Living in Peru : your everyday companion

Living in Peru
Israel Ruiz

The aftermath of long New Year's Eve and Day celebrations were felt yesterday as huge piles of trash could be seen on the streets and avenues in several of Metropolitan Lima's streets, reported Correo Daily.

The daily explained that the districts worst affected were San Luis, La Victoria, Rimac, San Martin de Porres, Vitarte, Los Olivos, Comas and Carmen de la Legua.

While it was noted that municipalities did not offer trash pickup on January first, the daily affirmed that citizens had not done their part in keeping streets clean, claiming that people were dumping and piling their waste on the street.

Other districts seriously affected were Villa El Salvador, Villa María del Triunfo and San Juan de Miraflores, where piles of garbage were placed next to dolls that had been burned to say goodbye to 2008.

After making a survey of the damage done, Correo explained municipalities in these districts were not doing anything to clean up the mess on Monday.

On the other hand, the Municipality of Lima was congratulated for using dump trucks, bulldozers and a mass of workers to take over 120 tons of garbage off the streets - all of which had been left by parties held on New Year's Eve and Day.

50 tons alone were taken from the areas of Mesa Redonda and Barrios Altos, reported Luis Zanabria, head of special projects for the Municipality of Lima.

Have other topics you'd like to see in our news section? If you or someone you know would like to contribute a news article to Living in Peru, whether it's translated or based on a personal investigation, send it to editor@livinginperu.com.

Living in Peru
Jobana Soto

After recovering from the partying and late-night antics from celebrating the new year, why not relax and spend New Year’s day at the Parque de la Reserva for a magnificent water fountain music show.

The first day of 2009 will be honored with a special presentation of the 13 wondrous water fountains present at the Parque de la Reserva, called the Magical Water Tour.

The water fountain show is said to bring many city people and tourists to the area. It has become a major attraction in Lima with its colorful presentation and music. It was also recognized by the Guinness Records as the public park with the largest fountain complex in the world.

Along with the special Magical Water Tour presentation, the park is also expected to receive its fourth million visitor according to Andina news agency. The visitor is expected to arrive at the park between 5:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. to be honored with a glass trophy, a diploma, free tickets, souvenirs and ballons.

Thousands of city people are expected to attend the show on January 1.

During regular business hours, the park charges S/. 2.00 per person and S/. 1.00 per child during the day. Night time rates rise to S/. 4.00 per person.

About 100,000 vehicles will gather on southern beaches of Lima during this long weekend starting on January 1st, 2009, estimated Armando Molina, representative of Lima’s municipality.

Molina thinks that the vehicular traffic flow will be affected from January 1st, after welcoming the new year in Lima, because many people will drive to the south looking for sun, beaches and somewhere to relax during holidays.

For this reason, Lima’s municipality decided to have traffic vehicular flow of Panamericana Sur highway going south only, during January 1st from 09:00 to 13:00 hours (14:00 to 18:00 GMT).

This provisional one-way highway will extend from Atocongo bridge to San Bartolo.

Meanwhile, traffic flow on Sunday will go to north to allow holidaymakers to return to the city.

News Source: Andina

Living in Peru
Jobana Soto

This summer, the Peruvian chapter of Salvavidas International, a life guard organization, will team with Jacksonville Beach Lifeguards from Florida (U.S.) in training local Peruvians on how to be lifeguards.

Jacksonville Beach Lifeguards will demonstrate the proper techniques to save the lives of drowning victims. Classes are taking place at Playa El Silencio, right outside of Lima, with Salvavidas International and Lima City Police participating.

Also in attendance are students from the Olas Peru Surf School, who have been making improvised rescues out of necessity according to Salvavidas International.

The Jacksonville Beach Lifeguards will stay in Peru teaching lifeguard technique until mid-January.

To view more pictures of this training session, go to the official website of Salvavidas International.

Living in Peru
Jobana Soto

Last night, some unidentified robbers broke into a local jewelry store in Miraflores stealing US$41 thousand dollars worth. According to local police, the jewelry store was broken into through the skylight.

Robbers broke into the store Morinaga, located on Esperanza 251, and stole expensive valuables such as gold watches, jewelry and some merchandise belonging to the store’s clients. The valuables were kept in strong boxes which the robbers were able to break into.

According to store owner Ubaldo Mendoza, thousands of dollars worth of cash was also taken from the vicinity.

Mendoza spoke with RPP, Peru’s national radio news agency, about the robbery and urged all police and security forces to start patrolling the streets so more incidents like these do not occur.

He also added that there are nearly 20 jewelry stores in the area that don't have proper security rounds during the night and no 24-hour surveillance cameras. Mendoza hopes the local police force will begin to guard stores like his to prevent further attacks.

Get out you're lucky pair of under garments because this New Year's celebration thousand  have thousands of Peruvians wait for the clock to strike midnight.

As part of their traditions to celebrate New Year's Eve, hundreds of Limeans began today to buy yellow clothes, mainly underwear for all ages and tastes, expecting that the use of these pieces allow them to have good fortune during the next year.

A few days to welcome 2009, sellers from the Gamarra emporium, in La Victoria, have started even the sale of yellow slim belts to be worn during December 31st evening.

In the block 5 of America street, in Gamarra, people can find a great quantity of yellow underwear designs for children, youth and adults, which prices vary between 10 and 20 soles (3.3 and 6.6 US dollars) per dozen.
 
In this street, many people have already been visiting the stores looking for their yellow garments, according to their size and taste.

New Source: Andina

Living in Peru
Jobana Soto

What a coincidence the holiday brings. On Christmas day, Virgin Mary, a 20-year-old Peruvian woman, gave birth to a baby boy named Jesus according to local media. The baby’s father, Adolfo Jorge Huamani, 24, is a carpenter. Already, many locals compared the father to the carpenter Joseph. Reason being? Just because apparently.

"A few days ago we had decided to name my son after a professional soccer player," the father told Reuters news agency. "But thanks to a happy coincidence this is how things ended up."

Local religious Peruvians like to compare Huamani to Joseph , Mary’s husband in the bible.

The  baby was born 7.7 pounds (3.5 kg) as Jesus Emanuel during the early hours of Christmas day at the central maternity hospital in Lima, according to Reuters.

For this Christmas season, a happy coincidence made this holiday worth remembering.

Living in Peru
Jobana Soto

For the residents living in Miraflores, many are split on the new traffic changes that will take effect this Monday to increase the flow of traffic on major road ways. Beginning early next week, “combis” will be given alternative routes to decrease the flow of traffic on the highly congested avenues of Larco, Pardo, Benavides and Diagonal.

Alternative routes will place some 500 public transportation vehicles on avenues Dos de Mayo, Enrique Palacios, Roosevelt, Andrés Avelino Cáceres and Ricardo Palma according to Miraflores government officials.

But these changes are causing some residents living in Miraflores to criticize the new roads that will open up to public transportation buses, particularly those who live on or near the newly assigned roads.

Sol de Mendoza, who lives off Dos de Mayo, questions the decision as he believes the traffic will bring more pollution, noise and chaotic driving near his home. On the other hand, Antonio Moy, who lives off block 7 on Pardo told El Comercio he is happy with the decision as it will bring less congestion by his home. This is a situation where some residents win and some lose.

Officials say they will determine whether or not to keep the new traffic routes after the New Year’s holiday, when regular work day schedules are back to normal.

Living in Peru
Jobana Soto

This year, Peruvians are spending around the same or less for this season’s holiday shopping spree. A recent survey by the Universidad de Lima shows that 81.1 percent of Lima and Callao residents plan to spend less money compared to the number of sales generated last year.

Only 42.7 percent will keep their spending habits roughly the same while 38.4 percent of Peruvians say they will reduce Christmas shopping costs by 38.4 percent. While many Peruvians are spending more or less the same as in 2007, it is still higher than spending habits back in 2005 and 2006 when only 32 percent of Peruvians living in Lima and Callao reduced their spending habits.

This season, 88 percent will be celebrating this week’s Christmas festivities while 11 percent say they don’t celebrate nor believe in the celebration of Christmas.

The holiday blues won’t be disturbing many Peruvians this year as only 13.2 percent feel depressed during the holidays, while the majority get into the festive spirit at 75 percent. Around 96 percent said they will have some sort of celebration this year while 3 percent have nothing special planned.

People who are traveling during Christmas is fairly low at 7.8 percent. Out of those traveling for Christmas this year, the most popular destinations are Junín (15.3 percent), Piura (14.3 percent), Cusco (10.6 percent) and La Libertad (7 percent).

Living in Peru
Jobana Soto

Hundreds of Peruvians in Lima took advantage of their first official hot summer day on Sunday by heading to the beach. Costa Verde was a popular hot spot for locals in need of a refreshing dip in the Pacific Ocean.

While the early morning hours looked bleak and cloudy, that changed around 10:00 a.m. when the sky started to cleared up to make room for the sun. As the weather improved, the beaches were gradually filling up with many locals excited to start off this season’s first summer day at the beach.

Yesterday’s temperatures reached its highest at 25 degrees Celsius and with lows around 19.2 degrees Celsius.

According to Weidi Flores from SENAMHI, Peru’s National Meteorology and Hydrology Service, temperatures reached their highest around mid-day. Flores also predicts similar sunny weather in Lima for the remainder of the week with temperatures reaching between 25 to 26 degrees Celsius at its highest.

High temperatures are predicted to stay around 25 degrees Celsius for the remainder of the month and all throughout January, said Flores. The good news is that the hot summer should be increasing gradually.

February is expected to bring hotter days with an average of 30 degrees Celsius starting the second week of the month.