Tag Archives: Peru

My World Cup post…

Posted on by under Life in Peru

The World Cup is just now getting exiting. No Peru, no Belgium, que triste. How I long for the days of Jean-Marie Pfaff and Enzo Scifo.

Fearless forecast: Paraguay beats Uruguay by a score of 2-1 in the Final on July 11.

I know, I know, saner souls might predict something like Brazil – Germany or Netherlands – Argentina, but wouldn’t it be great for once if 2 small South American countries had their moment in the spotlight?

Speaking of Brazil and Argentina, I kind of like this video of Pele appearing on the first night of Maradona’s TV show. These two have been trading barbs for a long time but don’t show any sign of animosity in this segment. As for who’s the greater of the two, I don’t see why people get so hung up on that, they’re both legends.

For all of their off-the-field issues, people like Pfaff and Maradona are larger than life characters that I can’t help but like a bit… could it be because I’m kind of a character myself šŸ˜‰

Primer cumple de mi wawa

Posted on by under Life in Peru

Birthdays are big here in Peru, and our baby’s first birthday was no exception. Our little Brianna Nayaraq had a huge first birthday party, complete with balloons, a clown, a piƱata and of course cake, snacks and pollo la brasa.

Bus from Lima to Cusco

Posted on by under Life in Peru

I recently returned from a North-Atlantic ferry flight a few days earlier than planned. When I arrived in Lima I couldn’t get a good airline ticket from Lima to Cusco, so I decided to take the bus instead.

As the crow flies, Lima to the imperial city of Qosqo is only 364 miles, but by bus the trip takes about 21-22 hours due to the traffic in Lima (2-3 hours) and the winding roads through the Andes mountains.

Taking the bus from Lima to Cusco is a bit of an adventure and a good way to see a little bit of Peru outside of the typical tourist areas. However, be warned: taking the bus from Lima to Cusco is not a good idea unless you are comfortable traveling in cars and busses over winding roads up and down steep mountains. Near Abancay for example the road goes up and back down several thousand feet. Inside the bus it can be very cold at night, so you need to take a blanket along. The restroom on the bus isn’t very clean even by Peruvian standards. Also, you never know what to expect on the grainy TV in the bus, but it probably won’t be anything you’re used to seeing on the boobtube at home.

There are many bus companies in Peru. We take the “Flores” company, which is quite nice and only costs 100 Soles (~$30) each way for the nice seats on the lower level of the bus.

Here’s a few pictures of my last trip:

Partido robado

Posted on by 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

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 SeƱor de Huanca

Posted on by under History and culture, Life in Peru

Perhaps the most important religious shrine in the Cusco area today is the church of SeƱor 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 SeƱor de Huanca.

Patricia with the baby outside SeƱor de Huanca

Patricia with the baby outside SeƱor de Huanca

Inside the shrine, believers light candles and pray for blessings of SeƱor de Huanca. It is believed that if one enters the shrine with a pure heart, SeƱor 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 SeƱor de Huanca's church

In front of SeƱor de Huanca's church

Family visit to SeƱor de Huanca

Family visit to SeƱor 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 SeƱor 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 SeƱor 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

Overlooking the Sacred Valley of the Inka

Mommy with baby Brianna by SeƱor de Huanca

Mommy with baby Brianna by SeƱor de Huanca

During the month of September, the month of SeƱor de Huanca, thousands of believers make a pilgrimage to SeƱor 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 SeƱor 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 SeƱor de Huanca is definitely worth it. The shrine of SeƱor 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 SeƱor 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.

Weekend lunch

Posted on by 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

Enjoying lunch outdoors

How cute is that?

How cute is that?

Playing on papi's favorite traditional blanket!

Playing on papi's favorite traditional blanket!

Relaxing after eating a big lunch

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 by 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

Foreign made Pisco will be confiscated

“… las bebidas fabricadas en el extranjero que tengan la denominaciĆ³n de “Pisco” … serĆ”n 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…

Carlos Slim thanks you

Posted on by 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 šŸ˜¦

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 šŸ™‚

Proud Peruvian?

Posted on by 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 …”

Sign said “funky foreign people need not apply”

Posted on by under Life in Peru

I’ve been trying to get a pilot job at a major airline in Peru, my dream-job really. Talked to the screening team today, and while they were exceedingly nice and said they would love to talk to me, they won’t…. Why? the company is only hiring Peruvian nationals at this time, and even though I am a resident of Peru, I can’t get any further in the process until I obtain my Peruvian citizenship, for which I am eligible later this year.

The worst part? The young lady I was speaking to also said they would consider a few applicants from close nationalities such as Spaniards, Colombians or Ecuadorians. Really!!!

Discrimination sucks…