District Conference

Written by Ginny Reich, Team Leader

On Friday afternoon, May 13, we all arrived at the District Conference held at  the Casino de Policia del Sol de la Molina in the outskirts of Lima.  This was not a casino as we understand it, but rather a place of relaxation for police officers and their families as well as a meeting place for groups.  Along with meeting rooms, there is a hotel type facility with rooms for two or three occupants , a big swimming pool and sports fields.

The conference began on Friday evening with a parade of Rotary flags.  These were flags of all the clubs of District 4450.  In this District, which includes the greater area of Lima, there are about 56 clubs.  Each has its own flag which is displayed at club meetings.  After  presentations of dignitaries, greetings to attending Rotarians, and remarks by District Governor July Gereda de Carlin, a children's chorus interpreted the song of the year.

The evening continued with a plenary session where Dr.  Victor Hugo Visval  Herrera spoke about New Leadership for the Third Millenium.  He was followed  by a presentation given by Rotary International's representative, José Antonio Salazar Cruz who conveyed a message to the group from Rotary International's president Ray Klinginsmith.   The evening meal began at 9:45 PM and ended with dancing until the wee hours of the morning.  

Saturday morning began bright and early with breakfast at 7:00 AM.   The Second Plenary session started at 9:00 and continued until 2:00 PM with a short break for snacks at 11:30 AM.  Several  interesting presentations were made during this session including a report from the editor of the Rotary magazine, El Rotario Peruana, and a review of the strategic plan of Rotary International.  Other invited speakers presented various topics including "How to succeed in a world of men without renouncing one's role as a woman" presented by the author, Dr. Ines Temple, and "Improving the health of children in Peru, a task for everyone" by Dr. Mario Tavera Salazar, specialist in health for UNICEF.  Victor Cipriani Nevad handed out  copies of his book "Divinidad para el Exito" and spoke about the fundamental values of Rotary.  Finally, the Rotary Youth Exchange students came in with their pin covered jackets while the committee chair spoke about their Rotary year.  This was of special interest to me because of my own connection with Rotary Youth Exchange.  Two of them,  one from the U.S., and one from France, spoke about their year in Peru.  At least half of the total of 18 students here in District 4450 are from the United States.  I was able to talk to some of them during the break.  They were all enthusiastic about their experience here in Peru. They  had just returned from a week long trip to Machu Picchu and Cuzco and were very excited about  the trip.  I was able to get some insights into what it's like to be a student in Lima.  All of them had learned to use public transportation, and some were studying in universities because the school year here is the opposite of ours.  The new school year starts in March.

After lunch, meetings began again at 4:00 PM with various workshops and breakout sessions.  A very  special ending to the Rotary sessions was a Catholic mass performed in Quechua, the second official language of Peru.  It was accompanied by a group of singers from Cuzco dressed in their native costumes.  The ceremony was very moving and impressive.  The day ended with a dinner followed by a talent show done by Rotarians.  It included singing, folk dancing and even a marionette which sang and danced to a torch song.  The Rotarians here definitely have talent!  The show ended at midnight, and I headed for bed.

The next morning, the session began with a parade of clubs starting in the parking area.  Each club had its banner and all the club members present at the conference marched to the music of a band to the general meeting hall.  After all had entered and were settled, our Group Study Exchange team gave our presentation.  Everyone performed to perfection, and I was so proud of our team.  We gave Claire Little's gift to July, the District Governor, and she seemed very pleased.  Two Ambassadorial scholars, both from the USA, also gave presentations followed by an additional presentation about ethics and the social responsibility of a business company.   After a break and some additional presentations, the meeting portion was called to a close and we adjourned for the final meal.  We were able to reconnect briefly with the Peruvian team which had visited our District just last month. It's always fun to see them.

All in all it was a very interesting and enjoyable experience.  We met many Rotarians and were treated with the characteristic Peruvian warmth we have come to know and appreciate.  It was a wonderful opportunity to participate in an important Rotary event in a different part of the world. 

Out of the Fog: Hornero Alto

Written by Chisty Kunkel, Team Member

Winter has settled in to Lima with cooler temperatures and fog most days. It only rains ten millimeters per year in Lima, but there is a mist that occurs frequently in winter called garua.

Rosanna Carlini y Jano

We ventured to the Carlini family orchards over the weekend, for a taste of Peruvian countryside.  Rosanna Carlini is the president of the Lima Sunrise Rotary Club, which meets for breakfast (the only one in Lima!) and conducts it's meetings in English (also a first!). 

Hornero Alto situated in the district of Sayan, approximately 140 km northeast of Lima.  The elevation is slightly higher than seaside Lima and the climate quite dry. Hornero Alto literally means "high oven".  It was a welcome change to be in a rural setting after three weeks of intense city life.  The orchards are situated in a protected valley with ample access to water via a 1.2 km tunnel from the Huaura River.  The soil is volcanic and very sandy which is perfect for drainage...and the sun is in abundance!  Rosanna's grandfather started an agriculture business early in the 20th century when he immigrated from Northern Italy in the Surco neighborhood of Lima.  After several decades of uncertainty in the country, the Carlini family went back in to agriculture in 1994, starting small, now with about 300 hectares.  They grow avocados, oranges, mandarins, and minneolas.   During the harvest season there are up to 400 workers at a time on the property.  It's quite an operation!

We had a wonderful time and even roasted marshmallows over the campfire.  We are all looking forward to our last week in Lima and can't believe we are close to heading home.

Sincerely,

Team Colibri

Provecho

Written by Gloria Trainor, Team Member

The food of Peru is different, exciting, delicious, and nothing like the culinary treats of the Pacific Northwest. Compare the handful of potato varieties we find in our state of Oregon (even though we are Idaho's next-door neighbor) to the hundreds of types of potatos and yucca available here in Peru.

Ocopa

 "Ocopa" is a yellow potato served skinned and baked with a green "salsa" (more like a creamy sauce) and topped with a hard-boiled egg and an olive - it's a delicious Peruvian staple and different from anything we've tasted in the US. And yucca frita (think French fries) are to die for dipped in picante aji (spicy chile sauce). As the vegetarian of the group, it's a bit complicated at times, as Peruvians do love meat (even "cui" read: guinea pig) but everyone has been incredibly accommodating in helping me to find the veg treats this country has to offer. My simple favorite? "Tacu-tacu" - beans, rice, and regional spices fried together in a patty, topped with aji, of course.

Dessert might consist of "picarones," donuts made of sweet potato flour and served out of a street cart with honey drizzled over the top.

And I would be remiss to leave out the beverages: fruit juices of all types are readily available; chicha morada is a delicious punch made of purple corn boiled with pineapple husks, apple slices, cloves and cinnamon and cooled before drinking; and fresh chamomile flowers steeped in hot water with added lime juice make a refreshing beverage called "manzanilla."

Peruvians are proud of their food and drink, and with good reason! I'm sure our group will be attempting to recreate much of it after we return to our own Oregon kitchens.

Chimpun, CALLAO! Chimpun, CALLAO! Chimpun, CALLAO!

Written by Christy Kunkel, Team Member

HSBC Bank - Vocational Visit - 5/9/2011

Banking is big business in Peru and HSBC is the new kid on the block.  Fifth behind Banco de Crédito  de Perú, Interbank, Banco de Comercio and BBVA Banco Continental, HSBC is just starting make it's name known here. 

The financial district is located in the district of San Isidro, while much of the industrial activity takes place in the area stretching west of downtown Lima to the airport in Callao. Lima has the largest exportation industry in South America, and it is a regional hub for the operational cargo industry. Banking is an import aspect of this business.

I met with several members of the Risk and Credit teams and gathered very valuable information to take home to Oregon.  HSBC Peru is currently in the midst of standardizing procedures and making system changes and it was exciting to see the teams in action.

Callao - Cultural Visit to Forteleza Real Felipe and Submarino Abtao - 5/6/2011

The generous and kind members of RC Callao spent the day with us touring the sites of Callao before the afternoon Rotary meeting and presentation.

Our first stop was the Real Felipe Fortress. It was built to defend the main Peruvian port and the city of Lima from pirates during colonial times. Eventually, the fort would also become the fountain of resistance during the May 2nd Combat, where Peruvian forces ousted the Spaniards that wanted to reclaim their former colonies.  The fort has an intricate embankment system with an incline that allowed the fort to be nearly invisible from water invaders. This attribute allowed the fortress to stand strong during the Colonial period and the fight for independence. 

Inside the fort walls is pirate prison that has an eery feel to it, even today. From the top of the historic prison, we had a perfect vantage point to view the bustling seaport of Callao.  The Callao seaport is one of the main fishing and commerce ports in South America, with 75% of the country's imports and 25% of its exports using it as their entry/departure point. The main export goods leaving the country through Callao are oil, steel, silver, zinc, cotton, sugar and coffee.

Next up was the Museo De Sito Naval Submarino Abtao, home to a fully restored submarine that we climbed down in to. Up to 40 men at a time were aboard the Abtao, which is incredible given the incredibly tight dimensions. 

Callao Rotary Club Meeting - 5/6/2011

We were welcomed with open arms at the Callao RC on Friday afternoon.  A jovial group that sings and shouts the Callao Cheer at each meeting.  It was a perfect end to our first week in Lima.  "Chimpun CALLAO! Chimpun CALLAO! Chimpun CALLAO!"

Sincerely,

Team Colibri

Visitando Barranco (Visiting Barranco)

Written by Vesna Cogurik, Team Member

BARRANCO DISTRICT

Today was a great day…..We started our morning with a visit to the Barranco District, one of the most interesting and inspiring places that we have seen thus far in Lima. We started our tour by foot with all the district offices in the plaza and the Biblioteca, used a wooden bridge more than 100 years old to cross to the side where we saw an excellent view of the ocean, and found a Rotary sign: “La familia rotaria de Barranco reconoce a esta antigua ermita monumento historico mensajero de la paz”.

From there, we went on to “La rosa nautica” restaurant, which had a great promenade going out with local artists arts and crafts being sold on the side. I just had to go and touch the Pacific Ocean water, and say to myself: “ yes, I am really on the other side of the globe” J.

For lunch, we stopped by a restaurant called “Rustica” which had a three course meal selection, from all the cuisine used in Peru: Peruvian as well as Chinese, tropical fruit of all kind, and milk and rice sweet mix for desert; courtesy of the president of the Barranco Rotary Club. After this great lunch, perfect food and rest by the ocean, we continued our tour to the museum of religious art.

CHURCH IN BARRANCO

The museum “Pedro de Osma” is the museum of religious art in Lima, Peru. Pedro de Osma was a person that was a lawyer, who never practiced law, but was interested in and collected antiques and antique art. The custos of the museum told us that there is over 5,000 pieces of art in this private collection, that was made  into a museum once Pedro and his sister passed away, since both of them were single, were never married and had no children of their own, so when their two nephews inherited the property and the collections, they founded Pedro e Osma foundation that now has the museum and some of the local properties that also belong to the foundation, and made the museum open to the general public, so now everyone that wants to see and is interested in this religious art collection, can come and for a small fee, enter and view the collection. Only 40% of the collection is open to the public, and the other pieces are getting ready to be presented some time in the near future.

The museum also featured one of only 5 religious art, mostly anonymous paintings, which represent the marriage and the union of the two cultures: the Inca culture, and the Spanish culture.  The picture “Union de la descendencia imperial incaica con la casa de los Loyola y Borja”, circa 1718, anonymous, is on European tour right now and due to be back in Peru in June of this year. We saw a total of 8 rooms: Manerism Hall; Marian Titles Hall; Angels and Archangels Hall; Restoration Process; Sculpture Hall; Allegory Hall; Cuzco XVII Century Hall and Cuzco XVIII Century Hall. The garden of the museum was amazing, with beautiful smell of flowers like Ylang-Ylang, similar to, but gentler than Jasmine. It was very hard to leave this tranquil place, but we had to go on.

 JUAN JOSE & THE GROUP AFTER FIRST PRESENTATION

We continued our tour to “Portico” detales con arte, where we found hand made art from local artisans and handcrafters, including a place to sit down and have a nice cup of Incan Coffee in the shade of the trees. We all bought something to remember this place by, and took some pictures with the local artisans featured in this place. We finished our cultural visit with this place, and continued on back to our meeting place, so we can get ready for our first presentation at the Barranco Rotary Club. It was a day of days that we will remember, as we all fell in love with Barranco Distrito de Lima.

Hemos llegada en Peru!

Written by Giustina Pelosi, Team Member

What a whirlwind the last couple of days have been!   To share a little of what we've been up to since our arrival on late Monday evening, I will start with nuestra llegada (our arrival).  After departing Eugene, Oregon bright and early Monday morning (4:30am) we enjoyed short layovers in both San Francisco and Houston, we arrived with the Peruvian Inbound GSE Team just before 10pm on Monday.  Being accompanied by the Inbound team made the our arrival not only easy but also one of great celebration as we were not only greeted by our own host families and members of district 4110, but also by the families of those returning.  Many kisses, flowers and globos (or balloons) were shared.  Here are a few pictures we hope you enjoy. . .

We are all settling in nicely with our first host families and are quickly adjusting to the changes in culture and language.  In fact, I have been very much impressed with how well we are all communicating and how much we've learned in just a few days.  We are sure to see some significant improvement in our language skills by the end of this month.  Each of our experiences thus far have been very different as we all are staying with different host families around this very large city of more than 9 million people.  Because Lima is so large, they have divided the city into numerous neighborhoods or districts.  Each neighborhood has their own municipal and can house more than 20,000 people each.  Understanding and getting to know these different neighborhoods is not only important to understanding the culture of Peru in general but also how Rotary is structured in Lima.  We are learning that each of these neighborhoods maintains it own Rotary club, there is on occasion a neighborhood that may be so large that it has more than one club but this is rare.  Also, we are learning that club here are much smaller than in Oregon, containing on average 20 or 25 members each.  But we will keep you posted as we learn more.


We wanted to share with you a also a few photos from our Welcome Dinner.  We enjoyed an amazing dinner at a restaurant called El Hornero which featured many of Peru's famous meet dishes.  We ate like queens and kings and had the honor of dinning with Rotary District Governor July Gereda de Carlin along side our host families.  Here are a few photos to enjoy.  Cheers!

District Governor July Gereda de Carlin

 

Sincerely,

Team Colibri

A day in Portland with the Peruvian GSE Team from District 4450

Written by Kristie Hernandez, Alternate Team Member

WOW, what a great time we had meeting the inbound Peruvian GSE team from District 4450!  The inbound team from Peru met us, the outbound team to Peru, for a day trip to Portland.  On their way north from Eugene up the I5 corridor, they stopped at A&W All American Food and tasted our oh so famous Root beer Floats.  They were of course, big fans!  RIGHT(from left to right): Julio Chavez-Ferrer, Claudia Arispe, Rebeca Serpa, and Luis Donayre (Inbound Team Members).

We started our day off with some hot coffee from Floyd's Coffee, in OldTown Portland, Oregon.  The Peruvians were pleased to come indoors and out of the cold brisk weather.  Shortly after, we headed outdoors and enjoyed a mid-morning stroll through the Portland Saturday Market, this just happens to be the largest outdoor market in the entire USA.  We saw lots of great local products and artwork and a few of Peruvian team members purchased products made from our wonderful maple woods.  Portland was so beautiful with all the cheery trees blooming on the river front.  It was a perfect picture opportunity for the inbound team.  

For lunch, we enjoyed tasting 3 different pizza pies at Old Town Pizza, and of course posed for another photo.  Old Town Pizza is not only famous for it's great pizza, but also for it's haunted past.  We were hopeful of spotting "Nina", a presence that has occupied the building for more than 100 years, but no such luck.  We then headed off to Powell's Books where some of the group shopped and found some great books.  Carlos Arevalo (Team Leader) found several great history books of the US and left excited to read them. 

We then made our way to Portland's Pioneer Courthouse Square, the central meeting point for all of downtown plaza and observed Portland's historic courthouse and posed with our famous bronze umbrella man.  The group headed to Pioneer Shopping Center to look for some sunglasses and then on to the Nike Store.  LEFT: Center, Carlos Arevalo (Team Leader), Top right following clockwise is Claudia, Julio, Luis, and Rebeca.  


After so much shopping, we headed Departure Lounge on the 16th floor of The Nines Hotel to enjoy the view and refreshments.

At the top of The Nines Building
overlooking downtown
Portland, Oregon

Enjoying Happy Hour at Departure Lounge
and practicing our Spanish skills!

After relaxing and socializing for a while it was time to start heading home.  We hopped on the transit back to where we started, a parking lot in Old Town, Portland's Historical District.  We had such a great time meeting the inbound team, and I feel that I can speak for the entire group on that.  A special thanks to Guistina and Christy for planning such a great day and of course to Ginny (our Team Leader) and the Rotary Club for making this amazing exchange experience possible.


Sincerely,
Team Colibri