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Peru drops plans to open up uncontacted tribes’ reserves
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Thursday, 08 May 2008 (12:38 GMT -5)
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By Survival
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Peru’s government has dropped plans to open up uncontacted Indians’ reserves to oil exploration. The latest round of concessions, announced this week, do not include any of the uncontacted Indians’ reserves.
The move appears to be in response to a storm of criticism from Survival and Indian organisations in Peru. Survival had urged the Peruvian government not to permit exploration in such areas because it could lead to the tribes’ extinction.
The decision represents a U-turn for Perupetro, the state body responsible for negotiating exploration rights. Perupetro spokespeople had previously suggested the uncontacted Indians did not exist, and that exploration in their reserves would be permitted.
According to reports, a Perupetro spokesperson stated this week that none of the new areas include ‘reserves for uncontacted tribes in order to avoid confrontation with local communities and environmental organisations.’
However, part of one of the new concessions, although not a reserve, is inhabited by uncontacted Indians, and elsewhere in Peru oil and gas exploration remains a huge threat. French company Perenco has recently acquired the rights to work in the northern Peruvian Amazon where at least two uncontacted tribes live, and companies Repsol-YPF, Petrolifera and a consortium led by Pluspetrol all work in areas inhabited by the Indians.
Survival International’s director, Stephen Corry, said today, ‘Perupetro's decision is the right one – from both a legal and humanitarian point of view – and we hope this change of heart is permanent. However, there remain other areas inhabited by the Indians where exploration is still going on. These areas must be made off-limits too, and the companies should withdraw in accordance with international law.’
For further information contact Miriam Ross on (+44) (0)20 7687 8734 or email mr@survival-international.org
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Posted in: News | Permalink | Comments (0) | Photos (0) | Read >
Tags: amazon, oil, petrol, petrolperu, rainforest
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The Longest River in the World
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Wednesday, 07 May 2008 (14:24 GMT -5)
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By Stuart
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What river has the highest volume of water in the world?
Answer - The Amazon, with 1/5th of the world's river water, more than the next ten combined.
What is the longest river in the world?
Answer - The Nile Amazon, at 7062km/4388m long - 391km/242m longer than the Nile.
In an expedition organised by the Geographical Society of Lima and led by Polish explorer Jacek Palkiewicz, the origin of the Amazon river is now confirmed to be in a remote location in Arequipa, starting at a creek by the name of Apacheta on the Nevado Quehuisha mountain.
 
It had previously been concluded from the 1990 expedition that the nearby Nevado Mismi was the source of the river. Confirmed by a Brazilian team and the US's National Geographic in 2000, this still made it about 100km/60m longer than the Nile and officially the world's longest river.
The new placement now unequivocally confines the Nile's place as longest river to the dustiest of old history books.
From 5150m/16896ft above sea level, on the slopes of Quehuisha, water flows unbroken to the Atlantic ocean 7062km away.
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Posted in: News | Permalink | Comments (0) | Photos (0) | Read >
Tags: amazon+river, national+geographic, river, nevado+mismi, nevado+quehuisha, arequipa
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Rocoto Relleno
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Saturday, 03 May 2008 (12:05 GMT -5)
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By Stuart
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Perhaps Arequipa's signature entrée is the Rocoto Relleno. The rocoto is a chilli of Andean origin used for over 5000 years - one of the first to be domesticated. It looks very similar to a bell pepper but as one of the world's spicier chillis, you can bet it doesn't taste like one. In fact is is about 50 times spicier than a jalapeño.
Rocoto Relleno is essentially rocoto stuffed with minced meat.
The top of the rocoto is carefully cut off and the seeds and insides removed.
You must then place the bottoms and tops in water with sugar and vinegar to be boiled - boil the chillis 2 or 3 times with fresh water to lower the level of spiciness.
Ground beef and pork, both fried beforehand, are mixed with chopped onions and sliced hard-boiled eggs, seasoned with ají panca chilli paste, cumin, salt and pepper.
The rocotos are filled with the mixture, a slice of mozzarella cheese is placed on top, the the tops of the chilli are place decoratively on top of the cheese and all is then baked for 15 to 20 minutes and served immediately.
More on rocotos and a recipe can be found on Canela & Comino.
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Posted in: Food: Cocina Peruana | Permalink | Comments (0) | Photos (0) | Read >
Tags: food, rocoto, rocoto+relleno, aji
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APEC Preparations
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Wednesday, 30 April 2008 (14:21 GMT -5)
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By Stuart
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A street in Arequipa gets repaved for the up-coming APEC conference in the city.
Peru is hosting a glut of international conferences this year, from the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summits to the Latin America, the Caribbean and the European Union summits. Vast sums of money are being spent renovating the major thoroughfares of cities that will host meetings, such as Lima and Arequipa.
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Posted in: News | Permalink | Comments (0) | Photos (0) | Read >
Tags: lima, arequipa, apec, eu-lac
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Software Libre
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Saturday, 26 April 2008 (13:12 GMT -5)
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By Stuart
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 According to Microsoft, in 2007 the software industry in Peru lost $59 million to piracy. Much is lost of course, but the truth is that S./10 spent on a CD at a market stall is not S./900+ lost to Microsoft or others.
The software industry's pressure on the Government to crack down on piracy, unlike that from the movie industry, is likely to cause them far deeper losses as customers are forced to discover free alternatives.
News of universities in Peru taking advantage of these free, “open source” alternatives might mean this change is already on the way, potentially saving the Peruvian economy hundreds of millions of dollars a year. Thousands of graduates highly-trained in open source technologies might lead to Peru's institutions rejecting hard-sold and expensive lock-in agreements with companies such as Microsoft when the same software, often of equal or greater quality, is available for free.
El Comercio reports that universities in Abancay, Arequipa, Ayacucho, Cerro de Pasco, Chiclayo, Huancayo, Lima, Piura, Puno, Tacna and Trujillo, are now giving classes and workshops in open source alternatives.
Christian Palacios, who is organising the Fourth Latin American Festival of Open Source Software that is funding these workshops, laments that this change isn't happening fast enough. “Indecopi (Peru's competition and intellectual property department) does not tell users what the alternatives are, they only pressure them into buying proprietary software like Windows.”
Because the alternatives are so little known, Palacios goes on to explain, even colleges implicitly encourage students to buy pirated proprietary software when free alternatives exist.
These students, accustomed to what they have been using, ripple out this dependence into the economy creating huge costs for what is still a very poor country. Despite countries such as Russia, China, even Germany and other European nations taking advantage of free alternative software to lower costs in government and industry, Peru still hasn't cottoned-on. Hopefully this will soon change.
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Posted in: General | Permalink | Comments (3) | Photos (0) | Read >
Tags: microsoft, software, university, indecopi
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Molino de Sabandia
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Wednesday, 23 April 2008 (19:16 GMT -5)
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By Stuart
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 A regular tourist stop, the Molino (mill) of Sabandia is located 8km from the city of Arequipa. Built in 1785 in white sillar volcanic stone, its architectural style is very in-keeping with the region.
Stone grinding wheels for wheat processing were restored in 1973 and continue to work well, powered by running water from the nearby river.
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Posted in: Travel: Sierra | Permalink | Comments (0) | Photos (11) | Read >
Tags: arequipa, sabandia, molino, sillar, architecture
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Llamas, Alpacas, Vicuñas and Guanucos
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Monday, 21 April 2008 (17:20 GMT -5)
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By Stuart
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Living
on the altiplano – the Andean
plateau – are the
South American camelids. Llamas and Alpacas have found themselves
domesticated by humans and have lived this way for as much as 6000
years. Guanucos and Vicuñas on the other hand still exist in
the wild and are heavily protected by law. They are all somehow able
to thrive on the tough vegetation and harsh extremes in temperatures
that we find at these altitudes. Although these species are distinct,
they are close enough to interbreed.
In fact, it's probably due to
the work of ancient humans that the four exist.
Pre-Inca cultures used camelids for food and clothing before beginning to herd them. By the time of the Incas, systemic breeding was taking place. Distinct breeds of llamas and alpacas had come about, and these were separated further into colours and fur lengths.
When the Spanish arrived in Peru, they found civilisations based on
textiles. Textiles were used for everything, from clothing, to currency
and even bridge construction. Debts, rewards and miltary salaries were
paid in woven textiles with ever more complicated paterns.
To the native peoples, alpacas were considered divine gifts from Pachamama, given on the condition that humans were to care for them and respect them.
The Spanish, however, were only interested in gold. They slaughtered alpacas and llamas in an effort to subjugate the native people, banning their traditional weaving and uses for alpaca fur. It is estimated that as many as 90% of all alpacas and llamas in South America were killed and left to rot. Carefully bred herds, divided by colour and quality were killed or dispersed.
The animals we have today are the descendants of those hidden by natives out of the reaches of the Spanish conquerors.
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Posted in: General | Permalink | Comments (0) | Photos (0) | Read >
Tags: llama, alpaca, vicuna, guanuco, incas, spaniards, pachamama, textiles, weaving
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Peruvian Herb-Roasted Chicken
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Friday, 18 April 2008 (10:28 GMT -5)
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By Stuart
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Peruvians in the United States are pleased as fellow Peruvian Amparo Alam won a cook-off competition on the show Ultimate Recipe Showdown on The Food Network. In the Chicken category, the 51 year old mother, originally from Lima now living in Utah, entered her dish as "Peruvian Herb-Roasted Chicken". Citing it as her mothers recipe, something she enjoyed as a birthday treat as a child, the chicken is roasted after being marinated with fresh Peruvian lemons, cumin, basil, garlic and the magical Peruvian chilli, huacatay. Accompanied by fried sweet potatoes, her dish soundly defeated the other eight competitors entries, winning 99 of the possible 100 points available.
The crisp spicy chicken won her $25,000 and her recipe is now on the menus of T.G.I Fridays restaurants across the United States.
"What's great about this dish is that it just screams 'Friday's'," said
Scott Randolph, of T.G.I. Fridays R&D.
"We are very excited to bring America's greatest recipes to our
guests," said Mike Archer, president of
T.G.I. Friday's USA. "These are real recipes from real people and their
creations have inspired menu items that are only available at Friday's."
T.G.I. Friday's have every reason to be ecstatic. Peruvian food makes waves wherever it is introduced.
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Posted in: News | Permalink | Comments (3) | Photos (0) | Read >
Tags: food, tgi+fridays, huacatay
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Puente de Fierro
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Thursday, 17 April 2008 (12:41 GMT -5)
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By Stuart
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Designed by a well known frenchman, Gustave Eiffel of tower fame, the Puente de Fierro (or Bolivar as it is sometimes called) was built in 1882 to be used as a viaduct for the train route to Cusco. At 488m long it was the longest in the world at the time, until some years later it was beaten by a Scottish bridge. Even today, not including suspension bridges, it is still the 7th longest bridge that exists.
The bridge crosses the river Chili in La Arboleda in southern Vallecito, a nice residential area. Photos are, as always, attached.
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Posted in: Travel: Sierra | Permalink | Comments (2) | Photos (8) | Read >
Tags: arequipa, rio+chili, vallecito, puente+de+fierro, eiffel, bridge, 1800s, railway
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Founder's Mansion
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Tuesday, 15 April 2008 (23:15 GMT -5)
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By Stuart
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The city of Arequipa was founded in 1540 by Garcí Manuel de Carbajal, who in the nearby fertile lands of Huasacache built his mansion. Huasacache, in the valley of the river Socabaya only a short distance from the city, passed through various hands over the years until it was bought by Jesuit missionairies.
The Jesuits made many additions to the home, most notibly several new rooms and an adjoining chapel. It became a place for retreats and meetings. When the Jesuits were expelled from all Spanish territories in 1767, the land and the mansion were confiscated by the local government and sold at auction for 68,965 silver pesos.
After being sold and bought again, the lands and mansion passed into the hands of another famous family, that of Juan Crisóstomo de Goyeneche y Aguerrevere, a captain of the Spanish army. It was a family in which it stayed until 1947 when his descendants parcelled and sold off the land.
In 1978 a group of enthusiasts of Arequipeña architecture bought the mansion, now laying in ruins, and over many months restored all that was lost. It has since been open to the public as a tourist attraction.
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Posted in: Travel: Sierra | Permalink | Comments (0) | Photos (14) | Read >
Tags: goyeneche+y+aguerrevere, arequipa, carbajal, colonial, architecture, restoration, spaniards, jesuits, mansion, huasacache
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Puente Bolognesi
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Monday, 14 April 2008 (14:09 GMT -5)
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By Stuart
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