guinea pigs: meals, meds, prophecies

[from Wikipedia (mostly)]

The guinea pig plays an important role in the folk culture of many Indigenous South American groups, especially as a food source, but also in folk medicine and in community religious ceremonies. Since the 1960s, efforts have been made to increase consumption of the animal outside South America.

cuy being raised at home in Andean fashion

The scientific name of the common species is Cavia porcellus, with porcellus being Latin for "little pig". Cavia is New Latin; it is derived from cabiai, the animal's name in the language of the Galibi tribes once native to French Guiana. Cabiai may be an adaptation of the Portuguese çavia (now savia), which is itself derived from the Tupi word saujá, meaning rat. Guinea pigs are called quwi or jaca in Quechua and cuy or cuyo (pl. cuyes, cuyos) in the Spanish of Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia. Ironically, breeders tend to use the more formal "cavy" to describe the animal, while in scientific and laboratory contexts it is far more commonly referred to by the more colloquial "guinea pig".

Moche guinea pig

The common guinea pig was first domesticated as early as 5000 BC for food by tribes in the Andean region of South America (present-day the southern part of Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia), some thousands of years after the domestication of the South American camelids. Statues dating from ca. 500 BC to 500 AD that depict guinea pigs have been unearthed in archaeological digs in Peru and Ecuador. The Moche people of ancient Peru worshipped animals and often depicted the guinea pig in their art. From ca. 1200 AD to the Spanish conquest in 1532, selective breeding resulted in many varieties of domestic guinea pigs, which form the basis for some of the modern domestic breeds. They continue to be a food source in the region; many households in the Andean highlands raise the animal, which subsists off the family's vegetable scraps. Folklore traditions involving guinea pigs are numerous; they are exchanged as gifts, used in customary social and religious ceremonies, and frequently referenced in spoken metaphors. They also play a role in traditional healing rituals by folk doctors, or curanderos, who use the animals to diagnose diseases such as jaundice, rheumatism, arthritis, and typhus. They are rubbed against the bodies of the sick, and are seen as a supernatural medium. Black guinea pigs are considered especially useful for diagnoses. The animal also may be cut open and its entrails examined to determine whether the cure was effective. These methods are widely accepted in many parts of the Andes, where Western medicine is either unavailable or distrusted.

 cuy asado

Guinea pig meat is high in protein and low in fat and cholesterol, and is described as being similar to rabbit and the dark meat of chicken. The animal may be served fried (chactado or frito), broiled (asado), or roasted (al horno), and in urban restaurants may also be served in a casserole or a fricassee. Ecuadorians commonly consume sopa or locro de cuy, a soup dish. Pachamanca or huatia, a process similar to barbecueing, is also popular, and is usually served with corn beer (chicha) in traditional settings.

happy sad in South America

[from Adelina Bash @ The Santiago Times, 4 July 2011]

Chile among South America’s least happy nations, study finds

Though Chile has one of South America’s strongest economies, a recent study of happiness rates it second-to-last in the region, leading experts to assert that national happiness is not determined by a nation’s wealth or economic development.

The survey as conducted in Chile, Perú, Bolivia, Ecuador, Colombia and Venezuela.

Happiness in Chile was on par with happiness in the sample’s poorest country: Bolivia.

“Money does not determine happiness,” Pablo González Vicente, president of Cimagroup — the marketing analysis firm that conducted the study — said to El Mercurio. “What is more important is the level of inequality in countries: in general, the countries with the most equal distribution of wealth are happier than those with a lot of inequality.”

While there was little correlation between wealth and happiness, the study did determine other factors that appeared to influence national satisfaction.

People who live in warmer climates, for example, tend to be happier than those in colder ones, the study found. Within Chile, the cities in the warmer north were on average happier than those in the south, where the weather is much colder.

Overall, the analysis found that people were most satisfied with their family life and least satisfied with their financial situation.

Financial satisfaction, however, seemed to be determined not by the amount of money a person had, but instead by their expectations of what that money should mean.

For example, Venezuela, which the study determined was the happiest country overall, had a 56 percent economic satisfaction rate. Chileans, on the other hand, were wealthier but had a lower average satisfaction rate of about 33 percent.

Along with climate, family and finances, researchers found that happiness was influenced by a person satisfaction with his or her love life, health, job and physical appearance.

The importance of these factors varied between countries. For Chileans, personal finances were the most important; for Bolivians job satisfaction ranked the highest; and for Colombians and Peruvians love and relationships had the biggest impact.

“Even though we share the same language and may have similar histories, we are not the same,” González said of the results. There is no one indicator of happiness, he said. Instead, it seems, “every country has its own way of looking at life.”

Wikileaks stings US ambassador to Ecuador

[from Latin American Herald Tribune, 6 April 2011]

Ecuador Expels U.S. Ambassador – State Department Calls It “Unjustified”

The State Department considers expulsion of its envoy “unjustified” and says "it will examine its options to respond to this Ecuadorian action”

WASHINGTON – The State Department expressed deep regret Tuesday over Ecuador’s “unjustified” decision to expel U.S. Ambassador Heather Hodges in a reaction to the contents of a leaked diplomatic cable about police corruption in Ecuador.

“The Department will examine its options to respond to this Ecuadorian action,” spokesman Charles Luoma-Overstreet said in comments to Efe.

The cable that spurred the diplomatic flap was disseminated by WikiLeaks and published Monday by Spanish daily El Pais.

“We have asked (Hodges) to leave the country in the shortest possible time,” Ecuadorian Foreign Minister Ricardo Patiño told a press conference earlier Tuesday in Quito.

He said the decision “is in no way intended to affect relations with the United States.”

Hodges is “one of one of our most experienced and talented diplomats,” State Department acting chief spokesman Mark Toner said after learning of Ecuador’s decision.

The spokesman said that the U.S. Embassy in Quito received Tuesday through diplomatic channels the official communication of the government of President Rafael Correa that the ambassador has been declared persona non grata.

Toner said the State Department has several different options for responding to the expulsion and that it would be “premature” to speculate about which one officials will choose.

In 2008 Bolivia expelled the U.S. ambassador to La Paz, Philip Goldberg, and Venezuela did the same a day later to the head of the U.S. legation in Caracas, Patrick Duddy.

At that time, Washington reacted to these measures with the reciprocal expulsion of the Bolivian and Venezuelan ambassadors.

Patiño said he summoned Hodges to his office on Monday to ask for an explanation regarding the cable, but the diplomat responded that the documents had been stolen and that neither she nor her government would make any comment on the matter.

The expulsion “is directed at an official who (sent) a cable of that nature and who afterwards gave no clarification,” the Ecuadorian minister said.

“Corruption among Ecuadorian National Police officers is widespread and well-known,” according to the July 2009 report to the State Department from the U.S. Embassy in Quito.

The document says that Jaime Hurtado, who commanded the ENP from April 2008 to June 2009, “used his positions to extort bribes, facilitate human trafficking, misappropriate public funds, obstruct investigations and prosecutions of corrupt colleagues, and engage in other corrupt acts for personal enrichment.”

The cable also takes a swipe at Correa for deciding to promote Hurtado to ENP chief.

“Hurtado’s corrupt activities were so widely known within the upper ranks of the ENP that some Embassy officials believe that President Correa must have been aware of them when he made the appointment. These observers believe that Correa may have wanted to have an ENP Chief whom he could easily manipulate,” the message says.

In an interview with Efe, Patiño called that statement “absolutely irresponsible” and “incorrect.”

“It’s absolutely unacceptable. Our government cannot accept this type of information, which was given by the ambassador in our country,” Patiño said.

UN PAIS EN CAOS

El día de hoy Ecuador amanecio en caos, comenzo con la huelga de Policia a las ocho de la mañana. Partamos diciendo que la Policia fue creada para la defensa de la sociedad civil y no para fomentar cualquier tipo de violencia tanto a las personas como a la propiedad privada.

Lo ocurrido hoy cuando la Policia deja de lado sus puestos de trabajo y su labor para dedicarse a hacer un paro y protestar, rayo en la mas tremenda irresponsabilidad. Hoy Guayaquil quedo a espenzas de la delincuencia, se reportaron robos a Almacenes Comerciales, Bancos, Gasolineras, Casas, Buses y a transeuntes, quedamos a merced de que nos roben.

Fue increible ver como delincuentes asaltaban un trailer a la salida del Puerto Maritimo para llevarse un contenedor sin que nadie fuera capaz de hacer algo y a 100 mts. de una cuadrilla de policias que estaban apostados al pie de la Base Naval, quemando llantas y gritando a favor de sus derechos.

Almacenes Comerciales como Jhaer, Tia y otros eran asaltados a vista y paciencia de todas las personas, personalmente vi como 5 bandalos con una zizaña intentaban cortar una cadena y candados que cerraban su puerta de entrada. Fue ver la decadencia del ser humano, cuando las personas, de cualquier condición social, aprovechaba la oportunidad de apoderarse de lo ajeno.
La primera estupidez fue la del Presidente de la Republica que acudio a la base Policial a intentar hablar y tomo una actitud poco diplomatica lanzo una amenaza de no dar ni un paso atras y fue agredido por los policias, si iba a decir semejante cosa mejor lo hubiera hecho en una rueda de prensa.

Y lo mas tristre fue ver como gente que nada tiene que ver con la protesta de la policia aprovechava esta oportunidad para crear mas caos y hacer asi un atentado a la Democracia de este país.
Estaba esta señora Mary Zamora, presidenta de la UNE, diciendo que apoyaba a la policia en su manifestación pero reclamando otra cosa completamente diferente a la protesta policial y la peor estupidez que puede decir esta dama es que va a el Colegio Aguirre Abad para exigirle a su rector que saque a los estudiantes a manifestar a las calles, y una estupidez mas grande fue la del Rector del Aguirre Abad accediendo a las estipideces de esta señora.
Esto que ha pasado en este país no puede volver a suceder, hay instituciones las cuales deben buscar otra manera de canalizar sus reclamos y no cerrarse a una huelga que evidente ha causado mas perjuicios. La violencia nunca resuelve nada solo trae mas violencia.
Oramos para que estos problemas entre Gobierno y Policia termina ya y podamos seguir contando con gendarmes que custodien nustra paz.