“I heard it from blocks away. An Amazonian melody is not something that escapes my ears in the heart of the city, despite the noise there. When I finally could see him I realized he was alone, nobody at his side, nobody watching. [..] He looked at me for a split second and continued playing. I couldn't ask his name or have a brief chat with him. The lively melodies of the jungle emerged unstoppable from his flute while he looked on in a trance, and for me it was as if the sun had risen in that hazy and cold day of my Lima, ever indifferent.” Juan recounts on Instagram. Here's a story he wrote on street music in Lima.
This week skilled story-teller Juan Arellano has been bringing us stunning pictures and poignant tales from Peru on our Global Voices Instagram account.
Lima-based Juan is our Spanish Translation Manager and our current guide for #InstaGV, a new initiative to show the beauty, diversity and expansiveness of our community on Instagram.
Every week, you are being introduced to a unique member of our community through our @globalvoicesonline Instagram account. Next week, Pernille from our Sub Saharan Africa team will take us on the road to northern Uganda.
In a couple of months, through the unique lens of the Global Voices community, you will meet people, see places and read stories from Bangladesh, Morocco, Lebanon, Peru, Germany, Spain, and Switzerland. Within the year, we hope to cover a few dozen countries through our hundreds of contributors from over 160 countries.
Here are seven vibrant photos and stories shared by Juan from Peru on @globalvoicesonline this week. Juan is one Global Voices oldest contributors. He has written more than 500 stories and translated more than 5000 stories for Global Voices since 2005. He has been blogging since 2001 and is the founder of Blogsperu.com, the first directory of Peruvian bloggers.