Where old Callao ends and La Punta begins is Chucuito, a little barrio on the rocky beaches to the side of Peru’s, main port. Originally settled by Italian immigrants as recently as the late 1800s, it soon merged seamlessly into its increasing urban surroundings.
Painted houses
Its first shanty fishermen village style shacks gave way to single story adobe buildings and were eventually joined by a few unattractive tower blocks in modern time. The area had a run down look and feel to it, and was generally considered unsafe.
The regional authorities, and the mayor Félix Moreno, last year attempted to rectify the situation in a way that has already been tried and tested in Antioquia. It seems that by simply painting the buildings in a bright an interesting way is enough to breathe new life into run down or impoverished areas.
Chucuito got a new coat of paint. All buildings, from old to modern were painted in different bright colours. More auxiliary police were hired and on weekends food and live entertainment is found in Chucuito’s sea-front plaza.
“Just like the Caminito in La Boca, Buenos Aires, we want to convert the bay of Chucuito into a tourist and commercial zone”, Mayor Félix Moreno explained at the time.
This article was originally published by …en Perú. Continue reading here.
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