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How to Prepare for an Earthquake in a Third World Country
The devastating 8.8-magnitude earthquake that ravaged Chile on Saturday could easily have happened here in Lima or anywhere else along the Pacific coast. Sooner or later another big one will hit Peru, as one did in July 2007, and there are only a few ways to increase your odds that you won’t get killed when it happens. Living in a well-constructed, “earthquake-proof” home is the best way to protect yourself. I put quotation marks around that phrase because no structure is guaranteed to withstand the most violent earthquakes. Still, as engineer Andy Johnson notes, a well engineered building should hold up long enough for the people inside to escape before it…
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Three Jacks Play Miami Tonight
My bandmates The Three Jacks will be rocking downtown Miami’s Gusman Center tonight to raise funds for Jackson Memorial Hospital. Remaining tickets are on sale for $15 each, $10 for students. Sharing the stage will be champion step dancers from the Breffni Academy of Irish Dance. Those of you who saw The Three Jacks in Lima this past May will remember Carolyn, Caroline and Kiera’s remarkable footwork. (By the way, 17-year-old Kiera just won 5th place in the U.S. National Championships. Riverdance, watch out.) I highly urge all Peruvians in Miami to show their support for this remarkable group of musicians and dancers, who have raised more than $50,000 for earthquake relief in…
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Cemetery Dog, Buried City of Yungay, Peru
Dog at Yungay National Cemetery; Mount Huascaran in background (photo by Barbara Drake 2009) Last Sunday, El Fotógrafo, El Híjo and I toured the cemetery above the buried town of Yungay, about 30 miles north of Huaraz. We were with a group of scientists and historians taking part in a glacier adaptation conference, and there couldn’t have been a more stark reminder of nature’s destructive potential than to wander about this picturesque yet oppressive site — a place where nearly 20,000 souls perished in minutes from a massive avalanche that trapped them in mud, ice and rocks on May 31, 1970. Stuart of En Peru explains the catastrophe vividly. We stood on the uppermost tier of…
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The Three Jacks & Breffni Dancers Conquer Peru
Just a bit of exaggeration in that headline. But I’m entitled to gloat about the success of my band last weekend at Auditorio Santa Ursula, in San Isidro. We had two fabulous concerts, Friday and Saturday nights (May 15 & 16), and got loads of people to contribute money to build a hospital in Pisco. Plus I met a lot of great people — Peruvians and expats and even some readers of this blog — which made the event truly special. [photo above by Robert Stolpe 2009, Three Jacks rehearsing in Miami] I’m still coming down from the high. Media buzz went into high gear two Sundays ago when TV…
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Laura Bush Does Peru: Toilets for the People!
Laura Bush had an interesting itinerary this past weekend in Peru. I think it merits more public attention than does her husband’s hobnobbing with APEC leaders at the final summit meeting. Laura Bush looks on as aid worker demonstrates how to decontaminate drinking water in earthquake zone (San Clemente, Peru, Nov. 21) Of note: (1) She didn’t come with W. (He flew with Arroz.) Instead of arriving at Lima in Airforce One with her husband, Laura Bush flew from Panama to southern Peru. Some bloggers have read into the separate travel itineraries (strained marital relations), but I’m skipping those speculations because… (2) Laura Bush should be commended for visiting Pisco,…
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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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Remembering the Peru Earthquake, One Year Later
August 15, 2007: It had been little more than a month since El Fotografo, El Hijo and I had packed up the contents of our 4-bedroom house in Florida, stuffed it all in a shipping container bound for Callao, and hopped on a plane to EF’s hometown of Lima. Everything in Peru’s capital was new and strange to El Hijo and I, then — and to EF as well, since he hadn’t lived in Peru for 25 years. The food, the climate, the traffic, the language — just stepping out of the front door each morning was an adventure, not always an easy one. For several weeks we had been staying in a friend’s second-floor apartment in…
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Help Peru’s Earthquake Victims Rebuild Their Lives
Tonight at 8 p.m., my astral self will be hovering over downtown Miami as my good friends and former band mates, The Three Jacks, play a benefit concert to raise funds for victims of the 2007 Peru earthquake. The concert is being held at 8 p.m. at the Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, and I’m thrilled to report that tickets have sold out, every last one of them. Joining The Three Jacks will be champion step-dancers from the Breffni Academy of Irish Dance, in Florida. It promises to be a rousing evening of Celtic rock and Irish step dance, Miami-style. (Read Greg Baker’s article in the July 31 Miami…
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Me and Lima: Improvising a Life
In Jean Renoir’s classic film The Golden Coach (Le Carosse D’Or), a troupe of Italian actors arrives in 18th-century colonial Lima, expecting to perform in a luxurious palace. Instead, they find themselves in a frontier town. “What do you think of the New World?” they are asked. “It will be better when it is finished.” Arriving in Peru’s dusty, disorganized capital in July 2007, I had a similar reaction.
