Radical Avenue

If 15th century Inca emperor Pachacuti and his wife Mama Anawarkhi were alive today I wonder what they would say to the forty busloads of visitors checking out their mountaintop retreat at Machu Picchu every morning. Perhaps “If you replaced the roofs on the buildings, the area would stay cooler and you wouldn’t need to carry all that water around in those colorful little bottles.” Or maybe “Whatever happened to the corn fields we planted here a few hundred years ago?”

Life hasn’t changed much in the past half millennium or so for some residents of Machu Picchu. Andean swallows still dart in and out of the ruins all day munching on the insects that follow hot blooded animals around. They like to build their nests in gaps between the stone walls outside the Temple of the Condor. Llamas still graze on vegetation along the rugged mountainside trails, just as they have for the past five centuries. And lizards still sneak around in the bushes.

The Andean mountains of Peru are perfect for travelers who prefer to spend extra time soaking up the ambiance of local communities. Cusco is surrounded by archaeological wonders. Traditional songs and dances highlight the town’s many festivals. Cusco also has a number of places to shop for scarves, sweaters and other wool clothes. The cuisine is varied, affordable and exquisite. I enjoyed the pisco sours, avocado salads, alpaca steaks and ceviche. Muy bien.

The quaint little town of Ollantaytambo is worth an extended visit, as are the hot springs at Aguas Calientes and the Baños del Inca at Cajamarca. Every day is a new adventure in Peru.

It takes some effort to get the governments of Nicaragua, Venezuela and the United States all on the same page, but perpetrators of the June 28 coup in Honduras managed to accomplish just that. Their forcible removal of Honduran President Manuel Zelaya has drawn condemnations from every nation in the Organization of American States, and scorn from the people of Honduras.

The self anointed interim leader of Honduras, Roberto Micheletti, wants to stay in charge through national elections scheduled for November. But since the Micheletti regime has shown no respect for the will of the people, there’s no reason for Hondurans to accept the legitimacy of any upcoming election staged by his followers. President Zelaya should be immediately re-instated as president and allowed to serve out his term.

Costa Rican President Oscar Arias has attempted to broker a power sharing agreement, to no avail. A protracted confrontation between political groups in Honduras will scare away investors and hurt regional economies.

As I stood next to the Cristo Blanco statue overlooking Cusco, Peru last week, I could hear workers on strike marching through the streets down below. I paused there and listened to the beating drums, the shrill whistles and the angry chants for about twenty minutes. I witnessed the parade. Yet even though I was relatively close to the action, the struggle seemed far away.

If you ask ten different Peruvians why the workers have gone on strike so often this year, you’ll get ten different answers. But the theme is always the same. It all boils down to a sense of local injustice. Tourists flock to Cusco every year to see Machu Picchu and the other archeological wonders surrounding the city. Many of these visitors stay in opulent hotels, sleep on fine linens and dine in pricy restaurants. However very little of the income generated by this tourism goes into the funding of public services.

Kids rule the streets of Cusco. They want to shine your shoes or sell you a postcard, anything to make a little extra money for the family. These children should be in school preparing for the future. Their parents should have access to basic health care. Grinding poverty shouldn’t be the norm in such a magnificent place.

In much of Latin America, a few people enjoy great wealth while everyone else struggles to survive. Peru is no exception. It’s difficult to determine how or when the income disparity gap will close in Peru. But the current structure is unsustainable.

Breakfast cereal used to feature grains, nuts and dried fruit. But those ingredients are only highlighted on TV commercials these days. Now breakfast food sold in the US comes loaded down with sugar, fat and salt. These additives have almost no nutritional value, but cause physiological reactions in people causing them to crave more.

High Fructose Corn Syrup
This highly concentrated sugar is cheap to produce because the corn industry enjoys massive federal subsidies in the US. High fructose corn syrup is in virtually every processed food on the shelves of many grocery stores.

Whey
It’s hard to understand why cereal manufacturers dump milk fat all over food that is typically served with milk. Apparently food processors need to counteract the use of skim milk by dieters looking for “healthy” alternatives.

Sodium
Salt is used extensively as a preservative in processed foods. This allows food companies to ship all of their products out from one large manufacturing facility.

Find out more about home grown food at the Earthly Garden or get the latest recipes at Coaching Cooking.