Filmmaker in Search of Her Subject - visit to southern coastal Peru #3

part 3:

As promised:

Here is a video about the "hatajos" with an explanation of them.

When it came time to leave el Carmen, I encountered the problem of paying my bill at the lovely bed and breakfast.  The owner needed cash.  I didn’t have enough cash – and the ATM in the local grocery store wouldn’t accept my (foreign) ATM card.

SO – we went to Chincha for lunch to allow me to visit a bank with an ATM that would accept my card.  To get to Chincha, we took a local bus – crowded, bumpy, but friendly.   It made me feel a little less like an outsider, even though in fact I was one.

After I paid my bill and left el Carmen, I went to the town of San Luis de Cañete for a few hours to film the kids that my friend (and star of my documentary) Lalo Izquierdo teaches in a cultural center he helps operate.  San Luis de Cañete is another center of Afro-Peruvian culture.  Unfortunately, I wasn't able to take any photos in San Luis:  too little light, and I was busy filming.

Because I arrived several hours late, we went straight to the place where I was to film, which was where the kids were rehearsing for THEIR “hatajos.”  The rehearsal space was in a building with no roof! 

The kids were great, but later, to get signatures giving me permission to use what I had shot, I had to pay the parents.  I was not expecting this and it was not in my budget.  As a result,   I’ve only been able to pay to use a very small number of these kids.   What a shame!

a jitney just like the one I took in San Luis de Cañete

In San Luis de Cañete, I also had my first ride in a jitney (a covered, three-wheeled motorcycle that is used as a taxi in many Peruvian towns).  Kind of fun, but I’m not sure you’d stay very dry if it were raining.   And after the filming, we had dinner in a little, local restaurant beside the Pan-American highway, hanging out there until my bus back to Lima arrived.

Once again, another bus-cama.

My last article about my Peruvian trip, will cover my trip to the town of Zaña in the north, with a brief stop at the museum of the Señor del Sipán, dedicated to displaying some impressive artifacts obtained from the pyramids of one of Peru’s ancient civilizations.

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Eve A. Ma, a former university professor, lawyer, and director of a non-profit cultural organization, is the producer-director of two documentaries about Afro-Peruvians:  A Zest for Life and Masters of Rhythm with addendum.  Sign up for her newsletter to keep up with her work and get a special video:  www.PalominoPro-signup.com