Corona Virus in Peru

Dom Brendan Thomas • March 27, 2020

The monks are fine at Lurin. Fr Alex, pictured above on their tractor, has written about the increasing difficulties in Peru. As of yesterday there were on 9 deaths in the country, but the problem is that they don’t have the kits to ascertain who has the virus and who doesn't. He wrote yesterday:

We hear in the news that the situation in Europe is critical, especially in Spain and Italy. Here in Latin America it is also getting worse. Brazil has 2,000 people infected, after that Ecuador and Chile have the most infections. Peru has, if we can say, only nine deaths but more than four hundred with the virus. Tomorrow President Vizcarra will announce the extension of the quarentine at least after Easter.

Here in the monastery we don’t have guests, no monastic shop, no lucuma selling since 13th March. The main sources of income have led our finances too low. Easter was always the time when we received more guests and therefore income.

Everything else is OK. The cook Sra. Silvia remains at home and only Macario and Julian are coming and staying in the monastery without going back home until 31st. We need to keep on going with everything else now that the lucuma is in its harvest, we need to peel it and keep in the fridge.

Outside nobody can walk without permission. There is a "toque de queda" [curfew] from 8:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. everyday. We are allowed out to get only the essential food and medicine.

Br Mateo and Br Richard have to peel the lucuma, then make it into a paste which is then frozen. At the moment, as they can’t sell the fruit, they are using this method as well as drying the fruit and making lucuma flour which is used in making ice cream.

Pouteria lucuma is a species of tree in the family Sapotaceae, cultivated for its fruit, the lúcuma. It is native to the Andean valleys of Peru and Ecuador. When eaten raw, the fruit has a dry texture. In Peru, it is more commonly used as a flavour in juice, milk shakes, and especially ice cream. Its unique flavour in such preparations has been described variously as being similar to sweet potato, maple syrup, or butterscotch. In Peru, manjar de lúcuma (dulce de leche with lúcuma purée) is a dessert.

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