Under the guise of health regulations, the European Union has enforced illegal trade barriers on many developing countries for years. These restrictions blocked certain foods from being imported into the EU if they hadn’t been traditionally consumed by Europeans before 1997.
According to the Directorate-General for Competition, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Repression at the French Economy Ministry, Europe had been unfairly banning lúcuma for years now, as it was indeed marketed in France before 1997.
Category: "Life"
Visit to Chakiccocha [Featured]
Meredith Slater of Friends of the World Food Program, writes about her visit to the town of Chakiccocha as part of a wider visit to Andean Peru. You can find out more about the group’s work and time in the country here.
A River Cries Out: The Rimac River Project [Featured]
In the old days, they called it El Río Hablador, The River That Speaks.
During the winter rains in the Andes, the water would rush down so forcefully the sound of the constant grinding of the giant boulders that line the riverbed seemed to make a noise akin to talking.
I think that still happens at the height of the rainy season in the Andes; but, mostly when I think of the Rimac in its current state, I just imagine a polluted, uncared-for, and abandoned river.
As the Rimac approaches, and traverses Lima, it is akin to a giant garbage disposal system.
8 Reasons Why Lima is More Than a Layover [Featured]
It was on the floor of a Barnes & Noble in American suburbia when I first opened a guidebook to Peru. I was being sent to Lima for an internship program so, with bubbling excitement, I set to work dissecting every travel guide I could find.
You can imagine my discomfort when, upon flipping to page 64, I was greeted by an opening line that read something like, “Lima is the ugliest, darkest, most depressing city on Earth.”
On the UFO trail in Chilca, Peru
Tonight I will have to see to believe. I will submit without prejudice to what is presumed will be an incomparable experience and to forget, even for a few hours, that shameful fear of the unknown that I was caught up in as a child and even now I have not lost.
The route has taken us just 67 kilometres south of Lima on the afternoon of March 30, in the desert Chilca the cloudless sky is painted entirely red. Sixto Paz, the man who claims to have had his first extraterrestrial contact 35 years ago and having visited Ganymede (one of Jupiter’s moons), heads the group of 40 people, including journalists from Costa Rica, United States and Peru, members of Rama, a curious group, and Ana Maria Polo, the famous judge of the virulent “Caso Cerrado”, who tries to make her secret passion for the expedition go unnoticed.
Lima city districts at war over boundaries
One thing you can say about living in Peru is that there’s never dull moment. Things happen here that just don’t happen elsewhere… like Lima city districts fighting for control of territory and tax payers.
Believe it or not, this involves clashes between each district’s auxiliary police and residents trying to gain footholds in disputed territories with their security posts, and mayors accusing each other of threatening behaviour. We can only hope things don’t escalate to having standing armies invading neighbouring districts in bloody imperial conquest.
Peruvian restaurants seize on opportunities abroad
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.
Mejorando Mi Quinta
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.
Don’t Honk your Horn [Featured]
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.
Carnavales
February is over, it is finally safe to come out of hiding and explain how carnival is celebrated in Peru. While Brazilians are building floats and flailing around, most Peruvians have to look over their shoulders. I have to mention Brazil because to most foreigners, the word carnival is synonymous with Peru’s largest neighbour. It may come as a surprise to many though that carnival is a big deal in Peru too – in fact, the next biggest and best carnival experience in the Americas is hosted in the north of the Andean country, in beautiful Cajamarca. Here the hugely anticipated event is the local population’s reason for being – and you can’t blame them, read about it here.
Female Traffic cops rule the streets of Lima
Peru’s transit police aren’t famous for their honesty or work ethic. Anything but. In line with all Government employees, they are so underpaid that they see corruption as the only way to make a decent living. For transit police, this usually involves pulling over those drivers who violate traffic laws and writing up a ticket… a ticket that can be ripped up on the spot though, should you be kind enough to collaborate with a little lunch money, beer money, a holiday bonus if it is nearing Christmas, or even money for gasoline.
Before & after the beach [Featured]
Rachel Gamarra tells an enjoyable tale of an average day living next to one of Lima’s city beaches, and the chaos that ensues when thousands of people try to make their journeys home all at the same time. A must-read…
