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Features / archives for : General
17 February, 2010 14:51:49
Help the Sacred Valley: Malabar and Sol & Luna hold a fundraiser on Feb. 24
LivinginPeru.comIn late January, 2010, the beautiful Sacred Valley in Cusco and Machu Picchu Pueblo became the site of flash floods and mudslides that left thousands homeless and, for several days, caused a tense situation with hundreds of stranded tourists.
Four people died in the state of Cusco, including an Argentinian tourist and a local guide on the Inca trail, while strong rains in other southern states like Puno, Ayacucho and Huancavelica killed 16 others.
(See a compilation of breaking news by the LivinginPeru.com team and reporting by our special correspondent, Andrew Dare.)
Next Wednesday, Feb. 24, the Luna & Sol Association (of the lodge and spa in the Sacred Valley) and the restaurant Malabar are teaming up for a fundraiser to help rebuild houses in the village of Nogal Pampa.
"People are living in a precariously in tents in Nogal Pampa," writes the Sol & Luna Association in a press release. The association has a fund to rebuild 30 houses — their goal is 100 houses.
The association has set up tents, organized a community kitchen and put up bathrooms and showers. School starts in the beginning of March for 135 children in the village. "Notebooks, pens, crayons, scissors, folders and backpacks are all needed," the association writes.
For reservations at Wednesday's fundraiser at Club Empresarial in San Isidro, call 440-9094 or 215-9000, ext. 1020. The cost is US $150 per person.
For more information, contact Marie-Helene Miribel, owner of Sol & Luna, at gerencia@hotelsolyluna.com or (084) 984-700-272.
16 February, 2010 18:14:49
Interview with manager of Sumaq Hotel, Machu Picchu Pueblo's five star hotel
By Luis Felipe GamarraFor El Comercio
Aníbal Clavijo, manager of the Machu Picchu Pueblo's only five star hotel, Sumaq Hotel, believes that despite the difficulties, Machu Picchu remains a profitable destination.
What impact will the temporary closure of Machu Picchu have in the operation you have in Aguas Calientes?
Tourism has fallen 100 percent. In Aguas Calientes the tourism industry depends on Machu Picchu. As long as the Inca sanctuary remains closed and the rail is broken, we will not be able to do anything to reverse this figure.
What alternatives do the businesses in the area have?
At one point an airlift bridge between Cuzco and Machu Picchu was talked about; up to 200 tourists would be transported by helicopter every day. This might have sustained Aguas Calientes at least until the railroad was repaired. But on Monday the National Institute of Culture and Sernamp said they will not authorize it.
11 February, 2010 14:13:10
Still living in tents: A post-flood Cusco update from the town of Lucre
By Andrew DareCUSCO—Eighteen days after the severe floods in the Cusco region I went back for another visit to Lucre.
The river was back to just being a small stream, but there was not else much changed. There was still a lot of debris everywhere, collapsed houses and the air was filled with dust.
But there were more tents in the area and in the central plaza there was a volunteer youth group from Lima handing out clothes, blankets and aid. I went back to the once-pretty high street and the semi collapsed houses were still there, nobody daring to enter them for fear of collapse.
2 February, 2010 02:05:20
Peru's infrastructure deficiencies
By Silvia MendozaFor El Comercio
The improvement or decline in infrastructure not only affects the competitiveness of businesses in relation to their access to export markets. It also affects the wellbeing and wealth of average families.According to a study done by GRADE —Grupo de Análisis para el Desarrollo — the road repair can increase per capita income of families by up to 35 percent. Moreover, the impact on family income after accessing basic services like water, sewerage and electricity is a growth of 39.4 percent. Add telephone service to the mix and the increase is 60 percent.
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Peru climbed from 110th to 97th position in the World Economic Forum's infrastructure ranking
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(Continue reading to see graphs of Peru's infrastructure rankings according to the 2009 World Economic Forum Report.)
29 January, 2010 13:00:47
Cusco in emergency: Helping villagers who lost it all
Text and photos by Andrew Dare
In these tough times the Peruvian people have shown how amazing their community spirit really is, as all over Cusco there are collecting stations, where people have been donating clothes, food and water. Companies, groups and individuals have been gathering together and doing something about this disaster for themselves.
We joined in too on Thursday, Jan. 28: myself, three Peruvian friends and two friends who just returned after turning back along the Inca trail. We borrowed a pickup, all chipped in and bought several hundred liters of drinks, biscuits, tins of food, fruit, candles and matches and set off to the worse affected areas. We wanted to help out as best we could on our own mission.
First we drove down to Lucre, the little village where Cusqueños head off at the weekend to sample their famous duck.
The little stream through Lucre had leapt over the walls, becoming a raging torrent in the main street. Half the village being simply flattened and the people were still in a stunned daze. The saddest scene was a family sifting through the mud with their bare hands trying to salvage anything, only managing to recover just a few plates and cups. Their son was clutching onto a single muddy toy, all he had managed to get out his room before it collapsed. The mother had in her hand a mud covered photo, but it seemed there was nothing else to be found.
20 January, 2010 17:20:50
Chiaraje: A ritual fight in Peru's Andes
Adapted from the magazine Somos
Chiaraje, Chiaraje, Chiaraje! This word is repeated over and over; it is multiplied and becomes a chant sung by the villagers of Canas. It is Jan. 20 and the Chiaraje plain, at 4,500 meters above sea level, inhabited only by moss and visited occasionally by a wandering llama or alpaca, will become the battlefield for a violent confrontation between neighbors that will decide the fertility of this land for a year. The normally pacific villagers of Checca, Langui, Layo and Quehue become warriors for a day and their friends become enemies. “We march onto the Chiaraje battlefield. From the moment the rooster crows, we ride our horses. We are not afraid of the shower of rocks; we are warriors, even if the river is dyed with blood.”
From 8 at night, on the eve of battle, the confrontation starts to warm up in Checca through the radio Enlace. Some feminine voices accompanied by an ancestral pinkullo (a type of flute that resembles a quena) call for the fight.
19 January, 2010 13:14:21
Selling Snail Slime: A South American cosmetics export
By Julio Rojas EscalanteFor El Comercio
Javier Peña is a surgeon who one day decided to pursue a hobby to cope with stress. In his trips to Brazil and Chile he had met two colleagues who raised snails; one as pets, the other for business. “I got curious,” he says while driving his truck to his plant north of Lima, where he manufactures various cosmetic products. All thanks to snails. Did you know anything about the subject?
I started from scratch. I gradually became informed and learned for example that snails are a pest to farmers in the coastal areas, who try to eliminate them, because they spoil their crops. I found out that consumption was higher outside the country so I began exporting to Barcelona. But there were many difficulties in this business. I persuaded some friends to raise snails, got a load of one ton and that was the first export. And the problem was that there was no profit margin in the flesh. It cost us US $6 to raise one single snail and they wanted to pay the same amount for it in Europe. It was not commercially convenient: in the third shipment I think we lost US $500.
18 January, 2010 15:35:10
By Larry J. Pitman
I’d just finished teaching a long evening class at the university when I slumped into the back seat of a taxi. I was dead tired and wanted only to sit quietly during my ride home. It was blissfully quiet for a few moments until the driver cleared his throat and broke the silence. I groaned to myself as I really didn’t want to make the effort to talk. Nevertheless, I am essentially a polite person and find it hard to be rude. So I reluctantly entered into the conversation.TAXI DRIVER: How long have you been in Peru?
LARRY: Almost five years now.
TAXI DRIVER: Oh, how do you like it?
LARRY: Well, I am happy here.
I knew what the next inevitable question would be:
TAXI DRIVER: How do you like Peruvian food?
Now I knew that we were in for a full conversation.
14 January, 2010 17:10:13
New Year, New Promises: Investment projects for 2010 in Peru
By Claudia Paan and Alberto LimacheFor El Comercio
On December 24th, the Government carried out the famous cabal of eating 12 grapes during the first minute of the New Year (equivalent to the same amount of wishes for the coming year). But instead of grapes, the Emergency Decree 121-2009 fixed 20 investment promises that must be run under the stimulus plan that the Government has been employing since last year. And with the same care that many ate the grapes, the governmental entities involved should act in coordination to concretize these 20 prioritized projects. Indeed, the day before Christmas standard which reveals the list of projects that should be handed to the private sector this year was published. All this under the revival plan against the crisis. The total investment for these projects would add up to US$ 3.6 billion, at least.
12 January, 2010 14:09:52
Good Times, Good Politics: Interning with Ciudadanos al Dia
By Bill GelfeldVenturing off to Peru for a month-long internship in January of 2009, I had few expectations and little knowledge of the country outside of the common travelers’ tales of Machu Picchu and ancient Incan ruins. I was hardly prepared to be as enamored as I was with Peruvian culture, cuisine, but especially its people.
Flying into Lima on December 30, 2008, I had modest expectations at best for a city that had garnered mixed reviews from the few people who I had consulted. These people invariably described Lima as sprawling, industrial, or bland. But exploring the city over the next several weeks, either making my way to work or heading out at night to different hotspots, I came to appreciate the beauty and vivacity of the city and many of its charming neighborhoods outside of the tourist areas of Miraflores and Barranco.
The central purpose of my visit was a two-week internship with the Peruvian-born governance NGO Ciudadanos al Día (CAD). This organization, referred to me by a graduate school colleague, works in cooperation with civil society and government to improve the quality of and demand for public service provision in Peru.
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