Article in “The Geographical” on the traditional fishermen of Peru
Ten, maybe 15 fishermen, bobbing silently on their boats on the Pacific Ocean. Their Peruvian hometown, Huanchaco, from which they launched this morning, is no longer visible. The sea around them is grey, the water temperature a chilly 15°C.
It’s a scene little changed over centuries, millennia even, save for the fishermen’s faded football shirts. Civilisations have come and gone, but the boats, the Caballitos de Totora, have remained the same: two hulls of plaited reeds lashed together, a bow that tapers at the front and towers over the waves, a squared-o stern…
