Boricua en la Lima

In my current job I see a lot of people undergoing job transitions and looking to expand their networks in order to improve their chances of future job placement.  Today I met a very interesting woman who had a very similar profile to mine, minus the international experience.  She wanted to talk to me given my similar profile in Marketing and see how I saw the job market these days. She seemed to think that it's harder and harder to find jobs in Marketing in Peru these days. One of the reasons? It seems that because of the economic downturn and the uncertainty about the election results (sounds just like the US, I know) companies are cutting back on Marketing budgets. Sounds familiar right? DON'T. CUT. BACK. ON. MARKETING. BUDGETS. FOLKS.  Maybe there's some fat that you can trim here and there, maybe you change your marketing vehicles in favor of more cost efficient ones like Digital (and I'm not saying you should), maybe you focus more on Trade Marketing or Pr...

Thankful for the Christmas holidays and a wonderful trip to Puerto Rico which allowed me to catch on my reading. On December 21st my good friend German recommended this book  and taking advantage of the fact that Amazon delivers PAPER books to Puerto Rico quickly (vs. Peru) I ordered it right away and got it on the 24th of December. What can I say? I couldn't put it down until I finished it.  Maybe because I identified a little bit too closely with the constant straddling of two worlds and the never knowing where you're really from or where you're really going. Of course I wish I had the talent to describe this bi-cultural life as beautifully as Marie Arana did, but alas, I have to be content with just being able to read such poetic stories. I cannot wait to order her other book, Lima Nights .  But first I am reading the next book of the Millenium series which I just downloaded on the Kindle last night. And I still have to go back to Elon Musk .  I have this th...

It's that time of year again! The time where I visit the center of Lima multiple times per week and scream at government workers for not clearly explaining the process to renew my residence yearly.  The time where I scream at my husband every time I walk out of the Immigration Office and tell him I hate this country and that I want to leave! The time of year I make so many excuses for arriving late to work that no one actually believes I'm doing the same thing related to my residence permit. Except it isn't. I went at my allotted time of 8 am this morning and somehow, miraculously, I was out by 8:45 am with residence permit in hand, LEGAL for another year in Peru! Yes of course I had pre-work, some of it which is totally stupid. Like every year I have to go print out a NEW marriage certificate that shows I'm still married.  And every year I need my husband to notarize a letter that says he's responsible for me (so demeaning!), and every year I have to stand i...

In my new line of work everyone is always telling me (well not just me, everyone!) "you have to write all the time", "you have to produce online content, not just share content", "you have to build your online professional presence", etc.  Well, I got kind of tired of hearing it and decided today was the day to get back into the good old forgotten blog. I’ve got a few topics I’m going to write over the next few weeks (time permitting which is scary!) but I’m going to start with an update on where I’m working, why I’m working here, and why it might be the place that just might stick... Well, here's the update. After working in Asia Sur for about 1.5-2 years (cannot remember time anymore now that I'm 41, ouch!) I left the magazine at the end of March and decided I would re-group and try to find a job that would be a much better fit with my skills and my need to balance personal and professional life. After almost 3 years of living in Peru I f...

It seems like the only time I can write a meaningful update on my life is when I’m on an airplane scared for my life.  The scared for my life part doesn’t play into the equation (although it does interrupt my writing quite a bit) but the fact that it doesn’t seem I can get any writing done otherwise is likely due to technology’s constant intrusion in my life. If there’s a wifi connection wherever I’m at I’m probably too focused on social media and other distractions to actually get any writing done. But alas, I’m siting on the plane without any interruptions (other than the occasional bump) and temporarily job-less, which leaves lots of time for writing. A better use of my time would be sleeping, but due to said fear of airplanes it’s sort of impossible for me to fly and sleep.  Anyhoo, as I said before, I’m temporarily unemployed and therefore with some free time on my hands I decided to move up my trip to Miami a few days so that I could see a good friend one last t...

When Lima is so quiet I cannot sleep When the kids are neatly tucked in bed Waiting for the tooth fairy to brighten their day And my husband's breathing is even and stead And the sky's pinkish hue overpowers the gray That will cover the sun come the next day When no car, bird or dog makes their maddening noise When runners find that perfect peace, out on the streets with just their feet And it's only me in my bed and my running thoughts And Lima's my lover and we get along But then I'm jolted out of bed by the sound of an alarm that rings too soon Thrown into the chaos of traffic lights and honking cars And Lima and I are enemies for the day Each one struggling in the crowd of unproductive people trying to look busy So take me back to that morning glory When everything is quiet except for my head And Lima once again becomes my lover, though I cannot wed When Lima is so quiet I cannot sleep I need the chaos to fall asleep Yet I cannot stand it duri...