The population of provincial Peru is a caring bunch.....

Alan in Puno Tuesday: the little waif

......as on seeing that their President, Alan Garcia (above), has been looking a tad undernourished recently they decided to present him with large quantities of fruit, eggs and vegetables during his visit to the Puno region of southern Peru on Tuesday.

Unfortunately, Alan's 30 vehicle motorcade decided not to stop and talk with any of his loyal subjects bearing gifts (and there were many different welcoming committees all anxious to see his face). Why he didn't stop is a mystery, as Alandude is so in touch with his southern brethren that a full 16% of residents approve of his work so far.

So the Puno welcoming committee was forced to gently lob the fruit and vegetables in his direction. Even more unfortunately, some of the residents mistook some stones for the tomatoes, eggs and such they had lovingly gathered together as gifts for His Alan-ness. The result was a mess made of windscreens and side windows in the motorcade.

We are, however, happy to report that the local police along with the armed forces managed to gently explain to the locals about their error.

All in all, a fun-packed visit to 'that other Peru' for Alan. On returning to Lima the same day, he celebrated by having a private 40 minute closed door meeting with Banco Santander and the Suez Energy Group at the Presidential Palace, no doubt deciding which way to privatise the nation's energy sector that would best benefit the people of Peru, and definitely not thinking that it might just be a profitable sca.....SORRY....deal for the banks and energy companies too.