Life in the Andes

The House of Hugo -- based on a blog entry from August 2005. When I accepted an offer of room and board from Hugo and Lizbeth in return for working, I was to have my conception on suburban middle-class life changed forever.

The Independent Republic of Arequipa -- published in the Dominion Post, May 2005, as 'On the Inca Trail'. Arequipeños are fiercely proud of their regional identity, and other Peruvians sometimes joke that you need a passport to get into the 'Independent Republic of Arequipa'.

On the Margins: the struggle for land and water in Peru's 'pueblos jovenes' -- previously published on the Journal Peru website. The landless people and rural migrants who carve out a living on the edges of urban areas face many difficulties -- but they are proud of having created something from nothing.

All the Road's a Stage -- the bus busker in Latin America-- previously published on the Journal Peru website. For the people who seek a handful of coins from travellers in inter-city buses in the Andean countries, it's all about the performance.

A la Hora Peruana: Peru's quixotic war on lateness -- previously published on the Journal Peru website. The day Peru marches to the beat of the clock, it will have lost some of its unaccountable charm.

In Peru, Working Hard Is Not Enough -- based on a blog entry from May 2007. On the streets of Peru, the hierarchy of sweet sellers, shoe shiners, food vendors and taxi drivers battle it out to serve a limited market and dedicate long hours to scrape together enough to get by.