Indigenous man dyes Lima desert green with 'hidden jungle'
On the slope of a hill, in one of the driest and poorest neighborhoods of Lima, stands a dense forest. Esther Rodríguez, an indigenous immigrant, has cultivated this oasis for years in the Peruvian capital, considered the most desert-like in the world after Cairo.
Rodríguez arrived here in the 1980s after fleeing his homeland of Ayacucho, in the southern highlands of Peru, which was then devastated by the armed conflict with the now-defunct Sendero Luminoso guerrilla group.
Driven by nostalgia, she wanted to recreate the green of her land.
Today, at 85 years old, he is the soul of this unique urban forest of 4,000 m² – almost half the size of a professional football pitch – in the heart of the San Juan de Lurigancho district.
“I like living surrounded by my plants,” says Rodríguez, an elderly woman with a broad smile, in an interview with AFP.
This landscape with more than a hundred species, including fruit trees and medicinal plants, has created an eye-catching microclimate in Lima, a city of 10 million inhabitants and one of the most polluted in Latin America.
San Juan de Lurigancho, with 1.2 million inhabitants, is in turn the most populated and polluted district, mainly due to its obsolete vehicle fleet, according to a study by the Institute of Nature, Earth and Energy of the Catholic University.
Rodríguez recalls that while her children went to school, she began planting in the rocky terrain, a refuge that became popular as a “hidden jungle.”
In this oasis of flowers, bananas, tangerines, avocados and passion fruit, bees buzz and butterflies fly. Nearby, in a lake full of fish, a hummingbird settles in.
Before, “there was nothing and no one in the hills, so little by little I started carrying buckets of water” to feed the green spring, says Esther.
Esther was undeterred and managed to dig three wells that are now connected to Lima's water supply network. In the capital, 6% of the population still does not have access to drinking water, according to official statistics.
Four of his children now manage and maintain the hidden jungle, which since 2020 has welcomed visitors, especially from schools.
“We want this place to be a source of inspiration,” explains one of the octogenarian’s daughters, also called Esther.
Opening it to the public has revitalized the area: trails have been created and electric pumps have been installed to improve irrigation, among other things. Each visitor pays 6 soles (about 8.80 reais).
In addition to the tourist aspect, the initiative also offers ecological benefits.
This almost half a “hectare of forest regulates temperature and humidity and improves sanitary conditions, especially in an area where respiratory diseases are common,” says Fernando Regalo, a forestry engineer at the NGO Foundation for Conservation and Sustainable Development (FCDS).
And the family that takes care of this oasis still has a plot of land to plant.
“It feels like you’re in the jungle, with the sounds, the little animals, the birds and the trees,” enthuses Constantina Zevallos Mora, one of the site’s visitors.
tr/sf/ljc/vel/mel/lm/ic
IstoÉ
