My name is
Juan Loo Guimet. I am 33 and I live
in Huarmey, Peru. My friends call
me Purunga. I'm a shellfish
harvester. I love the desert. It’s such a tranquil
environment. That helps me
start the day well. My soul is
always at peace. Between the desert
and our Pacific Ocean, at the mid-point, what we experience on
our way down is 100% pure adrenaline. It’s really such a rush to
feel the ropes in your hands as you descend with
all this equipment, without fear and without looking down, in order to reach
your destination. To get down the cliff, your mind has to
be calm, relaxed and free of worries. When it’s time to go down, we
leave our problems at the top, along with our street
shoes and our motorbikes. You have to go down with
your mind free and relaxed, because if you go down with all of
that tension and all those problems, from your town life, you won’t be able
to concentrate the way you should. That’s happened several
times, not just to me, but also to all my
colleagues, I think. With too much going on, it
can be difficult to work well. It’s risky, if you bring
your problems with you. There’s danger
everywhere. What do I think
about going down? I just thinking about doing things
properly, fixing the ropes properly. If I need to place an iron
spike, I make sure I put it in right. You need to know the
proper way to tie a knot. Or hammer in
an iron spike. The important thing is
to always do it correctly. It is a bit like…
It’s like a habit. It’s a task that’s become
routine over the years. You lower your
poles down. Or sometimes you
lower your backpack. On some cliffs, you just throw the
ropes over and start going down. It's a question
of habit. When a cyclist gets on his bike,
he doesn’t really think about it. And we attach our ropes
and we’re ready to go. We don’t worry about anything,
because we’re confident in what we do. There’s a 100 meter drop below
you, so on the cliffs in general, you can't be
afraid of heights. We know what
we’re doing. There’s no
room for fear. We have strategic
spots on the way down, where we place our ropes that
enable us to continue our descent, and those iron spikes
are there permanently. That said, we always check
the condition of the spikes. And sometimes they can
look good on first inspection, but they’ve actually been
corroded by the salt in sea spray and all that’s left
is an iron shell. Inside there’s a
thread, nothing more. That’s what
happened. When I was working with
Diego on the Palo Cruzado cliff, we were going down the south
face, where the ocean was very rough. So I suggested going
up through the crevasse, but the cliff face sloped
outwards on the way up so I had to push myself
backwards, to get my body up. I kept going on up, but when I pushed
myself out, the iron spike snapped. The spike broke and I was
left with the rope in my hands. I was about to fall on the rocks, but
I reacted by pushing out with my feet, to propel myself
into the water. Sometimes there’s
nothing you can do. The cliffs are
totally unforgiving. You can’t afford
to make mistakes. But at the same time,
they’re like our second home. Not only for me, but for
all of us who work here. We can find what we’re
looking for everywhere here. If someone comes here thinking
“Today I’m looking for shellfish,” he can just
go down a cliff, where he there’s lots of
seafood and not many chitons. If he wants sea snails,
he’ll go to a particular place. We can get whatever
you need here. Whatever we need. But not many people
dare to go down the cliffs. You have to be calm by
nature and totally focused. The cliffs are the gateway
to a world of plenty. Grandaso is
a good friend. He’s a workmate that
I've known for years. I always liked working alone, but for a
while now we’ve been working together. He’s good company. I’ve had a few accidents, so I
prefer to be in company now, on the more
challenging cliffs. When people approach a cliff
or a slope, they immediately stop. They can’t even lean
over to take a look down. They feel dizzy and
they’re afraid of falling down. But we go
straight on down. The cliff isn’t an
obstacle to us, because we know the way and
we know where to put our feet, where to rest and where to
walk. We’re not always on a rope, with nothing
below us. You always get time to rest and
walk before getting to the bottom. Here, when we go down, everyone
thinks we’re looking for treasure or something
valuable. But what’s precious to us
is the seafood we harvest. That’s like gold to us, because
it’s our food and it’s our work too. That’s our
treasure. That's what we
go down there for. When we're down there, we
become one with the ocean. Everyone goes to work
where he thinks it’s best, at a particular spot,
depending on the site. I can go anywhere
with my poles. They make it
easier to get places, so I can get the
shellfish off the rocks. These poles
are my hands. They’re an extension
of my hands. I don’t know what I’d do without them. On days like this, when
the sea is very rough when it’s too rough It’s like the sea’s way
of saying “stay out.” For people who gather seafood,
with metal blades, with iron, these waters
are dangerous. The poles do
the work for me. They’re very
important. I couldn’t do what
I do without them. When I’ve got the net fixed
and my blade on the pole, I just sit on the edge of
the wall and I start to fish. But I always watch out for those
huge waves that can come in. One false step while you’re running or even the wrong
posture can be risky too, but fortunately, the poles
do all the work for me. The Pacific
Ocean is full of life. Coming here is a real pleasure
for me and not just to fish, but to enjoy everything
that’s around me the birds and the
surrounding biodiversity. I make the most of it
and I enjoy what I do, every day, really enjoy and love what
I do, not just harvesting seafood, but interacting with
my surroundings. Harvesting seafood
with poles is an art. It's like you get used to
doing what you like to do. All day I harvest
seafood with my poles. That’s all I do, at
low tide, at high tide, whether the water’s
calm or rough. It’s an art, but it’s
not for everyone. Some people try it out, but
they get tired of it quickly, because you need strong
arms and a lot of dexterity and accuracy to be
able to get those shellfish. If you go for one and
you prod it with your spike, but you can’t get it off of the
rock, then you just have to leave it, because when a mollusk is on the
rock and feels something touching it, then it tenses up and
clings to the rock harder. If you try to get it again, the
shell will come off, but the meat the mollusk itself will
stay stuck to the rock. Better to leave it. You’ll get it some
other time that’s all. You’re never
alone on the cliffs. You’re often with the
sea lions that live here. They’re a bit
like our friends. They’re always there,
at the bottom of the cliffs. They have a good life here, because
of the amount of food they find. This is one of South
America’s biggest populations. In terms of our accuracy,
wherever the pole touches the rock, there’s a
shellfish. As for the chitons, It’s
hard to get them off the rock. When you touch them,
they cling to the rock. The limpets clamp
themselves to the rock too. But after a moment, if you tap them
two or three times, they’ll come out. Sea snails
are tough too. With the sea snails, you find them
all bunched together, like grapes, so you need to get the first one
fast and be quick with the rest, because if you
take too long, the other sea snails
will jump off, one by one. They’ll feel your presence
and they’ll jump into the water. Sometimes
there’s nothing. Like today
for Grandaso. That’s because the
water’s really rough. When the water’s rough, for
us it’s a bit like is with trawling. They like to catch
the silverside, but you can’t fish for
silverside all year round. There’s a clearly defined season and
a period when fishing is prohibited, during which the state
imposes restrictions, to allow the fish to
grow and to reproduce. There’s no period when
what we do is banned, but if the sea were
always accommodating, there’d be no
shellfish left. When the sea is rough,
that’s our prohibited period. It's as if the sea were
saying, this much, but no more. Be patient, so the seafood
can grow, so they can all grow the sea snails, the
shellfish, the sole, everything. The sea lets us do our work with
poles and when we talk about poles, we have to think about José Mallqui,
who is known as El Zorro or “the fox”. He was one of the pioneers
of the pole technique. He’s the father
of the cliffs. He taught us the
basics of what we do. Especially me. How to use the
pole with dexterity. The world around us is
hostile and not just to humans. When you see the sea lions, especially
the big males that live below, there’s a lot of rivalry among
them, to protect their harem. The goal is always the
same: to mate and procreate. When shellfish
harvesting has been good, I always take the time to go
fishing where I know it’s a good spot. Not many fishermen
come here. The boats don’t go near the cliffs,
because it is very dangerous for them. One, two, three, four.
That’s good for fishing. There are good spots
where you can catch nice fish. But when the
tide changes, it takes the fish with it and
sometimes there aren’t many. You have to pay
close attention. But I love fishing. You never know
what you’ll catch. You can find everything
around these cliffs. Not just shellfish, but
also a wide variety of fish. First we shell the bait,
which is mostly small crabs. One of the qualities that you
need for fishing is patience. Sometimes you might move from one bay
to another, but still not find any fish. But with patience and
intuition, we eventually succeed. I’ve known Cenizo
for quite a while. I trust him, because he has
the skills and dexterity needed to maneuver the boat close to
the cliffs and into these spots. There are places that are
too dangerous to get into. You have to find
another way in. In those situations, I
call on my friend Cenizo. He has a boat and it
takes me to those places, which makes it easier
for me to get there. I know that if anything ever
happens to me, he’ll be there to help. If I can’t get up or the
spot is too hard to get to, I know he'll
be there. I can get back on
the boat and try again. We use an tire
inner tube as a float, to transport the equipment
we need to work on the cliffs. That means I don’t have to wear
myself out swimming back and forth. Sometimes when we
make our way to the cliffs, we talk about
different things. I'm usually in the front of the boat,
and he's in the back, talking to me. Often, because of the noise
from the engine and the wind, he’s talking and I
just say, yes, yes. Oh, yes but I didn’t actually
understand a word he was saying to me. The sea is full of dangers,
one of which is the sea lions. Something happened
to a friend of mine He jumped into the sea
and got bitten on the thigh by one of those big
animals, by a sea lion. Their jaws are
really powerful. It’s not like
a dog bite. It’s much
more powerful. My friend went to the hospital
and had to have surgery. That's why we take
so many precautions, to make sure everything goes smoothly. After a long boat ride, we finally get to the place
where we’re going to work. Once we are in the water, we
have to judge the waves carefully and catch one that
will get us to the rocks. Then we need to get up to
the spot where we’ll be working. When I start my day at
sea, I remember the words of those who have
worked at sea for years. You should not be afraid of
the sea, but you should respect it. One of the things I always
tell my colleagues is, we can’t just
look for shellfish. We have to keep an
eye on the sea, too. That’s why we
have two eyes. You have one eye for the sea
and another for the mollusks. I could have chosen an occupation
that’s more relaxing and not so risky. But this is what
I like doing. I’m happy here, surrounded
by nature and the life in it. The sea is
impressive. With each
breaking wave, you learn to judge the best
time to get out of the danger zone and the best time to
go in to get the shellfish. The sea birds are one of the
truly amazing things on the cliffs. Northern gannets nest in the cliffs,
on the ledges on the cliff face. You’d never think that they could
survive here, but there they are. The seafood that we find here in
Huarmey, can’t be found anywhere else. The people who enjoy the flavors often
tell us that the taste is unique. That’s why the shellfish from
Huarmey is sent out to other regions, where it’s served
in restaurants. It’s the same
with the fish. Our fish tastes different
from fish from other regions. It’s all sent out to the
markets and picanterías. Every day we go back to
town. We don't sleep here. That’s another
part of the day. When I started working out in these
areas, my father already knew them. He knew these
places were here. But my mother and
sisters don’t know the cliffs. They have no idea
what it’s like here. But I think that if they
came to see the cliffs, they’d tie me up to prevent me
from coming back to work here, for fear that one day, I
wouldn’t return home, because of the serious risks
that we’re exposed to on the cliffs. The accident happened
at 10:00 in the morning. As I fell, I opened my arms and
one arm hit the edge of the rock face. That split the bone in half,
leaving an open fracture. That ripped my clothes,
including my neoprene suit. This is the exact
spot where Diego died. I was going up
without having rested. I was coming back from
another cliff and I was worn out. I wanted to climb all the way up
the wall and my arms gave out. At a certain point, you
feel a warmth in your arms. You want to keep going
up, but you can’t make it. You’re torn between a desire
to keep going and staying put. Your hands can no
longer hold the rope. I thought I
can’t do it. I don’t have
any strength. I thought it
was all over. I saw my life flash before
my eyes, in a split second. One day I got a telephone call,
and I suddenly found out that Diego Diego was gone. The sea had
taken him. They never
found his body. That was
a big shock. And That's why now I prefer going
down the cliffs with someone else, with company
It’s safer. In the past, I liked to do
sports, but I can’t anymore. I can jog a little
and that's all. I think I’ll be able to
run again, given time. I’ll recover
little by little. I spent 6 months in
Lima in rehabilitation, in physical therapy, working on
it every day, taking medication, to help me
recover faster. Again people said,
Purunga is dead. He fell off
the cliffs. It’s terrible, but that's life for
the people who work on the cliffs. Life is not easy. Every day is
a challenge. We don't know whether we’ll
make it home in the evening. But it's the life
we want to live. It’s the life
we love. Some of our friends have gone,
but we’re back with them every day. They are with
us in the cliffs, and every day they
remind us to be careful. Nature is powerful
and you cannot fight it. We get on our motorbikes
and head back to town, leaving the cliffs behind us and
thanking God that we’re going home, safe and sound. Now we just need to deliver the
treasure that we took from the cliffs. We’re going back happy, glad
to have found so much here. And we’re even happier to be
going back home to see our families. The seafood is displayed on
tables and sold by the dozen. There are also women who
prepare the seafood right on the spot chitons and
sea snails for example, so people
can enjoy them here. And every day, we
start all over again.
