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Vote for the 7 Gastronomic Wonders of Peru
Peru has discovered the marketing power of the voter-powered “Best of” list. The trend began in 2007 when a global poll of 100 million voters chose Machu Picchu as one of the New 7 Wonders of the World. The prestige and tourism revenues generated by that honor inspired Peru to mount its own contest to name the 7 Wonders of Peru. Winning sites include the Inca baths of Cajamarca, Colca Canyon and the Kuelap Fortress in the Amazon. (Given its status as a World Wonder, Machu Picchu was not eligible for nomination.) Now a group called Acidoungusto Comunicaciones is sponsoring an online poll to determine the Seven Gastronomic Wonders of Peru (las 7 maravillas…
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Bad News for Some Canadian Expats Who Want to Procreate Abroad
Skimming through Expat Women today, I learned that a new citizenship law about to go into effect in Canada will make some Canadian children born abroad ineligible for Canadian citizenship. Expat Women writes: Hi Everyone, If you are a Canadian, especially if you are an adult TCK or you have children who one day will be adult TCKs (Third Culture Kids), Robin Pascoe has asked us to pass this urgent message on to you: “Did you know that the new Canadian citizenship rules which go into effect April 17 state that: “…children born in another country after the new law comes into effect will not be Canadian citizens by birth…
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Goodbye to John Updike (1932 – 2009)
He was one of my favorite novelists, a person who wrote bracingly honest books about being male, being American, being human. Now El Fotografo walks into my office and tells me John Updike is dead. Of lung cancer. I had no idea he smoked. The obituaries are appearing now online, and I’ve snagged one below from Reuters. I feel sad. I thought he had at least another 10 years of writing in him. Updike became part of my life at around age 20, when I plunged into the Rabbit series for the first time. I was an Updike junkie from the word Go. It was his powers of observation that…
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Inca Princess Photo Project Celebrates Indigenous Beauty
tourism company in Cusco is sponsoring an intriguing photo project to highlight indigenous beauty and women's growing influence in South America. No prize money or payment is involved, but chosen photographers have their projects featured in a select Web-based gallery. The Inca Princess Photo Project invites professional photographers to submit ideas for "spectacular open-theme material celebrating the beauty and unique nature of South American women."
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Global Warming Claims Another Peruvian Glacier
Awful news. Quilca Glacier (5,250 meters above sea level) in Puno has disappeared completely, reports Peru’s National Institute for Natural Resources (IRENA). The disappearance of Quilca is part of an ongoing recession of tropical glaciers throughout the Andes, where climate change (mainly rising air temperatures) is making it impossible for the ice to regenerate. Experts such as Marco Zapata, of IRENA, predict that no glaciers will be left in Peru by 2025. Please do the math. That’s 16 years away. Why should people care that tropical glaciers are melting in this Andean country? The reasons are both local and global. First, Peru derives 80% of its water for drinking, agriculture and hydropower…
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10 Facts about Anderson Cooper’s Hair (Plus a Super-Extra Bonus Grooming Link for Guys)
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 Men’s Hairstyles SEO when I posted on El Fotografo’s search for the Anderson Cooper haircut in a Lima salon, a quest that resulted in his getting scalped last month. As my post describes, EF secretly decided to go for The Silver Fox look after misinterpreting a remark I made while watching the CNN “Planet in Peril: Battle Lines” segment on La Oroya. As EF later…
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Blogging on Fieldwork in Peru: Melting glaciers, camera-shy bears and nasty stomach viruses
Excuse the radio silence. I’ve been holed up writing grant applications to fund an expedition that El Fotografo and I want to do this year in the dept. of Cusco. Keep your fingers crossed. Expeditions are not the only projects in Peru that are eligible for funding. Research projects undertaken by investigators in the “hard” and social sciences, as well as the humanities, also attract seed money and, in some cases, hefty grants that can sustain grantees abroad for up to a year or more. A substantial number of these grantees come from the United States, whose major grant-giving entities include the U.S. government (National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health), corporations and nonprofit foundations. Foreign researchers and…
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Peru Rules OK to Drink on the Job
The Lima-based Reuters crew just filed this tipico Peru story about a strange court ruling. A judge on Peru’s top court has ruled that companies cannot fire workers for being drunk on the job. The Peruvian government is fuming about the decision, which it says sets a dangerous precedent. Oy vey! Only in Peru. Here’s the entire news item: LIMA (Reuters) – Peru’s top court has ruled that workers cannot be fired for being drunk on the job, a decision that was criticized by the government on Wednesday for setting a dangerous precedent. The Constitutional Tribunal ordered that Pablo Cayo be given his job back as a janitor for the…
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Peru Plants Half a Million Trees a Day to Combat Climate Change
Here’s some good news for the environment: According to ANDINA and other news outlets, Peru’s Ministry of Agriculture has initiated an ambitious countrywide tree-planting campaign to counter the effects of climate change. The project began in December with the goal of planting 40 million trees by February 20. That translates to half a million trees per day or more than 40 million trees in a little less than three months. The trees will capture more than 570,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide annually, a representative for the Ministry of Agriculture estimates. Notes El Comercio: “A workforce of 130,000 people has been recruited, and each person will be planting about 4.5 trees per day. Eucalyptus, pine, cypress and…
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No Surprise: Obamas Nix Peruvian Hairless Dog
I knew it wouldn’t happen. Everyone in Peru knew it was a long shot. But somehow, when it was officially announced this month that the Obamas were not adopting a Peruvian hairless dog, I felt keenly let down. No Peruvian in the White House. Rats. The new presidential pooch will be a Labradoodle or a Portuguese water hound sourced from a shelter, Obama’s office says. That seems a tall order — finding a little-known breed in your corner ASPCA — but it’s inevitable that one will be found, or rather, will be taken from a breeder, inserted in a humane shelter and then handed to Obama at a photo op [note of cynicism…
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Doe Run Still Poisoning U.S. Citizens: A Resident of Herculaneum Speaks Out
My posts on the CNN Planet in Peril: Battle Lines program that spotlighted the Doe Run smelting plant in La Oroya, Peru, have elicited comments from a range of people involved in the catastrophe: a journalist, activists and Peruvians whose families live near the toxic plant. As American investigative reporter Sara Shipley Hines points out, the CNN special gave the false impression that Doe Run’s sister plant, in Herculaneum, Missouri, has cleaned up its operations so thoroughly that the town is a healthy place to live. That’s not the case, as people familiar with the Missouri plant can testify. Yesterday in the Comments section of on An American in Lima, a resident of Herculaneum painted a devastating portrait of the…
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Peruvian Cross-Country Skier Sets Sights on 2010 Games, Reports NY Times
The New York Times’ Inge Sheve reports on an underdog contender for the 2010 Winter Olympic Games. He’s 38-year-old Roberto Carcelen, a surfer and runner from Peru, who hopes to become the best cross-country skiier in South America, as well as his country’s first Olympic cross-country skier. (Carcelen trains in Seattle, where he lives with his American wife and their 16-month-old daughter.) A Skier’s Singular Pursuit by Inge Sheve, pub. Jan. 2, 2009 Roberto Carcelen is a runner and a surfer, which does not make him unusual in his home country, Peru, but his newest sport does. He is aiming to be the only Peruvian cross-country skier in the 2010 Olympics.…
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Surquillo Market No. 1
The photo above was taken in Surquillo Market No. 1, in Miraflores. The vendor is arranging her eggplants and tomatoes as the day winds down. Peruvians prefer to prepare their meals from fresh fruits and vegetables, rather than buy canned, frozen or processed foods. Doing so it more economical and tasty, Peruvians agree. As an added bonus, preparing meals from scratch is healthier. Eating healthier foods enables many Peruvians to stay fitter than their U.S. counterparts. According to the World Health Organization, obesity in developed and developing nations is soaring, notes ACAP. An astonishing 74.1% of U.S. citizens over age 15 are classified as overweight. The United States ranks #9…
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The Haircut (El Fotografo gets sheared)
El Fotógrafo has an erratic relationship with his hair. He goes for weeks without doing much of anything to it, letting it sprout in extravagent clumps, and then one day, he will be struck by a severe urge to cut his hair Now. This can be hazardous because EF has a cowlick. It’s not something a person can trim on his own, but EF doesn’t see it that way. I’ve found him in the bathroom with a pair of not-very-sharp scissors hacking at his temples, silver and black hairs falling into the sink. He’ll step back and admire his handiwork in the mirror, raking his fingers through the cropped cowlick. He doesn’t…
