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Showing 1-25 of 108 results
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The Last Days Of The Incas
Blog: AlpacaSuitcase - 22 December 2009
It’s safe to say that if our family had not all read Kim MacQuarrie’s “The Last Days of the Incas” we might not have visited Cajamarca. The Peruvian mountain town was out of our way and many of the structures that existed on that fateful day of November 16, 1532, when Francisco Pizarro and the Spaniards routed Emperor Atahualpa and the Incas, are no longer standing. MacQuarrie’s book was so good and so compelling that it brought the town to life for us and we just had to go there to experience it.
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Juanita: The Ice Princess
Blog: AlpacaSuitcase - 17 December 2009
On our first day in Arequipa we had two goals: see Juanita, the 12-year old Inca ice princess recently found near a glacier and find a toasted bagel with cream cheese for our 12-year old daughter. Our daughter is keeping a list of the foods that she misses most from home and a toasted bagel with cream cheese is high on the list.
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Peruvian Archeological Sites: The Tip of the Iceberg?
Blog: AlpacaSuitcase - 14 December 2009
Our guidebook confidently listed the Sipán ruins in northern Peru as an archeological site not to be missed, mentioning it in the same breath as Machu Picchu. Sipán? I’d never heard of it. In my one-month whirlwind tour of Peru 23 years ago, I came to Chiclayo, the largest town near Sipán, and kept going. Reading further into the guidebook, I began to understand why. Apparently Sipán, the elaborate royal tombs of the Pre-Inca Moche culture, was discovered months after I passed through the region.
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New Pre-Columbian Culture Found In Peru: The Teletubbies
Blog: AlpacaSuitcase - 10 December 2009
Last week we visited Nazca in coastal Peru and did the obligatory flyover of the Nazca Lines. Like many tourists before us we marched straight to the airport and organized our 35 minute flight over the lines. On that day of perfunctory sightseeing, however, I made the startling discovery of a totally-new Pre-Columbian culture: The Teletubbies.
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Cocaine and Microfinance
Blog: Kiva Stories from the Field - 10 December 2009
By Suzy Marinkovich, KF9 “Coca is green, not white like cocaine.” – Evo Morales The Chapare, the Yungas, the DEA, USAID, cocaine, drug trafficking, alternative crops, forced eradication, Evo Morales. These are the buzz words constantly attached to Bolivian articles on the both domestic and foreign-aided drug war against cocaine production. While tough to get the [...]
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Peruvian Buses: Survival Tactics
Blog: AlpacaSuitcase - 5 December 2009
Buses are a great way to get around in Peru, but there are definitely some things to keep in mind. Peru is a fairly large country (almost 500,000 square miles) and unless you can afford to fly everywhere, buses are your principal means of transport. Fortunately, we have no horror stories, but here are some of the lessons we’ve learned along the way.
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Darwinism In The Monastery
Blog: AlpacaSuitcase - 2 December 2009
Perhaps it’s because I’m slowly working my way through “The Origin of the Species,” but I can’t help but look at Arequipa’s Santa Catalina Monastery through Charles Darwin’s eyes. Darwin visited Peru in 1835 but never made it to Arequipa (he took one look at Lima, didn’t like what he saw and decided to head immediately for the Galapagos). I see the Monastery as an organism, one that has adapted over four hundred-plus years in its quest to survive.
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The Future of Microfinance: A Brief Peek Inside the Brain of one MFI
Blog: Kiva Stories from the Field - 30 November 2009
By Josh Wilcox, KF9 Peru While Kiva Fellows work diligently with their host microfinance institutions to implement the Kiva processes, verify borrowers, and write insightful journals on the impacts of the loans, it is easy to miss the other behind-the-scenes projects that microfinance organizations are crafting in their lair. Those of us from the developed world often [...]
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"Now I Believe In The Pachamama"
Blog: AlpacaSuitcase - 29 November 2009
Olivia, our guide for our three-day trek in the Colca Canyon was never really a spiritual or religious person…until about two years ago. “I would drop some chicha or beer on the ground and say something about it being an offering to the Pachamama,” she says, “but I did not truly believe that this was anything more than a ritual. Now I believe in the Pachamama.”
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A lack of movement
Blog: Kiva Stories from the Field - 26 November 2009
By Bryan Goldfinger, KF9, Peru Throughout my “roaming” fellowship, I’ve had a lot of time to think; hours-long bus rides, walks, taxi trips, plane rides, time alone, time surrounded by others but when I felt alone, time spent just waiting, you get the idea. One theme that seems to consistently find its way into my thoughts [...]
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Stealing Fat: Peruvian Pishtacos
Blog: AlpacaSuitcase - 24 November 2009
A CNN article recently reported Peruvian police arresting four members of a gang that allegedly murders people and then sells their body fat. Apparently, European laboratories are paying $15,000 per liter for human fat to be used possibly for cosmetics and in cosmetic and reconstructive surgery. The four men were arrested in association with the disappearance of at least 60 people in two mountainous states in central Peru.
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Spanish In The House
Blog: AlpacaSuitcase - 23 November 2009
One of our objectives in choosing to spend quite a few months in South America was to ensure that the kids would learn to speak Spanish conversationally. My wife has always been frustrated living in California, where 30% of the population speaks Spanish but our kids have been unable to say more than “Buenos Dias” to the gardeners. Budget cuts at California schools mean that in our school district, daily Spanish classes don’t start until the 7th grade. Considering that most experts agree that languages are best learned at a much earlier age, this has been a problem.
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My 3 Best Kept Travel “Adventure” Secrets
Blog: Canada's Adventure Couple - 21 November 2009
We were recently nominated to participate in Tripbase’s “3 Best Kept Travel Secrets” game by our great Twitter friend, Isabelle of @IsabellesTravel. So here are our Travel Adventure Secrets. The Pinnacles of Borneo, The White Desert of Egypt and Huacachina Peru. These destinations on 3 different continents are some of our favorite adventures. Enjoy these photos and an overview of what exactly each one is about.
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Tiempo Peruano
Blog: AlpacaSuitcase - 21 November 2009
Most of what we’ve learned about tiempo Peruano (Peruvian time) we’ve learned from our kid’s activities. We’ve gotten to the point where if someone tells us a las cuatro (“at four O’Clock”) we can probably show up at 4:40 and if someone says cuatro punto (“Four O’clock sharp”) we can probably show up at 4:20.
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Cusco Characters: Coach Cristian
Blog: AlpacaSuitcase - 19 November 2009
We’re eternally grateful that Coach Cristian allowed our kids to join his nightly swim practices at Cusco’s only indoor heated pool. Cristian has been gracious, friendly and willing but a variety of factors have caused our swim team experience to be an lesson in “going with the flow”.
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Kiva Update from PBS Frontline World
Blog: Kiva Stories from the Field - 18 November 2009
Suzy Marinkovich, KF8 Peru & KF9 Bolivia One of the most exciting things about being a Kiva Fellow is the opportunity to tell the untold stories of those so remote, so rural, and so ignored by the media. When there are six billion humans sprinkled across the world, the media has the unenviable task of picking and [...]
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Photo Essay: Lima’s Little Known Fountain Park That Costs $1.40
Blog: GoBackpacking - 17 November 2009
Even the tightest backpacker can afford this place.Buy travel insurance from Worldnomads.com (Lonely Planet's preferred carrier)
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Cusco Characters: Señora Melvyn
Blog: AlpacaSuitcase - 15 November 2009
Approximately 60 years ago, a Peruvian couple was anxiously awaiting the birth of their child and in the days leading up to the delivery, they had yet to pick a name. That night, they went to a Lima movie theater to see a Hollywood movie and to relax. To this day they can’t remember the name of the movie but it starred an enchanting actress who was paired with a well-known Hollywood leading man. They loved the actress’ performance so much they decided right then that if they had a girl, they would name it after the actress.
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The Best Hostels in Latin America
Blog: Itinerant Londoner - 14 November 2009
Travelling for a year, constantly on the move, rarely staying more than three or four days in one place, where I end up staying makes a huge difference to my my stress levels. End up in a nice hostel, with things like comfy beds, warm showers, free breakfasts, a good location and a nice atmosphere [...]
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Peruvian Fusion: Día de Los Muertos
Blog: AlpacaSuitcase - 10 November 2009
We knew that the Día de Los Muertos (Day of The Dead) was a big holiday in Mexico, but we weren’t sure to what extent it was celebrated here in Peru. When I asked people at my office, they talked about tantawawa (breads shaped in the figures of babies and horses) and lechon (roast suckling pig) but when I asked about visiting a cemetery, I was told that there was not much to see and the gatherings were private.
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Peruvian Fusion: Anticuchos
Blog: AlpacaSuitcase - 7 November 2009
Peruvian food is one of the world’s great fusion cuisines, incorporating influences from the Andes and coastal Peru with Spanish, African, Chinese and Japanese flavors. One example of this is anticuchos, beef kebabs that are grilled and sold on many a Peruvian street corner. While skewered llama meat has been around in the Andes since Pre-Columbian times, it was African slaves in Colonial Peru who perfected the marinated and skewered beef heart kebabs that are so popular today.
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Peruvian Fusion: Corpus Christi
Blog: AlpacaSuitcase - 4 November 2009
Prior to the Spanish conquest, the Quechua people celebrated a fruitful harvest by honoring the Father Sun ("Tayta Inti”) in the presence of his “children”, the mummified remains of the Inca kings (“mallki”). The mummies were adorned in fine clothing and jewelry and were paraded about the main plaza in lavishly decorated litters, while the Quechua people gathered and celebrated with traditional Andean foods.
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A Quick Break in the Oasis of America
Blog: Kiva Stories from the Field - 4 November 2009
By Josh Wilcox, KF9 Peru Taking a brief recess from borrower profiles and repayment schedules at Kiva’s MFI pilot partner Caja Rural one weekend in Ica, Peru, I escaped to visit the small town of Huacachina, the “oasis of America”, located just a few miles outside the sandy metropolitan hub of Ica. Having become famous for [...]
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Highlights of Latin America
Blog: Itinerant Londoner - 1 November 2009
I had such an awesome time in Latin America it’s pretty hard to pick out favourite moments. But I’m going to give it a go anyway. Here are the best things I’ve seen and done over the past six and a half months, along with links to what I originally wrote about them. Favourite City: Valparaiso, [...]
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Peruvian Fusion: Eva Ayllón at the Teatro Municipal
Blog: AlpacaSuitcase - 1 November 2009
As our taxi rushed through the Cusco streets Friday night, on our way to the Eva Ayllón concert, we had reason to believe that the event might be lightly attended.
