Welcome to “Connect to Peru”

Welcome to “Connect to Peru”, my new blog for YOU to become part early on of this whole new revolution that Peruvian cuisine and its culture is starting to emerge as it becomes the “next big thing” in the US and around the world. Maybe you will laugh today, or you might think I am exagerating. But wait, and see!

Perhaps you know nothing about Peru, perhaps you don’t even know where the land of the Inca Empire is located in the world map. No worries. That is the whole purpose behind my blog.

I am a native Peruvian who has lived her first 20-something years in Lima, Peru. But don’t let my accent confuse you (I might be fluent in English — hehe). Deep down inside there is this girl who was born, raised, educated, and left her whole life, friends and family many miles south of the US to come to this country for which I am thankful for the many opportunities it has, and keeps, offering me on a personal and professional level.

It’s with this feeling of thankfulness and reciprocity that I’d like to share with you what to be a Peruvian in the US is all about, for you to learn more about my culture, about where I come from, what makes me be the person that I am — and particularly, how you can also learn the many wonders and mysticism that the land of the Incas can perhaps bring to your life and hopefully have you visit someday soon!

The idea of creating this blog was also to create the first “one-stop” source of information for Peruvians living abroad, Americans or other foreigners in an easy-to-read format where you can find useful and entertaining information, not just plain news reporting or a whole bunch of links to other different sites that god forbid eventually turn into Spanish. In fact, one of the biggest challenges I have noticed these past years from living in the U.S. is that most of the information that my friends in the U.S. and abroad might be interested in reading and learning about Peru is all in Spanish or they don’t know how to access it. Today’s news wires and international publications rarely cover a Peruvian story that is not related to the global economy, an unfortunate earthquake, or a crisis of some sort that would make it worth covering.

A lot of the stories that give examples on how Peru is progressing as a country, is serving as a role model around the world (such as its green efforts or its renowned FTA with the U.S.), cultural and artistic forms of expression that are capturing many people’s attention around the world, its food, and even great deals you could get on airlines or hotels to visit Peru for less than what you think, are the type of stories I am looking to post in my blog.

I am not trying to become an expert of Peruvian economics, politics, etc., but rather just someone who’d like to share interesting things about my country that you can enjoy even if you live abroad. And if you happen to visit someday Peru, I hope the information in this blog helps you in finding out what could be the things you’d like to do during your stay.

Hope you enjoy this blog, and I welcome your thoughts and comments to make this blog…YOUR blog.

Thanks for visiting, and make sure you add it to your “favorites” folder and/or subscribe to RSS feeds!

Catherine Castro
connecttoperu@gmail.com