New park

Posted on May 15, 2010 by wwelvaert under Life in Peru

Many moons ago I ranted about the people in our apartment complex who refused to allow the mayor of Wanchaq to build a nice new park in our complex. Their main objection was that a nice new park would attract teenage couples and people looking for a place to get drunk. Personally I was never worried about that, since these guys can chase of a dozen drunk people quicker than you can say Cerveza Cusqueña.

But good news! Our alcalde, Willy Cuzmar del Castillo has long since struck a deal with the folks in our complex and the new park was recently finished.

I missed the grand-opening ceremony because I was on a trip up North (really North), but Patricia was able to snap a few pictures:

Grand opening ceremony

New park

And here’s our little goose playing in the park.

Mommy and Brianna playing in the new park

The new park in our prestigioso Conjunto Habitacional Pachacutec came out really nice and I’m grateful for it. Here in Peru the local politicians campaign strongly on their record of obras, or public works, so go Willy Cuzmar del Castillo, hombre de palabra! 😉

Partido robado

Posted on May 7, 2010 by wwelvaert under Life in Peru

Unfortunately, when you sit down to watch Peruvian soccer chances are you’re not going to have a very good day – and that’s coming from a Belgian, we haven’t had a good team since Jean-Marie Pfaff in 1986. But last night, things got really ugly when riot police got out onto the field during the Copa Libertadores match between Alianza Lima and U de Chile:

SOCCER, U. DE CHILE VS. ALIANZA LIMA

Original photo here.

El Comercio has the video, but I can’t seem to embed it here.

Bottom line futbol-wise, the play should have been whistled dead when the line judge flagged offside. But drama sells, and sadly the media and powers that be in these parts seem to love nothing better than a good Peru-Chile controversy.

Visit to Señor de Huanca

Posted on April 19, 2010 by wwelvaert under History and culture, Life in Peru

Perhaps the most important religious shrine in the Cusco area today is the church of Señor de Huanca, in the Sacred Valley of the Inca, about an hour outside the city of Cusco. Many Cusquenians go here to worship and ask for the blessings of Señor de Huanca.

Patricia with the baby outside Señor de Huanca

Inside the shrine, believers light candles and pray for blessings of Señor de Huanca. It is believed that if one enters the shrine with a pure heart, Señor de Huanca will grant you any blessings you wish, but if you go inside with less than a pure heart, you will not receive any blessings and may even find harm.

In front of Señor de Huanca's church

Family visit to Señor de Huanca

It is believed that here is where God made his home among men. There are actually 2 different stories as to the origin of Señor de Huanca, of miracles that are believed to have happened there.

Today, many Cusquenians bring their new cars here to be blessed, because it is believed Señor de Huanca will protect them from harm. In fact, when we were there an entire fleet of at least 15-20 delivery trucks for Coca-Cola / Inka Cola were there.

Overlooking the Sacred Valley of the Inka

Mommy with baby Brianna by Señor de Huanca

During the month of September, the month of Señor de Huanca, thousands of believers make a pilgrimage to Señor de Huanca. From outside Cusco, I believe the pilgrimage is about a 4-6 hour walk. I haven’t done it, but I’d like to some day.

To visit Señor de Huanca, you can take a taxi from Cusco (by the hospital EsSalud) for 6 Soles (~$2) per person, or you can take a bus to the nearby town of Pisaq and get a taxi from there.

If you’re visiting Cusco, a day-trip to Señor de Huanca is definitely worth it. The shrine of Señor de Huanca is in a beautiful area overlooking the Sacred Valley of the Inca. It is a very quiet place where you will find few tourists but typically several dozen locals who have come to worship. After visiting the church of Señor de Huanca you can enjoy typical Andean food in the nearby town of Pisac or in any of the towns in the “Valley of the South” on the way back to Cusco.

Date night!

Posted on April 19, 2010 by wwelvaert under Life in Peru

Last weekend was our first post-baby night out. I haven’t been this excited about staying out till 10:30 since I was 14!!!

At the end of the day, people are people no matter where you are. Like any new parents we’ve been overjoyed with our new baby, but also quite overwhelmed. Patricia has been doing a great job taking care of our wawa, but after 10 months just to be able to go out for a few hours without the baby was a big event for us.

Patricia’s mom was kind enough to watch the baby for us while we went out to get a bite and a drink downtown at the Plaza de Armas here in Cusco.

Mommy looking great!!!

Que papi este papi!!!

First night out post-baby

Weekend lunch

Posted on April 15, 2010 by wwelvaert under Life in Peru

Nothing better than enjoying lunch outside under the Andean sun. One of our favorite trips is going out to Saylla for some chicharron (fried pork), as we did this past Saturday.

Enjoying lunch outdoors

How cute is that?

Playing on papi's favorite traditional blanket!

Relaxing after eating a big lunch

There must be 20 or more restaurants in Saylla, and practically all of them are “chicharronerias”, it’s what the little town is known for. If you drive further down the “Valley of the South” you can have cuy in Tipon or pata (duck) in Lucre. From Cusco you can take the local busses like we do, and there are also many tour operators who offer day-trips to the “Valley of the South”.

Papi esta en la casa!!!

Posted on April 8, 2010 by wwelvaert under Life in Peru

After a long trip I’m back in Peru. Posting on this corner of the blogosphere should resume its normal trickle.

I snatched a picture of the Peruvian customs form on the plane back from Madrid. Patricia pointed out an interesting restriction on the Peruvian customs form when we were flying back from Belgium in January but I didn’t get a picture of it until now:

Foreign made Pisco will be confiscated

“… las bebidas fabricadas en el extranjero que tengan la denominación de “Pisco” … serán incautadas…”

So any foreign (read: Chilean) made Pisco will be confiscated if you try to bring it into Peru. Pisco Sour is of course the national drink of Peru, and the unhappy word on the street is that Chile has claimed to produce Pisco as well.

Kind of like the Italian uproar over foreign-made Panettone I guess…

Peruvian surfs with dog and alpaca

Posted on March 18, 2010 by wwelvaert under Life in Peru

Many people in industrialized countries have little idea of life in other parts of the world and a typical question often asked about Peru is “Do people really ride llamas down in Peru?

No, they don’t. But check this guy out, Domingo Pianezzi is out surfing with his alpaca:

photo: REUTERS/Pilar Olivares

Domingo has trained many dogs to surf as well:

Domingo Pianezzi & Sunny : photo Michel Romero

Just saying… Peruvians in the main coastal cities are cellphone-toting, jeans-wearing, wave-riding cosmopolitans…

Carlos Slim thanks you

Posted on March 10, 2010 by wwelvaert under Business & Economy, Life in Peru

The new richest man in the world doesn’t know me, but he sure loves the seventy-some Nuevo Soles we pay every month for our Telmex satellite TV service. Telmex is of course one of Carlos Slim’s main entreprises.

Funny story, when we first rented our apartment in Cusco the landlord said that “… cable was included …”, we just had to pay an extra $10 per month to her, not to Telefonica (the cable company). Hmmm, how did that work out you ask? Well, about a week after SuperBowl XLII (Giants – Patriots), the cable guys from Telefonica came through our neighborhood and cut the shared coax cable between all of the apartments. There was coax everywhere, all of the buildings in our complex had their shared cable taken away 😦

I have since learned that you can actually bribe the cable guys and they will let you keep the shared cable when they come through every so often, but we now have Telmex because it’s cheaper than cable or DirectTV.

On a more serious note, Peruanista has a good blog post about the relationship between Bill Clinton and Carlos Slim. Pure coincidence no doubt that donations to a good cause here and there happen to lead to big business deals in the same places. There is also some controversy over the way Telmex was privatized to the benefit of Carlos Slim and his partners.

Anyway, I won’t make it to the super-rich list, ever. I’ve given up on that, but I’ll take all the luck I’ve had in life and family and count my blessings any day 🙂

The best thing ever…

Posted on February 17, 2010 by wwelvaert under Life in Peru

Just look at my little goose.

The best thing in the world...

😉

Proud Peruvian?

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

Patricia’s status on Facebook:

Porque sera que para volvernos Fans de nuestro Peru o decir me siento orgullosa(o) de ser Peruana(o) tenemos que irnos a vivir a otros paises…si no me creen solo lean algunos comentarios del enlace A que Peru puede tener 1 millon de fans antes que otro pais…

un ejemplo: El Peru es lo maximo…saludos desde Miami …

So true, and also so sad. Many Peruvians just want to leave their country, “si o si quiero salir del pais” as they say. Unfortunately it is often the young, the educated, and the ambitious who end up leaving the country, exactly the kind of people who would be able to make Peru a better place.

Many Peruvians leave and then become the proudest advocates of Pisco, Ceviche and Machu Picchu….

UPDATE 2/15/2010: Ben shares the same idea in an unrelated post about Pedro Suarez Vertiz:

“… It’s a song about how truly awesome Peru is and even though many people have been deluded by bullshit hollywood or whatever to think they have a brighter future elsewhere…it’s only when Peruvians go abroad that they truly realize how great things are back at home …”