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Photo of the Day: Our Campsite at Qoyllur Rit’i
We camped out for three nights (June 6-9) in the valley below receding Qolqepunku Glacier. That dark mountain on the right used to be covered with snow and ice. Once upon a twentieth century… I look at this photo, and what strikes me is how pleasant and cozy the scene appears. Warm sunlight, plenty of space between campsites. That’s anything but the truth. Climbing out of that tent in the frigidly cold morning was torture. I got dizzy bending over in the high altitude and sort of collapsed onto this chair just minutes before El Fotografo snapped this shot. There is an 11-year-old child inside the zippered tent, refusing to come out after a sleepless…
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Climate Change & Disappearing Glaciers, Festivals, Sacred Rituals, Religion, Peru's Andes Mountains, Traditions + Rituals
I End up Doing the Whipping Dance
El Fotografo and I were making friend with our camping neighbors — a comparsa from Cusco — at the Qoyllur Rit’i pilgrimage last weekend, when suddenly one of the young dancers snatched me by the arm. “Come on, dance,” she said. No, I said, several times — No to the satin skirt being pinned around my (enormous) down jacket, No to the elaborate flat hat (montera) being strapped on my head, No to the leather whip being thrust in my gloved hand. No, because this gringa didn’t want to risk having a heart attack by foolishly dancing the “Yawar Mayu” (River of Blood) ritual whipping dance at 15,500 feet above sea level. Not…
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Getting Our Bearings Back after Qoyllur Rit’i
Back in Lima today after four days and three nights at Qoyllur Rit’i. We got great material (interviews, photos, video), and all of us survived, but it was an ordeal. Bitterly cold temperatures (-10 degrees Celcius), sleepless nights accompanied by constant drumming, dynamite being set off helter-skelter. Having to re-set up camp ourselves in the dark due to our arriero‘s incompetence (tents pitched at angles, facing wind). El Fotografo passing out due to exertion at high altitude….I could go on and on. But on the plus side — we met a great comparsa from Cusco-Santiago, who welcomed us into their rituals and let us understand the remarkable faith that drives pilgrims to make this…
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Going up the Mountain Today
It is quarter of nine in the morning, and we’re waiting for the van to pick us up at Hostal Buena Vista, in Cusco, to take us to Mawayni. That’s where pilgrims begin the eight-kilometer climb to the shrine of Qoyllur Rit’i. The hostal is owned by El Fotografo’s cousin Jorge, who’s got a nice thing going here. We’re listening to the Waifs and eating local bread with eggs, cheese, ham — 100 percent energy, as Jorge says. El Hijo likes Cusco this time around. I have no idea how well he will cope at high altitude, surrounded by tens of thousands of dancing, chanting pilgrims. Tonight we’ll find out.…
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Needless Deaths in the Andes
A front-page article in Sunday’s El Comercio exposed the criminal indifference of local and state governments to the deaths of children in the Andes. Some Peruvians are outraged at the country’s indifference to the preventable deaths of children in the Andes, as this widely circulated cartoon shows. Others shrug their shoulders and say, “That’s Peru.” This year alone, 144 children under age 5 have died of respiratory disease brought on extreme cold in the high sierra, reported El Comercio. Thirty-five of the young victims were from Puno, where temperatures plummeted to -15 degrees C in the last 21 days. (Note that temperature extremes — winter getting colder, summer getting hotter and drier — are an expression…
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In Search of the Vanishing Snow Star
El Fotografo and I are turning the house upside-down this weekend, as we air out camping gear to go to the glacier pilgrimage of Qoyllur Rit’i (“Snow Star” in Quechua) next week. The annual Andean pilgrimage takes place in a remote valley in southern Peru, at the foot of 16,000-foot-high Qolqepunku Glacier. Pilgrims travel from all over central and southern Peru, as well as northern Boliva, to attend this remarkable event, the largest of its kind in the Western Hemisphere. The Catholic Church has its hand in Qoyllur Rit’i, but what really interests me and El Fotografo are the indigenous, ice-worshipping rituals that people perform at Qoyllur Rit’i. That’s why we’re…
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Why Twitter from Peru?
During my month-long hiatus from this blog, I got hooked on another form of social media: Twitter. Unlike Facebook, which facilitates staying touch with family and friends, Twitter is a freeform broadcast to just about anyone on the planet. That might not sound like a medium that would interest a relatively private person (like me), but it turns out that Twitter makes it ridiculously easy to connect with people you’ve always wanted to know. You can tweet with editors of magazines and publishing houses, ask a quick question of New Yorker writer Susan Orlean, compliment Dave Matthews on his latest album and keep up with environmental issues from the Guardian Online, The Climate Project and other…
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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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Irish Music & Dance Concert for Peru Earthquake Relief, May 15 & 16
Come out for a rousing night of Celtic rock, Irish step dancing and storytelling in Lima on Fri., May 15, and Sat., May 16, when my band The Three Jacks plays two benefit concerts for victims of the ’07 Peru earthquake. I promise it will be an excellent time because (1) the musicians and dancers are world-class; (2) our lead singer is a rowdy, sometimes bawdy storyteller; and (3) you’ll be helping to build a desperately needed medical center in the ravaged town of Pisco. Here’s the press release that recently ran in Living in Peru: Renowned Celtic Rockers and Irish Step Dancers to Entertain Lima May 15 & 16 The month…
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We Now Resume Our Regularly Scheduled Blogcast
If you’ve been wondering where An American in Lima has been for the past month — I’m pleased to say the site’s back and running fine. I didn’t know how much I loved blogging until a temporary software glitch prevented me from doing so. A number of emails and queries built up in my in-box over the last 30 days while I was trying to fix my blog. If you sent me a contact form and I haven’t gotten back to you yet: My apologies. I will be answering messages over the next two weeks. Thanks for your patience. What sent this site into hibernation was a bug in a recent version of…
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Matador David Galan, in Plaza de Acho
Can you say attitude? This Spanish torero fought at Plaza de Acho last November. He was a show stopper who would do anything to please the crowd — even throw off his shoes and kneel in the sand before the bull.
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How Far Does a Dollar Go in Peru These Days?
In the last 180 days, the dollar has been gaining in Peru, as this chart shows. Back in September ’08, the dollar was trading at 2.97 Peruvian soles; by March 3, 2009, that rate had spiked to 3.26 soles, leveling at 3.14 by March 17: chart courtesy Exchange-Rates.org Actually, the strengthening of the dollar began before September. In the last 12 months, the sole has depreciated 12.64% against the U.S. dollar, reports the Wall Street Journal. That trend is encouraging for Peruvians and expats who keep their money in dollars. I know I whined in October that the dollar was tanking, but my complaints were short-sighted. If I haven’t been paying enough attention to…
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Great News for El Hijo
I’ve been neglecting this blog lately as a result of work overload — preparing to teach a writing class at UPC, which entails putting together loads of English-language course materials. Last night I got only three hours of sleep, then staggered into a meeting with El Hijo’s teachers at school, where I received a wonderful surprise. I was handed an official note informing me that my 10-year-old son has “graduated” from Language Support, after one and a half years of tutoring, and will be joining his classmates in all of their regularly scheduled classes. This is a big moment for EH and our family. It is challenging to bring an American…
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Tiniest Andean Frog Can Sit on a Dime
Herpetologists have discovered a new species of frog in the Andes cloud forest. Nobel's pygmy frog, as it is called, is so tiny that it can sit on a dime, which makes it the smallest frog in the Andes mountain region.
