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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Should Americans Consider Moving to Peru? Part I
Today my opinion piece “Escaping the U.S. Credit Nightmare” appears in the Sunday Miami Herald, Money section (10/12/08). The teaser reads: “An American who now lives in Peru finds that she no longer must fend off unwanted offers for credit cards and loans,” which highlights one of the unanticipated benefits I gained from our move to Lima last year. That benefit might entice some overwhelmed Americans to consider moving to Peru to experience a reprieve from credit offers or to weather out the economic crisis. I’ve heard from several friends, and a few strangers, that the idea has crossed their minds in the last month. Closing the door on a…
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Purple Month (Mes Morado) and the Lord of the Miracles
It is October in Lima, also known as mes morado, the Purple Month. There are purple banners hung along streets in downtown Lima, purple candles sold on street corners, desserts tied with purple bows displayed in bakery windows. A favorite pastry is a flat, candy- and syrup-drenched affair known as Turron de Dona Pepa. On city streets and in banks and restaurants, you’ll find people dressed in purple head to toe. Usually they are middle-aged ladies wearing conservative knee-length dresses and pants suits. Sometimes it will be a child dressed in a purple robe with matching cape. Occasionally you will see a trendsetter in a purple mini skirt, purple…
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Of Earthquakes and Philosophers
This past Monday (October 6), at around 6:50 p.m., El Híjo and I were sitting in the living room when we felt an enormous jolt. EH leaped from the couch: “Earthquake!” The rapid shaking last for ten seconds and stopped. El Fotógrafo emerged from the kitchen where he was cooking a very fragrant Bolognese sauce. His brother was right behind him, wafting on the scent of sautéed garlic. “Yes,” said his brother, stroking his beard. “This is October. The month of the earthquakes.” He paused thoughtfully. “Also May.” Now is a good time in this blog to introduce El Filósofo, EF’s older brother and a lifetime Lima resident. Plato and…
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Worthy Read: “Darkening Peaks” Tells of Glacier Loss & Human Impacts
A new book (March 2008) co-edited by a UC Davis professor of environmental science and policy looks at the world’s glaciers from all sides, scientific, social and economic. “Darkening Peaks: Glacier Retreat, Science and Society” (Univ. Cal. Press) brings together researchers from five continents to discuss how scientists study glaciers, how climate change is altering glaciers’ size and distribution, and what effects these changes are having on human life. The book’s co-editor, Ben Orlove, is a specialist in the human dimensions of climate variability, and his work is of particular interest to anyone who cares about the Andes because he’s spent decades studying the region. He also is the author…
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Dollar Staggers out of Ditch for Brief Day in the Sun
For the last 14 months in Peru, the value of the U.S. dollar has been tanking. That trend really hurts when you’re an expat, like me, who still keeps a bank account in the U.S. When El Fotógrafo and I arrived in Lima in July 2007, the dollar was trading at 3.3 Peruvian soles. We didn’t realize at the time, but that was a sweet exchange rate. A few months later, the dollar started dipping in value. We were shocked when it went under 3 soles. Then it began dropping more, all the way to 2.65 soles. The official money changers (see guy in green vest, above) we traded with…
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Escaping the American Credit Nightmare
Note to readers: My opinion piece “Escaping the American Credit Nightmare” appears in the Sunday (Oct. 12, 2008) edition of the Miami Herald, in the “My View” column of the business section. Here’s my original piece below — Barbara Drake: One of the pleasures of moving to Peru last July (2007) was escaping the flurry of credit offers that used to besiege our mailbox in Florida. Each afternoon I’d grab the stack of new mail and spend a good 15 minutes going through the envelopes. There’d be offers for new credit cards, lines of credit, adjustable-rate mortgages on our home, home-equity lines of credit, cash-out refinances. I had never asked for…
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Big Sister, Little Sister, Ausangate-style
Adorable big sister from Puca Rumi I met this girl two weeks ago while trekking around Mount Ausangate. We were camping on her father’s land in Puca Rumi, and she shyly came up to our tents, wanting to meet us. When I took out a bag of chupetas (lollipops) her two brothers magically appeared in our campsite. For two hours the girl followed us around. The entire time she carried her little sister on her back, tied in a fabric sling. She didn’t complain once. The baby sister peeked over her big sister’s shoulder and sucked on her bottle of straw-colored liquid. I have no idea what it was. My…
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Totally Offensive: McDonald’s Opens at Cusco Plaza de Armas
The “M” is brown, but it’s still the same Mac-chain Several posts ago, I incorrectly announced that Cafe Ayllu on Cusco’s Plaza de Armas had closed due to a pending rent increase. My source was wrong; what I found out when I visited Cusco last week is that the Ayllu is still open, for now. (It will close soon.) The real news is: fast-food chain McDonald’s has opened a franchise just three doors down from the Ayllu. The McDonald’s opened last Wednesday with little fanfare, according to John at the South American Explorers Clubhouse in Cusco. “They sort of snuck in,” he says. “There wasn’t any word about it.” The…
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Beautiful Weavings Made on Nevado Ausangate
Justina weaving on her hand loom, in Pacchanta We spent about 45 minutes talking with this lovely Quechua-speaking woman, who lives with her children and mother-in-law in a small village called Pacchanta. It’s on the trekking circuit around Nevado Ausangate. Justina earns money by weaving textiles on her handloom. The day I met her she was weaving a striking piece of fabric with condors and geometric designs, made from handspun, home-dyed wool. The colors were quite beautiful. Her daughters looked on as she deftly wove the threads in and out, tracing intricate patterns. The weaving would be done in two weeks, she told me. The symbolism of weavings like Justina’s…
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Back from the Land of the Blue-eyed Alpaca
I spotted this unusual blue-eyed alpaca on a hillside in Upis I returned to Lima this past Saturday after a week trekking around Mount Ausangate, in southern Peru, with my cousin and a Quechua-Spanish translator from Cusco. What an experience. It was a work trip, rather than a vacation per se; we’d wake up at six each morning, bolt down some oatmeal and then walk to the next pueblo to find people to interview. I was there to talk to people about climate change and how it’s impacting their daily rituals and religious celebrations. A few random observations: (1) The ice caps are melting rapidly, and extreme weather events are…
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Blog Babysitting
For the next eight days I’ll be in the Andes with little to no Internet access, so I won’t be publishing new posts. This wasn’t my plan. I wrote a bunch and wanted to schedule them in advance, but the Schedule Post feature in WordPress (what this blog runs on) is a dud and it simply queues the posts ad infinitum. Sigh. It’s a programming glitch that WordPress has not solved, and if this kind of thing interests you, click here to follow the thread on the WordPress Boards. I’ll be back to the blog on Sunday, September 21, with news about my trip to Ausangate and hopefully some great…
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Photo of the Day: Apu Veronica
The beautiful Apu Veronica, considered a female mountain lord by indigenous people in the Peruvian Andes Many mountains in the Andes are considered male by the local people, but a few are female, like Nevado Veronica. She rises wide and conical over the Urubamba Valley, like a big-hipped mama towering over her children. In the photo above, she’s bathed in luscious drifts of snow that resemble swirls of soft-serve ice cream. I suspect the photo was taken a while ago or immediately after a heavy snowfall because Veronica has lost much of her snowcap in the last fifteen to twenty years, as a result of global warming. She’s mainly brown now. Veronica is my favorite mountain in…
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Photo of the Day: Plaza de Armas, Cusco
Early morning, Cusco Plaza de Armas; photo by Jorge Vera 2008 Quite beautiful in the morning light. Later in the morning, filled with tourists and restaurant employees hawking luncheon specials. Former mom-and-pop stores around the plaza have now been converted into high-end jewelry boutiques selling reproduction Sipan brooches. People on the street pester you all day and night to buy stuff (tours to Manu, chompas), as American blogger Alli notes in Corriendo La Liebre. Still beautiful though. Venerable local cafe — the Ayllu — declared part of the city’s cultural patrimony. El Fotografo and I were sitting there one morning in 1995 when he saw a porter rush by with a…
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Photo of the Day: Masked Sheep’s Head Dancer, Qoyllur Rit’i Pilgrimage 2006
Masked dancer at Qoyllur Rit’i festival, Peru, 2006 El Fotografo spied this guy at the 2006 pilgrimage. He embodies the fertility cult that underpins the festival’s Catholic traditions, which have been sycretized with older, Andean rituals. I find this image rather terrifying, for some reason. We looked again for the Sheep’s Head Dancer this past May but didn’t see hide nor hair of him, as they say. —Barbara R. Drake
