Caminos - a photo exhibition

Pimentel is a Peruvian fishing town in northern Peru. Over 15’000 KM from the Japanese coasts. On the back of this town you face the Andes. Behind the three Cordilleras of the Andes you confront the vast Amazonian forest. Then you need to cross the waters of the Atlantic Ocean to get to our old Europe. In front of Pimentel you face the Pacific Ocean. On the first 900 KM the cold Humboldt Current  carries a lot of nutrients and allows for one of the world’s richest fishing grounds for anchovies and tuna. Guano – deposited by the birds that feed on the anchovies – is used as a rich fertilizer.

What an astonishing balance! Our sophisticated nature at work. Humbling.

Every couple of years the “El Nino” event brings warm water and high air pressure generating substantial warming in air temperatures, thereby generating warmer ocean water and heavy rain. The fishing grounds are impacted and with it all the related industry. This also goes for the coastal agricultural activities. El Nino is a phenomenon that dates to pre-Inca times and that comes in regular cycles of 4 – 7 years. Over the last decades the cadence of the phenomenon has substantially increased. Also, the intensity.  Is climate change impacting this natural phenomenon? To my knowledge there is no apparent consensus on the question.

The picture is also a reflection on my memories as a child over 50 years ago: accompanying my mother’s yoga and meditation moments in front of the Pacific Ocean.

Panta Rei!