Translations

The aristocratic families of who In that place, the sea is very calm and the Lima Beach; moved to the village in the first summers waves never reach the lake. The nearness of the republican era acquired, in time, of freshwater offers a great advantage to Landscapes of an the habit of renting the fishermen´s bathers, most of who go and wash them- dwellings or “ranchos” for the whole sea- selves when the come out of the sea, so urban seacoast son. Moving to Chorrillos by cart from as to remove the salt particles adhered to Rafael Zamora P. Lima took a whole day. The caravan also their skin. The place is very uncomfort- carried the furniture that would be used able to bathe in. With a little investment in the primitive seasonal houses. it could be made as nice as the bathing Open landscape places in Dieppe. If Chorrillos continues At the end of the colonial period, the aris- Thus, Chorrillos becomes a small leisure to be fashionable, perhaps the Lima tocracy of Lima changed the habit of cold town: sea bathing in the morning; nap- people will think about this one day(6)”. river bathing (in the city in the water of ping, hammock and reading in the after- the Rimac) to bathing in the sea(1) (Smith, noons; dancing in the evenings, music As we can see, the characteristics of the 1839). This process of change was encour- and betting games by night. According natural scenario in which Chorrillos is aged by the recommendations of medical to travel chronicles written by Europeans located, explain the habits emerging in treatments coming from Europe and by who visited during the republic, it is the resort. The is the geo- the first works produced by Peruvian doc- a rustic reflection of the western habits(4) graphical factor determining the climatic tors, such as Hipólito Unanúe(2) (Unanúe, (von Tschudi, 1854). conditions. With 281 meters in height, it 1805). One of so many rearrangements confronts the coastal winds of the south Robert Proctor, British, visited Chorrillos of habits in the new creole aristocracy, east, as well as detours the fog that oc- in 1924 and confirmed that the habits linked to an illustrated feeling, more casionally covers Lima. The morro dimin- in these primitive summer resorts of the interested in what was in practice in ishes the force of the waves and allows Pacific replicated the European practices England France and Germany than in the accumulation of sand on the coast. of the 19th century. One of his travel the national directives that would end up The rest of Miraflores bay is affected by stories is called: “Chorrillos, the Brighton being discarded after national inde- wind; it is constantly cloudy and most of of Lima”. pendence in 1821(3) (Del Águila 2003). it lacks sand due to the strong surge. Sea bathing is one of the practices that The chronicles also revealed how rough In Chorrillos there was a more subtle fac- characterised the new ruling classes of and precarious the resort was. The same tor (already mentioned by F. Tristán) that Lima and the rest of America “liberated” Proctor doubted the good judgment allowed the birth of the resort: the fresh- from Spain. and taste of the people of Lima choos- water jets. The agricultural production of ing Chorrillos for sea bathing(5) (Proctor, Set on the left bank of the Rímac, Lima the Rímac valley required watering wide 1835). Some ten years later, Flora Tristán was thirteen kilometres west of its main areas through canals, most of them of was incapable of understanding the rela- port, . Thirteen kilometres south prehispanic origin, which took the river tionship of the people of Lima with this was the fishermen´s village, San Pedro de water to the cliff plateaus. These infiltra- arid and unpleasant coast. los Chorrillos, located by a promontory tions were the emergence of the phreatic of rocks and earth called Morro Solar. “I have said that I could not conceive the aquifer on the edge of the cliff. The village was on the upper part of the predilection of the people of Lima for The German painter J. M. Rugendas, well gorge, at one end of the wide bay of Mi- Chorrillos. That word means sewer. It known for his representations of Ameri- raflores. It was the port where the forces has been called so because of the water can landscapes, drew and portrayed this of the Liberation Army disembarked (the jets that fall from the top of the rocks scenery during his travels in Perú. In port of Callao was under Royalist rule). surrounding the beach, which form a “Los baños de Chorrillos” (1848) (“Baths freshwater lagoon in the lower part. It is Chorrillos”), Rugendas condensed all the in that small lake where they go bathing.

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elements that structured the emergence and private agents began to invest capi- Towards 1940, the people of Miraflores in of summer resort practices on the coast tal in a series of important civil works, Lima grew with the habit of daily bathing of Lima. The shaded cliffs show that it important for the construction of a resort in the sea in the summer months. Writer is a morning scene. On the upper part of landscape: piers, walks, parks and new Julio Ramón Ribeyro(7) recalls this new the gorge can be appreciated the silhou- bathing spaces. suburban Lima in his short stories, reveal- ettes of some dwellings. A steep dirt road ing a city linked to the coastal border. The building of piers and walks on the leads the bathers on mules and horses. cliff tops allowed for a scenic relationship Reclaimed landscape The Lima aristocrats appear dressed in with the coastal view. The natural gorges Lima was practically the same size for 400 elegant city clothes that they change for and the “informal descents” communicat- years. From 1940 on, a strong migration bathing suits in the primitive “covachas” ed the city with the small pebble beaches from the countryside to the city marks (“cabins”). These structures, set on ter- at the foot of the cliffs. The coastal the first great impulse of urban growth, races built of stones on the beach, were border began to be inhabited by a set of a process intensified in the seventies and served by the villagers of Chorrillos, Ne- constructions on steel pilots, like docks, surpassing all planning capacity. Today, groes and Indians who helped the ladies that entered the sea providing wooden the population exceeds 8.5 million, in an get into the sea. surfaces and shade. urban area of 840 km2. All the groups that formed the social Towards 1930, the increased number Lima is a relatively new city; 83% of the structure of Peru were represented on of electric tram routes and the grow- urbanised area is not more than 40 years the shore. The area of the baths is next to ing number of automobiles allowed the old. In the geographic centre of this urban an artisan fishermen´s cove, so that the expansion of the urban orbit of Lima conglomerate is Miraflores bay, nowadays scene is shared by elegant people in bath- towards Miraflores, Barranco and Chor- known as “Costa Verde” (“Green Coast”). ing suits and a number of lightly dressed rillos. The resorts suddenly grew and they Indians and negroes. The scene shows a The summer resorts of Chorrillos, Bar- joined the city under a singular subur- beach landscape, without the therapeutic ranco and Miraflores were suburbs in the ban typology of resort-neighbourhoods. atmosphere; they are baths for leisure metropolitan Lima, becoming neighbour- At that time, the provisional coastal and recreation. hoods of a city that reached the coast. The constructions disappear and the first con- capital extended itself over agricultural Landscape in transition crete summer resort buildings appear. plantations isolating the ground and During the 19th Century, Chorrillos con- The Baños de Miraflores (1934-1935), by blocking irrigation and, therefore, the tinued developing itself as the preferred architect Héctor Velarde, is an impor- famous “chorrillos” (water jets). The cliffs summer resort of the Republican ruling tant example of a new architecture by lack vegetation and have become dumps class. The construction of the train in 1858 the sea. It was a building parallel to the and the terminal of the sewage system. In allowed its connection with Lima thus coast, horizontal and symmetric, sitting the process of construction of this large consolidating its condition, until its total on stilts on a small pebbled beach. The city, thousands of tons of landfill made it destruction and plunder by Chilean troops restaurant and the events hall were possible to reclaim land from the sea, a during the in 1881. in a double height central space; the stretch that, in the sixties, became a free- Then, the interurban electric tram al- dressing rooms, in two lateral wings. The way at the foot of the cliff, burying the old lowed Lima´s reconnection with its three architecture was determined by what structures of the baths that survived practi- main resorts: Miraflores, Barranco y in Lima is known as the “boat style”, a cally abandoned in the polluted water. Chorrillos. The tram shortened travel reinterpretation of the naval forms, a Nowadays, the Costa Verde stretches times and allowed more groups of the reference that the building enhanced by along 20 kilometres of seafront, of which Lima society to have access to the coast, very small steel ladders that indicated only ten per cent is used as a bathing thus consolidating the southern resorts as the entry points to the sea. beach. The main resort is the “Agua “small towns” of temporary stay. Public Dulce” (“Freshwater”) beach, located

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in the , next to the some people have lunch, others take pots, dishes and inflatable sea water Fishermen´s village. a nap and families have their photos swimming pools for the children. taken at all the attractions. Agua Dulce beach stretches as a series On the beach, numerous vendors circu- of programmatic strips(8). This system After crossing the motorway, the visitor late announcing their offers. Some fun- begins at the top of the cliff, at the end reaches a set of constructions that ac- ny carts, pushed by their owners, move of the public transport routes. On the commodate the beach services. Dress- slowly and clumsily along the shore; upper part there is a walk or pier, under ing rooms, public baths, restaurants photographers, carrying a portable scen- remodelling at the moment, which allows and sport fields. Despite having a big ery, a two by two meter background with for long walks along the coast. It has municipal sign saying “closed down”, landscapes printed on plastic cloth; a a complete view of the bay and of the these restaurants work behind closed conifer forest, a waterfall, a steam liner, outline of the cliffs, from the Morro Solar doors and prepare hundreds of menus the jungle, a valley with cliffs, Chinese to the Point. The outline of San Lorenzo which are served under the parasols (in boats and Machu Picchu. In front of Island can be seen from the pier as well. the given circumstances, they are in the them, a series of objects complement the delivery business). Towards the north, scene: plush cats, plastic palm trees, The height of the cliffs, their fragile consti- there is a stretch of 250 meters of pier artificial flowers, inflatable dolls, etc. tution and the motorway at its bottom, with a sinuous design, some palm trees Travelling photographers carrying their form a hazardous region for any pedes- and iron and wood benches. This is a study, selling instant pictures to remem- trian intending to reach the sea. Only one short walk, with a few merchants and ber dreamed vacations, the cheapest flight of steps, followed by a pedestrian temporary fairs, which separates the alternative of a fantastic tourism. bridge, approaches the upper rim of the motorway from a parking area. cliffs to the beginning of the beach. The fluctuating tide of bathers is observed From this service line, the pier and the at a distance from the rented boats start- Under this bridge is the main “improve- parking area, starts a strip of land that ing from the fishermen´s dock. A cheap ment” work of the public places on the in summer serves as an place for massive round trip which also offers the possibility coast of Chorrillos. It is a garden area shows, music concerts or launching of to “disembark” and swim back to Agua of approximately 12 hectares, result- publicity campaigns. The end of this sec- Dulce beach. ing from a road node of the motorway tor is marked by 34 wooden boxes painted system. This kind of park has a series Expectant landscape blue. These boxes, half buried into the of monumental elements inside: two gi- A public summer resort is constructed sand, are the shops where key pieces to gantic sculptures of couples in gestures by the sea in Lima year after year. A transform urban visitors into bathers are of affection, a large lagoon of sinuous powerful activation that transforms the kept and can be rented: beach umbrellas, border equipped with lights and water scenery of the beach by building leisure deck chairs, Morey(9) body boards, balls games, a set of large letters with the structures with subtle elements. The and bathing suits. name of the district, “Chorillos” (a clear resort and the shore form a very rich reference to the Hollywood sign), and The stretch of sand is defined by these landscape, capable of interlocking not two cascade-type water fountains). blue boxes and the shore. The region only immediate leisure and recreation is sectioned in quadrangular areas needs. Citizens transformed into bath- The huge budget allocated to the imple- managed by the merchants of each ers change their behaviour in public mentation of this part is only compa- storage. Each box identifies its sector beach space. Wearing light clothes, they rable to the expenditure on maintenance by the colour of the beach umbrellas it share, in a few square meters, the inti- and operation required by the district. lets, forming shady spaces that may be macy and the hedonic pleasure of the In summer, municipal guards chase out 200 meters wide a peak times. On their public scene. A crowd in bathing suits the groups that try to get into the pool long stays until sunset, bathers share promenades along the coast among itin- to wash themselves after having been to the space on deck chairs or towels, with erant scenarios that allow for an instant the beach. At the same time, on the lawn,

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transport to fantasy destinations. NOTES (1) “The healthy practice of bathing in the sea was in former Landscape, Fantasies like republican Lima that times confined chiefly to those affected by skin diseases; but constructed in Chorrillos, at the beginning within the last forty or fifty years, as we are told, sea-bath- of the 19th Century, a scenario to con- ing has been preferred to river-bathing, or to the cold baths photography and of the old Alameda, and fountain of Piedra-lisa.” solidate the new ruling elite. The rough architecture coastal landscape was deeply modified by (2) “Sea water if preferable to river water, as it is more de- tergent; so, a poet says that sea water cleans all the dirt of architectures that materialised new rela- the human body.” Demonstrations tionships between society and nature and (3) In Las pieles y los velos ( Skins and veils), Alicia del Águila new disciplines for the body. Structures (2003), shows the repression process that affected social in modern Chilean and buildings for a singular functional habits in urban Lima at the beginning of the republican pe- relationship between individuals and the riod. It is possible to consider that the social structure and conduct that was developed in Chorrillos are an idle and architecture sea. A city that in its process of growth libertine contraposition. A society that behaved in a disci- included the resort into its assets. plined way in the city scenario while it went to the beach in Horacio Torrent a mood of dissipation. The metropolitan council has announced (4) “The routine of the day’s occupations and amusements is , landscape and architecture an ambitious plan to restructure Costa much the same as in most of the watering-places of Europe, Since when? Verde: optimization of the motorway excepting that, in the latter, the hammock is suspended by the chair in the reading-room and coffee-house, or the bench system and construction of numerous on the promenade.” It has become frequent for some time paths down to the beach and walkways to to consider landscape as a key ele- (5) “It cannot be said that the inhabitants of Lima showed connect the city with the coast. As from much judgment and taste in the selection of their bathing ment in local architectural production. March, an army of lorries with thousands place, for it is situated on a sandy, barren promontory, and In the most specialized architectural when the wind is strong, the houses are filled with dust, and it critic, as well as in the most general and of tons of landfill material will retrace the is on your shoes when you are outside”. coastline. The plan sets the public space qualified divulgence, landscape seems (6) “The inhabitants of Lima have chosen to bathe in the sea to be a commonplace to explain certain as the main theme of the intervention at the most arid and unpleasant place on the coast, accord- and projects a pier of 15 kilometres, with ing to my taste. The place is called Chorrillos. The Izcue contents of the generation of the archi- cycleways, jogging tracks and pedestrian family had rented a summer house in Chorrillos and they tectural form establishing relationships invited me to spend there as much time as I wished...” walks. Undoubtedly, a contemporary with place and geography. intervention of an urban park and not (7) As a child, Julio Ramón Ribeyro moves to live in Miraflores. In his work there are numerous passages Certainly, with over a decade of argu- necessarily a summer resort for the city. linking urban life to the resort neighbourhoods. The mentation in this sense, the critic has sea baths and the gorge appear portrayed as border- Obsessed by “green areas”, Lima does not ing places and linked to the complex codes of the so- also influenced production, fostering seem to interpret with full intensity and cial structure of Lima in the middle of the 20th Century. a feedback cycle in which the term richness the expression of public urban (Ribeyro, 1994). “landscape” is recurrently associated space shown by its beach. There are emp- (8) Lecturas Urbanas (Urban Readings) is a recent publica- to the explanation of ideas and tools tion seeking to create a record of contemporary Lima. Each with which architecture is thought and ty sites in the list of programmes of the issue focuses on an urban fragment, collecting representa- new coast: areas for sunbathing, walks tion projects such as cartographies, descriptions, interviews produced. The influence of the acknowl- on the edge the breakwater, blue boxes and photographs. The second issue of the collection is dedi- edgement and display of the country’s cated to Agua Dulce beach (Llona y Nakamura, 2010). for services, strips of beach umbrellas, varied geography on this cycle, as well pier walks, dressing rooms, restaurants, (9) Editor´s note: Tabla Morey is a synthetic foam body as on other practices and disciplines, board. It is an accidental invention of surfist Tom Morey lawns where to sleep in the afternoon and (when his surf board split and he returned to the shore rid- from poetry to popular art, from tourism freshwater pools to wash the salt away. ing one of the pieces). to country image, is not minor. The vibrant landscape, on the shores, Conceptions around landscape are awaits an architecture that interprets and BIBLIOGRAPHY already an institutionalized part of designs a new form of the public space. See page 35 Chilean architectural textual and formal

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