Source: WTL digitized analogue photos© (2000 and 1990) taken at the airport in Arequipa, Perú.
Description: The volcano in the photo on the right is El Misti, AKA Guagua Putina. It is 19,101 feet high, and it is a dormant strato volcano with a caldera and a cinder cone. Its last eruption was in 1985.
Comments: After deplaning on my first visit to Arequipa, I couldn't help taking the photo on the right, a surreptitious (i.e., illegal) photo of the AeroPerú airplane with the El Misti volcanic peak in the background. The air was thin and dry on that chilly morning. From 1973 to 1999, AeroPerú, with the Peruvian iconic image of Inti on its tail, was Perú's national air carrier, but crashes and financial difficulties forced it out of business. In 1999 a new airline (TransAm) was formed, but changed its name to TACA Perú when the large international airline based in El Salvador (TACA: Transportes Aéreos del Continente Americano) bought a large minority interest in the new Peruvian air carrier. This commercial transaction corresponds with the trend toward globalization and internationalization of all things Latin American—and everywhere else—in the 21st century.