Living in Peru : your everyday companion

Living in Peru
Israel J. Ruiz

In statements released on Thursday, Malls Peru announced the start of the construction of a new shopping center in the northern region of La Libertad.

It was reported that Malls Peru is to invest $20 million in the construction of a new shopping center in Trujillo, the capital of La Libertad.

The new shopping center, which has been named Los Jardines Open Plaza, is the fifth of the open plaza shopping centers Malls Peru has invested in.

Los Jardines Open Plaza is to be built on the 25,000 square meter (269,098 square foot) piece of land where Los Jardines Hotel used to be.

It will have a Tottus supermarket, a Sodimac hardware store as well as establishments such as Banco de Crédito del Perú (BCP), BBVA Banco Continental, Radio Shack, Lavanderías Pressto and Do It.

The shopping center will also have restaurants such as China Wok and Norky's among others.

Los Jardines Open Plaza will directly employ 1,000 people and indirectly provide jobs for 3,000 more, said the general manager of Malls Peru, Jose Antonio Contreras.

It has been estimated that the shopping center will be built in six months and be inaugurated by the end of this year.

Living in Peru
Israel J. Ruiz

Limeans, who are used to experiencing foggy, humid weather during the winter, can expect to see some sunshine and feel temperatures as high as 21°C (69.8°F) from July 1 - 3, reported the country's national weather service, SENAMHI.

The sky in Lima will be partly cloudy and slowly clear up until midday, at which time residents will see sporadic rays of sunshine, said Raquel Loayza, a meteorologist for SENAMHI.

"It is probable that there will be improvements in weather conditions with more probability of sunshine in Lima. Observing climatology, in previous years we have seen that there has also been sunshine in July," said Loayza.

On the other hand, the meteorologist explained that weather conditions would be returning to normal by this weekend.

Drizzle will begin once again and the temperature will drop back to at least 13.9°C (57°F).

She explained that weather conditions would slowly get worse as this weekend approached.

Furthermore, Loayza affirmed that humidity levels would be between 70 and 75 percent.

Eco Worldly
Levi Novey

Several days ago, I read a story about how Peru’s butterfly exports had increased 43% from January-April of this year. These are the butterflies that are pinned into glass frames for sale as gifts and souvenirs. I wondered if all of these butterflies included those that are exported illegally and those that are endangered. Questions of this kind were on my mind as just several days earlier my family had passed by a street vendor who sold animals illegally.

One of the animals was a baby monkey, caged and frightened. We live in the highlands region of Peru, so the monkey was far from its former home in the rainforest. My wife, who in the past worked as a biologist throughout Peru, told me that she thought this was an endangered monkey. As we walked home, I wished I had brought my camera. This I thought, is a story that needs to be pursued.

Yesterday, I went with my family once again to see the animals sold by the street vendor. This time I took my camera, hoping to take a photo of the monkey. Unfortunately, the monkey had been sold. My wife had told me that it was probably a Brown capuchin monkey (Cebus apella). Despite not finding the monkey, the photos I did get were probably even better.

Just as we arrived, a man in a car pulled up and inquired about one of the larger birds that was being sold. He ended up buying the bird, probably a Scarlet-fronted parakeet (Aratinga wagleri), for 33 nuevo soles (approximately $11 American). Watching the vendor get the bird out of the cage was painful. The stressed bird pecked at the man’s hand as much as he could. Once the vendor succeeded in grabbing the bird, he put it in a brown paper bag with a piece of corn. I told my wife, “At least he gave it something to eat.” She then told me, “Those type of birds don’t eat corn though, they eat fruit.”

What I Discovered in My Research about Peru’s Illegal Wildlife Trade

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Living in Peru
Israel J. Ruiz

A group of Peruvian professionals has created the Urban Air Purifier (UAP), a machine which has been designed to clean air of bacteria, pathogens and other particles which may cause respiratory problems or allergies.

The machine can purify up to 200,000 cubic meters of air per day, which according to the inventors' calculations can provide 20,000 people with healthy oxygen.

Calculations were based on the estimate that an average person breathes approximately 10 cubic meters of oxygen per day.

Jorge Gutierrez, an engineer at Tierra Nuestra - a company that specializes in environmental conservation - explained that the air purifier continuously took in polluted air in urban areas, purified it and released oxygen without germs and less negative ions into the environment.

Furthermore, Gutierrez explained that the air purifier used a natural process to filter polluted oxygen.

By using water, the air filter reduced a great deal of the harmful effects of polluted air.

It was reported that The Urban Air Purifier needs 2.5 kilowatts to run, the same amount of energy required to run an industrial vacuum.

It consumes 60 liters of water for every five hours it is running and it was estimated that the purifier required six soles a day to remain in operation.

The Peruvian government declared the state of emergency in eleven departments of the country due to low temperatures with the purpose to execute immediate actions destined to reduce and minimize existing risks.

According to a Supreme Decree published today in the official newspaper El Peruano, this decision will be applied for the departments of Apurimac, Arequipa, Ayacucho, Cusco, Huancavelica, Junín, Lima, Moquegua, Pasco, Puno and Tacna.

The highlands of these departments are being affected by low temperatures, producing meteorological phenomena such as blizzards and hailstorms among others.

Global warming is producing extreme environmental effects causing material damages, destruction, and the loss of human lifes.

The Supreme Decree is signed by the Peruvian president, Alan García Pérez, and Peru’s Prime Minister, Jorge del Castillo.

The ministers of Agriculture, Economy and Finances, Education, Women and Social Development, and Health also signed the document.

News soruce: ANDINA

Living in Peru
Israel J. Ruiz

After the Brazilian government released pictures it had taken near the Peru-Brazil border of an indigenous tribe that has avoided contact with the outside world, several organizations began efforts to protect the uncontacted people.

It was believed that the tribes were fleeing the area because of illegal logging that was taking place near the Peruvian border with Brazil.

The Peruvian Amazon Indian organization (AIDESEP) affirmed that logging was forcing uncontacted tribes "out of their own territories". Moreover, they urged the government to protect the tribes.

According to biologist Grocio Gil Navarro, the indigenous people that were photographed were not Peruvians.

The head of Alto Purus National Park and the Comunal Purus Reserve clarified that contrary to what many believed, the tribes were not Peruvian.

Furthermore, the head of the reserve assured that the uncontacted individuals were not fleeing from illegal logging that was taking place in the region of Ucayali.

He added that information being given out by certain NGOs was not true, stating that there were several control towers in the area which tracked and protected the tribes.

"We were very surprised," said Navarro, affirming that there were control towers near the areas where NGOs were claiming that illegal logging was taking place.

He stated that he had not received reports of illegal logging and affirmed that uncontacted tribes were not being chased from their homes.

Navarro added that the tribes frequently moved from Peru to Brazil, stating that they were not aware they were moving from one country to another.

He assured that this was part of their migratory habits.

Peru’s government has announced plans to investigate the plight of uncontacted Indians living in the remote Peruvian Amazon.

The announcement comes after unique photos of an uncontacted tribe in Brazil, near the Peruvian border, made world headlines.

They are among an estimated 500 uncontacted Indians in the region, some of whom are believed to be at risk from conflict with other uncontacted tribes from Peru fleeing into Brazil.

‘The idea is to protect them, not contact them,’ the director of the Peruvian government’s indigenous affairs department, Ronald Ibarra, is reported as saying. ‘A team of professionals will travel to the region to gather information and see if illegal logging really is displacing the tribes.’

Photos were also taken of the houses of one of these refugee tribes, now living five kilometres across the border in Brazil.

In total, there are an estimated fifteen uncontacted tribes in Peru and all of them are threatened with extinction, mainly from illegal logging and oil exploration. They are exceedingly vulnerable to any form of contact because they have no immunity to outsiders’ diseases.

Survival International’s director, Stephen Corry, said today, ‘This is a positive first step from the Peruvian government, but it must act fast. It must stop the logging, remove the loggers and any other invaders from the uncontacted Indians’ land, and ensure that no one else enters in the future.’

Official Press Release

Living in Peru
Israel J. Ruiz

According to a report issued by Peru's General Directorate for Environmental Health (DIGESA), La Perla - a district in Callao - will be least affected by the pipes which are to dump raw sewage in the district's ocean.

After SEDAPAL water company announced it would be necessary to dump more wastewater in the Pacific Ocean, the government has been looking for a suitable site.

Dumping the untreated water in La Perla's ocean will have the lowest impact on the environment, said the study, explaining that there was a much stronger current in this area.

Fausto Roncal, an executive director for Peru's Ministry of Health explained that it would be much better to funnel Lima's raw sewage to this area because in other areas the wastewater would not be taken out to the ocean.

He affirmed that the strong current at La Perla would move the used water away from Lima's coast, thus, causing less environmental damage.

Roncal assured that if the water were dumped elsewhere it would not move, causing serious harm.

The executive director also stated that the raw sewage could not be dumped at sea level but would have to be emptied under the ocean.

He stated that the sewage pipe would have to be placed 300 meters (984 feet) under the ocean and not 100 (328 ft.) like the Housing Minister had recommended.

A French company is locked in a legal battle with Amazon Indians over its plans to drill for oil in parts of the jungle inhabited by some of the world’s last uncontacted tribes. A hearing is due on 30 May.

The company, Perenco, is working in a remote part of the Peruvian Amazon where at least two uncontacted tribes live. It is believed to be the biggest oil find in Peru in thirty years and the Peruvian president, Alan Garcia, has expressed hopes it will transform the Peruvian economy.

The case has been filed by Peru’s Amazon Indian organisation, AIDESEP. It urges the judge to prohibit Perenco and other companies from working in the region and making contact with uncontacted tribes.

Perenco acquired the rights to work in Peru after taking over a US company, Barrett Resources, earlier this year.

Barrett had already attracted fierce criticism from Peruvian Indians after revealing plans to ‘communicate’ with the tribes using megaphones if its oil crews were attacked by them.

Any form of contact with the tribes could be catastrophic because of their vulnerability to outsiders’ diseases. After first contact, it is common for more than 50% of a tribe to die.

Despite this, and despite an international law that recognises the tribes as the rightful owners of their land, Perenco continues to work there.

Survival’s Director, Stephen Corry, said today, ‘Perenco must understand the potentially disastrous consequences its actions may have for the uncontacted tribes. Perenco, pull out. It’s the Indians’ land, not yours, and you’re breaking international law by working there.’

Official Press Release