Peru’s hard-hitting Oscar film hope divides opinion [Featured]

As Oscar fever hits Peru for perhaps the first time ever, Dan Collyns describes the building excitement, the controversy and the history behind the Peruvian contender for Best Foreign Language Film.

March 4, 2010 | Culture & History, News, Opinion

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How to become an Olympian [Featured]

This February, Roberto Carcelen became the first ever athlete from Peru to compete in the Winter Olympics. The BBC today featured the Peruvian’s story, see it here.

February 26, 2010 | News

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Peruvians in the Winter Olympics: A First

Rachel Gamarra tells us about an Olympic first for Peru. It’s the first time a Peruvian will participate in the Winter Olympics.

February 14, 2010 | News, Opinion

6 Comments

Drug Lords vs. Chocolate: From Coca to Cacao in Peru [Featured]

Chocolate could revolutionise a part of Peru once better known for Tupac Amaru rebels, The Shining Path terrorists, and cocaine. Tapping into a niche market for organic cocoa, some Peruvian farmers have turned away from growing cocaine in favour of cultivating beans for high-end chocolatiers in Europe and the US.

February 8, 2010 | News, Peruvian Food

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Peru’s Panettone Is Fake, Says Italy [Featured]

Peruvians and Brazilians love their locally-made panettone, an Italian-style Christmas cake that’s grown into a multimillion-dollar business for bakers in South America.

Now the Italian Cake Industry group wants non-Italian manufacturers to conform to strict baking standards or stop calling their cakes “panettone,”

December 19, 2009 | News

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Andean women’s football championships [Featured]

More than 70 Andean women from six Peruvian cities took part in the final stage of the second annual Mamacha national championships.

December 14, 2009 | Culture & History

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A Peruvian’s view on the problem of corruption [Featured]

This excellent article was written by Mildemonios for the blog Economía de los mil Demonios. The following is a translation, a makes a very interesting read.

Corruption makes us all angry, except for the corrupt of course. Just a couple of months ago the Institute of Public Opinion of the PUCP (large university) published the results of a survey focussed on corruption. There on page 4 you can see clearly that 94% of those surveyed, pretty much everyone, considered corruption in Peru to be a grave problem. But just two pages later is the data that worried me. Just 22% considered it important that in the fight against corruption we need the participation of the general public. And well, this is why we’re screwed.

December 12, 2009 | Opinion

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Tourism and the Town of Pimentel

Here in the north tourist towns are not numerous. To the south of Chiclayo is Huanchaco beach near Trujillo, a distance of 250 miles. North of Chiclayo is Máncora and Punta Sal, a distance of some 200 miles. In our immediate area we’re limited to Pimentel.

December 11, 2009 | Lambayeque & Chiclayo Guide

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NBC Nightly News: Melting Glaciers lead to water wars

Three reports from NBC’s Nightly News program about the devastating impact on Peru from melting glaciers due to changing climate patterns.

December 8, 2009 | Nature, News, Opinion

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The Peru Pishtacos [Featured]

This long told urban myth in Peru about the “Pishtacos” that has now gone global – like many of Peru’s inventions – currently has police chiefs in hot water.

So little progress has been made on the investigation, and so little evidence uncovered that the regularly ridiculed national police of Peru are being taken even less seriously. “What’s next?”, people ask, “ghosts, goblins and vampires?”.

December 1, 2009 | News

2 Comments

Little town of Quince Mil is becoming a Hotspot [Featured]

For TIME, Lucien Chauvin writes about developments in the little town of Quince Mil, from the benefits of the new Inter-Oceanic Highway that links the Atlantic with the Pacific via Peru and Brazil, to the environment problems it will bring.

November 28, 2009 | Cusco Guide, News

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Brutal deforestation in the Peruvian Amazon [Featured]

Forests are converted into deserts due to the advance of informal mining that illegally extracts gold. Regular buying and selling of mercury is demanded by locals, who use it for the extraction of the precious metal.

November 17, 2009 | Nature, News

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