lunes, 26 de marzo de 2012

Seven reasons to visit Peru

Peru's economic devolopment has taken by surprise many people around the world. These days are trully special because Peru gets more recognition and more foreign people it's tempted to meet the land of The Incas.

But, what makes Peru so special? Why should Peru is an obligatory destiny of tourism? There are many reasons, the most popular is to meet one of the New Seven Wonders, Machu Picchu; however, another reason has taken power recently: peruvian gastronomy.

So, I present you only seven reasons to visit Peru. I'm sure there are several more.

Gastronomy: peruvian food it's without doubt the best in all the world. If you haven't try it, you must! There is variety for all tastes. The more recognised dish is ceviche, but there are other dishes such as lomo saltado (meat mixed with onions and french fries), papa a la huancaina (potatoes with a delicious sauce made with cheese and milk) and many others. We can also highlight desserts as suspiro a la limeña, mazamorra, arroz con leche, etc.

Ceviche

History: Peru is known because is Inca's land, where one of the most powerful empires of ancient world was born and then expanded to other countries. That's why Peru is the best destiny of cultural tourism in South America, there is plenty of historic places that have been preserved as World Heritage. If you like living inside one of the most popular ancient cultures, Peru is a great option.

Touristic places: Peru has Cusco as the tourism symbol. There is the capital of Inca's Empire and the city where you will find the most historical places. You can visit Machu Picchu, or any others as Sacsayhuaman walls, many colonial churches and other Inca's legacy. Nevertheless, Peru has many other places to visit in other cities. For example, Lima, capital city, has hundreds of places that you should visit. Lima downtown is one of the most important points there, you must visit Plaza de Armas, the Cathedral, government palace, etc. Also in Lima you can have great moments because there is a really nice (and cheap) nightlife.

Paracas
Other cities at the peruvian coast that you could visit are Paracas; here, you can visit Paracas' island, awesome place to take near contact with nature. Not so far from Paracas you can find Nazca, where you can see the enigmatic Nazca Lines. If you prefer going to the beach, you should visit North Coast in Peru, beaches as Mancora, Colan, Punta Sal. Another beautiful city in Peru is Arequipa (second in population), located in south part of the country. I also reccomment highland cities such as Cajamarca, Ayacucho and Puno (where we can see Titicaca Lake).

Peruvian jungle is also really amazing. If you are interested in taking a very close contact with nature, yo must go. The most popular city is Iquitos (northern Peru) but you can also choose Puerto Maldonado or Pucallpa. The main attractive is to navegate in Amazon River and coexist with natives and the most odd species that you can see, it's 100% recommended. One more tip, don't leave jungle without tasting tipical dishes as tacacho and cecina.

Biodiversity: you can find almost 90% of the species that have been discovered in all the world, that's why Peru is qualified as a Megadiverse country. The most representative animals are llamas and vicuñas, very strange species that live in peruvian highlands. In the same way, you can see several medicinal plants as uña de gato, mostly in eastern Peru.

Music: there are many weird musical instrument that are mainly found in highlands such as zampoña or cajon in the coast. Peru is also very diversed in culture so you can find many different costums depending of the city you visit. For example, peruvian coast has Marinera, festejo and vals but at the highlands you can see huaynos.

Prices: Peru is one of the cheapest countries in South America. These years of tough financial situation, Peru shows as a very attractive option. Public transportation is very cheap (compared with other countries), food is similar and as we said before, going out at night is also cheap.

People: percepction of Peru is changing and every single foreign tourist notices that when arrives to Peru. They are received by very warm people that is ready to help. At the hotels, for example, the attention is one the bests in the world, in part because the natural attitude of all the peruvians.

So, after this, would you like visit Peru? I bet you would and you won't regret.

viernes, 16 de marzo de 2012

El resurgimiento de la economía peruana

Me encanta que el Perú esté sorprendiendo a todos por su sostenido crecimiento. Escuchar que los indicadores económicos siguen siendo buenos a pesar de que en muchas partes del mundo hay una crisis bastante prolongada.

Lo mejor de todo es que la percepción de que el Perú ahora sí está desarrollándose lleva a que más empresas quieran invertir en el país, que ahora sí es rentable y hay mucha más capacidad de consumo. Tal es el caso de conocidas franquicias internacionales como "Taco Bell" o "Hard Rock Cafe", las cuales vuelven al Perú después de más de una década. Yo creo que nosotros sí tenemos todo para que vengan nuevas inversiones y se ha venido demostrando en los últimos años a través de decisiones responsables. ¡Que genial escuchar buenos comentarios del Perú! Que se hable de crecimiento más que de delincuencia, corrupción o pobreza; ya es momento de ir cambiando la forma como nos ven en otros países.

Por otro lado, todo este crecimiento macroeconómico contrasta fuertemente con la realidad interna del país. Si bien hay mucho más poder adquisitivo en la gente, también hay más desigualdad y personas disconformes porque el crecimiento se da solo para algunos y ellos están tan igual que antes. Esto se pudo demostrar en las últimas elecciones donde ganó el más "radical" de los candidatos, lo que nos hacía pensar que hay buena parte de la población que quiere (y necesita) cambios.

Crecimiento PBI en Perú 2003-2012
Llegando en unos meses al primer año de gobierno, Ollanta Humala dio mucha confianza a la inversión externa, algo impensado durante las elecciones, esto ayudó que el país siguiera un rumbo estable y que el crecimiento mantuviera el ritmo de los últimos años. Debo confesar que me está pareciendo adecuado y estoy conforme con el gobierno de Humala, muy lejos al "cuco" que muchos teníamos en mente y pensábamos que nos llevaría a la ruina luego de tanto esfuerzo. Ahora me preocupa más que Humala no esté cumpliendo con la gente más necesitada. Si bien estos cambios estructurales toman mucho tiempo, no veo que el gobierno esté tomando medidas para solucionar la ansiedad de la gente que quiere que el crecimiento sea para todos. Esto sin duda generará gran malestar que se traducirá en más protestas y finalmente en la elección de autoridades totalmente radicales que pongan en peligro el desarrollo del Perú.

Es ciertamente muy difícil manejar un país tan diverso como el Perú, con tantos problemas y diferencias en las que no todas podrán estar satisfechos. La tarea debe ser que este crecimiento sea para todos y que esto no quede en palabras sino que se base en políticas concretas que nos ayuden a demostrar al mundo que el desarrollo del país no solo es superficial sino también estructural.