Baby’s got passports!!!

Posted on December 11, 2009 by wwelvaert under Life in Peru

And they taste yummie!

After many tramites our baby now has 2 passports, one Peruvian and one Belgian. We just picked up the Belgian passport at the Belgian embassy in Lima and will be flying to Amsterdam on Sunday, spending the holidays in Belgium with pepe and meme.

Since baby Brianna Nayaraq is getting ready to go on an international trip, I think I’ll sign her up on the Facebook group I have more foreign policy experience than Sarah Palin… I mean, nothing personal, but Sarah Palin didn’t get a passport until 2006.

At any rate, wish us a good trip Sunday and we hope everyone gets a chance to spend the holidays with friends and loved ones like we will.

Un rato

Posted on December 9, 2009 by wwelvaert under Life in Peru

It is said the very first word of Spanish you’ll ever learn is “mañana”, which literally means “tomorrow” but in real life Latin cultures usually means something like “some day in the future, possibly”.

When I was a kid, my parents built a small vacation home in Spain. At our first visit, my dad went to buy some stones to finish the patio. The stones were supposed to be delivered “mañana”. So when no truck showed up the next day, my dad rode his bicycle in town to inquire… only to be told kindly “mañana”. This happened again the next day, and the next day, and it became a ritual for the entire 7 days of our stay, until the last day of our vacation when day my dad agreed to have the stones delivered some 6 months down the road when we’d be making another, longer trip to Spain. The entire time my family of course took the Spanish contractor at face value, thinking “mañana” actually meant the same thing as “tomorrow”, or “morgen” in Dutch.

Here in Peru the word “mañana” has an equally dubious meaning, and I’ve learned another one just like it: “un rato”, which literally means “a moment” or “a minute”. But nothing could be further from the truth. When someone in Peru tells me “un rato”, it pretty much means “nothing is going to happen for at least 45 minutes”.

In fact, when the baby starts to fuss because she’s hungry and Patricia says “un rato”, I’ve learned I can put in a pirated Led Zeppelin DVD to keep the baby entertained and distracted and pretty much make it through half the DVD before the “rato” is finally over. Hey, rock and roll beats walking around with a crying baby for 45 minutes 😉

Gotta go now, in un rato we’re going to eat dinner…

Plato Sol de Mayo

Posted on December 6, 2009 by wwelvaert under Life in Peru

Patricia got hungry today, you know, nursing the baby and all…

Plato Sol de Mayo

We went to our favorite restaurant in Urubamba, “Sol de Mayo” and Patricia ordered their perennial house special, “Plato Sol de Mayo”. In case you can’t make out the details in the old cellphone picture, the plate consists of a salad with yummie white Andean cheese, a potato – which Peru claims to have invented – noodles, corn, chicken, beef, chicharron and cuy.

There are a lot of places where you can enjoy typical Andean food, but if you’re in Urubamba I highly recommend “Sol de Mayo”. It’s located only 3 blocks right behind the main bus terminal in Urubamba, it’s not overpriced or touristy, and you definitely won’t leave hungry!

$1202

Posted on December 3, 2009 by wwelvaert under Business & Economy, Life in Peru

The current price of gold, one of Peru’s 2 main exports (the other is copper).

Here in the Empire of blood and gold the effects of the run-up in gold prices are decidedly mixed. While gold certainly has been good for Peru’s macro-economic numbers, the current gold rush in places such as the pristine jungle of Madre-de-Dios has undeniably had a significant environmental and social impact.

Gold mining in the jungle of Madre-de-Dios, Peru

On the purely financial aspect, I tend to agree that gold will likely do no better than protect your purchasing power in the long run. Gold has no intrinsic value and I’d say the current run-up is largely due to lack of faith in paper currencies, since central banks are printing them up like Monopoly(tm) money, but you can’t expect artisan miners in Peru or the suits at the TSX to give 2 hoots about that.

Here’s to Peru’s Ministerio de Energia y Minas.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Posted on November 26, 2009 by wwelvaert under Life in Peru

In this great future…

Posted on November 25, 2009 by wwelvaert under History and culture, Life in Peru

you can’t forget your past.

I may fuss about some things in Peru, but at the end of the day I’m very optimistic about the future. What keeps surprising me is how the young population (median age is 26) appears indifferent at times to the recent history of Peru.

Take the post office here in Cuzco, for example. Looks ok from the outside…

Cuzco post office

Now inside: “…built by the revolutionary government of the armed forces of Peru. June 1973.”

Gobierno revolucionario de la fuerza armada

The military government of Velasco Alvarado was later overthrown in another military coup, and in the 1980s followed by the disastrous first term of Alan Garcia, hyperinflation and the terrorism of Sendero Luminoso.

History intrigues me, a lot can be learned from it, but we often don’t. Just in way of one current example, here in Peru those who are considering to allow ex-militants of Sendero Luminoso back into politics should consider the simple wisdom of the late great Bob Marley:

“in this great future, you can’t forget your past…”

They weren’t idle words for Bob Marley… songwriter’s credit (and royalties) for the song “No woman no cry” is given to Vincent Ford, a man who ran a soup kitchen in the ghetto where Marley grew up. It is believed Marley wrote the song to console Mr. Ford’s widow at his death.

Here’s to hoping Peru won’t forget it’s past and the future will be bright.

Peruvian economists

Posted on November 21, 2009 by wwelvaert under Business & Economy, Life in Peru

It’s really a shame this should be a headline in Peru’s newspaper of record, El Comercio.

“Economists: continued growth is not possible unless poverty is reduced”.

Just saying, that one is right up there with “the sky is blue” and “Bill Gates not hurting for money this week”.

But such is the dilemma that is Peru: for the suits in Lima economic growth has long been detached from quality of life for ordinary Peruvians, especially in the provinces. Take for example this chart from official INEI statistics, during a period where GDP grew at a 9% annual clip.

Chullo tip to IKN.

Now I’m not pretending to have an easy solution for the quality of life issues in Peru, but hopefully some of the suits in Lima will start to seriously look beyond the neo-liberal dogma that “what’s good for business is good for everyone”.

I’ll propose a new ideology for economists in Peru: “do what’s good for the people and economic growth will follow”.

Stimulate the economy in the provinces
Improve the infrastructure in Lima’s slums and in the provinces
Respect labor and environmental protections
Reduce bureaucracy and hold the bureaucrats accountable
….

The economy in Peru is too dependent on tourism and export of base metals. While those are great sources of revenue, the suits who run Peru should look at adding technology, manufacturing and quality services, the types of employment that would raise the standard of living of the average Peruvian worker.

At the end of the day, the Peruvian economy is the total of what the average Peruvian worker contributes to it, and expects to receive from it. Not in monetary “funny printed paper” terms, but in terms of products and services. It’s a no-brainer, focus on the quality of life of ordinary Peruvians and economic growth must follow.

Abuelo’s birthday

Posted on November 21, 2009 by wwelvaert under Life in Peru

Patricia’s dad, Carlos, celebrated his birthday yesterday. Patricia’s dad and several of his family members played traditional Peruvian folk songs on the guitar, banjo and accordion. We all ate yummie lechon, even Brianna!!!

After a few cervezas papi even danced to traditional Peruvian folk music… bad uncoordinated gringo 😉

Carlos playing guitar

Brianna Nayaraq con su bisabuela

Baby Brianna watching her grandpa play guitar

Funny printed paper

Posted on November 13, 2009 by wwelvaert under Business & Economy, Life in Peru

2 cool charts I copied from Rolfe Winkler at Reuters. To illustrate my point that money’s just funny printed paper.

US public debt outstanding

US public debt, doesn’t include unfunded healthcare and Social Security oblications. Original here.

Dow Jones historical chart valued in gold

Dow Jones historical chart as valued in gold. Original here.

Peruvians should pay attention to these, since Peru historically has very close ties to the US and gold is a major part of Peru’s foreign exports. To stay up to date on all things gold and Peruvian economy, head over to IKN.

11-11-11

Posted on November 10, 2009 by wwelvaert under Life in Peru

91 years ago, at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month in 1918 the Great War ended.

WW1 was supposed to be the war that ended all wars, but of course it only set the stage for WW2, which in turn marked the beginning of the so-called “Cold War” that shaped much of Latin America’s bloody history.

When I was a kid a handful of WW1 veterans in my hometown were still around to hold a memorial every Nov 11. They are long gone… but here’s to hoping young men and women will never again be sent to war by delusional egomaniacs.