Living in Peru : your everyday companion

It has taken us a long time to describe all of the activities that Guillermo Rivas Romero has developed, and continues to develop in various cultural arenas.

Economist by profession, he has held prestigious positions such as a company executive for Televisión Nacional del Perú, professor at the Universidad Nacional de Ingeniería, Centro Cultural of La Católica, and Universidad San Ignacio de Loyola, where he is currently teaching classes related to Economics and Photography.

Rivas has just presented a beautiful bilingual book, titled “Mi Patria a Colores,” which is dedicated to the geographical, spiritual, and visual wonders of Peru.

The book is co-edited by the Universidad San Ignacio de Loyola and the Centro Peruano de Estudios Culturales, with the generous support of Faber Castell. The book presents various photographs taken during the author’s many trips throughout Peru.

A friend of mine here in Lima, Jose Perochena, was showing me his collection of old photographs and postcards of various buildings and streets. It was amazing to see how these places used to look, and in some cases how much they had changed over the years. This gave me the idea to go back in time and try to take a new photograph from the same area or position that the old photographer had taken the photo. In some cases, it is impossible for me to do this so please forgive those variations. What follows is a pictorial essay with a brief written history of each of the “Then and Now” photos. This will be the first of several articles I will write, along with photos, so that you can see the change that the hands of time has brought to Lima.

Photos by
Bruce Clark

Here are some images from the Red Bull F1 event on the Avenida Marina featuring Scotsman David Coulthard.  Several thousand people watched at he raced by at almost 300 km per hour and did his now famous spins (trompos).  The event was a wonderful afternoon's entertainment with excellent organization by the San Miguel Municipality and Police.