Travel Itinerary!

June 30th:  24 hour bus ride to Cusco, lots of reading and reflection time!  Also I've got a guide on Cusco to get through (gracias a Gabriel) and a book on the political and cultural system of the Incas (gracias a mi querida Nagore).  

July 1st:  Arrive in Cusco and head off to Ollantaytambo in the Sacred Valley.  Exploring ruins and enjoying the sights of the Andes mountains.

July 4th:  Taking the train up to Machu Picchu and hiking for the entire day to explore this incredible archeological wonder!  MUYYYYY emocionada.

July 5-9th:  Urubamba, and other nearby towns and archeological areas of the Sacred Valley.  

July 10th-13th: Exploring the city of Cusco, trying guinea pig is on my list as well as buying gifts for my friends and loved ones, and visiting our Heifer Peru office!

July 14th-18th:  Exploring Arequipa, the White City, about 10 hours away from Cusco.  

July 19th-23rd: Back in Lima, time to pack my year's worth of adventures in South America away in 2 luggages!  I'm sure the nostalgia will set in even before the goodbyes.

July 23rd:  Fly out at night to Chicago, USA

July 24th: Arrive in Chicago, bus up to Madison, and a hearty meal at China Wok awaits me!  I can't wait to see everyone, it's truly been an amazing year.  Thankful for everything. 

B Corporations: Mixing Business and Positive Social Impact

For the last few weeks I've been following the media coverage of B-corporations.  Benefit Corporations, or B-Corps, are hailed as the new darlings of the social business sector, an entity that blurs the line between nonprofits and businesses.  They tout themselves as "triple bottom line" defenders, guaranteeing in their corporate blueprint to maximize not only profit, but also social good through caring for the environment as well as employees and other shareholders.  I'm rooting hard for this movement to take off because it could create (through laws and standards) a fantastic method to direct businesses at solving the entire gamut of social problems.  

What could those solutions look like?  It could be a company serving healthy food to school kids that doesn't contain an ounce of artificial ingredients or fried anything.  Revolution Foods has already delivered 33 million of these real, dirt grown, non-processed, super lunches.  Or maybe it could be a specialty coffee company that is committed to helping its coffee growers (small-scale farmers in Peru, Bolivia, and other countries) get through the "meses flacos", thin months when the savings dry up from the previous year's harvest and food prices exceed families' budgets.  Sustainable Harvest has applied its "Relationship Coffee" model to invest in farmer training and community development, to share the fruits of the labor with its farmers.  Buy a book, and one gets donated to kids in developing countries.  Buy a new tent to camp out in the Himalayas, and a portion of that sale will go towards grassroot environmental groups.  There's hundreds of B Corporations selling thousands of products, and through these purchases a consumer could be contributing to far-flung or local causes.

Why is the concept of a B Corporation so attractive at this moment in time?  Well, here's a romantic comedy metaphor.  It's like when a guy/girl walks into the cafe at the instant that you raise your eyes, and the sun is shining behind them and the wind stirs their hair sexily around their glowing faces, and in their hand they're carrying your favorite book/cd/movie/insert hobby.  It's destiny, you think.

All jokes aside, I think that actually the key reason boils down to the economic crisis that has left the so-called 99% extremely annoyed at the 1%.  Having been vilified by the media and well, by themselves (Goldman Sachs), corporations have really taken a public relations beating.  At the perfect moment, this distaste for the traditional business model combined with the booming social business revolution (this is where I lump social entrepreneurship, social venture, impact investing, etc.).  BOOM.  That's chemistry.  The end is that these two goodlooking people start flirting at the cafe, and made a goodlooking baby together.  This is the love story behind B Corporations.

In the future, anything you buy (fuzzy Xmas socks, gummi bears, oversized piñatas) could be from a B Corporation.  7 states in the US (you go, hipster Californians!)  have adopted laws to legally recognize B Corporation status, and 7 more are working to push bills through.  They're scaling their reach to South America, and I'm predicting other regions will be quick to join the party.  

However, like the Fair Trade and Organic label, it will take time for B Corps to raise consumer awareness on what separates them from the traditional corporation.  For the time being, most companies who want to promote their positive social contributions will do so through corporate social responsibility campaigns, which require less commitment.  Once you've declared B Corp, this status requires re-certification and continuous commitment to uphold the label's standards.

In short, corporations now have a way to create positive impact, visibly market themselves as being part of the solution and not the problem, and grow as a business while maintaining their social mission.

To me, this proves that B Corps can be a game changer.  Your thoughts?

Guide to Chinese food #1： Dimsum
Growing up in a Chinese restaurant, food was always one scoop from the buffet table away.  Naturally, my taste buds are now addicts of soy sauce, oyster sauce, black bean sauce, you name it, if it's Chinese, I would be happy eating it.

Over the years, my friends have asked me some hilarious questions about Chinese diet and Chinese food.  The most common is always, "Do Chinese people eat dog?  Se comen perros en China, no?"  And I explain that dog is not a common meat in China, and it's only served as a dish in certain places.  This is usually followed by a puzzled look and then nodding, "so yes, they do eat dog there".  Well... si.

In Colombia a student told me he had read in a well-known book on Chinese culture that Chinese people "comen todo que vienen con cuatro patas, menos las mesas" = "eat everything that has four legs, except for tables".   As a general rule, it's true that we eat a huge variety of things.  Turtles and snakes?  Sure.  Bugs on sticks?  Yep.  Shark fin soup?  Delicious.  Yet it's important to realize that these dishes are considered "exotic" for us as well, and the average Chinese person probably sticks more to pork and chicken, animals that are easier to raise than sharks.

Food varies a lot in different regions within China, and dimsum is a Cantonese tradition.  It's popular in Guangdong province (previously called Canton) and Hong Kong, but most Chinatowns around the world will probably have a dimsum house.

Dimsum is similar to brunch, Chinese style, and usually people go in a big group and drink tea while they munch on little plates.  Last Sunday Jack and I went to Chinatown (Barrio Chino) with a couple of friends, located on Calle Capon here in Lima.  They had never tried dimsum before, so we ordered an entire round table full of bocaditos.  

Here are some of my top picks:

 

虾肠粉 xia chang fen = shrimp rice rolls (my favorite, shrimp with soft rice roll)

烧卖 shao mai = pork dumpings (steamed with pork meat inside)

叉烧包 cha shao bao = pork buns (soft dough with roasted pork meat inside)

凤爪 feng zhua = chicken feet (sounds weird, but very flavorful)

小笼包 xiao long bao = pork dumplings (steamed, and juicy)

皮蛋瘦肉粥 pi dan shou rou zhou = congee with preserved egg and pork (salty Chinese porridge)

And for dessert...

金银馒头 jin yin man tou = steamed buns with condensed milk (ask for extra condensed milk)

蛋挞 dan ta = egg pastries (flaky on the outside, sweet and custard-like inside)

豆腐花 dou fu hua = sweet tofu dessert (very soft tofu lathered in sweet syrup)

Eating has to be one of my favorite pastimes, so hopefully these tempt my dear friends into dining with me!

Fuimos, un grupo de 10, para las cataratas de Palacala. 

 La caminata era una de las más difíciles que yo he hecho. En Colombia normalmente fuimos a caminatas cortas, en el día, y solo para caminar hasta unos destinos lindos. Pero esta vez fue duro! Subimos por 4 horas hacia la cima de las montañas, encontramos con perros bravos y barro, y cada persona cargada de su maletas con carpa y saco de dormir. Estos pesaban un montón y no podíamos descansar mucho porque queríamos llegar lo más pronto posible. 

Pero estuvo chévere porque nunca he visto la silueta de una montaña, era como un momento cuando el mundo estaba durmiendo, y nosotros tratamos de no despertarla.

Teníamos nuestras linternas, pero solo penetraban unos metros de frente de nosotros, y eso me recordaba (como muchas veces antes), que los seres humanos dependen mucho en sus tecnologías.  

Nunca tengo palabras para describir la naturaleza.  

La belleza me capta, pero no solo es una experiencia estética.  Cada encuentro con la naturaleza es un momento cuando me siento que el mundo está en equilibrio.  El tiempo se detiene y con tranquilidad observo los animales, las plantas, y las montañas.  Me emociono imaginando la vida que lleva dentro de todos los elementos.  Respiro profundamente y es una sensación de completa tranquilidad.

Claro que también fue un encuentro con buena gente.  

Peru Travels #1

Taking off for the weekend to go hiking towards the waterfalls of Palacala, about 3 hours away from Lima. After a month and a half in Peru, it's about time for a camping trip!

Destination: Palacala Waterfalls
Goal: Hike for 3 hours, camp for the night, in the morning hike to the falls, and enjoy the scenery!

Living in the cities takes its toll, and nature is the best cure for everything.

Extraño a Bogotá, sobre todo la energía y alegría de vivir allá.  Este fin de semana me voy a una caminata, y eso me acordó de las caminatas compartidas con mis amigos en Colombia.  Cuando vivía en los E.E.U.U. casi nunca salía para aprovechar de la naturaleza, es realmente una pena!  Porque Madison, mi pueblo, es también lindísimo, donde hay bastantes parques y reservas naturales.  Y cerveza, y queso, y vacas en plena vista siempre.  Hm... pues, tampoco aproveché de estas cosas.

Uno de los encantos de Colombia era la música, una mezcla de influencias africana, folklórica, europea, del caribe y más.  Antes de irme, ya sabía que la salsa era muy difundida, pero descubrí cuando llegué que la cumbia también era muy pop irresistíble ular.  Y me fascina el baile, que era en antigüedad un baile de esclavos africanos, para buscar un noviazgo.  Y por eso a mi novio no le gusta tanto jajaja, porque en esencia es un baile coqueto.  Para mí, es simplemente alegre y muy social.  Me acuerdo de una vez cuando fui a un concierto en la candelaria con mis compañeros de casa.  Fue un concierto para amigos, y todos tocaron y bailaron.  Los músicos tocaron muchas canciones de cumbia, y todo el mundo iban dando vueltas, moviendo las caderas en tiempo con los ritmos.  Era alegría, estaban volando por la música, y por estar con amigos.  Esto es una de las memorias más fuertes que tengo de Colombia.  Al mismo tiempo, creo que sin música, también muchos de mis amigos están "high" de la vida, gozando de todo y siendo felices.  Eso es el encanto de ese país, no?

I'm writing this first one from Lima, Peru, where I've been living for a month.  On the surface, it's a charm-less city, with noisy traffic blaring daily and dusty sand dunes in the distance.  A deeper glance would make tourists want to stay longer, because the people are warm and inviting.  Which to me, is what makes a place home.

I'm ecstatically enthusiastic about my work here, as a communications assistant for Heifer Perú.  It's a country program under Heifer International, and everything we do in the office is directly tied to field work.  Being close to the communities is the reason why I'm loving it.  We see the direct link from donation money to social impact.  

And although most of my work is creating presentations and writing articles, it's still a great feeling to be a part of the mission at Heifer:  work with communities to end hunger and poverty and care for the earth.

Here's a Prezi that explains our work, and where most of my Sunday afternoon went today...

Copy of Heifer Perú on Prezi

As for the reason to begin this blog.  It's simple.  Along the way, the faint yearning to see my old friends changed into a desire to share more with them.  Because life has been incredibly bountiful after graduation, and so I'm sifting through multitudinous grains of memories before presenting them here.