Hey Dont Cry,

I arrived in Peru in 1999 and basically stayed there for the next 13 years. Quite a contrasting and dynamic country, never a dull moment. The first year was the most amazing thing I ever lived with the shining path roaming parts of the country and a totally dysfunctional economy with a monthly inflation rate of 40%. There were months when the value of the US$ would go down and you could lose 50% of your purchasing power for a few weeks. People basically had to spend their wages the moment they received it.

Yet people manage to get by because they are very resilient and use to mismanagement of the economy by inept and corrupt governments and still have a great sense of solidarity as reflected in programs such as comedores populares y vaso de leche. I seriously don't think that people in NA would survive as well as Peruvians did during those very difficult times.