Southern Peru Stalemate

We´ve been in Arequipa for about the past week and as soon as we arrived, we heard from a cabbie that new strikes and roadblocks are flaring up further south. No!! That´s the only direction that we need to go! North is where we are coming from, to the west is the ocean, east is Bolivia (with its expensive visas for us estadounidenses, and an explicit official dislike for the same). The strikes are brought on by disputes over the distribution of the mineral wealth of the region. Two cities are at odds: Moquegua and Tacna. Under old rules, one was losing out. Under new proposed rules, the other stands to lose out. Hence, stalemate. So bad that the government here has declared a state of emergency! More here if you´re interested.

But, a message to moms, we are still very far from any violence. So don´t worry about us. The city of Arequipa is beautiful. People here are very proud of their city. The area here is surrounded by volcanoes, and many of the buildings are built out of large blocks of white volcanic rock and everything is kept very clean, the cleanest city we have seen in Peru. Part of our love for this place is that it reminds us so much of home. A high, dry, thriving desert city perched below tall mountains and blue skies. The outskirts are very green and lush; a great deal of irrigation has allowed life here. Ranching, livestock, and mining abound. We heard about corridas de toros in which two bulls fight in the ring. We are yet to see it, but it sounds really interesting. In many ways, it feels like we have stepped back in time quite a bit. The shops are full of dusty leather, saddles, guitars, and flutes. We saw a shop that had this old school printing press:

But at the same time, the city is flooded with young people, and here we are connecting to the universe on the web. Here, you can see, from a simplified perspective, two ways of life. The older generation with their traditional dress, and the younger people yearning for a modern lifestyle. The culture of the city seems to be blossoming. We went to see a free presentation of Bizet´s Carmen at the Claustros de la Compañia near the Plaza de Armas. It was an amazing show in a peaceful courtyard under the moon and Southern skies, with the guest director coming from Buenos Aires. The lights went out halfway through the final act, and the orchestra finished the climax in the dark! We also saw a choral concert that was very fun and playful and also deeply expressive and appreciative of the artform of composition as it grows in its own way in Latin America.

Nearby are some massive cañones and some incredible countryside. Colca cañon is, apparently, one of the deepest canyons in the world, so we decided to go check it out. Deep is right! Getting down to the bottom was work enough, but getting back up to the top, well that was another story. We hiked around for 3 days, and 2 nights, coming back early than we would have liked so that we could keep travelling south. Oh well. We are flying to Northern Chile tomorrow afternoon. Here´s some pics from the canyon and from our time here:

The local paper with pics of what´s going on in Tacna

We Cuyed! That right there is a cuy chactado (i.e., fried guinea pig)

The view from the Colca Canyon´s rim

With our buddy, Rob, at the mirador de Yanahuana, with El Misti in the background

We´re on our way to Arica, Chile, tomorrow. The roadblocks and strikes show no sign of stopping (already in their 9th day), so we´re going to fly over that mess in an aeroplane.

Hope everyone had a great halloween. People here are also relieved that Barack won. I think that the rest of the world is proud of us, America. I have a feeling that the States that we will return home to next year will be a different one...