Now it turns out the Peruvian weightlifters can barely train due to malnutrition. And our girl Cornejo is demanding that Peru help feed the athletes. According to a Nov. 7 item in Diario Correo, the Peruvian Institute of Sports (IPD) initially promised an ample food allowance for the 11 members of the national women’s weightlifting team. However, that allowance was drastically reduced after a…
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Conde Nast Goes Ga-Ga Over Peru’s Gaston Acurio
Chef / restauranteur Gaston Acurio is on a mission to bring Peruvian cooking to the world; photo by Karel Navarro The latest issue of Condé Nast Portfolio features a highly readable profile of Superchef Gastón Acurio, the culinary mastermind behind La Mar, Astrid y Gaston and more than a dozen eateries in South America and now the United States. Writer Andrew Curry notes: Over the last two decades, Peruvian cuisine has gone from being overlooked (even in Peru) to the hottest trend in South America, thanks in part to Acurio’s evangelism. “Peruvian cuisine is a phenomenon,” says Mayalen Elizondo, a society editor at the Mexico City daily Excelsior. “In Mexico, everyone…
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Because You Need to See Another Picture of a Peruvian Hairless Dog, Don’t You?
Me & the Peruvian hairless wonder dog in Pachacamac, Peru; photo by Jorge Vera c. 2007 El Fotografo shot these images in Pachacamac last year. The Peruvian hairless dog was strolling around the dusty parking lot, looking blase in his yellow t-shirt. (These dogs sunburn easily.) The image on the left is the back of my head. I’m wearing a cotton scarf with a fish printed on it and looking at the dust-covered ruins. That is EF’s idea of a joke — an image of a fish in a desert where it never rains. Ha ha. I’m posting the photo (actually a dyptich from an original tryptich) because for 15…
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A Peruvian Hairless Dog for Obama’s Family? Vote on It!
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 dog will be offered as a pet to the family of the president-elect of the United States, Barack Obama. Claudia Galvez, president of the Association of Friends of Hairless Peruvian Dogs, reported that tomorrow she will send a letter to the Peruvian Embassy in Washington, D.C., to inquire if the new president is…
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Anti-bullfighting Protests Heat up in Lima
Public outrage over animal cruelty in bullfighting is mounting in Lima, home to the famed Senor de los Milagros bullfighting festival (Nov. 2 – 23, 2008). The festival takes place in Plaza de Acho, the oldest bullring in the Americas and the second-oldest in the world. Say hello to my little friend: Anti-bullfighting posters in Lima feature a blood-crazed matador a la Tony Montana (poster: www.peruantitaurino.org) Last Sunday, November 2, about 300 members of the group Peru Antitaurino rallied at the Plaza San Martin, in downtown Lima, to protest the start of the month-long festival. (The Spanish word for “antibullfighting” is “antitaurino.”) The protestors marched at 2;30 p.m. to Acho…
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What U.S. Citizens Need to Do to Solve the Immigration Crisis
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 Barack Obama will grant amnesty for undocumented immigrants, as part of a new immigration policy that would benefit millions of immigrants. ”This would help to legalize the immigration status of some 12 million undocumented aliens living in the United States”, said July Rojas, president of the Consultative Council of Peruvians in New York,…
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Peruvian Ingenuity at 15,300 Feet Above Sea Level
Guy selling dolls at Qoyllur Rit’i 2008 The average Peruvian works so hard, for so little. El Fotografo and I met this souvenir vendor at the Qoyllur Rit’i pilgrimage in May. He was selling little handmade dolls of costumed dancers for 7 soles a piece. That’s about $2.33 each. They were cute. I bought one. To get to the plaza where he could sell his dolls, the guy had to travel for hours in a bus or truck to the town of Mawayani, which is about 13,800 feet above sea level. The good thing about Mawayani is they have toilets there. Then he had to climb a steep five-mile path up the mountains, ascending another…
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The Great Leveler
Sand leveller Carlos Echevarria, Plaza de Acho, Lima; photo c. Jorge Vera 2008 Carlos Echevarria has been leveling the arena at Lima’s Plaza de Acho bullring for 35 years. It is his job to cart in fresh sand, spread it over the 60-meter-wide arena and pack it into a firm, even surface. Then a pair of workers uses a rope and spike to draw concentric circles inside the 360-degree arena, to mark where the bulls and matadors will fight. Echevarria watches to make sure that the circles are neat and round. Built in 1766, the Plaza de Acho arena is the oldest bullring in the Americas, the second oldest in the world after La Maestranza, in Seville,…
