There is this special place in Peru, north to Lima, but more south than Nuevo Tingo and Talara. It must be the cleanest Peruvian city, but it stinks.

Peru is beautiful, astonishing sceneries, an unseen biodiversity and variety in nature, from desert to rainforest, however most beautiful pictures cannot be taken without including the overload of thrash. Lots of streets, squares and beaches are turned into landfill look-a-likes, with accompanying smell. Puerto Malabrigo Is different: there is no waste out there, except where it belongs, in the waste bins. I wonder why.

Pushing for Clean

There are not as much posters and bill boards out here promoting a clean environment as in other villages; nor is there an exaggerated high number of bins; nor police patrols punishing the ones who litter.

But every once in a while, a team of street sweepers and cleaners passes by, getting the streets as clean as possible, impeccable. Other teams of the municipality pass by frequently as well, keeping an eye on the neighbourhood. Still, I am not sure whether it is clean because people do not litter, or because of the two teams taking care of the city. It might be even both.

Anyway, I would love to know what makes the village cleaner than any other, and why for example the regional government has chosen this place to heavily invest in city infrastructure, related to tourism, such as the Malecon, under construction until March 2018.

Fish Factory

It might have to do with the huge factory aside the village, being as big as the village itself. Providing work and economic revenues for the whole village, even though one has to take the smell as well.

Huge fisher boats colour the view on the ocean, bringing heaps of fish to the factory, where it is processed into fish flower, ready to go to the next phase in the production process. An awful smell, heaps of trash in front of the factory, trucks driving in and out, high circles of smoke circling in the air above, and waste water finding its way out to the ocean. It stinks.

And even worse, the day I go for a morning run and my path is blocked by the ‘river’ running out of the factory, it turns out that the whole village has no access to water. The water pumps are broken, is the official explanation of the government, however some locals know better, seeing a connection between the rise of production of the factory and the lack of water in the village.

Every year the village remains several days without water, always when a huge amount of fisher boats come in and the smoke circles higher and more dense than other times.

Sometimes all pieces are part of the same puzzle, but sometimes it is hard to understand or proof the whole.