Tren Macho
The fist time I took this train, I didn’t make it to my destination. The train punctually departed at 6:30 a.m. from Chilca Station in Huancayo. It had rained the day before though the clear skies of that morning put me in the mood for a sweet traveling day and an on-time arrival. I was wrong. About 50 km before our destination we were forced to head back. Heavy landslides had fallen that morning and completely blocked the tracks to the point of making them impassable.
They call it tren macho for a reason. The locals say it is like a man on a binge, he leaves when he wants and arrives when he can. And on this day, he couldn’t, so here I was heading back to where I had started my day.
The next day I didn’t know what to expect. Would I make it to Huancavelica on the other end of the line? Juan Lazaro, fare inspector and a 34-year veteran of this train tells me not to worry. “Today we will make it. Last night I had a good dream,” he said without a hint of doubt on his voice. I sure hoped so.
Traveling by train is something else. It is an experience made up of the sounds of a roaring engine, a screeching track and a steel colossus moving through the mountains of central Peru. What could be better than that? And there are also the food vendors. A fellow passenger told me that back in the day each station was known for a specialty item. Izcuchaca for chicharrón (fried pork), Cáceres (also called Mejorada) for its lamb soup, Tellería for its prickly pears, Yauli for its potatoes with cheese and Acoria for its corn and wheat buns. There were not as many food vendors as my stomach had hoped. The train recently returned to service after a 5-year hiatus and ridership is yet to reach the levels of previous years.
That day we reached Huancavelica after dealing with two small landslides on the track that added an extra adventure to the trip. Both were shoveled clean in about an hour by the train’s maintenance crew.
I no longer think of tren macho as a wild male on a binge. Maybe it was one a long time ago, during the days of its youth. The train’s nearly Japanese punctuality, its assigned seats and overall impeccable service (for being a state-run train of course) made me think of it more as a well-mannered and mature gentleman. A gentleman that departs on time and arrives when the unforgivable weather of the Andes allows.
More photos coming up in a few weeks.
Maximiliana
I met Mrs. Maximiliana while she was chopping carrots in front of her house. With a smile she asked me who I was and what I was doing in town. A conversation started. She is 75 and was helping prepare a meal for a celebration the next day, her granddaughter’s wedding. Maximiliana is a herder in Huancavelica and a few days after the wedding she will leave Morococha. I was very interested in her rings, some of them made of old Peruvian coins.
We are not eternal
Ella era la señora fuerte, la de brazos musculosos y ágil paso que venía a visitarnos una vez al año. Mi madre siempre trató de retenerla algunos días más con nosotros en Lima. “Tengo que regresar a mi chacra,” ella respondía. Y regresaba presurosa a su mundo lejos en la selva.
Se llama Natividad. Abuelita Nati le digo a pesar de que no es la típica abuelita. Esa que te llena de abrazos, besos y te prepara dulces. Ella es la mujer que empezó a trabajar desde muy joven y continúa hasta hoy a sus 84 años. Lo hace no tanto porque lo necesite si no porque le gusta.
Ya no es más la señora fuerte. La fui a visitar hace algunas semanas y al abrazarla sentí sus huesos. Sentí tristeza. Pero al verla caminar en su chacra sonreí de nuevo. Entre sus plantas de café ella se transforma. Los mosquitos no le pican, el calor no le molesta, sus delgados brazos no se cansan y sus ojos brillan más que nunca.
Para mi ella es un ejemplo de dedicación y perseverancia. Ella es testimonio de que cuando queremos algo con todo el corazón, no hay nada que nos detenga. Ni la edad – ni el tiempo.
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She was the strong woman, the one with muscular arms and nimble steps that came to visit once a year. My mother always tried to keep her with us a few more days in Lima. “I have to return to the farm,” she would say. And she hurried back to her world far away in the jungle.
Her name is Natividad. Grandma Nati to me, though she is not your typical grandma, the one that hugs and kisses you and prepares you sweets. She is the woman who started working at a young age and continues today at 84 years old. She doesn’t work so much because she needs to but because she likes it. She knows nothing else.
But she is no longer the strong woman I remember. I felt her bones as I hugged her on a visit a few weeks ago. I felt sad. But when I saw her walking on the farm, I smiled again. Among her coffee plants, she transformed into the woman I remembered. The mosquitoes do not bite her. Heat does not bother her. Her thin arms do not tire and her eyes shine brighter than ever.
To me she is an example of dedication and perseverance. She is proof that when we want something with all our hearts, nothing will stop us. Not age – or time.
Video by Oscar Durand and Elie Gardner
Dia de Todos los Santos
On All Saint’s Day Elie Gardner and I visited the cemetery of Nueva Esperanza, Peru’s largest cemetery and one of the largest in the world, on assignment for CNS. Here is the video.
Miracles
Elie Gardner and I went to the procession of the Lord of Miracles (Señor de los Milagros) last Friday. I was told that this is by far the largest and most important religious festivity in Peru. As soon as I got there I could not only see it, but feel it.
There is a gallery of photos on our website inti-media.com
Pachacutec
Elie Gardner and I recently shot a video for Catholic News Service about Instituto de Cocina Pachacutec, an education initiative in one of the poorest areas of Lima.
Hidden vendors
“Ají de gallina, papa rellena, escabeche de pollo,” announces Ana at the corner of Pueyrredon y Sarmiento. She does it discretely as if trying not to attract too much attention from the mostly indifferent passersby. She is one of the Peruvian food vendors that works in the area of El Once in Buenos Aires. With her husband Luis she cooks at home, serves the meals in individual containers and sells them on the street without a restaurant license. Luis says that they would be willing to pay taxes and all the fees necessary to operate legally if the city would give them a place to work. “We just want to work,” he adds.
Arturo
The Foundry is over and I am back in Lima. I miss Argentina’s meat-generous gastronomy, the clear skies of Buenos Aires, and of course, the European flair of its streets. Nevertheless, I am glad to be back in “The City of Kings,” as Lima is also known. Nevermind its forever-gray skies and somewhat chaotic personality. That is part of why I call this city home.
In Buenos Aires I spent some time with Arturo, a Peruvian expat who moved to Buenos Aires when he was 31 years old, 20 years ago. He owns a car repair shop in the Flores neighborhood. Here are some pictures of his shop.
Election Night
Perched on a box five feet above the ground I could see the thousands of people who had gathered at Plaza Dos de Mayo. It was election night and just a few hours earlier the first unofficial results were released announcing the victory of Ollanta Humala over Keiko Fujimori. Excitement in the Plaza. There were people chanting, screaming, waving flags as they awaited their triumphant leader. Hours passed and nothing. “He is on his way” the master of ceremonies announced to sooth the spirits of an impatient crowd. And also of an impatient me. Five hours standing up carrying my gear seemed like forever. Ollanta arrived and with him the end of my 17-hour long shift. A long day I know, but it was a day I wouldn’t trade for anything.
All photos © ANDINA/Oscar Durand
Trip to another world
I used to do some skateboarding back when I was in my early teens. I never got to do any crazy tricks and my love affair with the board lasted less than a handful of summers. Nevertheless I always found interesting the skateboarding culture. A culture I was never part of. So when Somos magazine asked me to do photos for a related story, I had nothing to say but yes.
This is one of the things I like about my job. The opportunity to get a look behind the curtains and beyond my world. It was like a very short trip to another world.
