What can we think of when we think of Peru? It is the world-famous Machu Picchu, a warm and sacred sun festival, rich in mining resources and fishery resources.
Peru is located in the western part of the South American continent, bordered by the Pacific Ocean to the west. Due to the peruvian cold current, the unique climate of Peru has been created, and the average annual temperature varies greatly and the precipitation is small.
Peru is a country with a moderate economy in Latin America and belongs to the traditional agro-mining country. It mainly relies on industry and mining, agriculture, animal husbandry and fisheries and tourism to drive economic growth.
In addition to tourism, Peru's main industries are extensive, relying on primitive gathering and export, and most of the people doing these jobs are the bottom working people of Peru.
The way of life of the peruvian people is, in our old saying, "Rely on the mountains to eat the mountains, rely on the water to draft the water." "Peru's richest resources are fisheries, mining, and bird droppings.
Guano Island
Carrying guano for a living
Guano is a fertile natural fertilizer in Peru, and in previous years it has occupied an important position in the world market.
Because Peru's natural guar fertilizers are sold very well around the world, and there is an increasing demand for workers collecting guano, more and more young Peruvians are choosing to go to the islands to carry guano.
This work is relatively safe compared to traditional Peruvian mining and fishing, but it is also extremely harmful to the body.
Guano is one of peru's pillar industries, and because of Peru's geographical location and climate, thousands of birds live in the Peruvian islands. And guano is rich in mineral elements, which makes these guano one of the best natural fertilizers in the world.
And from the perspective of how it is obtained, bird droppings are easier to obtain than fishing and mining, and there is no need to invest money in machinery and equipment.
Because the place where the bird droppings are collected is the living area of the birds, if people use large machines to collect, the machine will scare away the birds, which is a kind of destruction of nature, so that the bird droppings can only be collected by hand.
Manual digging of manure
The environment of collecting bird droppings is unbearable for the average person. The bird droppings covered the surface of the island, and the whole island was smelly, and some people who had just arrived here, with the heart but powerless, could only persist for a few days because they could not stand the smell of the island.
Those who have worked here for a long time have become accustomed to the smell that lasts a little longer. Because they know that it is not easy to make money, no job can easily make money, and people always have to live in the world.
The most important reason is that the salary for collecting bird droppings is twice the minimum wage in Peru. That's why they're sticking with it here.
Workers lining up to go to work to dig up manure
Workers who collect bird droppings get up at 5 a.m. every day and line up to clock in to work. Because you can't use a big machine, you can only take primitive manpower and hit the hard ground with an axe. The soil layer on the surface is broken, and the bird droppings are selected, which also contain bird feathers and gravel in the soil, and later need to be filtered with tools.
The powdered bird droppings obtained after filtration are bagged by workers and exported by steamships around the world. On average, 50 tons of guano are exported per day on Guano Island, and these 50 tons of guano are manually transported by workers.
Because most of the people who can work here are uncultured, from remote areas of Peru, they have no skills, and they can only rely on the most basic labor force to make a living.
The sanitary environment on Guano Island is extremely poor, and the lice carried by seabirds will crawl on the bodies of workers, who almost all have traces of lice bites. Due to not receiving timely treatment at work, the place where the lice have bitten will suppurate, and then leave scars on the body.
Picking bird droppings cannot avoid dust powder, and it will emit a very pungent smell. Workers are rationed with masks, but even then workers will inevitably lose their faces. Later, the people who worked here for many years did not even wear masks, because fine dust would block the masks, and wearing such masks was even a problem for breathing.
Bugs crawling on the hands of workers
In addition to the intrusion of dust powder, bird droppings also contain a kind of ammonia, people inhale for a long time will damage people's lungs, some people with poor physical fitness can not be competent for this job for a long time.
The harsh environment of Guano Island is also reflected in the fact that it is a small isolated island, there is no fresh water resources on the island, and the water used by workers is sent by cruise ships every week.
Each person can only get 8 liters of water per day, these water resources can be said to be very precious, they want to use this 8 liters of water to take a simple bath at the end of the work, otherwise the substances contained in bird droppings will irritate the skin.
Workers often put their clothes under their feet when they take a bath, and they can wash their clothes together while taking a bath.
Even though There are many sufferings to overcome on Guano Island, Guano Island symbolizes wealth, which is why so many people flock to it.
Dust covering workers' faces
Fishermen and miners who confront life
In addition to collecting bird droppings, there are many ordinary people who are engaged in fishing and mining. But such jobs are often no more expensive and more dangerous than picking bird droppings.
In Peru there is a fisherman who is already 66 years old, and his name is Fugyada. For decades, fishing has been carried out in a part of Peru that is a nature reserve and is not allowed to fish with nets, only fishing by fishing.
The terrain around where Fugyada works is rugged, and to get to the sea you have to go down from a cliff up to 60 meters high.
For more than a decade, he used a strong rope, one tied to the rocks of the cliff and the other tied to his own body, which was the only safety measure he had for climbing, and then stepped on the raised stones on the cliff and slowly went down.
Below the cliff is a raging sea, and if you accidentally fall down, you will die directly. In the past ten years, three people around Fugyada alone have passed away like this, but Fugyada still has not given up this job. Under the weight of life, Fugyada had no other choice.
Tie the rope down the cliff
In more than a decade of lonely fishing, the only thing that accompanied him was a group of seals.
Every time he went fishing, he saw seals lying on the rocks of the seashore, and sometimes Fugyada fed them food.
On average, Fugyada was able to catch forty pounds of fish a day, enough to sustain himself for a few days. However, the work of fishing is very limited, and how many fish are caught that day depends on the weather. Sometimes the wind is very strong, and you can't catch any fish, only some kelp.
After the hard fishing, Fugyada had to climb back from the cliff with today's booty, and after going up, he did not choose to go home, but walked to the small shed where he was stationed nearby, and in order to save some motorcycle fuel money, he often returned home once every other month.
seal
In addition to fishing, many of Peru's workers have chosen to work in mining areas, which is also a high-risk occupation.
In caves in the Andes, there are many miners panning for gold in the dark.
The working conditions of the miners are poor and the risk factor is high, but the miners' wages are $600 more than the Peruvian minimum wage, and those who earn a living from manual labor do not hesitate to choose the miner's job in the face of such a salary.
Most of the people dug in some abandoned mines, and they had to go down the iron ladder to the bottom of the mine.
miner
Because of the damp and dark environment in the mine, the iron equipment in the abandoned mine area has rusted, and the wood supporting the mine has begun to rot, almost to the point of shattering when touched.
Miners have to use barrels to carry ore in a 70-meter-deep mine, and after the ore is installed, the workers have to shout at the iron pipe to pull the rope. This is how the miners get in touch in the mine.
They would also use an electric drill to drill small holes in the mine and stuff them with explosives. The explosives were also rudimentary, and they had only two minutes to hide in a safe place after lighting the fuze, and the explosives would release toxic gases when they exploded.
The miners could only return two hours later to continue their work, searching for gold in the rubble. Although the gold is not much, it is enough to meet the needs of the workers.
The guano economy of Peru
Although the environment for collecting bird droppings is harsh, the salary is much higher than that of fishing and mining.
The world is bustling, all for the sake of profit. Thus the guano economy had an unshakable period of glory in Peru.
Beginning in 1840, Peru entered a 40-year boom in guano, and the wealth gained from the export of guano made Peru one of the richest countries in Latin America.
These guano islands were once a very popular place, in order to compete for guano resources, Peru, Chile and other countries in Europe colonists and even between South American countries triggered two "guano wars".
To this day, the islands are able to earn their income from the export of guano and tourism. On the island of Peru, 331 species of birds were recorded in 24 hours, making it the Guinness book for "the most species of birds found in a single day".
Guano Island
Due to the large accumulation of birds here, the amount of guano is also very large, these are called white "gold", at the peak of the Peruvian guano economy, the sale of guano accounted for more than half of the country's income. It is no exaggeration to say that Peru's national economy is inseparable from guano.
But bird droppings, like mineral resources, will dry up one day, and in just a few decades, the bird droppings on Guano Island will be dug up to the ground. Coupled with the wide application of nitrogen fertilizer, the market for guano fertilizer has been impacted, and Peru's guano economy has lost the glory of the day.
But Peruvian guano islands are placed today, whether it is mining guano for organic fertilizer or protecting birds to develop tourism, for Peruvians, guano is still their golden mountain and silver mountain.
Peru's Inca ancestors paid great attention to the protection of birds, they were the world's first animal protectors, and they also set strict laws for the protection of birds. It is for this reason that Peru's guano economy developed hundreds of years later. And because of the birds, they brought them fertile land.
Young Peruvian man carrying feces
It's not just The Peruvians who benefit, but the corn, peppers, tobacco, potatoes and other foods we eat today are all cultivated from here and promoted to the world.
And the Peruvians also adhere to the creed of protecting birds and protecting nature. They did their best to protect bird island in its original state, and put up a sign on the island that read: "This is the world of birds, you are the guest of birds." ”
The industry on which the working people of Peru depend for their survival, whether it is fishing or mining, or mining guano is a consumption of resources. Decades or even centuries from now, such jobs will no longer be as lucrative as they are today.
Only by increasing the government's environmental awareness and formulating more implementable policies can peru's environment be protected, and it is also protecting the long-term development of Peru's guano economy.
bibliography
"Guano Island, the Peruvian Golden Mountain and Silver Mountain" - science cat
Peru - Baidu Encyclopedia
""Into also guano, defeat also guano": talking about the Peruvian bird droppings trade, why can it become a world commodity" NetEase News