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peru white gold

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Peru white gold

In recent decades, poverty and the promise of a better life has not only led thousands of Peruvian peasants down the road of guerrilla warfare and bloody terror. Many of them, sometimes the same individuals, have also transformed the most sacred plant of the Incas into one of the world's most commercial cash crops. Seen by many peasants as a road to fortune and freedom, for others cocaine is a scourge, bringing violence, the mobsters and deforestation in its wake.

The only people who make decent money engage in "cooking" cocaine . Illegal "kitchens", makeshift coke refineries, have become the main means of livelihood for many ordinary peasant families, as the equipment is simple - oil drums, a few chemicals, paraffin and a fire. Bushels of coca leaves are dissolved in paraffin and hydrochloric acid, heated, and stirred, eventually producing the pasta, which is then washed in ether or acetone to yield powdery white cocaine.

Peru's coca industry netted an estimated $3 billion in 1984 - twenty percent of the country's gross national product. By the end of the 1980s this figure was much higher and the problem had become an issue of global dimensions. However, a combination of market saturation and political pressure from the USA, backed up by anti-cocaine money and hardware like police helicopters, seems to have changed the situation substantially. In 1996 the Peruvian price of cocaine had dropped by over fifty percent on the street, down to almost $4 a gram. Colombian drug cartels were buying less from Peru, having been hit hardest by US anti-cocaine policies, and the protection once afforded by Sendero Luminoso terrorists had turned into more of a liability than anything else. By the end of the twentieth century there was also increasing US intervention, including aerial patrols over the northern jungle border between Peru and Colombia firing on unmarked planes that refuse to identify themselves. Production of cocaine in Peru has dropped further while it has started to rise in Colombia, and these lower levels of supply have brought Peru's internal price for cocaine back up to a street level of $10 a gram. It seems unlikely that cocaine production will be reduced much further, since there are always new export opportunities and a steady home market; but the basic crop - coca plants - no longer offers quite the relatively stable, safe and so much more remunerative option to small-time cash-croppers that it did just a couple of years ago.

Coca , the plant from which cocaine is derived, has travelled a long way since the Incas distributed this "divine plant" across fourteenth-century Andean Peru. Presented as a gift from the gods, coca was used to exploit slave labour under the Spanish rule: without it the Indians would never have worked in the gruelling conditions of colonial mines such as Potosi.

The isolation of the active ingredient in coca, cocaine , in 1859, began an era of intense medical experimentation. Its numbing effects have been appreciated by dental patients around the world, and even Pope Leo XIII enjoyed a bottle of the coca wine produced by an Italian physician, who amassed a great fortune from its sale in the nineteenth century. The literary world, too, was soon stimulated by this white powder: in 1885 Robert Louis Stevenson wrote Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde during six speedy days and nights while taking this "wonder drug" as a remedy for his tuberculosis, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, writing in the 1890s, used the character of Sherlock Holmes to defend the use of cocaine. On a more popular level, coca was one of the essential ingredients in Coca Cola until 1906. Today, cocaine is the most fashionable - and expensive - of drugs.

From its humble origins cocaine has become very big business. Unofficially, it may well be the biggest export for countries like Peru and Bolivia, where coca grows best in the Andes and along the edge of the jungle. While most mountain peasants always cultivated a little for personal use, many have now become dependent on it for obvious economic reasons: coca is still the most profitable cash crop and is readily bought by middlemen operating for extremely wealthy cocaine barons. A constant flow of semi-refined coca - pasta, the basic paste - leaves Peru aboard Amazon river boats or unmarked light aircraft heading for the big-time laboratories in Colombia. From here the pure stuff is shipped or flown out, mostly to the USA via Miami or Los Angeles. Much of the rest is refined in Peruvian cocaine "kitchens" in the ceja de selva or Lima, before finding its way into nostrils of wealthy Limeños, or going over the border into Brazil and further afield.

Few people care to look beyond the wall of illicit intrigue that surrounds this highly saleable contraband. In the same vein as coffee or chocolate, the demand for this product has become another means through which the privileged world controls the lives of those in the developing world, at the same time endangering the delicate environmental balance of the western edge of Amazonia. As Peruvian Indians follow world market trends by turning their hands to the growing and "cooking" of coca, more staple crops like cereals, tubers and beans are cultivated less and less.

It's a change brought about partly by circumstance. Agricultural prices are state controlled, but manufactured goods and transport costs rise almost weekly, preventing the peasants from earning a decent living from their crops. Moreover, the soil is poor and crops grow unwillingly. Coca, on the other hand, grows readily and needs little attention


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Published articles and reviews about us

2010
Testimonials

Norman Pedersen
Date: Sun,18 Jul 2010

Machu Picchu and my entire visit to Peru were wonderful. A dream come true.
I could not have been happier with everyone I met through your arrangements. 
The tours were very informative and showed me more than I knew existed in this beautiful place.
All of the accommodations were very comfortable.
The luncheon buffet at the Alhambra was top rate. And the Ferré Hotel in Lima was also a very good choice.Your personal assistance throughout was exceptional!
Thank you for everything!


Melinda Hughes
Date: Tues, 13 Jul 2010

I was one of the “Joel Williams” party of four who was recently on a Peru Gateway Travel tour of northern and southern Peru. I had to write so you would know how satisfied we were with the hotel accommodations, the tour guides, the restaurants they choose for our lunches and just everything about the trip.

The hotels we stayed in were well located, clean and convenient in every way. We have absolutely no complaints!

Our tour covered Peru from the north to the south. It had four internal flights, so there were many connections, pick ups and deliveries involved. Peru Gateway Travel made sure we were always delivered on time to the airports and promptly met and picked up when we landed. We never had a moments worry.
Since we had many different day tours, we had several different guides. All were professional and spoke our language well. All were very knowledgeable and eager to impart that knowledge to us. They chose great places for our lunches and the cuisine was unforgettable. We have traveled to many countries but found the food in Peru to be absolutely wonderful.
I also wanted to mention the drivers who picked us up at all times of the day and night, drove us to our next destination and the delivered us safely to our hotels. We never had a driver who was less than prompt, courteous and most importantly, a skilled and careful driver.
The sites we saw were the places we chose to see. And they did not disappoint us. From the desert to the Andes to the Jungle, we enjoyed it all.
Please feel free to use this email on your website or as a testimonial. All four of our group would recommend Peru Gateway Travel to anyone planning a trip to Peru. We were well taken care of, enjoyed delicious food, saw awesome sights and had a wonderful time.
Sincerely.


Ajay Chopra
Date: Fri, 02 Jul 2010

We are back in Lima. Our trip to Machu Picchu was wonderful, thank you and your team and the ground staff in Cuzco for all their help and care. A special thanks to Angella for her help.
We hope to do business with you in the near future.
Best Regards
 


Saikat.
Date: Fri, 02 Jul 2010

I just wanted to let you know that we had an amazing and wonderful trip to your country.
I must state that the people of Peru impressed me very much - they are so nice!
While I have already filled-up the feedback form, this is just a personal note to say Thank you.
Do visit India sometime - we have a lot in common.
Regards,


Irina Pascu
Date: Fri, 25 Jun 2010

I am now back home but still not believed that the holiday is over. I just
write you to tell you that I had a wonderful time in Peru and to thanks for
your support. The circuit was very well designed and I had the opportunity
to visit all the important sites I envisaged and also the Sacred Valley and
the Altiplano.
I was really impressed by the organization and your people, always in time
for pick up and interested to offer the necessary information.
Finally I showed to my friends that Peru is not so far and a visit there
could be a wonderful experience. For me was a dream come true.
Many thanks to you and to your team.


Melissa Polier
Date: Tues, 22 Jun 2010

My 2 adult children and I recently returned from our hike to Machu Picchu and I wanted to thank you for all your assistance. Our trip was great. We very much enjoyed visiting your beautiful country. I especially want to praise our guide, cook and porters. They did a terrific job. The food was marvelous and after a long hike it was definitely something to look forward to. The porters were very kind and when I needed some assistance at the end of the 3rd day one of the porters helped me a lot. Our guide was great. He was very knowledgeable and fun to hike with and he seemed to really love his job. Again, thanks so much for everything

 


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