Torrential rains in Cusco

Posted on January 28, 2010 by wwelvaert under Life in Peru

Lots of news about the flooding and mudslides caused by torrential rains in Cusco. Most of the damage is in or near the Sacred Valley of the Inca, about 20 miles outside of Cusco.

Unfortunately most of the English language media coverage and most of the Peruvian government’s efforts seem to be focused on helping the US and European tourists who were stranded in Machu Picchu, but you don’t see much about the ordinary Peruvians who are affected.

I’m actually in the US for a while. Patricia and the baby are safe in Cusco. Hopefully the rains will subside soon. The city of Cusco has rapidly expanded over the past 20 years or so and far too many houses are built on the sides of the mountains surrounding the city, any mudslides in the city would be a disaster.

More at En Peru and Diario del Cusco

Idiots with MBA degrees

Posted on January 21, 2010 by wwelvaert under Business & Economy

I could devote a whole blog to idiots in suits, also known as MBAs, but it would take away from the generally optimistic world view I have and try to share on this blog.

However, I just couldn’t resist this one, from Time magazine: Belgium’s looming beer crisis.

Just a teaser… Clearly 14th. century monks were more capable of running a business than today’s idiots in suits:

“InBev can trace its brewing roots back to 1366 … It has expanded rapidly following a series of rapacious mergers and acquisitions in recent years, most notably its takeover of Budweiser brewer Anheuser-Busch in 2008 — after which InBev became AB InBev. But that move also saddled the company with huge debts, which it is still struggling to pay off. …”

And if you can stomach reading through to the end, here’s what the people who gave you the financial crisis, Government Motors and $400 Amazon stock plan for Belgian beer:

“AB InBev is thinking on a bigger scale and wants to go for volume rather than quality,” he says. In other words, AB InBev is focusing on a grand strategy, which means that what happens in Belgium now is small beer.”

Belgium is of course my home country, so this one hits close to home. There’s also a Latin American connection in that AB Inbev is largely controlled by Brazilian investment bankers, stemming from one of the mergers that made the company what it is today.

Excuse the French, but if some people can screw up a wet dream, I guess even screwing up Belgian beer is possible for idiots in suits.

Go read the full article at Time.

Pais de coca cola

Posted on January 12, 2010 by wwelvaert under Life in Peru

This morning I paid the “tasa anual” or yearly tax on my carné de extranjería. All in all it took me several hours to accomplish this, getting a current official copy of our “acta de matrimonio”, a bunch of other copies, a “pago” at the Banco de la Nacion, etc.

While I was waiting in line at the Peruvian immigration office this morning, one of the other folks waiting in line said:

“Dicen Peru es el pais de la COCA COLA… Mitad de los Peruanos estan cultivando COCA, y la otra mitad haciendo COLA“

So true…

Meaning, loosely translated, “if Peruvians aren’t growing coca they are somewhere standing in line”. Or you could look at it as the Peruvians in rural areas (the ones chewing coca) work the land and the mines, doing productve stuff, while the folks in the city eat ice cream, write blogs like this one and spend countless hours on inane bureaucracy, doing not much of anything productive 🙂

Cola means “line”, it’s one of the first words you’ll ever learn in Spanish, right up there with mañana and un rato. Although it must be said Peruvians are horrible at making a cola, they are habitually trying to cut in line…