I can feel my chakras burning as I try to control my frustration. I am in Cuzco, Peru, after more than a week, and I cannot escape north or south because the country is gripped by miner strikes. They have blocked the major roads all over Peru, I am told, so no buses can run anywhere. I left my hostel yesterday and took a cab to the bus station blissfully unaware, only to be told to come back today. But just as I was about to leave today, some uppity american chick told me that was folly as there are still blockades, no buses, and no news about when the blockades will end - we only know that they will end when the government bows to the miners´demands. Apparently there are the same stirkes in Bolivia ... read more

I am just back in Cuzco from an amazingly hard, life-affirming type 3 day trek in the Sacred Valley to Machu Picchu. I think we trekked about 35kms in all, what´s that, about 22 miles? And doesnt every single muscle, ligament, bone and fibre in my body know it today. Which is why myself and one of my trekking buddies, Libby, were in the local biker bar drowning our pain in Blue Curacao yesterday, and are shortly to continue tonight, as I bus out to La Paz tomorrow and will go back to work at Los Tiempos for another month. I tried to leave today - I still really miss Bolivia and I cant take any more of this high altitude shit - but due to some big road blockades down south I have to wait ... read more

Diaz apologises for Maoist slogan - FROM BBC NEWS WEBSITE 26 JUNE 2007 Actress Cameron Diaz has apologised for carrying a bag in Peru which featured a political slogan likely to be considered offensive by local people. The Shrek star visited the historical Machu Picchu site with a green bag which had a red star and the words "serve the people" printed in Chinese. It evoked memories of a Peruvian war against Maoist rebels in the 1980s and '90s, when up to 69,000 people died. Diaz admitted she did not realise the slogan's "potentially hurtful nature". "I sincerely apologise to anyone I may have inadvertently offended," she said in a statement released to the Associated Press. "The bag was a purchase I made as a tourist in China." She went on: "I'm sorry for any people's ... read more

I am in Cuzco, after a pretty easy 20 hour, two bus ride from CBBA via La Paz with no stopping. After crossing the Peruvian border our bus clung to the edge of Lake Titicaca for a good couple of hours on its way west to Cuzco, so I got to see the lake in all its glory, flanked by Everest-looking mountains in the background. At first when I got here I felt compelled to turn and run back to Bolivia - the first time I have ever felt homesick, and for a country that isnt my home - not helped by the fact that I stupidly turned up in Cuzco with zero local currency and thought I might be truly fucked. The bus terminal had no cambios open and I had no Soles to call ... read more

I got back from four days in Puerto Villarroel, a tiny settlement of 200 people in in the Amazon Basin, last night. The experience was absolutely unforgettable: the place is stunningly remote, with one phone for the whole town manned by the local Entel office whose manager calls those with a call waiting by hollering through a megaphone that can be heard across the town, and no internet. Who could guess how long mail would take to reach that place? A group of about fifteen TAPA volunteers from different projects were on the trip. We all signed up the previus week thinking we were trotting off for a free holiday in the jungle, staying in the TAPA-owned house there where two other volunteers were working in the local guarderia (day care centre) and farm. But TAPA ... read more

This is my final week as a TPA volunteer and it will be my busiest, most probably. I have been invited to go to Puerto Villaroel, a settlement in the Chapare near the Amazon, with Carmen, Ximena, Daniela and some of the volunteers, leaving Thursday. so I have four days in which to write three smallish features for Cocha-Banner, but I also want to do something on at least one of these stories for Los Tiempos. I feel bad that I havent had any time to do work for Maria Julia, LT´s economics editor, since I have been kept busy with other things: oddly, and unexpectedly, I have been drawn into doing mostly social or cultural journalism for LT and for Cocha-Banner. I am enjoying it but it means a fairly significant change in the ... read more

This was published in Los Tiempos last Saturday. It´s my first professionally publlished non financial article - I have written music and art reviews before but only for smalltime internet fanzines. I´m not sure it´s my best work but considering the culture editor Michel decided to throw me in at the deep end and make me attend this exposition alone without him or a translator, it´s OK! I went with two Los Tiempos photographers but they were off taking snaps so I had to find and interview the curator with my crappy spanish.... if you like graphic novels you should check this dude out, Tanino Liberatore is muy famoso y muy interesante. I still prefer writing about business because ´for some reason I´m crap at writing professionally about art and music. I will keep that as ... read more

This was published in today´s Los Tiempos. EL MUNICIPIO FUE UBICADO ENTRE LAS COMUNAS QUE MENOS TRABAS PONEN A TRÁMITES Burocracia: Cercado quiere reducir tiempo Por: Melanie Stern Tras conocer los resultados presentados sobre burocracia por la Corporación Financiera Internacional (IFC, sigla en inglés), miembro del grupo del Banco Mundial, la Alcaldía de Cercado manifestó ayer su satisfacción por ocupar los primeros lugares entre nueve comunas del país en eficiencia en la emisión de licencias de funcionamiento y permisos de construcción y adelantó que se ajustan los mecanismos para reducir el tiempo de trámite. En una rueda de prensa, el oficial mayor Administrativo y Financiero, Ramiro Fernández, dijo que estaba obviamente satisfecho con los resultados, pero que todavía había mucho más por hacer. “Los resultados en... read more

I´m back at the offices of Los Tiempos this morning for a second week in the ring. My flu, which was pretty virulent, maybe the Bolivian version, is much better today after a long sleep and a fabulous weekend. My boss Maria Julio, the economics editor, isn´t around and I dson´t yet know what she wants me to do, so I´m waiting. I was so busy this weekend I didn´t have a chance to buy Saturday´s Los Tiempos and see if my story was there, and how badly cut it was or not, so I have to wait for her to come and tell me the damage. I filed it on Friday morning after a mad dash to the Travel & Projects Abroad office in the morning to finish the transcription (for which I had ... read more