sorry about the recent silence, by the way. i've been rushing to finish the last of my interviews and finalize any necessary documentation before heading off on my final trip. my grant is coming to an end so i am wrapping up my research...i've also decided that it's going out with a bang. i've managed to coerce my old high school roommates, kristin and mimi, to meet up with sam and me in peru. we are going to hike the inca trail to the legendary ruins of machu picchu!! i haven't seen these girls in several years, so it's really exciting to that this hare-brained idea is actually coming together. we will start off in cusco, spend some time exploring lake titicaca, maybe venture into the amazon for a few days, before getting on to the main event. i'm pretty damn psyched.

it's funny that i'll be heading up to peru at this point, because it seems to be the only thing featured on chilean news nowadays. the organization of american states (or oea as the acronym is in spanish) recently chose a new leader, and by overwhelming majority the candidate elected was chilean jose miguel insulza. the only states to vehemently resist the selection were, of course, peru and bolivia, whose loss of valuable territory to chile during the war of the pacific is something that still stings today. angered by this turn of events, peru cancelled an annual diplomatic meeting between their ministers, and dug up an old controversy over the sale of arms from chile to ecuador while ecuador was at war with peru. the matter was settled ten years ago (the chileans were making good on a deal made before the outbreak of war), but the peruvians revived the sore spot, demanding a belated apology and explanation, which the chileans refuse to give. to add salt to the wound, a recent scandal at lanperu airlines (operated by the chilean-owned lanchile) enraged peruvians after an "adventure tourism" video was shown to passengers, basically selling peru as a run-down, dangerous, and altogether "adventurous" place to visit. add to this the fact that a group of chilean teenagers was recently arrest for vandalizing ancient incan monuments in peru, and you just have strained relations all around. when i first arrived, the only squabble i could detect between the two countries had to do with the long-standing yet benign conflict over the liquor that both countries fervently claim to be their national drink: the pisco sour. (which, by the way, is pretty tasty.) but if you scratch the surface, there are a lot more undercurrents of animosity going around. i don't think this will affect our experience in peru, of course, but the confluence of current events and our long-planned visit is kind of interesting nonetheless.