Barbara
I am an American writer who lived in Lima for seven years (2007-2014), where I covered Andean traditions, melting glaciers and daily life in the capital for Miami Herald, MSNBC and Huffington Post. I now live and work in northern Florida where I champion climate change advocacy and compassionate, affordable eldercare.
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Es Hembrita? Owning a Girl Dog in Peru
This post originally appeared on August 9, 2008. I like the piece so I’m running it again while I’m on vacation. Es hembrita? That’s the first question Peruvians ask me when I’m out walking Lola. It doesn’t matter if the person is male or female, young or old, with dog or without. Nine times out of ten, a Peruvian seeing my dog for the first time wants to know if she’s a bitch (hembra). Sometimes, they want to know if she’s a little bitch (hembrita). In contrast, back in the United States the first question people ask is, “What’s your dog’s name?” From the answer, they usually can infer the…
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Lab in a Cab (photo of the day)
Lola in the front seat, Miraflores We took Lola on an hour-and-a-half walk along the Malecon in Miraflores last week. By the end we all were pooped, so we hailed a cab and convinced the driver to take the four of us back home to San Antonio. Lola sat in the front with El Fotografo, squeezed into the tiny floorspace, her tongue lolling. She appeared to enjoy the ride.
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Salami Sandwich Man
Deli counter, Wong supermarket, Miraflores; photo c. Barbara Drake 2008 I bought Braendt salami from this guy at Wong supermarket a few nights ago. It wasn’t a lot of salami — maybe 100 grams — but my purchase merited a regalo: half a ham/salami/cheese sandwich on whole-grain bread, with lettuce and tomato. Nice guy, no?
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Blogging Notes
I’ll be traveling in the United States for the next two weeks, so blog posts will be sporadic. I have two goals in the United States: (1) Research how Peruvians in the U.S. are coping with the financial downtown; and (2) Avoid getting fat on American food! If you are a Peruvian living in the United States and you’d like to share your personal story about the economy, leave a comment on this post and include your email address in the comment form (the part that doesn’t show). I will be in touch. I’m interested in talking with people who are having trouble paying their mortgage, are in foreclosure, have…
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What You Can Do to Help Save the People of La Oroya
Since I posted yesterday on my response to CNN’s segment on the toxic La Oroya smelting plant, several people who are very knowlegeable about the crisis have left some insightful and useful comments. (Visit my original response here.) Sara Shipley Hines, who wrote the excellent Doe Run expose in Mother Jones in 2006, points out that CNN’s special incorrectly portrayed Doe Run’s Herculaneum smelting plant as model of environmental cleanliness. Unforunately, says Sara, it’s still hazardous. Sara’s written more on Doe Run since her award-winning MJ piece appeared, and you can visit her website for current articles, including a piece for the Nation on religious leaders challenging Ira Rennert. Notes Sara: Another new…
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Susan Saradon Hugs a Llama to Ease World Hunger
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 help ease poverty in areas where people struggle to nourish themselves. If you have ever visited the puna in Peru, you have seen for yourself how disadvantaged people in far-flung regions scrape by on the paltriest amounts of food. Here is Saradon’s essay from the CNN “Planet in Peril” blog: Susan Sarandon Actress and…
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Reaction to CNN’s “Planet in Peril: Battle Lines” on Toxic La Oroya Mines
It was with a mixture of anger, grief and hope that I watched CNN’s broadcast of “Planet in Peril: Battle Lines” last Thursday night. Fifteen minutes of the show focused on the toxic contamination of the Doe Run Peru smelting planet in La Oroya, which is one of the 10 most polluted places on earth, along with Chernobyl. Peruvian baby breathing in toxic fumes from Doe Run Peru smelting plant; 98% of children in La Oroya suffer from extreme lead poisoning. Some U.S. critics are quibbling that the show was “stunt journalism” interspersed with flimsy reporting, a charge they base largely on reporter/producer Anderson Cooper’s segment on swimming with great white…
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Panettone Madness
Stacked to the ceiling in Wong supermarket, Lima It is December in Lima; therefore, Christmas is coming; therefore, the city is being overrun by armies of panettone boxes. You may wonder what this Milanese sweet bread is doing in Peru, which does not have a large Italian population. Don’t ask. It’s Peru. Many decades ago, the dessert bread became coupled in the Peruvian imagination with Christmas festivities, and eating gobs of panettone became what one did at Navidad. (Actually, the custom was introduced by Antonio D’Onofrio, the son of immigrants from Caserta, Italy, who licensed the Milanese recipe and packaging and proceeded to build a baking and ice cream empire in Peru, according to Wikipedia.) Peru isn’t…
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Happy International Mountain Day! (December 11)
Five years ago, the U.N. General Assembly Declared December 11 “International Mountain Day.” The celebration is part of an ongoing effort by the U.N. to increase people’s awareness about the importance of mountains to life on this planet, and to build partnerships that will “bring change to the world’s mountains and highlands.” The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations notes: Mountains are crucial to life. Whether we live at sea level or the highest elevations, we are connected to mountains and affected by them in more ways than we can imagine. Mountains provide most of the world’s freshwater, harbour a rich variety of plants and animals, and…
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Toxic La Oroya Mine Profiled Dec. 11 on CNN’s “Planet in Peril”
On December 11, one of Peru’s most horrific environmental and public-health disasters will command worldwide attention when CNN debuts the first part of “Planet in Peril: Battle Lines” (Thurs., 9 p.m. ET). The show focuses on the Doe Run Peru smelting complex in La Oroya, in central Peru, where sky-high levels of lead and other toxic metals have contaminated the air and water, poisoning area residents. (Nearly every child in the town has lead poisoning.) Doe Run is a St. Louis-based company that is part of Renco Group, a private-holding company of New York businessman Ira Rennert. Doe Run Peru is part of Doe Run. The Doe Run crisis has been the subject…
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Peruvian Cuisine Will Be Top Food Trend of 2009, Bets Epicurious
The accolades for Peruvian food keep rolling in. This time it’s the award-winning food site Epicurious.com that’s predicting Peruvian cuisine will be the hot food trend of the new year. Peruvian is the new Thai: You thought Peruvian cuisine was all about seviche, maybe? Guess again: Peru boasts culinary influences from Spanish, Basque, African, Cantonese, Japanese, Italian, French, and British immigrants. Pisco Sour, anyone? Epicurious editor James Oliver Cury adds, “We think there will be more Peruvian dishes at [U.S.] restaurants and in popular culture. ” (His comment is followed by links to starred Peruvian recipes such as fried yuca with huancaina sauce and ceviche de pescado.) The pronouncement by…
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Peru Food Up Close: Mushrooms and Figs at Surquillo No. 1
Giant porcini mushrooms, figs and blackberries for sale this week at Surquillo Market No. 1, Lima; photo by Barbara Drake My eye was caught by this remarkable fresh produce for sale at the local market in Surquillo. The porcini mushrooms (“hongo funghi”) are enormous. Black figs like those on the bottom are now in season. Blackberries are rare in Peru. Within the next year, the proletariat Mercado No. 1 will undergo a massive renovation. It is being turned into a gastronomical destination by Peruvian superchef Gaston Acurio. The same stands will be selling produce on the ground floor; the second and third floors are being transformed into a food court and…
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Lost City of Cloud People Found in Amazon
Here is a fascinating story that just surfaced about the Chachapoyas: An ancient lost city has been discovered in the remote Amazonian rainforest of north-east Peru, archaeologists have announced. The fortified citadel appears to be from the pre-Inca era and may be linked to the country’s legendary ‘Cloud People’. The main encampment comprises circular stone houses overgrown by lush jungle over an area of 12 acres, said archaeologist Benedict Goicochea Perez. The citadel sits atop a chasm that the former inhabitants may have used as a lookout to spy on approaching enemies, she added. Rock paintings cover some of the fortifications, and next to the dwellings are large platforms believed…
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Newest Superhero: A Soccer-playing Car Mechanic from Lima
I was so absorbed by the APEC brouhaha last month I missed the news that the world’s newest superhero hails from Lima. Santiago is a viewer-created superhero character who stars in four micro-episodes in Sprint’s online series Heroes: Destiny. More than one million people participated in the online series by selecting attributes for a male and a female character and voting for the winning hero. Scriptwriters fashioned a four-part story around the character and shot the series with live actors. Evidently, viewers were most intributed by the idea of a young working class guy from Lima possessing superpowers: Santiago is an ordinary young man living in Lima, Peru. Soccer is…
