...it's good to be back on the road again...

So, I've about worn out my welcome here in the muni (That is, in the municipal building. In town, people are super-friendly), and I've pretty much gotten the story on the situation here in Carhuaz. Moving on tomorrow back to Huaraz, then on to Chavín de Huantar on Thursday, to continue with the interviews. I've gotten in about 15 interviews here, plus numerous informal conversations, a couple of hikes, a visit to Vicos, and about four hair-raising encounters with angry dogs.

All of the locals think I'm nuts to be carrying a cane, but what can I say? Los perros no les gustan los gringos. Especialmente ellos con bigotes.

The story on Carhuaz is pretty much as follows:

Most of the people I've talked to either think the mayor is (a) incompetent, (b) corrupt, or most likely, (c) both. He got voted in by taking strategic advantage of the nationalist/pro-indigenous tide that swept Peru in the last election, and hasn't done much since, except for print glossy brochures and hire a professional public relations guy.

Okay, I exaggerate, but let it suffice to say that the policy here has not impressed me.

On the other hand, the civil society actors are really on the ball. Which leads me to believe that he'll have a hard time of it the next time around. However, there are two problems:

1. No checks and balances. The Peruvian electoral laws say that the municipal council always consists of at least a majority of the party of which the mayor is a member. This is supposed to generate efficient policy making and less gridlock, but what it seems to do in Carhuaz is make sure that nobody's looking over the Mayor's shoulder.
2. Too many parties, no run off, etc... When the mayor is running against 15 others, he doesn't need a majority to win. In this case, he only needs about 25%. This makes it a lot easier to buy off your cronies and get them to vote for you.

Nevertheless, we'll see what happens. I haven't been impressed by the government here, but as I said, the citizens are quite well informed, at least about their local government, and they seem to be pretty well organized. I'm looking forward to following this municipality in the future!

Man oh man... You all should have seen the sunrise that I just watched out of my window. We'll see if the pictures come out.

New Pictures Up

Hi all,

I've put up some new pictures of lovely Carhuaz and environs. Click on the picture in the sidebar to get to the album. I'll write more about my adventures in getting these pictures tomorrow.

Notes

A couple of things:
1. Some more new pictures of Carhuaz are going up--you can get to them by clicking on the (same) picture in the sidebar.
2. I took some of the links to my older photo albums down, but you can still get to those albums by clicking on the one photo link, then looking at the new albums at the photo web site.
3. I love the pineapple soda, especially when it's not adulterated with rancid goat blood.
4. Aubrey, just because I want to rub it in--I want you to know, I'm staying at the most expensive hotel in town again (I didn't plan it that way--every other place was full), and although it's a little more expensive here in Peru, it's still only costing me $26/night. Breakfast's included. Breakfast includes homemade bread.

So, I got in a couple of more interviews in today--two or three, depending on what you call an "interview." The line gets pretty fuzzy sometimes. But I talked to two people in the muni, including the municipal public relations official.

Yeah, you read that right. This primarily agricultural rural Peruvian town, where 70% of the population lives below the (Peruvian) poverty line and 40% of the population is considered malnourished has a PR guy. And some glossy brochures to back him up. They also have a tourism official who only speaks Spanish. Go figure.

So, perhaps my new found Anarcho-Communitarian belief system is losing some of its luster. I kid, of course. I'm a revolutionary syndicalist.

Anyways, although the people at the muni. are plenty nice, they are also extremely vague. And their vagueness seems to correspond rather nicely to the story that all of the citizens and community leaders I've talked to so far have told me--that the mayor and his people aren't doing a good job.

There is, however, a possible explanation for this that might be a little bit more optimistic. Maybe he's doing works out in the rural areas. And maybe this is an interest group story--maybe his constituency is the rural population. That certainly is what he's claiming. Of course, the muni's glossy brochure is also taking credit for the ATM installed in the Plaza de Armas by the Banco Comercial de Peru. Hmm...

Anyways, I need to get out into the boonies here, anyways, including possibly making a trip to nearby Vicos, Peru, of Ron Brunner fame. Time to see what a Laswellian paradise really looks like. In theory, there should also be a Peace Corps volunteer wandering around out there somewhere as well, working in agriculture. I should look him up. Just what I need.

Some new pictures up

Hi all,

Putting some pictures up now, including some older photos of Cusco from January, and some new pictures of Huaraz (terrible pictures, those) and some initial pictures of Carhuaz, which aren't that great but are a start. I'll try to get more up as I go. Hopefully, the weather will clear off in a bit so that you can see the beautiful snow-covered peaks here. The link will be in the sidebar.

In Huaraz

Though I don't suspect that many of you are exactly sitting on the edge of your chairs, hitting the "reload" button on the browser to see if I've gotten a new blog posting up, I feel like I've been too lazy recently. Or, more precisely, I guess I just haven't felt like I've had much of interest to say.

Though I'm dog-tired here tonight, after taking a night bus last night, I wanted to post and let you all know that I'm in Huaraz, Peru, and ready to head out to the district of Carhuaz to start my interviews again (finally!)

Huaraz is a welcome change from Lima, as it's rainy, cool, and comfortable. Also, there's a place here that sells Belgian waffles.

I'll keep you all posted when I come up with something interesting to write about. I'll get some pictures up, too, when I can take some good ones.