Stokes in Peru

Over the last few weeks a fascinating plot has been taking place in Peru, with the presidential elections, which occur every five years and does not allow a second term for the incumbent. At the beginning of May the first round of elections took place, with several candidates on the ballot splitting the mandatory vote (if you're a Peruvian citizen and you don't vote, you are fined). For a candidate to win at this stage, they need to garner over 50% of the vote. If no candidate earns the majority of votes, a run-off occurs between the top two vote-getters from the first round. The candidates that emerged from the first round were Ollanta Humala and Keiko Fujimora, two fascinating if deeply flawed contenders. Ollanta ran for presidency in the last election in 2006, nearly winning at that time. Allied with Hugo Chavez of Venezuela he advanced a socialist, nationalistic platform that railed against outside influences (such as the U.S.) in Peru. While his tone was softened this...

Hello again faithful, loyal, patient readers of the blog~ I hope life is treating you all well. Winter has descended upon Lima within the last couple weeks, ending an extended summer by reintroducing the gray, foggy skies that get trapped between the Pacific Ocean and the mountains ringing the sprawling city. While it certainly doesn't rival a Minnesota winter, an escape from the overcast scenery is eagerly taken when available which is what Marianella and I did this weekend. Lunahuana (pronounced loon-uh-wanna) is about a two and a half hour drive south and inland from Lima. As we progressed down the Peruvian coast and turned inland, the anticipated sun was not arriving. It was not present until we advanced through a mountain pass and began the descent towards Lunahuana where rays of sun began to break through the cover and as we passed into the small town, we were bathed in sunshine. Lunahuana exists in a river valley that bursts with vegetation while the surrounding barren ...

Aye carumba! If you look way back at the very first post I ever made for Stokes in Peru, I promised a weekly update of my adventures in Peru. What's the old cliche-promises are made to be broken? Even if it was inevitable that I wouldn't keep up the weekly pace, it is a shame that I fell off my steady output that existed within the first year or so of life down in Peru. It may be a bit late to start casting out New Year's Resolutions in early April, but I'm vowing once again to get more steady production up on this blog. So what have Marianella and I been up to since early October? Well, there's been lots of work in those months, but we did have quite a nice vacation back in the Upper Midwest from Christmas through mid-February (I know what you're thinking-what an ideal time to visit Minnesota!) and we've mixed in enough interesting things within the last six months to throw them up onto the blog, I suppose. I will start with late October and into Novemb...

In case you were wondering, yes, Marianella and I are still alive and well here in the Southern Hemisphere. I know if you were relying on this blog for that info, you would been left wondering-I'm amazed myself that it was April (or six months ago) that I last updated the website. I can only imagine what my Aunt Carol, who I promised in July that I would be updating the blog shortly after my return back to Lima, would say to me at this moment. My excuse, lame as it may be, has been that Marianella and I haven't really been doing anything extraordinary over the last few months-no exotic trips, not even any weekend getaways recently; we've been doing what we'd be doing if we were still in St. Paul-grinding through the work week, catching up with errands and family on weekends, with the occasional fun night/activity on a Friday or Saturday night. Not so interesting, right? Well, hopefully it will be interesting enough because I do plan on updating the blog more often...

Hello again everyone~ How is life treating you all? From my understanding, the weather back home has been a big improvement since the last time I updated my blog, so I imagine that is making life a bit sweeter for everyone. Down here, life is clipping along like it typically does when engaged in full-time jobs; our weeks have been pretty consumed by our jobs and then weekends are spent resting, recuperating, and preparing for the next working week. However last week was a nice break from the routine, as in this country that tallies 95% Catholics, Holy Week is quite a major deal and the time off from work and school includes Thursday and Friday, making for a nice four day weekend. Last year, Marianella and I stayed around Lima and hosted Easter dinner (go to the archives for all the exciting details!), but this year we decided to get out of Dodge along with seemingly the entire population of Lima. Marianella and I went the Robert Frost route though (road less traveled and all that),...