Welcome to Sun City, Peru

We know the Incas liked a bit of sun, but can this really be a coincidence? The capital of the sun-worshipping Inca civilisation was Cuzco, in modern-day Peru. Five hundred years later, a team of scientists armed with the latest satellite data has established that the spot on Earth blistered by the highest UV levels is... you've guessed it, Cuzco.

Australia and New Zealand have the highest rates of skin cancer, but as Ben Liley of the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research in Omakau, New Zealand, and his team point out, that is due to unsuitably pale skin types for the latitudes rather than particularly high UV levels. They reasoned that peak UV should be found near the tropic of Capricorn, where overhead sunshine occurs when the Earth-sun distance is least, and ozone levels are low, and at a high altitude.

After poring over UV data collected by NASA's Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer between 1997 and 2003, the team concluded that the highest UV levels occur in the Peruvian Andes, across the Altiplano region. The area with the highest UV index score of 25 centred on Cuzco, where 300,000 people live today. This is about twice the peak value found in New Zealand.

"The historic capital of the sun-worshipping Inca empire does seem an appropriate place to find the world's highest UV," Liley says.

Army of the Poor Marches Latin America Further to Left
by James Hider in Lima

Peruvian Presidential Candidate Ollanta Humala speaks during closing the campaign rally in Arequipa, 465 Miles (750 Kilometers) southeast of the capital of Lima, Peru, Thursday, April 6, 2006. He promises heavy state intervention in a free-market economy and wants to end U.S.-backed eradication of Peru's coca crop. Peruvians will vote to elect a new president and Congress Sunday. (AP Photo/Martin Mejia)

THIS is the new front line in the populist, left-wing revolution sweeping Latin America: in front of a vast phalanx of the poor of Peru, clad in red T-shirts and holding nationalist banners on long bamboo poles, a former army officer and failed coup leader jogs on to the stage in a pack of identically dressed supporters.

Bemused American tourists look down from the balconies of the Sheraton Hotel in Lima, sipping $8 pisco sours.

With Washington nervously watching the leftward swing of its long-neglected backyard, Ollanta Humala, the front-runner in tomorrow’s general election, is proposing to transform his impoverished country with nationalism and populism.

It is a recipe that would put him on a collision course with the US and propel Peru into the camp of leaders such as Hugo Chávez, the Venezuelan President who enjoys vast oil wealth and close ties to Fidel Castro of Cuba and Evo Morales, the indigenous coca farmer who last year became President of neighbouring Bolivia.

Tapping into continent-wide anger at continued grinding poverty and exploitation by small elites — despite five years of economic growth in Peru — Señor Humala has swept from relative obscurity to the front of the political stage. “Our nationalism is the defence of our country. Nationalism is the recovery of our sovereignty, the protection of our natural resources. It’s a nationalism that is modern, not authoritarian as many political adversaries say,” he bellowed at his closing rally.
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National Day

Peru declared its independence from Spain on July 28, 1821 thanks to an alliance between the Argentine army of José de San Martín, and the Neogranadine Army of Simón Bolívar.
Wikipedia entry

i must be the only argentinian who doesn´t like mate... but a mate of coca may be fun

Cool
Now I can make my own máte

Thanks! I will try it soon. Pisco is difficult to find in the States but not impossible.

This recipe WORKS :)

This did NOT work for me - much too strong! Are you sure that is how they are supposed to be made? Am I just a wimp?

but without our bitter-sour lemon maybe will not be so delicious...
well, just give a try

How about starting with a good Pisco sour recipe?
That would be much appreciated :nodhead:

Llamas are nasty, nasty creatures.