In case you're wondering, the name of this site, g c i 275, is an acronym for the address of my residence when I lived in Lima, Peru — Genaro Castro Iglesias 275, Miraflores. It was the first home that I owned, where my kids grew up, my base of operations where I undertook some challenging enterprises, discovered computers and learned to write. The name represents where I came from and where I am right now and where I'm headed for the future. In other words, an address on the Web — coordinates in a unique topology, somewhere between Peru and the Web.
For the information about this site's updates and additions (unfortunately, infrequent) and for news and comments about Peru, please check my weblog.
![[ Inca Sun ]](images/sun01.gif){kind=small}
Peru inspires thoughts of exotic realms, contorted politics, and beguiling women, not to mention the standard fare of Machu Picchu, the Andes mountains and the Amazon rainforest. It defies easy labeling for outside observers and more than a few Peruvians. It is also where I lived and worked most of my adult life and where my wife and children were born. The landscape, the people, the politics, the culture shaped our beings, our dreams. For me, Peru is not just an interesting case study, but a defining issue. I am bringing together some of my writing and also point to some other Web material that make Peru more comprehensible. I call this site Peruvian Graffiti because I never envisioned it as a formal portrait of the country and my understanding of it -- rather, it's an impressionistic drawing or message made on a public surface.
With all the upheaval in Peru after President Alberto Fujimori's resignation and the incoming government of Alejandro Toledo, check out the Peruvian politics resource, including the past of political violence, human rights abuses and Sendero Luminoso guerrillas. And in a stroke of deja vu all over again, Alan Garica returns to the Casa de Pizarro.
Throughtout this site, you will see the photographs of the Talleres de Fotografia Social (TAFOS) as a unique window into Peruvian society and culture. These black and white pictures were taken by grassroots photographers to tell their communities' stories. La Lista is my selection of
Peruvian links.
Crisis -- looking back on a milestone in Peru's history, the mid-1980s. Rural Development in the
Crossfire: The Role of Grassroots Support Organizations in
Situations of Political Violence is a study that I did in 1988-90 for the International Development Research Centre (Canada) on the impact of political violence on rural development.
The War of the Fourth Sword: selected chapters from a book on political violence in Peru during the 1980s that I will never write.
Translations of Peruvian poets: Antonio Cisneros, Mirko Lauer, Marco Martos, Blanca Varela, Javier Heraud, Abelardo Sanchez Leon, Julio Ortega.
Confessions of a Stringer: insights into the challenges of reporting on Peru and the people who helped me do it. You can also see my overview of the Peruvian media.
Writing is the process that has defined me and how I relate to the world around me. News reporting, essays, poetry and translations were how I started out. Now it's concentrating on the web as the medium. See the writing section for other examples of my writing. For that matter, look throughout this site.
Résumé
: my life according to the rules of this formula.
My Peruvian Life Story : a free-form approach to the curriculum vitae.
I have another site Prana Journal -- it's mainly a weblog about yoga, meditation, spirituality and other matters of the heart/mind/body. It's all about residing in and fulfilling the potential of the moment.