Peru, People and Places

This winter I spent three months meandering around South America. The pictures that follow are a small collection that I took whilst in the southern and western regions of Peru. I spent an inordinate amount of time trying to cover the countries vast land mass by bus, seemingly endless hours bouncing frantically over arid desert roads, at times hinged onto narrow passages that traced climbing mountains, and inevitably roaring through tight colonial streets into Peruvian cities.

I was treated to a gentle people. Quiet, kind and measured; they are cut from a conservative cloth. Where the people are humble the landscapes are humbling. Vast parched deserts strangle the western coastal regions of the country stretching from the Sechura Desert in the far north and eventually colliding with the famous Atacama Desert in northern Chile. On the opposite side of Peru rich verdant rainforests spill across several countries. Where rain seldom visits Lima it falls in torrents every evening in Iquitos’s wet season. In the centre of all this we have lofty mountains that claw towards the sun, active volcanos towering over 6000m in height and perhaps some of the Andes most spectacular ascents. Peru is a country of rich diversity and this is but a corner of one of South America’s most incredible lands.

By Liam McGuckin

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