Leaning Left in the Southern Cone

It's less than a month and a half now until I head off to Peru, and things are starting to change. At first there was no intensity of emotion about the trip itself. My heart jumped at the thought of seeing my girlfriend there (she's been there for a couple months already), but Peru itself seemed an odd choice of travel destinations. Hadn't I been contemplating a trip to Australia for much of the time that I was in Alaska? And hadn't I already been to Peru? The answer to both is of course yes, but they have proven themselves mostly irrelevant now that I have a ticket in hand so to speak. They were obvious questions in the face of my new decision, but they have faded as the new trip comes closer. And as I prepare more thoroughly than I ever have for any trip, the excitement grows enormously by the day.

My excitement largely stems from what my reading has begun to show me. A power shift is under way now in South America. With Hugo Chavez leading the way, most of the continent has begun to stand up to the United States and the northern hemispheric financial powers. Brazil and Argentina have both paid off their debts to the IMF, and Bolivia is in the beginning stages of massive social and fiscal reforms under the new president, Evo Morales. Chile just elected Michelle Bachelet, a woman, as their new socialist president, and Uruguay has also recently elected a socialist president, Tabaré Ramón Vázquez Rosas. And Peru is in the midst of a presidential campaign that could bring a politically ambiguous, but Chavez friendly, Ollanta Humala into power. Perhaps our southern neighbors are finally beginning to shrug off the yoke of colonialism that has held them for so long. We can only hope.

I am excited to be in Peru during the weeks leading up to the election. Hopefully people will have things to say about what's happening there, and how they perceive this political change that seems so dramatic from my perspective here in the states.