It has been two months since construction began on a 5-star Marriott hotel in the Andean city of Cusco, two blocks from the historic Plaza de Armas and its Inca architecture. Charged with constructing the building, Peruvian company Inversiones La Rioja has been accused of destroying an Inca wall in the process.
Local leader of a community group that protects the monuments in the area, César Bocángel, presented his complaint to authorities, with evidence that Inca blocks had been taken to a local dump with rubble from the construction process.
March 31, 2009 | News
The past year has been a great year for Maca. We have discovered among its many properties that the Andean root has a fantastic ability to combat osteoporosis, now there is news that maca may become a key and natural ingredient in modern sunscreens.
Grown above 4 thousands metres of altitude, in a land of extremes – including a strong unrelenting sun – perhaps its little wonder that maca has a strong resistance to high levels of UV light.
March 30, 2009 | News
Yes, Lima, just like any international city or capital, is afflicted by the curse of US fast food chains. These sprung up after the city was flooded with foreign investment and new prosperity after its dark 80s period. These are of course enjoyed by those who found themselves able to afford to eat in them, but, were they able to kill off home-grown options in the gastronomic capital of the Americas? Not at all.
March 30, 2009 | Lima City Guide, Peruvian Food
Part four of what not to miss when eating in Lima.
A boom in Chinese immigration to the Peruvian coast in the 1800s brought with it a new style of cooking and new flavours. Though this meant importing some traditional ingredients, in the majority of cases Chinese families and new Chinese restaurant owners had to make do with local ingredients. This fusion of two culinary worlds created Peru’s famous chifa, the name by which Peruvians call Chinese food.
March 26, 2009 | Lima City Guide, Peruvian Food
The Yavarí Project have signed a 10 year concession to Yavarí Voyages that will see the old ship finally do what it was meant to – ferry passengers around Lake Titicaca.
Built in England in 1862, the Yavarí comprises of 2,766 pieces that arrived in Arica – then in southern Peru – to begin the long journey by hundreds of mules to Lake Titicaca to be reassembled. More than a century later, it was discovered in a state of disrepair by a British woman named Meriel Larken.
March 25, 2009 | News
Since mass migration from rural Peru expanded the city of Lima to its current size, people have been building on land they really shouldn’t have been. People built their new homes on land that wasn’t theirs but were eventually issued titles too when they became entrenched and established. A process that in Peru is called “invading”, this is how most of the poorer districts of Lima got started – districts that now have sewage and water systems, streets, hospitals restaurants. Sometimes, the homes of the newly arrived where built not only on land that wasn’t theirs, but on land where it isn’t safe to do so. You see this all the time with shacks clinging onto steep sandy cliffs.
Just north of the colonial centre of Lima, a few blocks walk from Av. Argentina and Las Malvinas, are several disorganised blocks of houses on part of the flood plain of the river Rimac.
March 19, 2009 | News
As Peruvian food becomes better known throughout the world, more Peruvian restaurants are seizing on the opportunity to expand into foreign markets. Some have already done this – Pardo’s Chicken is one, and Gastón’s La Mar is another – franchises of famous Peruvian restaurants are now found in the US, Mexico, Venezuela, Colombia and Chile.
March 17, 2009 | Lima City Guide, Opinion, Peruvian Food
One of the most distinctive sights in Lima are its ageing 50s and 60s era buildings. The majority of these in districts such as Jesús María have long since been converted into multi-family residences, while others were built specifically for this purpose.
March 15, 2009 | Lima City Guide, News, Opinion
Parque de las Leyendas, a zoo built among the ruins of a pre-Inca city, somehow manages to mix ecology and archaeology, attracting hundreds of Peruvian families each day. Off the usual tourist trail for foreigners, it could make a good half-day trip and is a great chance to learn about Peru’s rich biodiversity and about Lima’s ancient past.
March 13, 2009 | Archaeology, Lima City Guide
![Don’t Honk your Horn [Featured]](http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3018/2694153803_2b4d4b3a17_m.jpg)
I wrote last month about the attempt by Miraflores to outlaw the engrained habit of horn overuse. Lima is blighted by noise and much of it from people honking incessantly in vain attempts to make traffic lights magically change to green, to make traffic jams suddenly clear up or to justify the ignoring of traffic laws. Could the effort by Miraflores, just one district in Metropolitan Lima, start the ball rolling towards a quieter and more pleasant Lima? Who knows.
US Expat Ben Jonjak witnessed a publicity drive taking place in the heart of Miraflores, part of the effort to make commuters and transport providers in the district aware that if they don’t change their ways and obey long established laws they will soon be fined.
March 12, 2009 | Opinion
![Ice cream culture in Peru [Featured]](http://anaperuana.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/blog_ice_cream_001.jpg)
I recently came across an excellent blog by Ana Otazu, a Peruvian woman from Arequipa who now lives in the UK. She comments on the differences between UK life and Peruvian life in both Spanish and English, attempting to explain these differences to her two audiences. Here she explains Peruvian’s love of ice cream, though leaving out the associated health myths that are widely believed here… perhaps for another blog. 
March 11, 2009 | Peruvian Food
Part three of what not to miss when eating in Lima.
The line that divides the worlds of Creole and Afro-Peruvian food, music and culture generally are ever more blurred together as the melting pot effect takes hold. Black Peruvians contribute heavily to today’s coastal culture which for convenience is often just called “criollo”. What gastro-tourists in Lima are most concerned with though is what Afro-Peruvians brought to the dinner table, and boy did they deliver.
March 10, 2009 | Lima City Guide, Peruvian Food
