Peru

A personal account in words and pictures that depicts many parts of Peru: The people, their lifestyles and the variety of environments in which they live. Over a period of twelve years I met many wonderful people and was privileged to attend many unique events and this selection of one hundred photographs has been chosen as a cross section of the Peru that I discovered during my travels. Among the images some will hint at the country’s historic past to which many indigenous descendants of a proud and noble dynasty still cling. This is especially evident in the Andean highlands. Evidence also of a Spanish colonial past that destroyed the Inca nation and replaced ancient beliefs with a new doctrine that brought Christianity and missionaries to the country. Peru is undeniably a treasure house of cultural history but its more modern wealth is also very abundant. Minerals, fossil fuels and timber are being increasingly exploited, sadly too often to the detriment of more traditional ways of life in the fields and the Amazon rivers and forests. Although this collection reflects the Peru that I witnessed in a period of my past it does not pretend to portray a bygone age that no longer exists, Peru is a complex nation, and while the administration in the capital city of Lima have their sights well focussed into the 21st century a vast majority of their subjects in thousands of rural areas all over Peru will continue to fight the trend of modernization and for sometime to come will be sure to remain with old customs and practices.