Paella!

After three long weeks of being apart, Liz arrived in Lima on Sunday and to celebrate the occasion we hosted the family at our place for a paella feast which I prepared from the fantastic seafood we have here with the addition of chicken and alpaca meat. As one can probably imagine from the pictures, no one went home hungry.

The Sky's Balcony

On Saturday the family caravaned south again, this time up the Mala valley to the hilltop town of San Vicente de Azpitia.

The Mala valley is an agricultural zone and the Mala river itself is rich in crayfish, for which the local cuisine is famed, particularly the town of Azpitia. Azpitia lies at the crest of the northern edge of the valley, a location which gives the town it's nickname as the Sky's Balcony. Living up to the name, a number of restaurants have been built on the edge of the ridge, including the eponymous "Balcon del Cielo", which overhangs the valley and looks straight down upon an arm of the river. It offers a variety of criollo and "international" dishes, but it's pride and joy are those which feature the local crayfish, which are large and delicious.

We had a great time chatting and drinking wine, while the kids went down to the river to look under rocks for crayfish like we'd observed the locals doing and spent the rest of the time teasing each other and their uncles.

National Strike

Today there was a one-day work stoppage by unions affiliated under the umbrella of the Confederación General de Trabajadores del Perú (CGTP) to protest the governing APRA party's neoliberal economic policies.

The stoppage was, of course, only partial as most businesses are not unionized and the state workers couldn't risk not being at work. Nonetheless, the government launched a massive media campaign to deligitimize the stoppage, with TV and radio spots, banners across streets in the city center, essentially equating striking and violence in numerous statements, and mobilizing 9,000 police officers in Lima alone.

Nonetheless, close to 10% (by a government estimate) of the workforce stopped work today, enough to have had an impact across this city. Businesses in the city center were closed, as were some in other parts of town, and traffic of all sorts was appreciably lighter even in Jesús María.

There was a large rally in the Plaza Dos de Mayo, in front of the CGTP offices at noon, but by the time Susana and I arrived, close to 2:30, most had dispersed although feeder marches from outlying districts like La Cantuta and Lurigancho were still coming in.

The CGTP offices

Workers from SEDAPAL, the water company, arrive at Plaza Dos de Mayo

CGTP leaders address striking workers

CGTP National Secretary Mario Huamán speaking to the workers

Ica

Yesterday we journeyed four hours south to Ica, a city of over 250,000 which is the capital of the department of the same name. Ica is near the epicenter of last year's massive earthquake and signs of the damage are still evident in the city.


After my cousin Juancho finished an errand, we took off from downtown toward the Huacachina, an oasis 5 km from the city amidst the desert and sea of dunes which surround the city.

Early in the last century the Huacachina was a tourist destination, where people would spend several days bathing and boating, or just hanging out lakeside. People don't bathe in it much anymore, specially since its waterquality has been reduced due to the depletion of the aquifer from unwise farming practices such as growing water-intensive crops such as asparagus and table grapes in a rainless desert.

The oasis is still a great place to spend time, but today there is the added attraction of the desert itself, which one can view from off-road vehicle tours, which take one racing across the dunes to good sandboarding spots (the boards are provided by the tour).

Art and Fauna in Miraflores

On Friday, the kids and I took the opportunity to just go to Miraflores and stroll about, taking in the sights and sounds along Avenida Larco and the park.

Our first stop was the municipal art gallery, where there is a show entitled ¨Treason Toward the Permanent". Susana found it interesting. Nico didn't get it.

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by Adriana Rodríguez

The Impossible Tale of the Chinese Restaurant Bunny. Chapter 1
by Pilar Talavera

In the park itself there was a display of photographs dealing with Peru's Andean cloud forests and documenting the incredible richness of the fauna and flora that occur in them, as well as the communities that make the forests their home.

Parrillada

After shopping at Minka with my uncle Willy, we took our purchases to his apartment in San Borja disctrict, where Willy and Elba prepared a parillada for us, and my aunt Toya, and uncles Orlando and Tata, who also joined us for the afternoon.

One thing we did seem to answer, was how many people does it take to get a fire going.

Apparently it takes three grown men and a single teenage girl with a hairdryer.

Willy cooked the meat in the typical South American way: with just a bit of salt over low coals, and some sausages to stave off hunger while the meats cooked. Of course, pisco sours were very much in evidence.