The Old Folks´ Home (Chucuito, Peru)

Written by Tyler Cole | 27 January 2010

As part of my work with Project Suyana, I´m spending a chunk of time in a home for elderly in the city of Chucuito, Peru.  About a 20-30 min ride from Puno depending on construction, Chucuito is a fairly small town next to Lake Titikaka with Aymara roots, and the elderly home (asilo de ancianos, lit. elderly asylum, not too flattering in translation) is a refuge for those who either don´t have family or their families cannot take care of them.

 

Initially financed by the government, the home itself is on quite beautiful grounds but they are not particularly kept up due to a lack of financing.  The abuelitos that live there are not particularly nimble, and the few staff there already have a handful taking care of the residents.  They invited me to stay there and I took up their offer, since 2ish meals a day and free accomodations are pretty great notwithstanding the elderly moans at night. Since quite a bit of things needed work, I got my hands dirty and tried to get a former greenhouse stripped of its decaying plastic roof, did some painting, and restored a chicken coop. There were actually a handful of hens running around, but they would not lay eggs since the dogs scared them and the coop wasn´t safe since the fence has come apart. Below are some pictures that I took and some that the daughter (Mariela) of one of the staff (Maria) took.  Personally, I think Mariela´s are more charming. I will slowly be adding pictures as my stay lengthens, and I´ve also uploaded a video.

An additional video that shows more detail on the chicken coop can be found here: The chicken coop project at the Asilo de Ancianos (Elderly Home), Chucuito, Peru

ç

Mariela´s shots are on the next page...