Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
A Cultural Renaissance
The good times have resulted in a surge of cultural productivity - much of it revolving
around food. Once considered a place to avoid, Lima is now a foodie bastion, where gast-
ronomic festivals attract visitors from all over the world. La Mistura, an annual culinary
gathering organized by celebrity chef Gastón Acurio, drew more than 400,000 people in
2011.
The relentless focus on food has had a ripple effect. Young fashion designers produce
avant-garde clothing lines with alpaca knits. Innovative musical groups fuse folk and elec-
tronica. And the contemporary-arts scene has been refreshed: the country's most import-
ant museum, the Museo de Arte de Lima (MALI) recently reopened after a top-to-bottom
renovation, and a handful of galleries have blossomed in Lima's bohemian quarters.
A Ways to Go
None of this means there aren't serious challenges. Though the country's poverty rate has
plummeted 23% since 2002, the economic boom has not benefited everyone - rural
poverty, for example, is nearly double the national average.
In addition, Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path), the Maoist guerilla group that took the
country to the brink of civil war in the 1980s, has seen a comeback - occasionally launch-
ing attacks on police and industrial projects in the central Andes. While the group isn't
threatening the government's hold on power (it's estimated to have only 500 members), it
is funding itself with money from the cocaine trade, according to the US Drug Enforce-
ment Agency. (Peru now rivals Colombia in terms of cocaine production.) Moreover, a
botched government raid on one of Sendero's highland strongholds led to the deaths of 10
police officers in April of 2012, generating an avalanche of criticism for the Humala ad-
ministration.
There are also environmental pressures to contend with. In 2012 the northern city of
Cajamarca was racked by months of civil unrest over a proposed gold-mining concern in
the region - with protests over the mine's possible effect on the water supply. And, of
course, there is the Amazon - now bisected by the Interoceánica highway, an important
overland trade route that will further connect Peru and Brazil. While it's an engineering
marvel, the road has generated deep apprehension among scientists about the impact it
will have on one of the world's last great wilderness areas.
