Special Report: Alcoholism in Peru (English Part, also in Spanish)

English Version

Special Project Report (May, 2007)

For the Universities and Mantaro Valley Region (Junin) on:

The Effects of Alcoholism on the Individual and Peruvian Society as a whole; and how to deal with it in Junin, and the Mantaro Valley of Peru

By Dennis L. Siluk

Agony in the Valley
Part One: is there a problem?


A) The Problem: the question in this overview (or report) on drugs and alcoholism within Junin, and the Mantaro Valley, of Peru, in particular, is: what are their effects on society, the individual, and what can be done to curve mood altering chemical (alcoholism) usage; and do the folks of the Region (and the Mantaro Valley) believe they have a problem: better put, how did we get to were we are at now with mood altering chemicals (drugs and alcohol): and what can we do about it? And the premise of this report, the hidden one that is, is to make aware to the reader, I do believe there is a problem.

In essence, how bad is the crisis for chemical usage and its abuse; and is it bad enough to make the people take action…? I worked for twenty years in dual disorders; that is to say, depression mixed with drugs or alcohol; to include: manic, psychotic and schizophrenic disorders coupled with alcoholism. In this report of sorts, I will be using Lima, Peru, and the USA for comparisons, and connecting them to the Central Region of Peru (which consists of some 12-million inhabitants); that is, Huancayo, and Junin, in particular I will be using some historical data to make my point, that being drugs and alcoholism exists, is a problem not only for the Central Region of Peru, but for all of Peru, and the Valley of Mantaro, along with Huancayo.

B) First we have to define the problem here (and if the people of the Valley believe that there is a problem; or I have to prove there is a problem), perhaps people in the valley do not think there is one, yet there are many suicides, most are alcohol related; also there are many car accidents (as any taxi driver will tell you: ¨Yes, there is a problem in the Mantaro Valley with alcohol.¨ I’ve asked many of them). Furthermore, family battering is also a drug and alcohol related issue, in the Huancayo region. In the USA, 90% of all crimes are drug or alcohol related, and I am sure the data is relatively the same here: as we shall look at some statistics in a moment.

C) The Robber: everyone will agree there are lots of them out there, and why are they robbing and what are they spending their money on (9 out of 10 times it is not because they cannot find a job either); believe it or not, robbers usually do not rob to feed their children, or cloth them, or pay the phone bill or electric bill with the money. They spend the money on alcohol, drugs, gambling and good times. Most robbers rob children, old folks, and women because they are easy prey; they do not want a heavy challenge, they want to get the money, gamble and drink it up it, and they got to continue to rob because they cannot hold a job down living this life style. This again becomes a societal problem. Drug addicts are a big issue in this area, as is alcoholism. And the police and communities seem not to be bothered all that much with it, almost accepting it as a normal norm for Huancayo.

Note (collateral data): With a number of people I’ve talked to about the local problems, particularly with alcoholism within Huancayo, and in particular, with children and teenagers—their main peeve is that there is a lack of cultural, literary, and social outlets, or groups available to them, and with this lack of activates, they feel the course of action they may take is alcohol and drugs: pointing out: economic issue.


Part Two: Some Statistics and Data:


Note: To understand the problem, one needs to go below the surface of the situation, that is where the problem lies, and where one needs to look at, where I have to bring to the reader the issues that exist (to show); and why. One may say after reading this, we all have a lack of resources here to do much about the problem; but we can look at that issue, later:

A) Population figures 1: there are about 12-million inhabitants in the Central Region; in the Junin region 1.2 million inhabitants which includes the Mantaro Valley; a little more than 365,000-thousand inhabitants live in Huancayo; in the inner city 118,000, (and some 488,000 inhabitants, if you take into account the rural area), and around seven to ten thousand in each of the many surrounding town-lets—and about 27-million inhabitants in Peru.

B) Population figures 2:out of this large figure of 27-million, there is about 10 to 13 percent of Peru’s population who are Alcoholics, problem drinkers, chronic drinkers (in the USA, it is about 8%) So out of the 27-million we have about 3.1 million inhabitants that drink to excess, around 80% of Peru’s adults drink, whereas, 70% of American adults drink.

(All these figures can be corroborated, and will not fall too short of my rounding off figures.)

Note 1: In referring to Alcohol Dependence I mean, Alcoholic; when I refer to Alcohol abuse, I am referring to, a problem drinker, perhaps with an antisocial disorder.

Note 2: Often alcohol abuse can be traced back to poverty, stress and issues with cultural mores; whereas, all these elements may exist in the Alcoholic, he has one other curse, he has the biochemical, psychological obsession, the genetic disposition, the saturation of the body with the drug or alcohol.

Note 3: Historically, the Inca Empire also had its excessive drinking habits, due to the trauma of conquest, or continued war, and surprised values, and often they became self-destructive, with behavior by toxic consumption.


C) Crimes and Deaths: In the Junin area, there were 3208 deaths in 2005, of these deaths, about 400 were drug and alcohol related; in Huancayo alone 1200 deaths, and about 160 can be related to drugs and alcohol.
D) The crimes in 2004, dealing with selling and usage: Total Crimes: 3818 of these (drug and alcohol related): 1516 were men, and 472 women.
E) Captured for usage of drugs and alcohol in 2004, were 6425 men, and 536 women.
F) Junin Accidents, in 2004, 271 citizens were hit by cars, and there were 403 car crashes, out of a population of 1.2 Million citizens.
G) Out of these figures above, 1202-people were in jail (or about 20% of the close to 7000 crimes that were committed). In general it has been said 90% of crimes in America are drug or alcohol related, meaning, the person committing the crime, or accident was under the influence. I do believe this figure could be higher for Peru, since all other previous figures are.
H) In one hospital in Peru, out of 276 patients that came in for alcohol and drug issues, 26.1% were there for strictly alcohol, and 22.1% were there for drugs and alcohol consumption, and 15.2 for Alcohol with pot usage (the difference were alcohol and other drug related chemicals mixed, not mentioned here). Again I stress this is one hospital of many, and it has been estimated most folks do not ever make it to the hospital.
I) Drug trafficking is still alive, but I only have date for 1997 to 1999, close to 8-years old. But it indicates this, 14319 drug traffickers were jailed in one year.

The point to be made here is, the point of which this report is trying to say, or make the reader aware of, is: there is a problem in Peru with drugs and alcohol usage, and in particular, the in Junin (Huancayo, Mantaro Valley area).


Part Three: Chemically Speaking and Societal Issues:


A) alcohol is a depressant, among other things, and those who have abused it beyond their capability to stop using it, often cannot define their problems, thinking they do not have one, or unwilling to admit they got one, and it has to do with alcoholism addiction, obsession, denial (and we can add drug usage into this paragraph also); which accounts for: 1) people going to work late, 2) lack of production at work 3) higher medical bills 4) many family issues that would not be issues had alcohol not been involved 5) thieves 6) child abuse 7) car accidents 8) suicides 9) killings and crimes in general. Thus, Alcoholism and drug addiction, and we can add compulsive gambling, becomes a family issue, an individual issue, and a societal Issue.

Note: the question comes up: ´…can the social fiber of the Mantaro Valley in particular, and the Central Region (as a whole), take the strain of its intoxicating unrestrained inhabitants causing all this maladaptive behavior, and what is the legacy that will hand down to our siblings, meaning, if they do what they see, they also will become alcoholics or drug addicts, thus the future does not look too bright.


B) Three: Social Issue: As I pointed out, this is a societal problems, not just an individual one alone, even though the individual would like to believe it is his problem, and no one else’s, and has the right to drink, and do as he pleases, without limits, yes, he wants rights without responsibilities. But can society allow this, can society afford this for everyone around the drug or alcohol user becomes infected with the behavior of the user.
If the people or the government or society as a whole, cannot see it as a problem, but rather a custom, or tradition, it is hard to fix, or prevent. But again, we can see this by the crisis within the society, it is a problem. And it will not go away by itself. And I realize, as I sure all folks in Peru do, programs cost money. But let’s look at the cost of continued usage unabated:

1—In the Hills of Peru there are still coca-growing, as recent as 2006, seven people were ambushed
2—Social Development is unemotional (alcohol paralyzes emotions, thus, the emotional affect is flat); along with the lack of economic opportunities, for they do not develop for the user or the area involved (meaning the area copies its inhabitants, one usually needs to move out of it to find stability)
3—The Rural Sierra country people (which consist of 4.2 million) are on the poor side of the scale, and 2.3 million come under the very poor side. Poverty enhances distress and depression, and consequently comes with it, a higher crime rate to keep up ones bad habits, such as, alcoholism and drug usage, and selling of drugs. The lack of poverty will reduce these figures (it is not to say the rich or well off will not use alcohol or drugs, for on the other hand, affluent and stressful societies seem to bear the same burden, perhaps because of the boredom and spare time available).
4—what we need to do for these Rural Sierra folks is: add Education, societal protection, and help with self-esteem, and the drug and alcohol problem will be reduced.
5—some of the good factors that the Peruvian society has acquired in the past 35-years is that its life expectancy went from 53 years in 1970, to 70-years in 2004. But it is a proven fact, there are no old Alcoholics, they die in their 40s. Along with the life expectancy increases in Peru, alcohol problems increased too, this could have been curtailed with Education had it went side by side with the growing upward on the ladder of life expectancy.


Society’s Alcoholics


Now let’s look at what society is producing, dealing with Dependence (or ripe alcoholics living among the many (meaning; non users). Let me also add before we get into the figures below, in the educational area, recovering alcoholics need to be taught how to live a sober life, or an ongoing recovering life, for the recovering means exactly that, an ongoing sobriety program for him or her. For kids or teenagers they need to be taught how to live a life without alcohol, taught its consequences if the choose it. These figures below represent the whole population of Peru):

Years of Age

12 to 13 years of age 1% of Peru’s children are developing a dependency for alcohol
14 to 16 years of age 3% of Peru’s teenagers are problem drinkers
17 to 19 years of age 11.5% of Peru’s young adults are dependent on alcohol usage
20 to 40 years of age 13.5% of Peru’s adult are chemically dependent
41 to 59 years of age 7. % of Peru’s aging adults are alcoholics
60 to 64 years of age 7. % of Peru’s Elderly are alcoholics (Usually this group becomes alcoholics because of symptoms of aging and being alone, and depression)


Note 1: Suicidal statistics for 2002 (study done in Lima, Peru): 12. 2 % of the populations have thought of suicide, and out of that, 3% have attempted it. So we have a society of 25-million people, and so we have 6.5 million people thinking of killing themselves, and out of that, 195,000-people attempted to kill themselves in 2002, and these are only known figures, I would expect them to triple this amount should the rest of the folks be counted. So I would figure 600,000 minimum tried to kill themselves in 2002.

Note 2: In the Junin region, 2.15% of the elderly belong to adult centers: which is a very small amount, but such centers can occupy the elderly with activities, making their lives sweeter before they pass on, but normally what happens, is when the elderly do not have access, or attend these, they resort to alcohol use, and even at an old age, one can saturate their bodies, to chemically change their internal structures and thus, produce a chemical dependency.

Note 3: In 2002 1120 case of abuse and violence was reported against the elderly, and I believe this is only 10% of the real figure: most of the cases dealt with the female elderly, under the category of sexual violence. Again, drug and alcohol related.

Note 4: Any poor health system I do believe adds to the risk of its citizens in using chemicals for escape purposes. Here are some figures to review on The Health Systems throughout the world: according to the WHO (World Health Organization): out of 191 countries, Peru is number 129, Ecuador is 111, Bolivia is 126, Chile is 33, and Colombia is 22.

Note 5: Lima has 22,000-Physicians, with approximately, 8-million inhabitants; whereas, the Central Region has 7,500-Physicians, with over 12-million inhabitants. Within Junin there are 454 establishments for health care (7 hospitals, 56 Health centers, and 391 Health posts), that may sound like a lot but in St. Paul, Minnesota, which is less than 300,000 people, they have more than 7-hospitals, and an uncountable number of health centers. Lima has 700-establishemnts, and only 8-million inhabitants to service.

Note 6: Many of the women of Peru contribute much of the domestic violence with husbands while under the influence of alcoholism; which produces aggressive behavior, and chronic physical problems.


Part Four: Prevention


In my eyes, and in many of my colleagues’ eyes, prevention of chemical usage (drugs and alcohol) is the key to reducing alcoholism, and establishing order; what I mean by this is, one needs to stop the problem before it starts, and this problem of chemical usage, can be curtailed by educating our children at a young age of the consequences of using mood altering drugs, such as alcohol.

On the other hand one must look at the nature of the beast. Alcoholism is a disorder, a chemical one, and a disease it becomes. How can I say that, all research has indicated so, and so it must be treated as a disease, and looked at as a disease, just like cancer; one day you get it and the rest of your life you fight it, and you die young. I do not know any old alcoholics, as I mentioned before. But prevention can help; we need to inform our youth of the consequences. They do not see it at the age of nineteen years old; it is hard for them to see when their bodies are fresh and strong, but we must inform them, out of sight, does not mean it should be out of mind, it will have its toll on you, and its grip on you should one start drinking young, and unable to stop, thereafter.

A) Programs: We are not gods or islands, we need people willing to help, and the sooner an alcoholic finds this out (or heavy drinker), the sooner he can look for treatment (but first society, government, or the city has to say this is a problem and be willing to provide a treatment center. You cannot call yourself a Good Samaritan, and just walk on by). But too often treatment does not look at the bare facts either; they go through an orderly A to Z program, and it provides tools for the alcoholic to use, and still the alcoholic may go back to drinking, but the recovery rate at the institutions I’ve worked at, is about 60% recovery; thus we can take 60% of the drunks off the streets and roads.
What I have found as a director of a medical clinic, is you got to offer the chemical abuser, or user, or alcoholic something better than what he has, why else would he stop using something that is doing something for him, I mean, alcohol is providing him with some kind of escape, it just happens to be a false one: then you get him into the program, and then you get him into prevention, and then after this, you get him into what is called Aftercare. But all this time he has that one thing you found out for him, which was better than alcohol; this makes him want to continue.

B) Prevention as Education: We teach our kids how to talk, walk, and eat. Funny we do not teach them how to drink, or how not to drink and use drugs, or teach them the effects of a lifetime of chemical use and abuse. We have a license to drive a car, but first we get Education in that area, yet we get no education on the effects of alcohol damage. And we get married, and we need a marriage license for that also, and our parents usually give us a few comments on this issue, but not on alcohol usage; and we go to specialty schools to learn special educational things to help us in the future, but we again do not get any education on one of the deadliest chemicals in the world, alcohol.
Yes, we need education in the use of alcohol, what damage it can do to us mentally, physically (or biologically), socially, and spiritually. This education can come in the form of movies for children, or mandatory movies for adults who have been sited for driving while drunk; it can be part of their curriculum of a school, college, showing the effects of alcoholism. And it should start at home with the parents. In Minnesota, all these Educational tools are already in place, along with Treatment clinics.

C) Choices under Education: I have told my clients in the past we have choices, and they come in three dimensions: rules, results and responsibilities. If we can get this message out to the youth of the Mantaro Valley, maybe they will chose another way to deal with bad choices in the past to be made now in the future; in my past education programs, this is what I point out. If you are standing in front of a train (as he does when he continues to drink beyond his limits), and he decides not to move, he has, like it or not, made a decision (and of course a bad one), in essence he has decided to get run over by the train; and so our youth needs to know, rethink, their choices, decisions before the train comes.


Closing Thoughts


What can I do without going to Treatment: I have written three books on this very subject, Alcoholism, its prevention, and Aftercare. And those whom are damaged the most in using alcohol are individuals with Depression, Manic behavior, Schizophrenia. Those predisposed to this genetic alteration within their systems, causing dependency. Those who drink daily and saturate their system with this poison also, Women, Alcoholics with liver damage, their living cells die, and you become the living dead. It also produces cancer in women quicker than men. Those with too much stress, thus causing overuse of alcohol, which turns into alcoholism. All these issues can be stopped by simply stop using, for the most part.

In Conclusion: we may want to try to fix this growing problem, perhaps crisis, but simply do not have the funds to do so, if this is the case, there might be a possibility in finding professionals in this field to teach volunteers, and to use community rooms to promote Educational classes on the effects of alcohol to the growing populations, thus curving the growing dilemma: with educational tools that will help fight against the alcoholic problems, although that alone will not solve the problem: a city with a serious problem needs a serious program, and that means its members have to dig into their pockets and create Treatment Centers, I do believe: plus we need to get into the schools to educate the students.
Another idea may be, find someone with a plot of land willing to donate it to an establishment of providing a continuum of care to the alcoholic, or abuser of alcohol, free of charge, and perhaps have these folks with other skilled labors build the establishment (as might be the case in some of the towns of the Mantaro Valley region of Peru).


Afterwards: who will be the ones in the Mantaro Valley to carry forward the banner of progress, for freedom from addicted, the broken families that lay ahead because of addiction; who will do the educating and planting enriching values, for we now have only martyrs, thousands that have come and died for the lack of it. Indifference to drug and alcohol abuse, will not make the issue disappear, and will not enrich the Valley, its unchanging atmosphere in Government for the disadvantaged, the forgotten flesh cannot go on living on bread alone, it needs the help of its educated leaders. I sense the poor and downtrodden are hungry for recovery, if only they can find a helpful hand.


Data collected from several sources, the INEI Reports (National Institute of Statistics, Huancayo). From other journals, and independent reports, found on the internet to include Reports done by UCLA on Peru and Bolivia (University of California in Los Angeles); and Reports done by private institutions on the chemical usage within the Central Region of Peru, to include the Huancayo region. Also data was used from the collected writings of the author, his three books on drugs and alcohol and its effects on individual and society; 2001, 2002, and 2003. Empirical data also collected by the author within the Mantaro Valley region, from cultural institutions; and the more direct way was used by talking to taxi drivers, many folks from the media whom are concerned. Thus, there has been a good cross-section of society the author has used in gathering his information.


About the Author’s background: Post Graduate Studies (two years, 1986-1987: received International Certificates for Counseling); Alcohol and Drug License Counselor, USA, State of Minnesota, No: 300274: issued by the State Health Department. 10-2001; International Ordained Minister (Revered) from ´Independent Christian Churches´ 1-31-93 (Post Graduate Studies at Liberty University, in Theology, 1990 or one year); AA Degree, University of Maryland (Behavioral Science) 1976; BS Degree, Troy State University (in Psychology and Sociology) 1979



Copyright © Dennis L. Siluk, May 23, 2007
Agony of the Valley
The Effects of Alcoholism on the Individual
and Peruvian Society as a whole, and how to deal with
it in the (Central Region) and Mantaro Valley of Peru
Drawing done by the author ©1974

The Mad Coffee Lady of Huancayo (11-poems) by D.L. Siluk

The Mad Coffee Lady
(Of Huancayo, Peru; and other Poems & Writings)

Poems extracted from the forth coming book 3-2008 “Early Horizon”

Legends, Heroes, Culture, and the Splendor of the Mantaro Valley of Peru




El Poeta - Escritor Del Año 2006 (Del Valle Del Mantaro, Perú)


By Dennis L. Siluk


Awarded the National Prize of Peru, "Antena Regional": The best of 2006 for promoting culture (with his poetry)

[Translated from English to Spanish by: Rosa Peñaloza de Siluk

Poeta Laureado de la Ciudad de San Jerónimo de Tunán, Perú 2005

Copyright©2007, Dennis L. Siluk
The Mad Coffee Lady
(Of Huancayo, Peru; and other Poems & Writings)

First Edition, First Printing

Front Photograph, Revamped—restructured
(and darkened; water spots taken off for clarity; photo of Victoria the Mad.
Original picture in the archives of Huancayo, Peru. 1960s -´70s)

Index

1—The Mad Coffee Lady (Of Huancayo, Peru)
2—Mama Teofila (of Huancayo, Peru)
3—Rib Roast in El Tambo (Huancayo, Peru)
4—The Legend of Laguna De Ñahuinpuquio
5—The Legend of: El Amaru and Huaytapallana
6—The Cliffs to Torre Torre (Huancayo´s Envy)) Peru))
7—The Little Olive Amuc’s (of the Andes)
8—El Tambo Spiders (A Huancayo, Peru Poem)
9—Vietnam: Like Ants in the Rain (a War Poem)
10—Fiesta Dancing in Cajas (Part I of II)
11—Dark Eyes Dancing (Part II of II)



“Florencia”, a 7th Century, Love-Tragedy Epic
From the Mantaro Valley

Historical Meeting with Dr. Maria Rotworowski
(A dialogue between Poet and Historian)


Agony in the Valley
(a Report)
The Effects of Alcoholism on the Individual and Peruvian Society as a whole; and how to deal with it in Junin, and the Mantaro Valley of Peru (May, 2007)


About the Author and his Books
Reviews



1


The Mad Coffee Lady
(Of Huancayo, Peru)


But you ¨My Mad Coffee Lady had God’s Pity
Ah yes, you passed once our way
(Some said, must have said ¨They are all one
These vagabonds, ¨ a pest! This was their song.

Her feet bare, frosted, benumbed
Chilled veins, like chains of iron
Hacked heart—yet she weathered the winters
With the night, ice cold waves of air—
“Victoria the Mad,” of Huancayo: homeless.

Yes, yes! Slight were her arms,
Yet they held a tin can for coffee, sweet beans,
Or fifty-cents, a beggars cry—,
(also held out for water and mud))
Her hair was caked with such)): yes, yes!
Soft as spring winds, she loved her coffee,
This Mad Lady from Huancayo…!

No man could paint such a picture
No man could paint such things, who did not know,
And now she’s gone, who was her Cyprian—
(for we were her audience);
Her photograph left me cloaked, wrapped in gauze.

“Go from me,” I said to the picture
But I still held the mutter, its tang…
The figure of this dead lady spoke to me, said:

“See they return, one, and by one,
Now only half-awakened, they come
Now dead, they accept me, a timorous
Wrench of a woman, they called me,
In the cold light, in the darkness

“Come; let me pity those who are
Better off than I was, come, my friends,
And remember, fate enters with little feet
Than this hour of cold poise, breaks the knees
To the heels—it did me…!”
No: 1842, May 23, 2007 (Legends made in Huancayo)


Note: She was known as Victoria, and walked the streets of Huancayo, Peru, homeless, in the 1960s into the ´70s. She was called “Victoria the Mad” I call her the “The Mad Coffee Lady,” I suppose the reason way, is because she loved coffee like me. We had this in common. Looking at her picture, at an exposition in Huancayo, 5-23-2007, I could not help but write a poem of her, for her, for you, for me. A man stood by my wife, and she asked him if she knew the lady, and he said he did, added “She suffered so much, the government should have had a way for her to end her life.” I went to ask another question, but he quickly left, I suppose memories were hard on him. I asked my sister—in-law, Mini, about her, and she said, “She would take food and ice-cream from the children and run away with it.” Then as time went on, she was used as a pun, “If you kids do not behave and eat your food, we’ll get Crazy Victoria….” And that would normally scare the kids into behaving.

She washed her hair in mud, took dirty water in her can, and poured it over her head and if children tried to get close to her, she’d toss the tin can of water at them. She wondered aimlessly in sections of Huancayo. Edwardo Mayta, a resident of Huancayo, was just a young lad back then, and remembered her quite well. It was by a creek, where she would plaster her face with mud from it, as if it was a cream, and she’d stutter he said (Perhaps over excited, or a past trauma, or perhaps at a point of stress).

In addition to her peculiar behavior, she painted her self with cosmetics at times, extravagantly, highlighting her lips, so an old friend of mine, taxi driver in Huancayo told me, Alfonzo.

Thus, looking at this behavior it would seem to me she was a lost soul in a city unable to help her (or unwilling, I must not past judgment, for I do not know), or perhaps she didn’t want help, I don’t know, so I mustn’t point fingers. But her behavior indicates to me a woman of a certain beauty (which Edwardo has indicated), whose mind went haywire in her teens, and thereafter, got worse, as often time’s schizophrenia seems to foster and develop inside the minds of such persons with the above behaviors. Furthermore, her manners would fit the disorders of her being bipolar (or manic with depression).

Paola, whom I met at a frame shop in Huancayo (5-25-2007), remembered Victoria quite well, said in so many words: her can was also used for empting out holes filled with water in the road, slowly but surely. She hung about in and near the Plaza de Arms, General Muñiz Paola one day asked where Victoria was, and she was told “She died…,” thus, as she had lived, inconspicuously. Her home was wherever she found herself wanting to rest.

Conclusion

From Victoria’s picture, she looked to me to be a long leaning black corn stock of a woman, narrow, regularly browbeaten. Perhaps at one time she was well made, but in the picture I have of her (which shows a tinge of her shoulder bones and muscles, to be somewhat youthful), she was not weighty at all, perhaps brutal looking if she would have produced her face in the photograph—brutal I mean, because of her demise, yet beyond her ragged cloths, and knotted hair (all soaked in mud) somehow I can see her wondering eyes, connected to her cynical posture, and mud-like end, perhaps peeping at everyone quietly.
I suppose all one could do back in those days was helplessly stare at her, whisperingly, watching her unhurried manners as she walked the streets throughout the city.
If in, the entire world, nothing whatever save the taste of coffee existed, she was happy for that little perk.
In Short, perhaps I have drawn an unsatisfactory description of Victoria, yet it is derived from the picture I have of her, and the folks that have shared with me their experience in seeing her, talking and witnessing her. Plus, there is no other description of her, in all my searches. In addition, my hungry mind of course plays a part in all this, sadly, in grating, but down-to-earth creating an intonation to Victoria’s existence.



2




Mama Teofila

Let us not forget
The grace and good—
Mama Teofila did
To the little dirty faces
Of Huancayo
When she lived:
Giving Ham sandwiches
And Chicha…!

No: 1843 5-23-2007 (Legends made in Huancayo)
Dedicated to Cesar Segura



3







Rib Roast in El Tambo

Robes of yellow margaritas—
Gorgeous green grass,
A rib roast…cooking
(while dogs continue barking off
the roof top)) a book in my hands)).
Papa Augusto sleeping in a plastic chair
Under the beautiful winter sun;
Eight of us waiting in the backyard
Waiting for the ribs to fall
(like raindrops off a roof, into our mouths).


Dedicated to Ximena (My Godchild)
No: 1840 5-20-2007


4

The Legends of Laguna De Ñahuinpuquio
[For a Lost City in Peru] Part I


And let her Golden Bell ring, at midnight, nightly
The lost city by Chupaca now sunk with her soul,
To her grave in La Laguna de Ñahuinpuquio…

Write this, above her dead and withered bones:
“No more she lives to give us comfort for worship,
Who asked for only bread, amongst her stones?”


#1408 8/3/2006 There were two cities near Huancayo, that sunk deep into its lakes, long before my time, and legends say, the one that was near Chupaea, now resides in the lake of Ñahuinpuquio. The other one, I already wrote about before, known as Laguna de Paca, which also has its legends.

The Wanka culture [Huanca culture] lived in this area, an old culture perhaps dating back to near the time of Christ. And now I shall introduce you to the second part of the new Legend that blends into Laguna De Ñahuinpuquio:

5


The Legend of: El Amaru and Huaytapallana
[For the New Love] Part II


El Amaru of the Mantaro Valley plateaus, surrounded by the Andes, in Peru, perhaps of the Wanka race or culture, during his youth found he could shape-change, and thus, became a huge snake, and ate everything eatable in the valley—fell in love with a young maiden that lived on the edge of the Laguna de Ñahuinpuquio, they had a daughter named Pucuhs Uclo, she loved the area, and drank from the lake its pure waters; her Grandfather took a liking to her and gave her all the animals of the valley she desired to play with, it would seem they were a very happy family indeed, and for a long spell.
Everyone in the valley loved her very much. But her father was not happy, and shape-changed again, into an eagle, and left home (for he became restless); and he soared above the Andes, looking here and there, but not knowing what for, just looking. Whereupon, he found a beautify young girl near the city that now is called Huancayo, she was up in the mountains that surrounded the valley (where I have been), this girl was washing her hair in the little lake, more like a pond. The girl was called Huaytapallana [or White Mountain]; and he turned back into his natural form, a man of now middle age, and married this young girl and had five children. As a result, this mountain now is called: Huaytapallana (or White Mountain) and is most breathless when looking upon her from any hillside that parallels her elbows. There are three lakes in this area and a small lodge near the hillside I just mentioned.


6


The Cliffs to Torre Torre
(Huancayo´s Envy))Peru))



Prehistoric Geological Monument near Huancayo


Tall up by the cliffs, in the township of Huancayo, stands
A cluster of piercing stone like pillars, lightening rods
From the Ancient-gods, with thousands of years being:
weather worn and torn and blistered;
These pillars of stone, reach— heavenward.

Around this cluster, an engulfing, natural enclosure
Like an old cemetery protected with erect towers and tombs;
Brownish rocks, baked by the sun, washed by the rains
from the heavens:

It is called ‘Torre Torre’ and rests below the cliffs of Huancayo,
alone.

It is the envy of the Valley, where both warrior and poet
have traveled.



#1788 4/13/2007

Note: The poem, ‘…Torre Torre’, is not referring to the island called ‘Bora Bora’ in the South Pacific, it is a geological wonder in and around Huancayo, Peru, beyond the Andes, in the Valley of Mantaro. How it got its name, I don’t know, but I’ve been to the site a number of times, and it is always fascinating to see the course the wind, and weather have taken on this geological wonder, how they worked to mold such things as these stone towers; primeval geological erosion. Fascinating I say, for surely they’ve been here longer than the city of Huancayo, habitants by some 325,000-citizens; an old Wanka culture once roamed this area, perhaps dating back to 1000 BC. The stone pillars are more tucked away in what I’d call a gorge. One can go down to see it, and actually walk through it, or one can go onto the cliffs above it, and look down over it, and if more adventurous, climb down into it, or like me, just observe it from a close distance, both ways.

For folks who wish to visit the site: Torre Torre is a geological formation of enormous towers of clayey soil, molded by the winds and rain, located very near to Cerrito de la Libertad.


7


The Little Olive Amuc’s


Ah, little olive fellows from the Andes
Or some internal caves therein:
From Ticlio, or Bone City (La Oroya),
An underworld civilization!

According to the very best of legends—
From the Wanka to the Inca times—
They live in the crust of the earth
And in the hard cold mineral mines!

They followed the miner’s footsteps
From barbarity nights to dawn
A dwindling civilization
With cities of gold and bronze!

By them are the treasures well-known;
Hidden in underground temples;
From Machu Picchu to the Mantaro Valley
To the Ancient Nazca Lines!

With all of this ponderous mystery
It’s distressing these earthly Amuc
Revealing signs of their whereabouts
That provokes our most curious thoughts.

Such mystery among humans and pixie’s,
The problems of peace a pauper,
Relations between goodwill for both,
Or misdeed and rebuke therefore!

So when we look for treasures dim,
And find problems of where and when,
Simple find an Olive Amuc and pray,
He will be your very best Friend!



#1795 4-18-2007

Note: Legend has it these Amuc of the Andes, are perhaps a foot to 18-inches tall; some with blond and other with dark hair. It has been said they have iron wings, and live in the mines of the Peruvian Andes. Many older folks who have been in the mines, worked them, have claim they have seen them; or folks that have known folks that have. Myself, I have never seen them, and I’ve been in the Andes, but I’m looking forward to it. And when I do, I of course will let you know. The Wanka to the Inca times, infer, between AD 700 to 1600 (and from the present times: the time of the Miners).


8

El Tambo Spiders


When it’s cold in El Tombo
The spiders know
They crawl on the walls,
And along my window sills;

Along the seams of my rooms
Under my bed,
Making cobwebs…!
(And)
Some even swing on hinges
From my ceiling
(Especially on rainy nights)…

When I’m asleep: on my brow
They seem to fall and somehow bite!

You’d be surprised how much
They to know—
A bout my apartment, and its rooms:

Looking and dancing about
As if they owned the house—:
Bodies of brown, black and gray…!

(Wish they’d leave me alone, at least
On holidays!)


Note: No: 1845 5-26-2007 (Written at my home in El Tambo, Huancayo, Peru.)


9


(Vietnam: a war poem))1971))
Vietnam: Like Ants in the Rain


Confused, whirled in a tangle:
Into a land full of voices—
True men of war I met,
Here we had nothing but thoughts
Memories in common—at best;
And we all spoke out our hearts
And minds—
And without regret we did our best
In the sands of Vietnam.

And we all drank from month on month,
Forgetting, or trying to—the finery of home:
And before the end of the day
We scattered like ants in the rain—
Confused, whirled in a tangle.



Note: Every so often I like writing a poem about my times in Vietnam (during the war years, 1971). Being in the Mantaro Valley of Peru, the land of the Great Wanka Warrior must bring it out of me: I’m sure they would understand my reasoning.

No: 1848 5-26-2007



10

Fiesta Dancing in Cajas
(Part I of II)

Blue, blue is the sky above Cajas
And the bands have over filled the plaza.
Puno dancers and Huancayo Chonguihada´s:
Men and women in midmost of their youth
With Decorative masks and painted faces:
Slender, she puts forth her hand, and
She and I dance a drama, from the old
Days; I now go tiredly out and leave
The dancers (from the circle) to their own.


Note: Today was a warm sunny winter day in Cajas, a little village (or town-let) somewhere around seven or eight thousand folks. Here I danced, laughed, ate lamb and a great portion of picarones. (No: 1846))5-26-2007))


11

Dark Eyes Dancing
(Part II of II)

Dark eyed,
Chonguihada´s (of Cajas);
Ivory teeth dancers from Puno!
All dancing with high heeled sandals:
There is none like thee
(Among the world)
None, with such swift feet.

Here—
In the broken sunshine
Among the women selling:
Beer, cokes, lamb and picarones—
(Here)
—thine feet are as young sprouts
On top of the earth—dancing about,
And thy face a joyful light…!



No:
1847 5-26-2007



▼

The Lesson of Little Luciana (From Huancayo, Peru)) Written by Maria Sofia Peñaloza Acevedo (10-years old) Edited by DL Siluk))

The Lesson of Little Luciana


Luciana was a little girl that was born in Paris in 1985, and likewise lived there.
She was a millionaire, and also was very impulsive, and always got what she wanted, and was somewhat prejudice.
Her father left home when she was quite young, and she ended up living alone with her mother.
When Luciana was twelve-years old (about six years after her father had left), he returned, meet her (Luciana not knowing this man was her father though) and when they met each other—not to hurt her—he approached somewhat slowly and carefully, as not to frighten her, for he was at this time, a stranger you could say, yet in a short period of time, they both would end up being good friends. (Yet the secret was still a secret, he was the father of Luciana.)

As time passed, and as they got to know each other better, they talked more to one another. One day, her father told her in the kindest way he knew, “Luciana, please try not to be so impulsive!” and he added, “Try not to be so prejudice. (for she didn’t like black people, and to be quite honest she didn’t really know why).”
Luciana listened carefully, understanding his concern and she told her mother’s friend and now her friend, with sincerity, she wanted to change, perhaps now it would be easier since she found such a good person like him, actually, she had learned to love him very much, and hoped her mother would marry him, and saw he was himself, not prejudice, and again I say, she wanted to be like him (they had also grown to be good companions).

Her father did not know if he should tell his daughter the truth, of who he was. For he had a dream, and in his dream someone told him, “You must tell her the truth, you are her father, even though you got separated from both her and her mother for a while.” When he woke up he went to see Luciana.
When Luciana heard the truth, she was angry, hurt, then she rejected her father for not telling the truth, at that point he looked destroyed, shattered (the truth being, he was her father).
The next day Luciana told her father: “I am sorry dad for not understanding you, or the situation between you and mom; I know why you left, mother told me, and I guess things are not always the way we’d like them to be, it is a lesson I must remember, things we do not know, we should not guess at.”
Her father answered: “I simply can only tell you that I love you, I hope that will be enough, it is all I have to offer.”
Responded Luciana, with a tear, “Me too dad, it is all I got to give.”

And so, to my curious readers, Luciana’s family ended up happy ever after.

The End


Written by Maria Sofia Peñaloza Acevedo (10-yearas old)
(05-23-2007) Translated by Rosa Peñaloza de Siluk; edited
By Dlsiluk

Thursday Haikus: Lunch at the Cafe

Thursday Haikus: Lunch at the Café
[At El Parquettos, Miraflores, Lima Perú]

Lima Sun

They say, sun until June
—In Lima, Peru
What if they’re wrong?


#1823 (5-10-2007)) When we count on something or one too much, we normally get disappointed somewhere down the road; expectations unmet I call them, and sorry to say, we become disappointed in others and suffer for that, perhaps we need to look at things and people as less than perfect.))


Lunch at the Café

Worthless! Worthless!
— Spaghetti today
Like a lake full of rain

#1824


Silverware

Silverware clashing!
Behind my back
Like birds out of tune…!

#1825
(at El Parquettos)


Commentary on From: Here we see the use of Haikus as (almost) epigrams, yet within keeping the grace of the haiku, and close to its form (the three lines, syllables are relatively close, if not 17-sylables, but the stress is not in keeping it uniform with the Japanese style Haikus, it is in keeping with the simplicity of the glorious day God has given, just one Thursday in so many.




Time Travel

Well, here I am again,
Its 2:35 PM (at the Café);
What month is it?

#1827


Sleep

One of the greatest gifts
God has given me—!
Is sleep! Beautiful sleep!

#1828

Rotten Poets

The minds of Ginsberg and Burroughs
Was full of nasty thrills
With young boys

#1829


Café Blues

Soupy Skies—
Crossing over the open café
Becoming too pale to write

#1830



Allen Ginsberg spoke of Kerouac as the master of the Haiku, I now care to refute this; first of all Ginsberg was perhaps the worse and most unclassy poet that has ever lived, and Kerouac, although good with spontaneous prose, was far from a master of the Haiku; the best I can say is he was the master of his own style of Haiku, and that alone. If he did anything, he lowered the Haiku to a windmill, where at once it was a skyscraper.

Afternoon Haikus at the Cafe (with Commentary and Notes)

Afternoon Haikus at the Cafe
[At El Parquettos, Miraflores, Lima Peru]

Outside the Cafe

The little pigeons
Around the cobblestone
Are looking around!...

#1814 (5-9-2007)


Sarah

The waitress looks
Like pigeon
Picking her ear at heaven

#1815


Minstrels

Men of the band—
What do they think?
I know (money for tips!)

#1816


Afternoon

In the afternoon sun
The people
Walk slowly

(by the café)

#1817


Rosa Reads

Frozen in thought
Forearms on the table
Under a yellow umbrella

#1819


Minstrels #2

Listen to the band play!
All the little brave men
Will all die some day!

#1820


Umbrella

The sun creeps over the umbrella
Separates us—
Like heaven to Hell

#1821


Coffee

Coffee—too strong
To put me to sleep
Too light to drink

#1822



Comments on the Haikus—The Haiku is both singular and plural, but can bring some issues when the‘s’ is employed. Best known for its 17-short line syllables and developed over hundred of years in Japan. Many people have slighted the original style of the Haiku, calling it revolutionary names, unskilled at it likewise, such as those ungrateful from the Beat Generation, who seemed to have won the hearts of many with a single utterance from Zen, on top of their well wishes. Anyhow Ginsberg, Kerouac, Burroughs, and those like them somehow felt like Solomon and King David involved in producing the new Psalms of God, felt like they were doing bestowing upon earth such great wisdom. Not likely of course. Poetry should have no trickery, especially in the short Haikus, since there is no room for them. They need to be free, plane, graceful, simple, and to the point. I’ve written many in the past, and have exterminated with them, like others, careful not to descry the essence of them. We must make sure the course of the poem does not go mountain climbing, in saying that I mean, we must look for a fresh lake water in writing them, the calmness must be in them, for if not how can they grow on the soul. Ezra Pound, a great writer in many forms, studied the Haikus as many of his contemporaries have. And I suppose I have, and those after me will. The best we can do is to produce them with grace, and apologize for our mistakes, and stand tall for our endeavors.

Note: It should be noted, there are different styles of Haikus, Chinese and Italian to mention a few; some with additional lines, and others with additional syllables within the lines, it just happens to be the Japanese is the most popular.







Little Windows

The little silent stone windows
At Cajamarca
Stare in our face!

#1812 (The Little Windows refer to the graveyard, 200 AD, in Cajamarca, Peru, where the pre Inca natives buried their dead in the windows)



The Picture

Keep your eye steady
Lest you lose the whole objective
To paint the whole picture

#1811

The Legend of Cumbayo (The Guardian of Cumbayo, 6000 BC)

The Legend of Cumbayo (The Guardian of Cumbayo, 6000 BC)


Cumbayo, the Sanctuary (Temple, 6000 BC)




Note: Half of this account was written in flight, leaving Cajamarca (5-7-2007), to Lima Peru (a few days after visiting the site of Cumbayo (5-26-2007), the other half was written a day after my arrival back at Lima, at El Parquettos restaurant, 5-8-2007.


The Sanctuary (or Stone Castle)


(Written in Flight, diary notes: part one) It was in may of 2007 I visited the temple in the valley of Cajamarca, better known as the Sanctuary, a most impressive site, dating back to 6000 BC, and the petrography (Rock Art) dating back to 1000 BC, when I, by myself entered this most famous, but most recently discovered narrow passage of Cumbayo, likened to a natural castle like stone structure in the middle of nowhere, towering into the sky like Babel, the passage going from one side of this solid rock formation, mountain size almost, to the other side, perhaps some sixty feet long, one third of those feet in pitch darkness, and tight as two feet wide in some places. I ventured to enter and zigzag across it alone, knowing here lived a people, 8000-years ago, who used this place as a sanctuary, and this narrow passage discovered some thirty-years ago, was perhaps their hidden doorway.
The rock art or petrography dates back to 1000 BC, some 5000-years after the place became inhabited.
As I wedged my way through this curving maze, I got stuck between the walls, my arms became limp, its muscles inactive, my breath almost nil from exhaustion, I remained motionless for the moment, trying not to panic, I was in the middle of this passage way, in the dark area.
I got thinking of the great stones in front of this stone castle like structure, it seemed to have been carved into a face, a section of it anyway, perhaps of some great warrior, or king I thought. This stone structure had tower like formations around it.
I was becoming more exhausted by the minute. Cramped and caught in this dreadful thin passage, my mind seemed to drift, by purpose or force, drift I say, into a dream or visionary state, who can tell at such a moment, under duress.

I saw a figure, its eyes brighten and his breath came more quickly as He replied, saying, “What is your care?” There was some kind of infinite pride in his voice and manner, he meant what he said.
I shrugged my shoulders, I really didn’t know. I nodded. His mind was working his face I noticed; he said to me, “I am the guardian, and I sense you cannot, and I can….” It wasn’t a question I noticed, rather a statement. I think he meant, I was stuck, and he could help, if he wanted to. It didn’t seem like he really didn’t want to, but perhaps he might.
He told me to tell you of their existence “Tell the world,” he said, “and for those who come to except this as an honor to enter this ancient temple and not to touch.”
I was still into this dream or trance state, perhaps he was waiting for me to say, or agree with him, yet if he could read my face, as I did his, he would know I would write this article, or story as I am doing now.



The Captive and the Walls
(Part Two)



(Written at the Restaurant, while having Coffee) At this point the whole offer was a private one—almost personal between me and the Guardian, but with a public agenda, which belonged to the ancestors. I remember now, however, there was no energy left in me, just a sanctuary of worship and a guardian, and he felt a tinge like I was invading, and perhaps wanting me to go on my own.
He seemed to know; the world would come to this location in time, and didn’t want to deny it, but wanted to preserve it for the future use in its destined way.
And now, a few days passed, sitting down at this restraint in Lima, and this is still held in mind—and unsure if he guardian was, or is devoted to his word of ultimate undoing of me, should I not do as I agreed.
I remember asking the Guardian said, “How was it back then?” and his Reply was, “Thee came anarchy in the valley, and that brought the lack of all things—with heart-breaking persistence, we tried to overcome, and this brought our writings into existence, but we could not tell the whole story until perhaps 1000 BC, from the rock art, or as you call it, petrography!”

The Walls

(I remember staggering back against the wall, I actually had room I told myself, and still I heard his utterances, the Guardian’s)
As I looked about, I noticed hands and finger marks scratched into the wall, all the way down the wall, how I could see this in the dark area was beyond me, I must still had been in a trance or dream-vision state; it is hard to tell now that I look back at it…but I do remember the thick stone walls, the deep dust on the floor, and the marks on the walls. The walls seemed to take my breath away. The walls seemed to have impulses: that is to say, they reached to the mind of the Guardian, and obeyed him.


Captive

This narrow passage was to me not only thin, but locking me up, captive, imprisoned, caged, yet I kept my head, and now I understood why my struggles ceased, and I seized the moment and found myself moving a few more feet forward in the passage, and light, yes, light appeared, and as I moved out into the day (I don’t remember how long I was in there, but the sun was like a big lamp upon me, thus, it must had been a few hours, I rubbed my eyes). So I would tell myself at the time: never go back into this cave unless you are with someone. But still I was not sure if all of this was a dream or not, so as you can verify, I am doing my duty, by writing this, and you reading this, so no curse can befall me. Inside this cave, in the dark section I read (I do not know how, for it was in a language 3000-years old, written on stone): “For men whom come through this passage, be quiet, hands free, be like feathers, thin and masked.” The Guardian.