Mc Donalds, you either love it or hate it, but it has a weird way of infiltrating every corner of the globe. A symbol of globalisation and other things nasty, the golden arches of Mc Donalds can be a welcoming sign of home, a symbol of familarity.

While it is hardly cordon bleu cuisine, after months of 2 soles menu Ronald Mc Donald is an old friend. Don´t get us wrong, we’re no Maccas junkies, but we find ourselves salivating at the idea of something that tastes “normal” to our western sensibility.

Far away in a foreign country  it is somehow comforting to walk into a hauntingly similar restaurant. Despite being in a foreign language the menu is familiar, and we know that the Big Mac we will receive will taste the same as at home.

With no sightings of the golden arches in our travels in Peru and Ecuador it was a bit of surprise to hit Santa Cruz, Bolivia – and there they were like a beacon in the night. 

Yet at 22 Bolivianos (about 10 soles) the friendly familiarity of Maccas was a bit rich for our tastes accustomed to menus.  Practically every Bolivian we chatted with would go to great efforts to tell you how poor their country was. Thus, to have a relatively expensive Maccas doing a thriving business seemed a contradiction in this, one of the poorest countries in South America

We put the populartiy of Mc Donalds in Bolivia down to the liking of the people to hamburgers of all shapes and sizes – which still didn´t explain how the poor Bolivianos could afford Maccas, when burgers on the street  cost a quarter of the price.

We were recently in Arica, Chile (population 190,000) and were immediately greeted by the golden arches and the pleasantly familiar menu.

Which brings us to Cusco – it is a hub of the South American travel network and more tourists visit this than any other Peruvian city. If a city like Arica, barely a bleep on the tourist map and smaller than Cusco, can have a Mc Donalds why can´t Cusco?

Can you imagine a Macca's in these cobbled streets?

If there was any place primed for a Maccas surely it would be Cusco? Thousands of comfort depraved tourists return daily from the Inca Trail, and would pour through their doors.

Attributing our meandering thoughts to that of travellers on the road too long, it was a surprise when a Peruvian friend said that he had the same discussion with his teacher and other students in their tourism institute. 

Though none of them have visited Lima, they assured us that there were plenty of Mc Donalds there – and their  first thought was that the climate of Cusco wasn´t suited to fast food.

But not so, Maccas is a hit in La Paz – we have to admit that by the time we arrived in La Paz the thought of another menu economico drove us to splurge on Cheeseburgers. Not quite a Big Mac, but at least they tasted the same as they do at home! (Actually, since this story was written Burger King in La Paz has taken over the Macca's restaurants!)

The Peruvian students thought that it was a possibility that a franchise or the company did not want to take on an outlet in Cusco, but the nature of McDonald´s expansion in tourist goldmines like Cusco, we were hardly convinced.

Their third thought was that a historical city such as Cusco with a unsurpassed colonial ambience would not wish such character to be destroyed by the gleaming symbols of western domination. We tended to agree, but then when has a city council rejected a Mc Donalds – they merely ask for their facade to blend in with the local architecture

 Finally, we concluded that there isn´t a McDonalds in Cusco because the economic situation of the Peruvian people is such that they would not be willing to pay 10 soles for a hamburger – and anyways, hamburgers aren´t that popular.  And while the tourist trade would be a proverbial gold mine, locals need to frequent the store as well to make it viable.

And while at times our gastronomical urges overcome our dislike for western domination, we hope that it is some time before the Golden arches shine in the Golden city of the Incas.

Copyright Ariana Svenson, 2005 - Comments and enquiries, please email us.