Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The relentless focus on food has had a ripple effect on other aspects of the culture.
Young fashion designers produce avant-garde clothing lines with alpaca knits. Innovative
musical groups fuse folk and electronica. And the contemporary arts scene has been re-
freshed: the country's most important museum, the Museo de Arte de Lima (MALI) re-
cently re-opened after a top-to-bottom renovation, and a handful of galleries have blos-
somed in Lima's bohemian quarters.
A Ways to Go
None of this means there aren't serious challenges. Though the country's poverty rate
plummeted a staggering 23% since 2002, the economic boom has not benefited everyone:
rural poverty, for one, 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 high-profile industrial projects in the central Andes. While the
group isn't threatening the government's hold on power (it is estimated to have only 500
members), it is funding itself with money from the cocaine trade according to the US
Drug Enforcement 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 administration.
Above all, there are environmental pressures to contend with. At the time of writing,
the northern city of Cajamarca had been racked by months of civil unrest over a proposed
gold-mining concern in the region - with locals protesting the mine's possible effect on
the water supply. And, of course, there is the Amazon - now bisected by the Interoceanic
Highway, an important overland trade route that will connect Peru and Brazil physically
and economically. While it's an engineering marvel, the road has generated deep appre-
hension among scientists about the impact it will have on one of the world's last great wil-
derness areas.
Top Books
The Last Days of the Inca (2007) Chronicles the history-making clash between civiliza-
tions.
Aunt Julia & the Scriptwriter (1977) Mario Vargas Llosa's classic novel about a
scriptwriter in love with a much older woman.
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