Iquitos, city in the northwest of Peru, on the banks of the Amazon River. It has more than 400.000 inhabitants.
Amiudal, small village in the interior of Galicia, in the northwest of Spain. It has over 300 inhabitants.
Emigrate, said of a person, family or people: Leave one’s country of residence for a new one.
Emigration is the nexus between Iquitos and Amiudal. At the end of the 19th Century, hundreds of Galician families set off on a trip to America, in search of lands where living were easier. Epidemics and hunger made that living in Galicia were really tough. After trying their luck in several Brazilian cities, a small group of Galicians got to Iquitos attracted by its profitable rubber industry.
I first traveled to the capital of the Peruvian Amazonia in 2008. I met Captain Iglesias in his Henry 7, a boat that travels from Pucalpa to Iquitos. His grandparents met on the ship that linked the Galician cost with Brazil. He was the first descendant of Galicians I stroke up a friendship with. Then, I met the sisters Florinda and Rosa Graña, whose uncle Alfonso Graña went into the rainforest and became the King of the Jibaros. I visited Mosquera bookshop, founded by Cesar Mosquera, the owner of the first car on Iquitos streets. I talked with descendants of the Fortes, who own a hostel in Raymondy Street. I visited the Barcias, whose rubber workers ancestors exploited large extensions of rainforest. All of them descendants of Galicians.Iquitos|Amiudal is a return journey. Traveling from Iquitos to Amiudal on the same means of transport used by many Galician families. Navigate the Amazon River on “lanchas”, the boats that transport passengers and goods along the great river. Crossing the Atlantic on an ocean liner. From the Amazonian rainforest to the Galician mountains.
Calendar:
- Part 01 - 2008/2010, from Iquitos to Tabatinga. Completed
- Part 02 - 2011, from Tabatinga to Santarem. In pre-production
- Part 03 - 2011/2012, from Santarem to Amiudal via Atlantic Ocean