Americas back issues from March 2008:
FROM THE EDITOR
Mar 01, 2008; ... As we continue to explore the beauty and diversity of our hemisphere, in this issue of Americas we also look at one of the urgent challenges ahead-climate change. Alejandro Balaguer's striking photos and his conversations with environmental experts point to serious symptoms already in evidence, ...
UPFRONT
Mar 01, 2008; ... Memories of Mistral I very much enjoyed the article "Rediscovering Gabriela Mistral" in the February 2008 issue of Americas. The article broadly portrays Gabriela Mistral as a woman of remarkable accomplishment and complexity, and provides a tantalizing glimpse into the many boxes of her ...
Titanic Business
Mar 01, 2008; ... PAUL ALCOCK, president of Northland Discovery Boat Tours, knows exactly what tune will catch the attention of his clients as they approach one of the many colossal, seasonal gifts from Greenland to the Canadian province of Newfoundland. When his boat nears an iceberg, Alcock plays the theme from ...
Remembering Evita
Mar 01, 2008; ... THE FAMILIAR FACE peeks out from atop a stack of vintage pamphlets at San Telmo's Sunday flea market, graces book covers in store windows along busy Calle Florida, and greets customers from a handcolored poster at the entrance to a boutique in the trendy Palermo Soho neighborhood. As a matter of ...
Mercado de las Brujas
Mar 01, 2008; ... VISITORS TO LA PAZ, Bolivia, in search of something truly out of the ordinary will want to put this mountain city's Mercado de las Brujas (Witches' Market) on their itinerary. Finding the fabled but small collection of vendors' shops and stalls, however, can prove to be difficult. Merchants ...
Welcome to Colombia
Mar 01, 2008; ... "ONLY FIVE YEARS AGO, this conference would have been unimaginable," Colombian President Álvaro Uribe Vélez told an international audience gathered in Cartagena de Indias. The occasion was the seventeenth meeting of the General Assembly of the United Nations World Tourism Organization ...
New Seven Wonders of the World: Machu Picchu
Mar 01, 2008; ... High in the Peruvian Andes, this fifteenth-century Inca hideaway is shrouded in clouds and sacred mysteries The morning mist exhaled by the rainforest evaporates over the Inca citadel of Machu Picchu, adding to the sense of mystery emitted by its massive stone walls. The sun filters ...
ELÍAS ANTONIO SACA LOOKING TO THE FUTURE
Mar 01, 2008; ... A STAUNCH DEFENDER OF FREE TRADE AND INTEGRATION, EL SALVADOR'S PRESIDENT TALKS ABOUT WHY, SIXTEEN YEARS AFTER THE CIVIL WAR, HIS COUNTRY HAS BECOME "A SUCCESS STORY IN LATIN AMERICA" On a cold, rainy afternoon in Washington, between meetings, telephone calls, and commitments, Elias ...
Nourishing Hope
Mar 01, 2008; ... In Colombia, an entrepreneurship program offers people displaced by the country's internal conflict the opportunity to build new lives Julio Contreras has the hands of a giant. His hands were shaped by the mud of the Unguía marshland, roughened by the shrubs of San Onofre, burned under ...
A STUDY OF METAMORPHOSIS
Mar 01, 2008; ... More than 300 years ago, Maria Sibylla Merian set out for Suriname to pursue her life's passion-moths and butterflies-and in the process enriched scientific understanding If a woman in her fifties were to disembark today from a cruise ship in Suriname bent on scientific pursuits, no one ...
INGESTING GINSENG
Mar 01, 2008; ... There are several ways to take ginseng root as a simple tonic, besides the many packaged products that list ginseng as an ingredient. The following is not a prescription, however. Before using ginseng or any other medicinal herb, you should consult a certified herbalist, a nutritionist, and/or ...
AN ENDURING PANACEA
Mar 01, 2008; ... A lucrative export for nearly three centuries, American ginseng-like its Asian cousin-continues to be a popular herbal remedy for a wide range of ailments THE GINSENG PLANT is known by many names-"green gold," for its monetary value as an herbal medicine; "tiger of the plant world," for ...
CLIMATE Checkup
Mar 01, 2008; ... Symptoms of global warming are becoming more serious in Latin America and the Caribbean, underscoring the urgency of developing sustainable ecosystems There was a time when animals roamed freely across a continental mass of healthy forests-a veritable ocean of green vegetation. Across ...
Pocketbook Issues
Mar 01, 2008; ... Palm-fringed beaches lapped by sparkling blue water represent both the public image and the stock-in-trade of the Caribbean. Visions of sunning on powdery white sands and diving among coral reefs lure legions of mainland visitors to the islands. But replace the sun and sparkle with ...
Access to Opportunities
Mar 01, 2008; ... IN CENTRAL AMERICA and the Dominican Republic, several specialized computer resource centers are offering people with visual impairments the opportunity to learn new technologies. The project-initiated by the OAS and the Foundation of the Spanish National Organization of the Blind for Latin ...
Turning Words into Action
Mar 01, 2008; ... OVER THE NEXT few years, Panama will lead a concerted effort to ensure greater opportunities for people with disabilities in the Americas. Speaking to the OAS Permanent Council in January, Panamanian First Lady Vivian Fernández de Torrijos said it was time to "turn words into action" and address ...
Advancing High-Level Education
Mar 01, 2008; ... IN THE LAST FEW years, the number of Latin American and Caribbean students pursuing university or graduate studies in the United States has been on the decline-primarily due to the lack of sufficient funds. An OAS program aims to expand opportunities for talented students, teachers, scholars, ...
A New Home
Mar 01, 2008; ... IN THE LATEST STEP to help defuse tensions between Belize and Guatemala, the OAS General Secretariat began the resettlement of a small community of Guatemalan families who had been living in the Belize-administered area of the Adjacency Zone between the two countries. The first eleven ...
THE PLEASURES OF THE PAPAYA
Mar 01, 2008; ... In this land of the Americas, for the pleasure and health of humankind, God created a fruit that is the very light of the sun transformed into juice, pulp, and sweetness. There is no more exquisite taste to the palate than a slice of fresh papaya when it melts in the mouth and slides down the ...
A TALE OF TWO MAESTROS
Mar 01, 2008; ... In over three decades of leading one of the busiest big bands of the Americas, Marcos Szpilman has experienced just about everything that can possibly happen when his nineteen-piece group sets out for yet another performance. There have been bus breakdowns, absent musicians, and missing music ....
ISOLATION AND IDENTITY
Mar 01, 2008; ... The United States no longer espouses the same ideals it did a century ago, when its identity was based on the idea of a "melting pot." Today, many realize that "America" is broader than a country, and that individual identity can be elusive. Some populations feel they have to grapple for ...
ESMERALDA SANTIAGO: FINDING HER VOICE
Mar 01, 2008; ... Esmeralda was a mere thirteen-year-old adolescent in 1961, when she left Puerto Rico for the United States. She brought with her a vision of the island's landscapes and the clear waters of the Caribbean, but she also brought a dream for the future: of fulfilling herself as a woman and a person, ...
THE MAN I LOVE
Mar 01, 2008; ... The night before I left my mother, I wrote a letter. '"Querida Mami," it began. Querida, beloved, Marni, I wrote, on the same page as el hombre que y o amo, the man I love. I struggled with those words, because I wasn't certain they were true. Marni understood love, so I used the word and hoped ...