Felices Fiestas Patrias!

The last two days have been national holidays (read about Fiestas Patrias here) so Lima has been pretty quiet. The construction crews that normally wake me up at 7:00 every day have been absent and traffic is light. Apparently everyone heads out of town for this holiday. The city has been covered in Peruvian flags this entire month and many people have been wearing rosettes on their lapels all month as well. You might think, “Aw, how nice. The Peruvians are very patriotic!” And yes, some are, but the flags are because of a law that mandates every building fly a Peruvian flag during the month of July for the patriotic celebrations. Sure, because, what’s more patriotic than being forced by the government to show pride in your country, right? You have until a certain day and you can be fined if you do not have a flag. This means you see some creative rigging of flags to buildings that don’t have a pole or easy place to put one.

Since yesterday, July 28^th, was Peru’s Independence Day, as well as inauguration day for the new Peruvian president, I thought this might be a good time for a brief history and government lesson (as much for my own instruction as anyone’s). So if you don't care about any of that, go ahead and skip down to the end for pictures!

 Peru was obviously colonized by the Spanish and remained loyal to the crown longer than many other South American countries. However, when Spain’s King Charles IV abdicated the throne in the early 1800s, the wave of uprisings that swept the continent eventually reached Peru. In 1821, José de San Martin, who liberated Argentina and Chile, defeated the royalist forces in Peru and proclaimed its independence on July 28^th.  San Martin, having finished the initial liberating but not really wanting to stick around for the long haul, met with Venezuelan general Simon Bolivar, liberator of Venezuela, Columbia, and Ecuador, and ceded control. It wasn’t until 1824 that Peru finally gained complete independence from Spain.

The early days of liberated Peru were rough at best. In the 40 years after independence, the presidency changed hands 35 times, although only 4 of those presidents were constitutionally chosen.  In that same timeframe, 15 different constitutions were written.  The main export to America and Europe was guano which helped the developing nation and also led to the Peruvian-Spanish War in 1866 when Spain occupied key guano-producing islands.

I879 saw the beginning of the War of the Pacific, a territorial battle between Chile and the joint forces of Peru and Bolivia. Initially called the Saltpeter War, the conflict originated over control of the nitrate-rich regions of the northern Atacama Desert. The rising demand in the 1870s for nitrates for use in explosives, fertilizers, and other products, made the nitrate-filled areas very valuable. Chilean companies owned mining operations in Peruvian and Bolivian territories which Bolivia tried to tax. Chile refused to pay, so Bolivia declared war in 1879 and asked Peru for help. On January 17, 1881, Chilean forces captured Lima, looting and burning much of Chorrillos and Miraflores (where I live). Chilean soldiers took thousands of Peru’s most valuable books from the National Library back to Chile where they remain even today. Chile won the war and the price they exacted from Bolivia and Peru has perpetuated conflict among the neighboring countries even into modern days. Bolivia lost its sea access thus becoming landlocked, while Peru ceded substantial territory and endured widespread pillaging by the conquering Chilean forces. Even in 1975, Peruvian president General Juan Velasco Alvarado was close to declaring war on Chile in order to regain the two lost Peruvian territories of Arica and Tarapaca. There was also an ongoing rivalry over pisco, a brandy which both countries claimed the exclusive rights to produce until 2005. Today they still dispute fishing waters in the Pacific.

After the War of the Pacific, Peru oscillated between democracy and military dictatorship. The first fully democratic election didn’t occur in Peru until 1980. Peru is a presidential representative democratic republic with a multi-party system. Under the current constitution the President is elected for a five-year term and cannot be reelected until they have been out of office for at least one term. Political parties form around individuals and rarely last longer than the person’s political career, the one exception is the left-leaning Alianza Popular Revolucionaria Americana (APRA), Peru’s oldest and best-established political party that was founded in 1924. The Peruvian government is directly elected and voting is compulsory for all citizens aged 18-70.

Yesterday, President Alan Garcia handed over power to Ollanta Humala who defeated Keiko Fujimori in this year’s elections. Alan Garcia first took office in 1985 (which was a good year, but not necessarily for that reason). At 36, Garcia became the country’s youngest leader and was dubbed the “Latino Kennedy” because of his charisma. He inherited a country in deep economic crisis and in the grip of a guerrilla war waged by the Maoist Shining Path (Sendero Luminoso). By the time Garcia left office in 1990, inflation was rampant at 7,500% (yikes!), the insurgents’ campaign had intensified, and poverty had soared. Accused of embezzlement, Garcia fled Peru in 1992 exiling himself to Colombia and then France. The following years saw bloody guerrilla warfare with the Sendero Luminoso and the authoritarian regime of Alberto Fujimori which was plagued with scandal and corruption… but more on that another time.

Although poverty remains high, Peru has enjoyed relative economic stability and political calmness since 2000. Garcia ran for the presidency again in 2001 but was defeated, but took power in 2006 when voters reluctantly elected the previously reviled leader over nationalist rival Humala.

This year Ollanta Humala ran again, this time against Keiko Fujimori. In 2000, while Humala was in the Peruvian army, he lead an unsuccessful coup against Alberto Fujimori’s regime. Humala’s father is a member of the Communist Party of Peru and his brother, Antauro Humala, kidnapped 17 police officers for 3 days and killed 4 of them. Although it appears Ollanta has tried to shift more to center, his leftist tendencies and friendship with Hugo Chavez have many concerned. His opponent in the runoff, Keiko Fujimori, is the daughter of former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori. She served as First Lady from 1994-2000 after her parents divorced. She was elected to Congress in 2006 and has defended the reforms of her father’s government and led the opposition to the government of Alan Garcia. Initially in the campaign she was noncommittal about whether she would pardon her father (convicted of corruption) if elected. She hired Rudy Guiliani as an advisor for her campaign, but ultimately lost by a thin margin to Humala.  After the news of Humala’s election, the Lima Stock Exchange experienced its largest drop ever.

With the choice between two candidates with serious baggage, most of the Peruvians I have asked felt the last election was a matter of picking the lesser of two evils, and the few I have talked to do not seem extremely hopeful about Humala’s direction for the country. The transition of power has already been controversial. Garcia refused to attend the ceremony to hand over his presidential sash, and at the inauguration Humala promised to rule in the spirit of the 1979 Constitution, which of course upset a lot of people since the actual authoritative constitution at the moment is that of 1993. His VP later said it was only a symbolic statement, nothing legal. You can read more about it here. 

We've been enjoying a rare few days of winter sun here in Lima, so the weather has been lovely! I went off exploring the city with the camera yesterday afternoon, so here's a few shots of my town:

Our apartment building. We live on the 4th floor. 

Lima is where every VW Bug has come to die. Seriously. They're everywhere!

Huaca Pucllana, some 10,000 year old ruins in the middle of town. No big deal. 

Walking home from a friend's house, I found my first Limanian llamas, they live at the ruins!

Ovalo Gutierrez, the closest movie theater, Wong's, and restaurants. This is a Wong's bag boy dressed for the patriotic month of July. 

Lighthouse

Watching the paragliders take off and land on the cliffs. 

Coming in for a landing!

Mosaics at Parque del Amor, with a view of "El Beso" (The Kiss) by Victor Delfin.

Young couple picnicking at the park. 

The Peruvian Dream

Hola mi amigos! Are you impressed by my Spanish skills yet? Yeah, me neither, but I’ll have plenty of time to focus on that when I get to Costa Rica. Speaking of which, last week was an exciting time because I finally have a confirmed ticket south in April! I’m not saying it has really sunk in yet, but that certainly makes it a bit more real.  And me being the logistics worrier that I am, it’s relieving to have that first step finally pinned down. I feel like I finally have permission to start getting excited. Of course, I still try to remind myself to hold it all in an open hand. You never know when God’s plans may go in a different direction than what you expect, so I try to keep myself clinging only to Him and not my plans. It’s not always an easy thing for a control freak. 

We have about 2 weeks of training time left here for the group as a whole, and a little longer for us media folk. People are reacting to the imminent conclusion of training in various ways, although almost everyone seems to be getting a bit antsy.

Last week we spent the time split up so we could focus just on the regions where we will be working. It was exciting to talk more specifically about Latin America and life and culture there. We had an assignment to research the countries where we are moving to present to the group, so those of us heading to Peru were able to work on our first “team” project. :-) Conveniently I already own almost every guidebook about Peru thanks to my own compulsive book buying and the thoughtful gifts of various friends: 

This was my Christmas present from Cat. Yes, that is a box full of lima beans. Get it? Lima beans… Lima, Peru…  

Yes, yes. I know. Pretty sophisticated humor around here.

Anyway, I enjoyed learning about my future home, so I thought I might share some quick facts.  Peru has a population of 29 million, more than half of whom live in coastal areas. In 2007, 75% lived in urban areas, and 25% lived in rural areas. Lima, founded by Pizarro in 1535, is home to 8 million just in the city center, but its metropolitan area encompasses 1,032 square miles. Peru has a clear-cut class structure with indigenous peoples at the bottom, and the descendants of the Spanish at the top. The rich are very rich, and the poor are very poor. A middle class is just beginning to evolve, but almost half the population is indigenous and poor. Corruption tops the list in polls of what they are most ashamed of in their country, with poverty coming in fourth or fifth. After Spanish, many speak Quechua, although Aymara is spoken near Lake Titicaca and there are different languages in the Amazon. In Lima, Mestizos are the largest population group, followed by European Peruvians, those of Amerindian descent, as well as Afro-Peruvians. And interestingly Lima has the largest ethnic Chinese community in Latin America (read: tasty Asian food in Lima = win!).

The country is estimated to be 81% Catholic and 12% Evangelical, with a mix of other beliefs. During our research, however, we found conclusive evidence that Jesus himself was actually Peruvian. May I submit for your study Marcos Zapata’s “Last Supper” which depicts Christ and his disciples enjoying a typically Peruvian repast of cuy (guinea pig) and chicha (a fermented corn drink):

Is guinea pig kosher? I mean, I know it has the word “pig” in it its name, but it’s basically an overgrown hamster.

If that’s not contextualization, I don’t know what is! I am looking forward to experiencing some cuy first hand, though. And I’m not the only one. Apparently the Peruvian culture is quite the draw for Americans. Just check out this video:

Heheh! I'm taking their advice and plan to get to Peru just as soon as they'll let me. Yet, while my own Peruvian dream is alive and well, that doesn’t mean I’ve given up on America. This Saturday I had a chance to spend the day up in D.C. with a couple of friends. Despite the traffic and negative politics, being there still makes me proud to be an American. We didn’t have enough time to hit all of my favorite places in the city, but it doesn’t matter where you go, you’re reminded of our history. 

One of my favorite places in D.C.
I'll always remember a magazine photo of Arlington that my Grandpa had. He, a WWII vet, had written on the back,
"The price of freedom is seen here."

Not all of it is pretty, (something we would do well to remember when we deal with other struggling countries) but it is part of the fabric of our country and it is our heritage. Washington, D.C. is a paradoxically inspiring and terrifying place: on one hand you are filled with pride as you are reminded of some of America’s finest moments, and then you turn around to find a grown American searching the last page of the Constitution for the famous “John Hancock” signature- not really something that inspires confidence in the next generation of American leadership. (If you're scratching your head, John Hancock's flamboyant autograph is on the Declaration of Independence. I promise not to tell anyone you if you didn't know that.) But no matter what, I’m proud to be an American.

 I've had some friends who felt living overseas increased their distaste of American life.  For them, seeing how people live life around the world highlighted everything wrong with America. For me, however, I've always found it to make me more appreciative of America, and living as part of another culture has given me increased gratitude for the privilege of being American. 

It is easy to whine about our democratically elected government that wastes our tax money, and the financial policies that led to a recession, but let us never forget that at our worst, we are still blessed beyond the wildest dreams of most of the world. To keep things in perspective, worldwide more than 1 billion people live on less than $1 a day, and 1/3 of the world's children live in what is classified as "extreme" poverty. I was born into a comfortable family in a rich nation, and I have taken that for granted for most of my life. I don't know why, in His sovereignty, God allowed me to be born to such privilege, but I do know that it carries with it a responsibility: we are blessed so that we may bless others.  

Parting thought:

A friend "blessed" me with this cartoon last week (Thanks, Jason!). Very appropriate for a week where I studied Peru and saw Old Glory in person. Plus there's a Frenchie shout-out in there as well! 

(The French national anthem "La Marseillaise" is about killing Prussians.
I can see why Bucky likes it.)